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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IV July, 1923 No.7
MASON'S FLAG
by: Unknown
In the charge to an Entered Apprentice each of us has been told:
"In the state, you are to be a quiet and peaceful subject, true to
your government, and just to your country; you are not to countenance
disloyalty or rebellion, but patiently submit to the legal authority,
and conform with cheerfulness to the government of the country in
which you live."
The second, third and fourth charges, to which all Masters must
assent before being permitted to assume the Oriental Chair, are as
follows:
"You agree to be a peaceable citizen, and cheerfully to conform to
the laws of the country in which you reside."
"You promise not to be concerned in plots and conspiracies against
government, but patiently to submit to the law and constituted
authorities."
"You agree to pay a proper respect to the civil magistrates; to work
diligently, live creditably, and act honorably toward all men."
In the ninth charge an elected Master agrees: "To promote the general
good of society, to cultivate the social virtues and propagate the
knowledge of the Mystic Arts."
None who hear these charges need to be reminded of the assurances
given them prior to their first obligation, regarding the allegiance
all owe to their country.
These matters are here rehearsed that all may recall that Masonry is,
actively and ritualistically, a supporter of established government;
those who wish further assurances may read all the Old Charges of a
Freemason for themselves, particularly the first; "Concerning God and
Religion" and second, "Of the Civil Magistrate, Supreme and
Subordinate."
A good citizen is not necessarily a Mason, but no indifferent citizen
can possibly be a good Mason. The unpatriotic Mason is an
impossibility, as much so as "Dry Water, or "Black Sunlight."
One hundred and fifty years ago this month our forefathers declared
that inasmuch as all men are created free and equal, they and their
descendants shall always be free and independent. they set up their
own government, these men who brought a new idea of government into
the world, and they fashioned that new idea of the very stuff from
which Masonry is made; aye, they cut the cloth of the flag from the
garments of Freemasonry and with every stitch which put a star in its
field of blue, they sewed in a Masonic principle of "Right,
Toleration and Freedom of Conscience." They declared against tyranny
and oppression, and they pledged their all - wealth, comfort,
position, happiness and life itself - to maintain and support this
revolutionary declaration that men are free and have a right to
govern themselves.
This is neither the time nor the place to read again the inspiring
story of the Revolutionary War, of the privations and problems of
those early days, of the power which was Washington and the fire
which was Jefferson. But, in this, the anniversary month of the
birth of this nation, all Masons may well pause for a moment in their
busy lives to think of what Masonry teaches of citizenship and
patriotism.
Ours is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the
people." All have an equal share in it; one man's vote is as big and
as powerful as the vote of another. But we do not always remember
that there is no right in all the world, whether having its origin in
God or in man, which does not bring with it a corresponding duty. We
have, so we proclaim, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness; therefore, we cannot escape the duty of seeing to it that
our fellowmen have the same right. In 1776 we declared that we were
free and equal of right; we thereby assumed the duty of maintaining
that contention before all the world; the duty of fighting for what
we claimed, no matter whom the opponent might be.
All battles are not fought with shot and shell, and not all opponents
of our idea of liberty wear the robes of George the Third. We have a
never-ending conflict with the forces of indifference, of selfishness
and of ignorance; forces which are just as powerful and just as able
to destroy this nation and this government as the armed force of men
and guns which any nation or group of nations could bring against us.
It is against these that the good citizen must always be in arms,
these which the true Mason is always willing to fight and to conquer,
even if it be himself he must first meet in conflict.
Any American citizen will resent with all the force of his being any
attempt at disenfranchisement. His vote is own; his inalienable
right, guaranteed to him under the constitution, the very heart and
soul of his Americanism. But the vote is not only a guaranteed and
inalienable right, it is a solemn duty. If all have this right, and
none use it, there can be no government (of the people). If all have
the right and only a minority use it, we have a government by the
minority of the majority. Then what becomes of our boast that this
government is "By The People?" The Mason who does not go to the
polls and register his voice, no matter how small a part of the world
it may be, not only gives up voluntarily the right for which hundreds
of thousands of patriots fought, bled and died for, but dodges his
solemn duty to the State in failing to live up to that Charge which
admonishes him to be "True To His Government and Just To His
Country."
Injustice was the underlying reason, the foundation stone on which
all the other reasons rested, which caused men to rebel against the
English King, and declare themselves independent. Taxation without
representation; the feeling that they were being exploited; that the
millions of subjects of the King, loyal and true to the ideals of the
Mother-Country as they knew themselves to be, were but pawns in a
game in which George the Third played with human destinies for purely
selfish reason; these were the bitter dregs of the cup held to the
lips of the colonists, which they could not swallow.
Injustice, inhumanity, the exploitation of the weak by the strong,
the oppression of the helpless by authority, the enslavement of men's
bodies or their souls by force - these are anathema to Americans.
And so our legal structure, our courts and out ideals of justice are
all so arranged and used that every possible protection is thrown
about a man who must stand before his fellows, accused of wrong-
doing, lest injustice be done.
At the very root of our system of justice is the jury system. But
what a mockery a "Jury of his Peers" often becomes! When it is a
mockery, it is because we, who would fight to the death under a
waving Flag of Stars and Stripes rather than let an enemy have one
inch of our sacred soil, often turn away from the call to jury duty
and allow selfish pleasure, indifference and personal convenience to
keep us from doing our share in the administration of that justice,
to promote that for which this nation was born.
A jury-serving citizen may not be a Mason, but no real Mason who
obeys the teachings of our great Fraternity will not let anything
less potent and important than his duty to his family cause him to
"Beg Off" from jury service, or try to dodge his share in the
administration of that justice which we proclaim is "For All."
It is a proud Masonic boast that politics is not discussed in lodge
rooms, and that Masonry is not a power politically. But the boast is
and should be true only when the word "Politics" and "Politically"
are used in the narrow, partisan sense. Masons cannot be, in their
lodge rooms, "Republicans" or "Democrats." But Masons can and should
take a most earnest interest in the political activities of the
nation as a whole and cast their votes and raise their voices for
those moments which are for the benefit of all.
Particularly is this true of the public school system.
The "Little Red School House," which so well served the forefathers
of this nation, is rapidly passing; the consolidated school, the
better city and town schools with new and better methods of
transportation are taking its place. But only the form of the
building and the quality of the teaching have changed; the underlying
idea is the same. And for that idea Masons have always stood firm,
and must always stand four-square.
Though our Declaration of Independence asserts that men (people) are
created free and equal, we know that no power of government can keep
them equal. Different people, different minds; different people,
different characters. All government can do and all it should do
towards preservation of equality is to assure equality of
opportunity. And that is what the public school system does,
provides an equality of opportunity by which the high and the low,
the rich and the poor, the clever and the stupid, may have equal
chances to drink from the fountain of knowledge, equal chances to
become well informed men and women, equal opportunity to rise to the
top!
With some of our greatest leaders coming from log cabins, no one in
all the world can say this nation does not practice what it preaches.
The highest gift in the hands of the nation can be and has been given
to a son of plain people, and will again. That equality of
opportunity today has its beginnings in our public school systems.
The Mason who is not interested in those schools, whether or not his
children attend them, the Mason who is not alert to prevent
encroachments upon the system, which some organizations continually
attempt; the Mason who is not a self-constituted watch-dog of
juvenile freedom and the child's right to the best education that
State can provide, has little right to wear the Square and Compasses,
and none to answer "Well!" when in some far-off day a Great Judge
shall ask him, "How Did Ye With Your Obligation as a Freemason?"
Over your head, and mine, waves the most beautiful Flag in all the
world. Its red is the red of the blood shed by selfless men, for the
establishment and the preservation of the Union. Its blue is the
blue of the sky, a symbol of limitless opportunity; the blue of Blue
Lodge Masonry, which first raised the flag aloft and whose hands have
held it high for one hundred and fifty years. Its White Stars and
Stripes symbolize purity; the purity of aim, purity of ideals, purity
of intentions and purity of purpose to sacrifice for the common good.
Let us keep the red unspotted; let us maintain the blue as loyally as
we maintain the sacred institution under whose letter "G" we meet
together; and let us, one and all, from the Worshipful Master in the
East, to the youngest entered Apprentice in the Northeast Corner of
the Lodge, keep the white unspotted, that the government "Of The
People, By The People and For The People Shall Not Perish From The
Earth!"

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IV August, 1926 No.8
FREEDOM OF FAITH
by: Unknown
In America we are proud of the fact that the Church is separate from
the State, and justly so! Our freedom of faith is our most precious
heritage, a thing of priceless worth. Too often we take it for
granted, forgetting what it cost and to whom we are indebted for it.
The right of each man to worship God in the way his heart loves best
is so in keeping with the idea and spirit of Masonry, so much a part
of its genius, that we need to celebrate it anew in the 150th year of
our National Life. If for no other reason, because both directly and
indirectly, our Craft had much to do with it becoming a part of our
Constitution.
Our fathers founded our Republic upon a new basis, reversing the
whole history of mankind. Before that time a country without its
National Church with its Official Creed, was quite unknown. But
America broke new ground, made a new adventure which must be
recognized, by far, the most important since the Reformation, and
even more far-reaching. Such a thing was not done without
difficulty.
Even in Colonial Times, Church and State were one. In New England
the ideal was theocracy, a Church which included the State. In the
South, if the State included the Church, they were none the less
united. Religious liberty was almost unknown, except by those who
defied the law and endured the persecution to enjoy it.
Few realize that prior to the Revolution it was against the law not
to go to Church. It was a crime not to Baptize a child in the
established Church. It was a crime to bring a Quaker into the
colony, and there was a law on the statute books - though, happily
not enforce - that permitted the burning of heretics. Witches had
been burned in New England; Quakers had been hung. Everybody was
required to pay tithes to maintain the Church, and that regardless of
their religious affiliations. Those who failed to do so were thrown
into prison.
Smarting under these infringements on religious liberty, Jefferson
led, and Madison followed, in the fierce struggle to separate Church
and State. To Jefferson, more than to any other man, we owe our
liberty of faith today. The famous law which first forbade any
religious tests for public office was written by Jefferson, and its
principles were embodied in the first amendment to the National
Constitution. The heart of that stature, couched in noble language,
is as follows:
"We, the General Assembly of Virginia, do enact that no man shall be
compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or
ministry whatsoever, nor shall he be enforced, restrained, molested,
or burdened in his body or goods, or shall he otherwise suffer on
account of his religious opinions or beliefs; but that all men shall
be free to profess, and by arguments, to maintain their opinions in
matters of religion; and that the same shall in no wise diminish,
enlarge, or effect their civic capacities."
What seems a natural and inalienable right of man to us today, was a
daring demand in those days. It is a curious fact that while
Jefferson did not differ widely in his religious views from Franklin,
Adams and even Washington; he was singled out for the most savage
attacks for his part in writing the above law, and pressing for its
passage in Virginia - and later, in the Nation. Throughout his life
he was a target of bitter abuse, nor did it cease after his death.
Even the casual reader of the newspapers and pamphlets of that day
knows how Jefferson was lampooned for his fight for liberty of faith.
He was called a "Skeptic," an "Infidel," an "Atheist" - names which
had terrifying meanings in those days - all because he demanded that
each man have the right to hold such religious faith as seemed to him
right and true and good. So much our liberty of faith cost; against
such odds the spirit of tolerance had to make its way.
The writings of Jefferson abound in allusions to his religious views,
which he made no effort to conceal. They also show his familiarity
with the Bible, in which he surpassed any leading man of his time,
not excepting Franklin who was a student of it. The ethics of Jesus
fascinated him. During his first term in the White house he found
time to make a syllabus of the teachings of Jesus compared with the
moral codes of other religions, in which he made a strong case for
the superiority of the ethics of Jesus. In 1816 he wrote to his
friend Thompson of what he had been doing:
"I have mad a wee little book, which I call the Philosophy of Jesus.
It is paradigm of his doctrines, made by cutting the texts out of the
book and arranging them on the pages of a blank book, in a certain
order of time and subject. A more beautiful; and precious morsel of
ethics I have never seen. It is a document in proof that I am a real
Christian, that is, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus."
Yet this was the man denounced as an "Atheist," and held up to scorn
as enemy of God and man, because he held that others had a right to
disagree with him and yet enjoy the honors of citizenship. No wonder
he wrote his confession of faith in the word: "I have sworn upon the
Altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over
the mind of man." Ignorance and intolerance were the two enemies
which he fought all his days, without truce.
From Paris he wrote to George Wythe in 1786: "Preach, my dear sir, a
crusade against ignorance, establish and improve the law for
educating the people." To that end he himself had founded the
University of Virginia, in which there were no religious tests for
professors or pupils. Students of theology were invited to attend
and enjoy the lectures and the library. As he said: "By bringing the
sects together and mixing them with the mass of other students we
shall soften their aspirates. liberalize and neutralize their
prejudices and make the general religion a religion of peace, reason
and sanity."
In his own life Jefferson was brought up in a Church, and was a
fairly regular attendant on its services. As an Architect he planned
at least one church, and gave freely to the erection of others and to
the support of public worship. A lover of the Bible, he gave freely
to Bible Societies. No one ever heard him use an oath, and his
magnanimity was such that he placed a marble bust of his political
antagonist. Hamilton, in the hall of Monticello. Such was the man
who, dying murmured with his last breath, as he sank into sleep the
old, beautiful Bible Prayer: "Now Lettest Thy Servant Depart In
Peace."
While it has not been shown that Jefferson was a Mason, as was at one
time thought, all Masons will honor in the Lodge, and in their
hearts, the man to whom, more than to any other of the men who laid
the foundation of our Republic, we are indebted for the religious
freedom - that is, for the glory of a free Church in a free country.
For it was as much an emancipation for the Church as for the State,
and it has been an unmixed blessing to both.
To have written the Declaration of Political Independence was a great
honor, but not a few will think it an even greater honor to have led
in the achievement of religious independence. It closed a long and
bloody chapter of history; it marked a new era, second only to that
of the advent of Christ among men.
As has been said, Masonry had much to do with it, directly and
indirectly. Directly in that the leaders with whom Jefferson worked
and without whom he would have failed were, most of them, Masons.
And indirectly by virtue of the fact that Masonry does its greatest
work, not by laws and edicts, but by its teachings and influence.
If any one will read the Virginia Statue on religious liberty, and
the first amendment of the Constitution, along side the article on
God and Religion in the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of England in
1732, he will discover that the spirit and purpose of all three
documents are the same. The Masonic Constitution, written more than
fifty years earlier, was one of the ancestors of the other
statements.
Thus by our history, no less than by our Constitution and genius,
Masons are pledged to keep Church and State separated, and to watch
vigilantly every insidious effort to unite the two. Such efforts are
always afoot, disguised in all sorts of ways, but we ought to be able
to detect the wolf even when it wears the white rode of a lamb. It
asks for clear thinking and tireless vigil, but Masons will not fall
asleep and let the work of our fathers be undone.
Just now the whole set of the old world is against the spirit and
ideals of our Republic. Dictators strut to and for, declaring
themselves supermen born to rule their fellows. Heretofore the loss
of political liberty has always been followed by a loss of religious
freedom. The two go together, as our fathers joined them; and what
God hath joined man must not put asunder.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IV September, 1926 No.9
RED
by: Unknown
Often we read in the newspapers of what "The Reds" are doing in far
off Russia. Or we turn the page and find an item telling how they
helped, or tried to help in the English general strike. At that we
prick up our ears, but soon lay the paper aside with a feeling of
relief that it is all remote from our country, and that we are safe
from any such evil.
Down in our hearts we may feel that in old, decaying societies we may
expect to find maggots working, but nothing of the kind can infest
the strong, healthy body of a new, growing nation. Our America is so
vast, so prosperous, so sound that it is immune from such an insane
infection. So in the main, it is, thank God. But are we so sure
that none of the virus's of anarchy, communism or other distemper's
are not at work in America?
The facts are amazing, and The Masonic Service Association proposes
to give them to the Craft - just plain facts without any coloring
other than their own. They will tell their own story; no rhetoric is
needed. Alas, they cannot be told in a brief space, but a few facts
may be recited to show what is going on and how artfully the poison
is being injected into our nation. Others will come later.
Of course the "Reds" do not often work openly in America; it is not
safe or good for their health. They do sometimes, as will soon
appear, prefer to do their job secretly and by stealth, and one is
bound to admire their cleverness. It is uncanny at times, and makes
good folk of altruistic spirit its unconscious dupes. as the Bible
puts it, their cunning deceives "The Very Elect."
For example, every sane man hates war. Especially every Christian
man hates it, because it is the crucifixion of his faith and all of
his ideals. The horrors of the great world conflict made this hatred
of war vivid and burning in the hearts of all men. The Reds know how
to make use of this feeling for their own ends. Every Red is an
ardent advocate of disarmament- for others. They are all innocent
pacifists - on the surface. They are members, if not the leaders, in
all the pacifists societies, of which we have many. Why? They want
the world disarmed - so they can do their work and make a clean job
of it.
So, naturally, the man of God in the pulpit is often an unconscious
helper of his Red enemies. He is sincere, they are not. They use
his noble sentiment to serve their purposes. If he is a fiery
pacifist it is more to their liking. Next to the Church they invade
the schools. They are back of the movement to "Denature" our school
books, and belittle or besmirch the heroes of our history. They call
it "debunking the fathers," and the phrase makes a hit.
All this time this boring from within goes on, secretly, cleverly;
using every art and device of propaganda, now so highly developed.
They make fine phrases and put them in the mouths of thoughtless
speakers, who keep them going automatically, They know the value of
a crisp, striking epigram which cuts both ways.
Take a single instance. A notorious Red, speaking on the Fourth of
July - of all days - cracking the clever epigram, in referring to the
Fathers of our Nation; "The anarchists of yesterday are the patriots
of today." The crowd swallowed it - failing to see that he meant
that Washington, Jefferson and Franklin were anarchists. So it goes,
unscrupulous men making a toy of our thoughtlessness.
But enough generalities; now for some plain facts. In the hearings
before the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization of Congress,
during the present year, one witness was asked by the Chairman":
"You think that an alien has a perfect right to come here and get
into a labor strike, preach communism all he wants to, and advocate
the overthrow of government?"
Reply: - "Yes!"
"Did I understand you to say that an alien has the right to preach
the overthrow of government, and anarchy?" asked the chairman.
Reply: - "Yes!"
"Do you believe a citizen has that right?"
Reply: - "Yes!"
Along with this let us recall the meeting of the "Young Pioneer's
League," held in Philadelphia, under the shadow of Independence Hall.
Delegates from six states attended, and the headquarters from which
literature was sent forth was the "Young Worker's - Friends of Soviet
Russia." For two days young foreigners - most of them - trained in
our schools, denounced the Republic, derided the President, hissed
the Flag, and laid plans to propagate their ideas "In Our Schools!"
Indeed, the Flag of the United States of America was not allowed in
the room! In its place hung the red Flag of the "International" and
under it pictures of Lenin and Trotsky. Fiery speeches were made,
denouncing the Army, Navy, the Constitution and Law, Exhibiting an
astonishing familiarity with the writings of Marx - in the year of
the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence! One
speaker, incidentally, spoke of Deity; using the phrase:
"The Goodness of God."
"Yes, He's Good For Nothing," the audience shouted with roars of
laughter, and the speaker apologized for his mistake.
Each member call the others "Comrade," and all advocated what they
called "The Bolshevization of America." The public schools were held
up to scorn. Even grammar came in for stern criticism as "A System
of Rules Designed to Drug The Mind and Keep It From Thinking." The
question before the house was whether they should carry on their
campaign in the schools. Some thought it sneaking to do so, but it
was finally agreed that the end justifies the means:
"The only Education worth while is the education of Marx and Lenin."
"Get your education from the literature of the Workers."
"No, we've got to learn about the capitalist system from the
capitalists themselves."
"If we stay in the schools we can do more for the cause."
"It is the school principal and the teachers who are sneaks."
These and similar bits were caught from the debate, and all were
reported in the public press - we give only what is of record. The
women wore red dresses, the men and boys red ties. They sang "The
Scarlet Banner" and "The Red Flag" and made a parody on "The Star
Spangled Banner." Glibly they rolled off their tongues, in good,
unaccented English, words like "Soviet," "Strikers," "Communism,"
"The Dictatorship of the Proletariat," and others of a sort.
Hardly a single delegate to the meeting was over twenty years of age.
Nearly all wore foreign names. They were often hilarious in their
glee, singing other songs than the ones already named - these being
the sacred songs of the League, sung with earnestness and solemnity.
Among such songs was one having the following chorus:
Hurrah! Hurrah! We're going to paint her Read! Hurrah! Hurrah!
the way is clear ahead - We're gaining shop democracy and liberty
and bread/ With one big Industrial Union!
So much for the meeting. If it be said that it was only an assembly
of foolish youths, "Blowing Off Steam" - so be it. But such steam is
hardly the kind with which to run a Republic. As a fact it is only
one of many such meetings that go on all the time in our great
cities. The present writer has attended a number of equally wild
ones in New York, at which ribald words were sung to Church Hymns,
ridiculing God, Home, Church and the Republic.
Again it may be contended that the Communists in America are but few
in number, not enough to endanger the nation. Besides, it may be
argued, they would like the publicity of Martyrdom, and are actually
itching to get in the spot light. No doubt; but all the same the
facts ought to be well known in every Masonic Lodge in the land, that
the Craft may Govern itself accordingly. Our business is to find
the facts and report them to the Fraternity for its information, not
as alarmists but in the coolest spirit and the plainest words.
In the old days the Masonic forefathers were alert and vigilant in
watching the nooks and corners for secret foes of the nation. We
must not be less so in our day, when more dangers than we realize are
afoot. The Soviets of Russia regard America as their greatest enemy,
and, thank God, it is. With Europe slowly sinking into despair and
ruin, as it seems to be doing now, America may be the only bulwark
left to defend Liberty under Law.
Any man who can see straight knows that we live in terrible times,
when any thing may happen. If America fails in her faith - fails to
train men to rule themselves and the serve their fellow men - so far
as we can see civilization is doomed. Every Lodge must be an Altar
of light, kept brightly burning to show the path. Too much is a
stake - we cannot take a chance or trust to luck, much less be idle
when evil is busy.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IV October, 1926 No.10
AN ERRING BROTHER
by: Unknown
Next to the word Mother, no word in our language has more meaning and
music in it than the word Brother. It is from above, and it reaches
to the deep places of the heart. It is religion on its human side;
and in it lies the hope of humanity. The highest dream of the
prophets is of a time when men shall be Brothers.
When used Masonically, the word Brother has a depth and tenderness
all its own, unique and is beautiful beyond words. It tells of a
tie, mystical but mighty, which Masonry spins and weaves between man
and man, which no one can define and few can resist. In time of
sorrow it is a tether of sympathy and a link of loyalty.
Of course, like all other words, it is common enough, and may be
glibly used without regard to its real meaning. Like the word God,
it may be a coin worn smooth, or a flower faded. But when its
meaning is actually and fully felt, no other word is needed among us,
except on occasions of high Masonic Ceremony, when we add the word
Worshipful, or some other term of title or rank.
No other word has a finer import or a more ample echo, expressive of
the highest relationship in which dignity and devotion unite. If we
are really Brothers, all the rest may go by the board, save for sake
of ceremony. If we are not truly Brothers, all titles are empty and
of no avail. For that reason, to omit the word Brother when speaking
Masonically is not only a lack of courtesy, but shows a want of
fineness of feeling.
What does the word Brother mean, Masonically? It means the adoption
of a man into an inner circle of friendship, by a moral and spiritual
tie as close and binding as the tie of common birth and blood between
two brothers in a family. Nothing else, nothing less; and this
implies a different attitude the one to the other - related not
distant, united not opposed, natural and unrestrained - wherein are
revealed what the old writers used to call "The Happy and Beneficial
Effects of our Ancient and Honorable Institution."
Since this is so, surely we ought to exercise as much caution and
judgment in bringing a new member into the Lodge as we do in inviting
an outsider into the family circle. Carelessness here is the cause
of most of our Masonic ills, frictions and griefs. Unless we are
assured beyond all reasonable doubt that a man is a brotherly man to
whom Masonry will appeal, and who will justify our choice, we ought
not to propose his name or admit him to our fellowship.
Still, no man is perfect; and the Lodge is a moral workshop in which
the rough Ashlar is to be polished for use and beauty. If the Lodge
had been too exacting, none of us would have gained admission. At
best we must live together in the Lodge, as elsewhere, by Faith, Hope
and Charity; else Masonry will be a failure. The Brotherly Life may
be difficult, but it is none the less needful. Our faith in another
way may be repelled, or even shattered - what then?
Nothing in life is sadder than the pitiful moral breakdowns of good
men, their blunders and brutalities. Who knows his own heart, or
what he might do under terrible trial or temptation? Often enough
qualities appear or emerge of which neither man himself or his
friends were aware, and there is a moral wreck. Some "Defect of Will
or Taint of Blood," some hidden yellow streak, some dark sin shows
itself, and there is disaster. A man highly respected and deeply
loved goes down suddenly like a tree in a storm, and we discover
under the smooth bark that the inside was rotten. What shall we do?
Of course, in cases of awful crime the way is plain, but we have in
mind the erring Brother who does injury to himself, his Brother or
the Lodge. An old Stoic teacher gave a good rule, showing us that
much depends on the handle with which we take hold of the matter. If
we say, "My Brother has INJURED me," it will mean one thing. If we
say, "My BROTHER has injured Me," it will mean another; and that is
what the Brotherly Life means, if it means anything.
Every Master of a Lodge knows how often he is asked to arraign a
Brother, try him and expel him from the Fraternity. It is easy to be
angry and equally easy to be unjust. If he is a wise Master, he will
make haste slowly. There is need of tact, patience; and, above all
sympathy - since all good men are a little weak and a little strong,
a little good and a little bad; and anyone may lose his way, befogged
by passion or bewitched by evil. It is a joy to record that Masons,
for the most part, are both gentle and wise in dealing with a Brother
who has stumbled along the way. Masonic charity is not a myth; it is
one of the finest things on earth.
What shall we do? If we see a Brother going wrong in Masonry, or in
anything else - "Spoiling his Work," as the old Masons used to say -
well, we must take him aside and talk to him gently, man to man,
Brother to Brother; and show him the right way. He may be ignorant,
weak or even ugly of spirit - driven by some blind devil as all of us
are apt to be - and if so our tact and Brotherly kindness may be
tested and tried; but more often than otherwise we can win him back
to sanity.
Have you heard a tale about a Brother, a suggestion of a doubt, an
innuendo about his character, some hearsay story not to his credit?
If so, did you stand up for him, ask for proof, or invite suspension
of judgment until the facts could be heard; remembering that it is
your duty as a Mason to defend a Brother in his absence? Such things
are seldom said in his presence. It is not fair to tell him what is
being said and learn his side of the tale? If we fail in our duty in
such matters we fail of being a true Brother.
When we have learned the truth and have to face the worst, what then?
Long ago we knew an old Mason, long since gone to the Great Lodge,
who was chided by a Brother for continuing to trust a man they both
knew was taking advantage of the kindness shown him. The old man
replied:
"Yes, but you never know; I may touch the right chord in is heart
yet. He is not wholly bad, and some day, perhaps when I'm dead and
gone, he will hear the music and remember." And he did!
Hear the music? Ah, if we would hear it we must listen and wait,
after we have touched "the right chord." And if the right chord is
"In Us" something in him will respond, if he be not utterly dead of
soul! If he does respond, then you will have gained a friend who
will stick closer than a Brother. If he does not respond - and,
alas, sometimes they do not - then we must admit, with a heart bowed
down, that we have done our best, and failed. Some inherent failing,
some blind spot, has led him astray, dividing him from us by a gulf
we cannot bridge.
So a Mason should treat his Brother who goes astray; not with
bitterness, nor yet with good-natured easiness, nor with worldly
indifference, nor with philosophic coldness; but with pity, patience
and loving-kindness. A moral collapse is a sickness, loss, dishonor
in the immortal part of man. It is the darkest disaster, worse than
death, adding misery to guilt. We must deal faithfully but tenderly,
firmly but patiently with such tragedies.
It is facts such as these which show us what charity, in a far deeper
sense than monitory gifts, really means. It is as delicate as it is
difficult in that we are all men of like passions and temptations.
We all have that within us which, by a twist of perversion, might
lead to awful ends. Perhaps we have done acts, which, in proportion
to the provocation, are less excusable than those of a Brother who
grieves us by his sin. "Judge not lest ye yourselves be judged."
Truly it was a wise saying, not less true today than when the old
Greek uttered it long ago, "Know Thyself." Because we do not know
ourselves, it behooves us to put ourselves under the spell of all the
influences God is using for the making of men, among which the Spirit
of Masonry is one of the gentlest, wisest and most benign. If we let
it have its way with us it will build us up in virtue, honor and
charity; softening what is hard and strengthening what is weak.
If an erring Brother must be condemned, he must also be deeply
pitied. God pities him; Christ died for him; Heaven waits to welcome
him back with joy. He has done himself a far deeper injury than he
has done anyone else. In pity, prayer and pain let our hearts beat
in harmony with all the powers God is using for his recovery. "There
remaineth Faith, Hope and Charity; but the greatest of these is
Charity."

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IV November, 1926 No.11
LETTER PERFECT
by: Unknown
"We put too much emphasis on Ritual, and not enough on the higher
things in Masonry!"
How often have we heard that said; how often some of us have said it!
A statement which has the ring of authority often passes for fact.
So accustomed are we to the voice of the boss, the law or the
minister that we get out of the habit of questioning, "Is it True?"
Yet it will be of use to us here to question closely and ascertain if
too much emphasis "IS" put upon ritual.
It is easy enough to state what Ritual is - certain words arranged in
a certain way, which have come down to us, so we say, from time
"Immemorial" and by means of which we confer degrees, and impart
Masonic teachings to novices, and incidentally, to the brethren who
attend lodge. But when we ask "Why is Ritual?" the answer is not so
easy.
We have before us constantly the example set by school, college,
tutor and student; knowledge is knowledge whether given in a set form
or otherwise. "Twice two is equal to four" is no more true than is
"four is the product of two multiplied by two." We can say two time
two, or twice two, two by two; and express exactly the same truth.
We learn no words by rote, when we study history. The medical
student learns geography of the body, but not the heart. Everywhere
it is shown to us that real knowledge does not depend upon a certain
form of words, and that it is the fact, not the word, which is the
important thing.
Why, then. this insistence upon an exact memorization of the "Words"
of the Ritual? Why do we lay so much stress upon the successful
employment of a mighty memory? Why do we insist that those who
confer degrees should spend painful hours in long and arduous study
in order that certain sentences, often of an involved and old-
fashioned construction, may be uttered in a certain way only, and
only in a certain way for the instruction of candidates?
Yet there are several reason why Ritual is important.
Let us examine and see for ourselves that there really are
explanations of the need for memorization.
One of the great appeals of Freemasonry, both to the profane and the
initiate, is its antiquity. The Order can trace an unbroken history
of more than two hundred years in its present form (the first Grand
Lodge was formed in 1717), and has irrefutable documentary evidence
of a much longer existence in simpler forms. There is very complete
circumstantial evidence that Freemasonry is the legitimate and only
heir to guilds, societies, organizations and systems of teaching
which run so far back into the past that they are lost in the mists
which shroud antiquity.
Our present Rituals - the plural is used advisedly, as no two
jurisdictions are exactly at one with another on what is correct in
Ritual - are source books from which we prove just where we came
from, and, to some extent, just when. For instance, the penalties
are so obviously taken from some of the early English Laws, that no
sensible student can believe that they were invented or fist used,
let us say, in the time of King Solomon.
If we alter our Ritual, either intentionally or by poor memorization,
we gradually lose the many references concealed in our words and
sentences, which tell the story of where we came and when.
It is a beautiful thing to do as all have done who have gone this way
before us. To say the same words, take the same obligations, repeat
the same ceremonies that Washington underwent, gives us feeling of
kinship with the Father of this country which no non-Mason may have,
But this we must lose if we change our Ritual, little by little,
altering it by poor work; forgetting or leaving words out.
Time is relative to the observer; what is very slow to the man may be
very rapid to nature. Nature has all the time there is. To drop out
a word here, put in a new one there, eliminate this sentence and add
that one to our Ritual - a very few score of years - the old Ritual
will be entirely altered and become something new.
We have a confirmation of this. Certain parts of the Ritual are
printed. The expressions in these printed paragraphs are,
practically and universally the same in most of our jurisdictions.
Occasionally there is a variation, showing where some Committee on
Work and Lectures has not been afraid to change the work of the
Fathers. But, as a whole, the printed portion of our work is
substantially what it was when it was first composed and phrased,
probably by Preston and Dermott. But the "Secret Work," given
between portions of the printed work, is very different in many of
our jurisdictions. Some of these differences, of course, are
accounted for by different original sources, yet even in two
jurisdictions which had the same source of Freemasonry and originally
had the same work, we found variations, showing that "Mouth To Ear"
no matter how secret it may be, is not a wholly accurate way of
transmitting words.
If then, in spite of us, alterations creep in by the slow process of
time and human fallibility, how much faster will the Ritual change if
we are careless, indifferent, or in open rebellion against
established Masonic tradition? The further away we get from our
original source, the more meticulously careful must trustworthy
Masons be to pass on to posterity the work exactly as we received it.
The Mason of olden time could go to his source for re-inspiration and
re-instruction - we cannot.
Ritual is the thread which binds us to those who immediately preceded
us, as their Ritual bound them to their fathers, our grandfathers.
The Ritual we hand down to our sons, and their son's sons, will be
their bond with us, and through us, with the historic dead. To alter
that bond intentionally is to wrong those who come after us, even as
we have been wronged where those who preceded us were care-less or
inefficient in their memorization and rendition of the Ritual.
It is not for us to say "This Form of Words is Better Because They
are Plainer," any more than it is for us to say that we can build a
"Better" Temple than Solomon erected, or write a "Better" document
than the Constitution of the United States.
"But we amend the Constitution!" some brother may argue. Aye, we
amend it, but we do not alter it. We keep the old, just as it was
written, and write our amendments separately, And we have been
obliged to amend the Masonic procedure of our progenitors in many
ways. Modern times require modern methods. But we can add to our
procedure without changing our Ritual. Every Masonic Book on symbol-
ism is an addition, but it is not a change. Every lecture delivered
by a student of Masonry may open up a new vision, but it is not a
change in the old. To amplify, explain, expound is but to give that
"Good and Wholesome Instruction" which a Master is sworn to do, but
all that may be done without in any way altering the fundamentals of
our methods of teaching.
But there is a great and more important reason than any of these.
Freemasonry is not a thing, but a system of thought. It is not
something that may be bought or sold - it can only be won. We may
not wrap up Freemasonry in a package and give to an initiate. All we
can do is to lead him to the gate, beyond which lies the field which
he may till, the mine in which he may dig, the treasure house from
which he may help himself.
Our duty is to lead him so that the way is clear - to give him
instructions in such a way that he cannot miss the path. This we do
by our ceremonies, our Ritual. In our Ritual is contained the germ
of all those philosophical and moral truths which Freemasonry
teaches. In our Ritual is at least one explanation of our symbols.
In the Ritual are the real secrets of Freemasonry made plain for
those who have ears to hear.
If we memorize our Ritual badly, we put the emphasis on the way we
say it, not on what we say. If we omit or interpolate, we change the
instructions which generations of Masons have found to be effective.
If we do not pass on to others what we have received, just as we have
received it we handicap those who profess to teach, and thus can have
no right to complain if they do not become good Masons, but merely
lodge members.
A candidate comes among us, knowing nothing of the Fraternity beyond
the fact that it is an association of men in an Order which has had
the approbation of leaders of men for hundreds of years. Upon the
impression we make upon him when he takes his degrees will depend not
only the kind of Mason he becomes, but in some respects, the judgment
the world will make of Masonry, since it can only judge of the
institution from the individual.
The impression make upon him will depend very largely on the
character of the work we do - the care and attention we have given to
its preparation - the ease with which the dear old words come from
our hearts and lips.
Any one, with time and attention, can memorize Ritual.
But it is not enough merely to know it and deliver it so it sounds,
as something learned by rote, parrot like, unimpressive. We may not
speak as an orator speaks; we may not have his personality and the
impressiveness of the actor, but we all can, if we only will, attain
the perfec-tion of letter-knowledge; we can learn our Ritual so that
it becomes a part of us, and give it forth with ease and clarity, if
not with fire and force. The vast majority of Ritualists are but
indifferent elocutionists; Freemasonry neither expects nor extracts a
very high standard of delivery from us, her servants. But to make up
for that which nature has denied us, we owe to Freemasonry that
willingness to study, that care in preparation, that interest in
perfection which alone will enable us to pass on to these who are to
be our Brothers, her teachings, her instructions, the Holy fire
concealed in her old, old words.
Be not discourage then, if Ritual "Comes Hard." Fail not in the
task, nor question that it is worth while, for on what we do, and on
the way in which we do it depends in a large measure the Freemasonry
of the future. As we do well or ill, so will those who come after us
do ill or well.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IV December, 1926 No.12
POWER AND THE GLORY
by: Unknown
PROLOGUE
"I am much discouraged," said the Worshipful Master of the Little
Lodge over the Store, sorrowfully. "I can't see that our Lodge
amounts to anything. We don't get anywhere. The members don't
attend as well as they might. We haven't any power or influence any
more. The big city Lodges do a great work, but what can a little
country-town Lodge like this do? What does it really amount to?"
THE WIDOW'S TESTIMONY
Mrs. Cecily Evans, adjusting her black hat and patting the white
cuffs on her black gown, with some melancholy pleasure that the signs
of mourning were spotless as well as inexpensive, walked from her
little home on Spring Road towards Higbee's. She went every day to
Higbee's, not that she really expected a letter, but because John had
so loved to go for the mail and chat with the townsfolk while the
letters were being distributed in the boxes. Anything that had to do
with John was precious to Cecily . . poor John! Too young to die,
too strong to give up, too fine to lose . . . and yet he had gone.
There was little John, and littler Cecily, to remember him by, . . .
but, alas, little John and littler Cecily had mouths to feed and feet
to shoe and wants to satisfy. And the little home was only just in
the process of being bought. Of course, every one was very kind, but
business is business in Littleville as well as in New York. As Mr.
Burton, the banker, explained to her, with infinite kindness and
patience, and a suspicious mist in his old eyes, strangers had bought
the mortgage and they had to be paid. Cecily knew Mr. Burton for a
kind and just man, but "Business is Business." And Cecily didn't
want charity. She wanted opportunity. She wanted something to do .
. . something besides the little vegetable garden and the chickens .
. . something besides an occasional boarder, or the section hands
whose dinner she was so glad to prepare and sell for so little money
because it represented a mite towards that devastating interest which
must, somehow be met . . . and those little shoes which wore out, oh,
so fast; the small wants which are small only to those who have
plenty, so big to sore-beset mothers. "I mustn't Give Up . . . I
must be brave. John always said I was brave," she choked back the
tears as she entered the little town. "He wouldn't want his friends
to see that I was not brave. But oh, if I can't get some more to do,
and the little home has to go . . . what shall I do? What shall . .
. Good afternoon, Mrs. Brown. Yes it is a lovely day, isn't it? Oh,
I'm doing pretty well, thank you . . . yes, they are both well . . .
She passed on down the street, Hiram Bent's little garage . . . John
had the flivver mended there, George Merton's house . . . John had
sold it for Merton. The Nonpareli Pool Parlor . . . John used to
play there once in a while. Jessup's . . .John had bought the parlor
carpet at Jessup's. . . .
"What will I do? What can I do? If I hadn't the children . . . she
whispered.
Garry's store . . . the lodge room over it, the Square and Compasses,
dingy with time and the need of paint. "Masonic Temple, A.F. & A.M."
was hardly legible on the front. John was so fond of the lodge.
John had found inspiration and courage in the lodge. That time he
was sick, and the lodge had settled his note at the bank . . . what
fun they had saving to pay it back. The time John, Jr., was born and
that funny Worshipful Master, with his labored speech of presentation
of the little silver spoon . . . but what a kind, good speech . . .
"John would be ashamed of me," cried Cecily to herself.
"Nothing can happen to me! The lodge won't let it happen. The lodge
loved John, even as John loved the lodge." She would never ask them
for help, praise God, if her strength held out, but oh, wasn't it
wonderful to know of that great, strong, silent Ancient Institution
that loved men, and taught them to care for the widowed and the
fatherless?
THE FATHER'S TESTIMONY
"But can't you do anything about it?" Lawyer Higgins protests
vigorously to Frank Mortimer. He spoke in a low tone, because the
street was crowded . . . crowded for Littleville, that is.
"What can I do?" answered the father. "He's in jail.
They won't take bail. He writes me not to come, not to try do
anything. He tells me he is entirely innocent, and that the truth
will come out, surely. And, Haines, I believe him. He's a good boy.
He never stole even candy when he was a little fellow. He's been a
real comfort . . . writes every week. I know he's not guilty, but a
father is so helpless, so many miles away . . ."
"Have you done nothing?"
"I did everything I could," the father protested. "I wired him he
could have all the money he needed; he didn't need any. He wrote
that one of the Vice-Presidents in the bank, who believes in him, had
gotten him a good lawyer. I tried to think of something else, and
then remembered I hadn't done the most important thing. So I wrote
to the Master of the Lodge I know in Big-Burg. He went to see the
lad right away and he writes me every day. You know, Haines,
sometimes I have thought that Freemasonry is too good for human
beings, but it's times like these, when all you have and love is in
danger and you don't know which way to turn, that you thank God most
for it. I can't even pass the old Temple . . . what a disgraceful
condition that paint is in . . . without taking off my hat. You'll
never know what a comfort that old place has been in this darkest
hour . . ."
THE BLIND BROTHER'S TESTIMONY
"Coming Father! Be there in just a minute. You can hear me if you
listen well . . . I'm on the last row now. Just one more pitcher and
they'll all be watered. Then the best Daddy in the world will have a
rose tomorrow!" The brave young voice was cheerful.
"Don't hurry child. I can wait," answered the blind man.
He could wait. Daniel Borden had learned to wait. They all learn to
wait, those who live in darkness. When the eyes close while life is
warm and red in the body, the man inside learns patience in the
hardest of schools. Daniel had learned quickly. It was only two
years since he went blind. He had no preparation, as do those who
suffer from disease, or cataracts, or just old age. Filling the car
with gas, a lightning flash, a fire . . . and not the best doctor in
the biggest of the cities could bring back the seared eye balls.
He rebelled, sometimes. The blind do at times, especially the newly
made blind. Those who are old in the Big Black Dark learn to keep
their rebellion to themselves. For nature must have compensations,
and the high pride of living through the worst of human afflictions
with a smile, and a head carried erect, makes them conquer the
rebellion, outwardly at least. Besides, there was Rose, his wife,
and Emily, his daughter . . . pretty Emily! How dainty she was, and
how sunny! No man could be wholly blue who had an Emily. But it was
hard not to see her face . . . never to look forward to seeing it
again . . .
"Here I am Daddy!" his daughter touched him on the arm.
"All ready? You don't mind if we walk down town do you? I have some
shopping I want to do."
"Of course not, child. What does it matter where I walk . . . as
long as I am walking with you?" he added in a gallant effort to take
the bitter sting from the words. "I want a cigar too."
"There's Mrs. Saunders, driving two pigs down the road," Emily
chattered. "There are a couple of sparrows fighting on a wire, hear
'em? Oh, Daddy, I heard an airplane this morning. I couldn't locate
it at all. Must have been too high up. If you had been with me,
you'd have told me just which way to look. Good morning, Mr. Sellers
. . . yes, always in the afternoon. I need the exercise, so Daddy
makes me walk. Daddy, I do believe Tom King has a new car. Listen,
you can tell by the sound of the motor . . .
She was always like that. Trying so hard to make ears important
instead of eyes! Any man ought to be glad . . . but, oh, what can
man do without eyes? Supposed anything happened to him, before he
got enough together? He could still practice law, but slowly . . .
how long would he have? And neither wife nor daughter were strong,
and they were newcomers to the town; they had friends, in the common
sense of the word, but how many real friends? To whom could they
turn for real help if . . . if . . .
"Daddy, if you don't get up on your hind feet and tell that old lodge
of yours to paint the front of that hall over the store, I'm coming
down some day and paint it myself!" cried Emily. "The idea! Why,
you'd hardly know it was the same Fraternity you belonged to back
home! I . . . "
"Masonry isn't expressible in paint, little daughter," smiled Daniel.
"I can't explain to you, but . . . that's a wonderful lodge to me."
"Is it? How Come?" she asked.
"I am in it," Daniel answered simply. "I belong to it.
It belongs to me. No lodge takes Freemasonry from a man who has once
seen the Light, merely because he loses his sight. And when I go
there, I still see the Light, though I cannot see the lights. You
don't understand, do you? But it's a great comfort . . .a great
comfort. And I can't see whether it needs paint or not! I'm glad .
. . Oh, I'm very glad for the little lodge, paint or no paint. It
means a lot to a fellow who doesn't know just what would happen . .
. I'll wait right in the middle of the door there, if you want, while
you do your shopping . . . "
THE SECRETARY'S TESTIMONY
Thomas Morrow had been Secretary of the Little Lodge over the store
for thirty-nine years. He looked just as a Secretary of the age and
experience always does look. He had a kindly face, shrewd blue eyes,
wore gold-rim spectacles, was rather thin and a little stooped and
was very patient . . . he who bears with many Worshipful Master of
many minds must be so.
Brother Morrow had two of the several Masonic virtues developed to
the n'th power. He knew how to keep silent, and he understood the
helping hand, whether it reached for a quarter for a beggar, a check
for a charity, or support for the faltering. Which was why he knew
something that no one else in Littleville knew, except the Minister;
he knew that Jed Parsons, whose farm was six miles away, came to
Littlev-ille regularly once a week, got the key of the old Temple
from the Secretary, and spent an hour in the deserted Lodge Room.
Jed couldn't have told, if you asked him, why he did it. Jed was one
of the world's inarticulate; one of the men who cannot say what they
feel. "Its like this," explained the Secretary to the Minister.
"You know Jed's wife didn't get along with him . . . city girl, she
was. I don't know whose fault it was. Maybe it was Jed's fault.
But I do know it broke his heart when she ran away with another man.
That's why he comes to the Lodge Room. It comforts him, somehow . .
. he just goes in there and sits, and sits . . . maybe he prays, I
dunno."
THE OLD BROTHER'S TESTIMONY
Squire Bently passed down Main Street. He was an old man, now,
almost eighty. He had walked down Main Street every fair day for ten
years, on his way to the burying ground. Mrs. Bently and two sons
were there; the Squire was alone in the world. Most of Littleville
didn't quite understand why its leading citizen was so happy. There
were so many reasons why he shouldn't be . . . the much-loved wife,
the two adored boys, gone . . . the lonely house, the great big house
which had been so lively for so many years, now so silent and empty .
. .
But Squire Bently was happy. It was a quiet happiness, and a kindly
one. There were some who understood part of it . . . the Minister
knew that it was a strong faith and a hope which kept the old face
smiling. But none connected the strength which could win through a
devastating grief with the walk down Main Street. It was a little
longer walk to get to the burying ground that way. But, of course,
Main Street was lively and interesting. Doubtless that was the
reason.
Like many who are old, Squire Bently talked often to himself. Never
where he could be overheard, of course. Had there been any to
overhear, they would have heard nothing worth reporting.
"There it is. It does need paint," he said slowly to himself. "The
Old Lodge doesn't grow very much. But it's all Masonic, and . . .
what would I have done without Masonry? Of course, the Church
teaches it, and the Great Light tells of it, but Masonry makes it a
part of you. In the Grand Lodge Above, the boys are standing at the
door, waiting. Milly is waiting there, too. Wonder if the Great
Architect of the Universe lets women into the Grand Lodge Above, or
if He has an Eastern Star Chapter for them?" Squire Bently smiled at
the thought. "Sprig of Acacia . . . merits of the Lion of the Tribe
of Judah . . . I don't know how men who lose everything . . . get
through without their lodge to think about, the touch of the
Brethren's hands to help them on, the certainty of the hereafter that
Freemasonry teaches . . . I must put something in my will to give
them a start for a new coat of paint. It won't be long now . . .
dear old lodge . . . "
EPILOGUE
Maybe it is a part of the Great Plan, that Brethren cannot see, as
sees the All Seeing Eye, the use, the influence, the Power and the
Glory, of the littlest, poorest, and most insignificant of Lodges!

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.V January, 1927 No.1
SECRECY
by: Unknown
An old Greek philosopher, when asked what he regarded as the most
valuable quality to win and the most difficult to keep, he replied:
"To be Secret and Silent." If secrecy was difficult in the olden
times, it is doubly difficult today, in the loud and noisy world in
which we live, where privacy is almost unknown.
Secrecy is, indeed, a priceless but rare virtue, so little effort is
made to teach and practice it. The world of today is a whispering
gallery where everything is heard, a hall of mirrors where nothing is
hid. If the ancient worshipped a God of silence, we seem about to
set up an Altar to the God of Gossip.
Some one has said that if Masonry did no more than train its men to
preserve sacredly the secrets of others confided to them as such -
except where a higher duty demands disclosure - it would be doing a
great work, and one which not only justifies its existence, but
entitles it to the respect of mankind.
Anyway, no Mason needs to be told the value of secrecy.
Without it, Masonry would cease to exist, or else become something so
different from what it is as to be unrecognizable. For that reason,
if no other, the very first lesson taught a candidate, and impressed
upon him at every turn in unforgettable ways, is the duty of secrecy.
Yet, strictly speaking, Masonry is not a secret society, if by that
we mean a society whose very existence is hidden. Everybody knows
that the Masonic Fraternity exists, and no effort is made to hide
that fact. Its organization is known; its Temples stand in our
cities; its members are proud to be know as Masons. Anyone may
obtain from the records of a Grand Lodge, if not from the printed
reports of Lodges, the names of the members of the Craft.
Nor can it be said that Masonry has any secret truth to teach,
unknown to the best wisdom of the race. Most of the talk about
esoteric Masonry misses the mark. When the story is told the only
secret turns out to be some odd theory, some fanciful philosophy, of
no real importance. The wisdom of Masonry is hidden, not because it
is subtle, but because it is simple. Its secret is profound, not
obscure.
As in mathematics, there are primary figures, and in music
fundamental notes, upon which everything rests, so Masonry is built
upon the broad, deep, lofty truths upon which life itself stands. It
lives, moves, and has its being in those truths. They are mysteries,
indeed, as life and duty and death are mysteries; to know them is to
be truly wise; and to teach them in their full import is the ideal at
which Masonry aims.
Masonry, then, is not a secret society; it is a private order. In
the quiet of the tiled lodge, shut away from the noise and clatter of
the world, in an air of reverence and friendship, it teaches us the
truths that make us men, upon which faith and character must rest if
they are to endure the wind and weather of life. So rare is its
utter simplicity that to many it is as much a secret as though it
were hid behind a seven-fold veil, or buried in the depths of the
earth.
What is the secret in Masonry? The "Method" of its teaching, the
atmosphere it creates, the spirit it breaths into our hearts, and the
tie it spins and weaves between men; in other words, the lodge and
its ceremonies and obligations, its signs. tokens and words - its
power to evoke what is most secret and hidden in the hearts of men.
No one can explain how this is done. We only know that it is done,
and guard as a priceless treasure the method by which it is wrought.
It is the fashion of some to say that our ceremonies, signs and
tokens are of little value; but it is not true. They are of profound
importance, and we cannot be too careful in protecting them from
profanation and abuse. The famous eulogy of the signs and tokens of
Masonry by Benjamin Franklin was not idle eloquence. It is justified
by the facts, and ought to be known and remembered:
"These signs and tokens are of no small value; they speak a universal
language, and act as a password to the attention and support of the
initiated in all parts of the world. They cannot be lost so long as
memory retains its power. Let the possessor of them be expatriated,
ship-wrecked or imprisoned; let him be stripped of everything he has
in the world; still these credentials remain and are available for
use as circumstances require.
"The great effects which they have produced are established by the
most incontestable facts of history. They have stayed the uplifted
hand of the Destroyer; they have softened the aspirates of the
tyrant; they have mitigated the horrors of captivity; they have
subdued the rancor of malevolence; and broken down the barriers of
political animosity and sectarian alienation.
"On the field of battle, in the solitude of the uncultivated forests,
or in the busy haunts of the crowded city, they have made men of the
most hostile feelings, and most distant religions, and the most
diversified conditions, rush to the aid of each other, and feel a
social joy and satisfaction that they have been able to afford relief
to a brother Mason."
What is equally true, and no less valuable, is that in the ordinary
walks of everyday life they unite men and hold them together in a
manner unique and holy. They open a door out of the loneliness in
which every man lives. They form a tie uniting us to help one
another, and others, in ways too many to name or count. They form a
net-work of fellowship, friendship, and fraternity around the world.
They add something lovely and fine to the life of each of us, without
which we should be poorer indeed.
Still let us never forget that it is the spirit that gives life; the
letter alone is empty. An old home means a thousand beautiful things
to those who were brought up in it. Its very scenery and setting are
sacred. The ground on which it stands is holy. But if a stranger
buys it, these sacred things mean nothing to him. The spirit is
gone, the glory has faded. Just so with the lodge. If it were
opened to the curious gaze of the world, its beauty would be
blighted, its power gone.
The secret of Masonry, like the secret of life, can be known only by
those who seek it, serve it and live it. It cannot be uttered; it
can only be felt and acted. It is, in fact, an open secret, and each
man knows it according to his quest and capacity. Like all the
things most worth knowing, no one can know it for another and no one
can know it alone. It is known only in fellowship, by the touch of
life upon life, spirit upon spirit, knee to knee, breast to breast
and hand to hand.
For that reason, no one need be alarmed about any book written to
expose Masonry. It is utterly harmless. The real secret of Masonry
cannot be learned by prying eyes or curious inquiry. We do well to
protect the privacy of the lodge; but the secret of Masonry can be
known only by those who are ready and worthy to receive it. Only a
pure heart and an honest mind can know it, though they be adepts in
all signs and tokens of every rite of the Craft.
Indeed, so far from trying to hide its secret, Masonry is all the
time trying to give it to the world, in the only way in which it can
be given, through a certain quality of soul and character which it
labors to create and build up. To the making of men, helping self-
discovery and self development, all the offices of Masonry are
dedicated. It is a quarry in which the rough stones of manhood are
polished for use and beauty.
If Masonry uses the illusion of secrecy, it is because it knows that
it is the nature of man to seek what is hidden and to desire what is
forbidden. Even God hides from us, that in seeking Him amid the
shadows of life we may find both Him and ourselves. The man who does
not care enough for God to seek Him will never find Him, though He is
not far away from any one of us.
One who looks at Masonry in this way will find that his Masonic life
is a great adventure. It is a perpetual discovery. There is
something new at every turn, something new in himself as life deepens
with the years; something new in Masonry as its meaning unfolds. The
man who finds its degrees tedious and its Ritual a rigmarole only
betrays the measure of his own mind.
If a man knows God and man to the uttermost, even Masonry has nothing
to teach him. As a fact the wisest man knows very little. The way
is dim and no one can see very far. We are seekers after truth, and
God has so made us that we cannot find the truths alone, but only in
the love and service of our fellow men. Here is the real secret, and
to learn it is to have the key to the meaning and joy of life.
Truth is not a gift; it is a trophy. To know it we must be true, to
find it we must seek, to learn it we must be humble; and to keep it
we must have a clear mind, a courageous heart, and the brotherly love
to use it in the service of man.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.V February, 1927 No.2
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT
by: Unknown
For some of us nothing in Masonry is more impressive than its very
first rite, after an initiate has told "In Whom Do You Put Your
Trust." It may be easily overlooked, but not to see it is to miss a
part of that beauty we were sent to seek.
Surely he is a strange man who can witness it without deep feeling.
The initiate is told that he can neither foresee nor prevent danger,
but that he is in the hands of a true and trusty friend in whose
fidelity he can, with safety, confide. It is literally true of the
candidate, as it is of all of us.
As a ceremony it may mean nothing, as a symbol it means everything,
if we regard initiation as we should, as a picture of a man pursuing
the journey of life, groping his dim and devious way out of the
unreal into the real, out of darkness into light, out of the shadows
into the way of life everlasting.
So groping, yet gently guided and guarded, man sets out on a mystic
journey on an unseen road, traveling from the West to the East, and
then from the East to the West by way of the South, seeking a city
that hath foundations, where truth is known in fullness and life
reveals both its meaning and its mystery. How profoundly true it is
of the way we all must walk.
From the hour we are born till we are laid in our grave we grope our
way in the dark, and none could find or keep the path without a
guide. From how many ills, how many perils, how many pitfalls we are
guarded in the midst of the years! With all our boasted wisdom and
foresight, even when we fancy we are secure we may be in the presence
of dire danger, if not death itself.
Truly it does not lie within a man to direct his path, and without a
true and trusted Friend in whom he can confide, not one of us would
find his way home. So Masonry teaches us, simply but unmistakably,
at the first step as at the last, that we live and walk by Faith, not
by sight; and to know that fact is the beginning of wisdom. Since
this is so, since no man can find his way alone, in life as in the
lodge we must with humility trust our Guide, learn His ways, follow
Him and fear no danger. Happy is the man who has learned that
secret.
No wonder this simple rite is one of the oldest and most universal
known among men. In all lands, in all ages, as far back as we have
record, one may trace it, going back to the days when man thought the
sun was God, or at least His visible outshining, whose daily journey
through the sky, from East to the West by way of the South, he
followed in his faith and worship, seeking to win the favor of the
Eternal by imitating his actions and reproducing His ways upon earth.
In Egypt, in India, in Greece, it was so. In the East, among the
Magi, the priest walked three times around the Altar, keeping it to
his right, chanting hymns, as in the Lodge we recite words from the
Book of Holy Law. Some think the Druids had the same rite, which is
why the stones at Stonehenge are arranged in circular form about a
huge altar; and no doubt it is true.
What did man mean by the old and eloquent rite? All the early
thought of man was mixed up with magic, and he is not yet free from
it. One finds traces of it even in our own day. By magic is meant
the idea that by imitating the ways of God we can actually control
Him and make Him do what we want done. It is a false idea, but it
still clings to much of our religion, as when men imagine that by
saying so many prayers that they have gained so much merit.
Masonry is not magic; it is moral science. In the Lodge we are
taught that we must learn the way and will of God, not in order to
use Him for our ends, but the better to be used by Him for His ends.
The difference may seem slight at first, but it is really the
difference between a true and a false faith - between religion and
superstition. Much of the religion of today is sheer superstition,
in which magic takes the place of morals. In Masonry morality has
first place, and no religion is valid without it.
As might be expected, a rite so old, so universal, so profoundly
simple, has had many meanings read into it.. The more the better; as
a great teacher said of the Bible, the more meanings we find in it
the richer we are. Some find in this old and simple rite a parable
of the history of Masonry itself, which had its origin in the East
and journeyed to the West, bringing the oldest wisdom of the world to
bless and guide the newest lands.
Others see in it a symbol of the story of humanity, in its slow,
fumbling march up out of savagery into the light of civilization; and
it does lend itself to such a meaning. Often the race has seemed to
be marching round and round, moving but making no progress; but that
is only seeming. It does advance, in spite of the difficulties and
obstructions in its path.
Still other think that it is a parable of the life of each
individual, showing our advance from youth with its rising sun in the
East, which reaches its zenith in the meridian splendor of the South,
and declines with the falling daylight to old age in the West. It is
thus an allegory of the life of man upon the earth, its progress and
its pathos, and it is true to fact.
All of these meanings are true and beautiful; but there is another
and deeper meaning taught us more clearly in the old English Rituals
than in our own. It offers us an answer to the persistent questions:
What am I? Whence Came I? Whither Go I? It tells us that the west
is the symbol of this world; the East of the world above and beyond.
Hence the colloquy in the first degree:
"As a Mason, whence do you come?"
"From the West."
"Whiter do you journey?"
"To the East."
"What is your inducement?"
"In quest of light."
That is, man supposes that his life originated in this world, and he
answers accordingly. But that is because he is not properly
instructed; he has not yet learned the great secret that the soul,
our life-star, had elsewhere its setting and comes from beyond this
world of sense and time. It is only sent into this dim world of
sense and shadow for discipline and development - sent to find
itself. So, in the Third degree, the answers are different, for by
that time the initiate has been taught a higher truth:
"Whence do you come?"
"From the East."
"Whither are you wending?"
"To the West."
"What is your inducement?"
"To find that which is lost."
"Where do you hope to find it?"
"In the center."
Ah, here is real insight and understanding, to know which is to have
a key to much that we do and endure in our life on earth; much which
otherwise remains a riddle. Our life here in time and flesh is a
becoming, a chance to find ourselves. It is as Keats said, a vale of
soul-making, and the hard things that hit and hurt us must be needed
for our making, else they would not be.
Nor do we walk with aimless feet, journeying nowhere, as the smart
philosophers of our day tell us. It is not a futile quest in which
we are engaged. And Masonry assures us that we are both guided and
guarded by the Friend who knows the way and may be trusted to the
end. Its promise is that the veils will be removed from our eyes and
the truth made known to us, when we are ready and worthy to receive
it. But, not until then!
It is a goodly teaching, tried by long ages and found to be wise and
true. Alas, it is easily lost sight of and forgotten, and we need to
learn it again and again. Here too, Masonry is a wise teacher; it
repeats, line upon line, precept upon precept. In every degree it
shows us the march of the soul around the Altar, and then beyond it
up the winding, spiral stair, and still beyond into the light and joy
of the Eternal Life.
Save by the old Roman Road none attain the new.
From the Ancient Hills alone we catch the view!

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.V March, 1927 No.3
THE THINGS I KNOW
by: Joseph Fort Newton, Litt. D.
Synopsis of an address delivered before the Masonic Service
Association Annual Meeting, assembled in Chicago, Il, November 17,
1926.
Three times in my life I have had a very wonderful dream; each time
it has come back with an amazing vividness, born, on each occasion,
of an hour of inner struggle and crisis. Always it is a vision of a
great cathedral, built in the ancient form of a cross, stately,
imposing, piteous; an old great home of the human soul, the shrine of
faith, fellowship and hope. It is Gothic in its architecture, that
form of architecture created and glorified by the genius and history
of Freemasonry, its achievement and its monument; the most eloquent
of all forms as embodying our own spirit and attempting to make God
eloquent among men. I can see in my dream, or my vision, the lift of
its pillars, and the leap of its arches, and its great, glorious
dome, and in that framework always this vision has come. I have
never been able to see the Altar or the Chancel distinctly, because
of a very blinding light. No face, but only the sweep of a garment,
vast, white, but I know who is there at the Altar, and the Chancel.
I do not hear a voice, but somehow know what is being said. Once
again, in that framework of Gothic glory, He is speaking the words
that He spoke of old, on the mountain and by the sea. Somehow, I
don't know how, I know who it is and what he is saying.
Next to the Temple and the speaker is the audience gathered there,
the most extraordinary of which any man ever dreamed. All the great
minds and prophets of the older world are there. Moses, the mighty
law giver, the great legislator of the human race is there.
Confucius, with his slant eyes and his queue, who dreamed of the
superior man, the ideal, to which all good men labor! Buddha, all
pitiful, whose religion is the most majestic symphony of melancholy
in the whole compass of human history! They are there. Plato, a man
of angel mind, idealist, father of philosophy and of the theology,
with the greatest, sweetest and most luminous spirit that have ever
crossed our human pathway; by his side Aristotle, father if science,
patient, exact investigator, who anticipated, in flashes of insight,
so many things that have been verified both in science and
philosophy. The company of prophets, from the days of Isaiah, with
his golden voice, on down; they are all there;
I know them and see them, on into our own time, and they are very
vivid to me. Very distinct is the face of Emerson. I see it only in
profile, a finely chiseled face, in which the genius of New England
took form. What a company it is! I could not name all of them, but
Voltaire, who built a little Temple over which he inscribes, "To the
Glory of God," is there. And while the speaker utters once more,
with that voiceless voice, the truths which are the Magna Carta of
the spiritual life of mankind, I see all those in that Temple nodding
assent and saying, each in his own heart, Amen, Amen, Amen.
Such is my dream, my brethren. It came, by the mercy of God, when I
was only a lad in Texas, and again, in an hour of crisis in Iowa,
blessed to me and never-to-be-forgotten, for the friendships of a
lifetime formed there, and for the confidence of the Grand Lodge of
Iowa; and once in London, in the wild, dark, confused and terrifying
days of World War. Always with increasing vividness that dream has
blessed my life. It is a vision of unity, as you will discover. It
leads to the ends of the earth and the limits of human history. It
includes all religions and all races in its embrace. Out of that
vision have grown certain great convictions which, like the rock
ribs that hold the earth together, hold my life.
First, that all just men, all devout men, all spiritually minded men,
are everywhere of one religion. They are trying to say the same
thing, each in his own tongue, with his own accent and emphasis,
speech that each has colored by his own environment, the degree of
his own spiritual development. All are fundamental participators in
one common spiritual life, which they seek to interpret.
That conviction is so fundamental in my life that it makes me utterly
indifferent to small things that seem to divide men into different
religions of different sects. Some of my brethren in the lodge and
in the church, not knowing what I am telling you, misunderstand many
things. They call me an "Ecclesiastical polygamist," for example,
meaning one who belongs to many churches. Yes, exactly; because, in
the light of this vision, to me there is only one church, universal
and eternal. All good men belong to it. The different religious
communions to me are like the different rooms in one house, and the
doors are all open. I walk from room to room in my Father's House.
I hold fellowship with all alike. Perhaps I may live long enough to
belong officially to every church, on principle, even long enough to
have my vision understood.
My second great conviction is that all just men, all devout men, are
not only trying to say the same thing, but they are trying to do the
same things, to define faith, to refine and purify the mind of
humanity and build it up into righteousness and moral intelligence,
and honest good will. They have the same ideals. If Confucius
speaks of the Superior man, he means what we mean by the Christian
man, Christ. It is the one ideal that God has planted in the dream
and hope of mankind; the one great moral and spiritual enterprise
going in the world. It is a great consolation, it is a great
reinforcement, to realize that fact. It falls over one like a
consecration, and gives strength.
The third conviction is, since men are trying to say the same thing,
and trying to do the same thing, the greatest things they must
finally learn to do together. You can see, then, the philosophy of
my interest in The Masonic Service association and the Federal
Council of Churches. I have the honor to be a member of the
committee on direction of the Federal Council on Churches of America,
and also to be Educational Director of The Masonic Service
association. It is extremely interesting to see the same thing going
on among the religious communions and the Grand Lodges. They are
trying to learn how to do the same things together., things which can
only be done together. The same objection, the same criticism, the
same fears and misgivings are expressed in the Federal Council as in
this Association. Some of the great religious communions will not
belong at all to the Federal Council of Churches. A Distinguished,
brilliant member of a great church said in an address a few weeks
ago; "The Federal Council will either collapse or become a Super
Church." It sounded very familiar to me! Somewhere I have heard a
rumor of that kind said about this Association - that it would either
collapse or become a Super Grand Lodge! Well, there is no more idea
of a Super Grand Lodge in our minds than there is in the Federal
Council of Churches to make a Super-Church. One is as undesirable as
the other.
It is interesting that some of our churches are in it with one foot.
My Church, for example, with one foot, tentatively, experimentally.
The Episcopal Communion will cooperate on International Affairs and
with the Committee of International Good Will, but no further than
that. So there are some lodges in America who will cooperate with
us, and use all out literature, and all our material and all our
machinery, but they won't use them in a common undertaking. It is
amusing. To watch this practice and procedure going on adds to the
joy of life. "But it is going on!" It is just as inevitable as
anything can be. The very necessities of the situation demand a
united religious communion, in fellowship, at least, and in work, for
the things that need to be done can be done in no other way. War
cannot be abolished by stupid sectarianism.
Pestilence, famine, war! These three are the greatest evils, and the
worst of these is war. Science has killed one pestilence after
another. They lie like dead snakes by the side of the road.
Commerce and intercommunication make it possible to send relief from
one part of the world to the other very quickly. Only a renewed
spiritual life can kill the spirit of strife in the hearts of men and
so purify them as to make war impossible. It will take the whole
religion, united, purified and renewed to do that.
But, this afternoon I am thinking of that Gothic Cathedral which
Freemasonry built, as the framework, the shrine, the home of the
religious life. For we are builders. This is what we are here to
build, a Temple, a House not made with human hands. It will tower
into the heavens, but it is a Temple. It is the great landmark of
Freemasonry, that Temple. What are the foundations of it?
There are three things that I know about Freemasonry, not much else.
I studied upon it many years, starting my study in the great library
of the Grand Lodge of Iowa. But there are three fundamental things
that I do positively know.
The first is that man was made for righteousness. He can never be a
man, he can never be happy until he is a righteous man. The mystery
of moral life comes back again and again as the profoundest mystery
of al life. I find it here written in my own heart; what the dear
Quakers call "A Stop In The Mind," something that arrests men and
compels them to pass a moral judgment upon my acts and my thoughts.
Where it came from I do not know.
I have my beliefs. It is upon what I know that I build my beliefs.
But I do know I have this mystery of the moral sense in my own being.
It is here. I did not create it. I commands me. The profoundest
mystery to me is not that I do wrong, as all of us do wrong, but that
there is something that brings me to judgment for doing wrong,
something within myself, that awful whisper of moral law. I
understand what the Great thinker meant when he said that there were
two things that overwhelmed him, the still depth of a starlit night,
and the awful moral law within.
When I try to think, when I try to interpret the meaning of that
great fact in the life of my fellow man, then I have the cornerstone
of all theology, of all understanding of life. You can push it back
just as far as you please. You can say, as some will want to say,
that this whisper within me is the echo of an old racial memory and
experience. No doubt!. But whence came the first bias of man
towards righteousness, the first sense and command within himself
that he must be a righteous man? Whence did the voice of that
command come?
What is true of humanity is true of myself. It can never be happy
until it attains righteousness. He has a choice and an ability to
choose the right and refuse the wrong; or to choose the wrong and
refuse the right. One involves the other.
I am aware that there prevails in our time the fatalistic philosophy
which tells us that we are no more responsible for our thoughts and
acts than we are for the shape of our heads and the color of our
eyes. That philosophy is plausible, but in my heart I know it to be
false. I am not a machine. I am no organism.
That is the first fundamental thing that I know about Freemasonry.
And the second thing, that not only is man made for righteousness,
but man is made for man. He cannot attain the richest character, the
moral personality apart from his fellow man. Talent may develop in
solitude. Character is the creation of fellowship and of fraternity.
This ancient and honorable fraternity is built upon this fact, that
we are made one for the other; that our lives fit one into another
and are woven together to make a Divine fabric, a cloth of gold.
This fact unites us in a temple of vision. We are made one for
another. Muhammad was right when he said if man would not help man
the end of the world had come. The end of the human world has
certainly arrived when man refuses to aid and assist his fellow man.
Here is the basis of our beautiful doctrine of brotherly love, relief
and truth because we can never know the truth until we know it
together. There are some things we may know in isolation, but we
cannot know the highest truth alone. We can only learn it together.
It is by practicing brotherhood that we learn to know God.
Finally, the third thing. Not only is man made for righteousness and
man made for man, but man is made for God. His spirit is formless
and alone, even in the warmest fellowship, until at last together we
find the source from whence we come, the light from whence flashes
that spark of moral law and spiritual vision within us, the veiled
kindness of the Father of all men. One of the greatest minds of any
time put it in an unforgettable way when he said; "Lord, Thou Hast
Made Us For Thyself, And Our Hearts Are Restless Until They Rest In
Thee." I am speaking about God, in a Fraternity, the first great
universal landmark of which is God!
Three things which appeal to me in Masonry are, first, its
simplicity. All supremely great things, like all supremely great
men, are simple. Turn the pages of history and call the names of
Martin Van Buren, of Benjamin Disraeli, of Talleyrand! You feel that
you are in the presence of great men, but something arrests you and
prevents you from believing those men are supremely great. They had
great characteristics. They were past masters of the art and wise in
the manipulations of diplomacy. But turn another page and read the
names of Washington and Lincoln, and instantly you feel that those
two belonged to a different order of men. They are supremely great,
in the open and in the sunlight; and sublimely simple. So it is with
Masonry. There are many fraternities in the world. They have great
characteristics. But to me the outstanding glory of Masonry is the
simplicity of its symbolism, of its faith and of its philosophy. As
I have tried to state it, man is made for righteousness, man is made
for man, and man is made for God. You cannot go beyond that, or
above it. It is something to think about through a whole lifetime,
as a scheme of philosophy and of faith.
Second, in all my Masonic life, as a student or a teacher of Masonry,
and a worker in its behalf; it has been always in my heart to use
Masonry as a wand of blessing and never as a weapon of battle. It is
intended to make men friends, to bring men of all types of
temperament, antecedents and training together; to discover their
brotherhood and make them builders of a purer world. The temptation
is very great sometimes, for good men and true, to use Masonry as a
weapon of battle. But we must never do it. I refuse to do it. It
is too great. It is too beautiful. It is too Holy!
Third, to me Masonry is one of the forms of the Divine life among
men. It has come to us from a long, long past; bringing symbolisms
to understand which is to understand the meaning of life; what it is
to be a man and how to be a righteous man; how best to serve our
fellow-man and, therefore, best serve God. It is not a religion, but
it is religion in its very essence, genius and spirit.
Its simplicity then, its dignity, and its spirituality; these things,
with the vision I have told you, sustain me in all that try to do,
and permit me to forget the incredible pettiness of mind that we
sometimes encounter, enabling me to join hands with my brethren
everywhere to do something, if it be only a little, before the end of
the day, to make a gentler, kinder and wiser world in which to live!

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.V April, 1927 No.4
MORE LIGHT
by: Unknown
Goethe was one of the myriad-minded men of our race, and a devout
member of our gentle Craft. When he lay dying, as the soft shadow
began to fall over his mind, he said to a friend watching over his
bed : "open the window and let in more light!" The last request of a
great poet-Mason is the first quest of every Mason.
If one were asked to sum up the meaning of Masonry in one word, the
only word equal to the task is - light! From its first lesson to its
last lecture, in every degree and every symbol, the mission of
Masonry is to bring the light of God into the life of man. It has no
other aim, knowing that when the light shines the truth will be
revealed.
A Lodge of Masons is a House of Light. Symbolically it has no roof
but the sky, open to all the light of nature and of grace. As the
sun rises in the East to open and rule the day, so the Master rises
in the East to open and guide the Lodge in its labor. All the work
of the Lodge is done under the eye and in the name of God, obeying
Him who made the great lights, whose mercy endureth forever.
At the center of the Lodge, upon the Altar of Obligation, the Great
Lights shine upon us, uniting the light of nature and the whiter
light of revelation. Without them no Lodge is open in Due Form, and
no business is valid. As the moon reflects the light of the sun, as
the stars are seen only when the sun is hidden, so the Lesser Lights
follow dimly when the Greater Lights lead.
To the door of the Lodge comes the seeker after Light, hoodwinked and
groping his way - asking to be led out of shadows into realities; out
of darkness into light. All initiation is "Bringing Men To Light,"
teaching them to see the moral order of the world in which they must
learn their duty and find their true destiny. It is the most
impressive drama on earth, a symbol of the Divine education of man.
So, through all its degrees, its slowly unfolding symbols, the
ministry of Masonry is to make men "Sons Of Light" - men of insight
and understanding who know their way and can be of help to others who
stumble in the dark. Ruskin was right: "To See Clearly is Life,
Art, Philosophy and Religion - All In One." When the light shines
the way is plain, and the highest service to humanity is to lead men
out of the confused life of the senses into the light of moral law
and spiritual faith.
To that end Masonry opens upon its Altar the one great Book of Light,
its pages glow with "A Light That Never Was On Sea Or Land," shining
through the tragedies of man and the tumults of time, showing us a
path that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. From its first
page to the last , the key-word of the Bible is light; until, at the
end, when the City of God is built it will have no need of the sun or
the moon or the stars; for God is the Light of it.
And God Said, Let There Be Light; And there was light.
God Is Light, And In Him Is, No Darkness At All. Thy Word Is A
Lamp Unto My Feet;
And A Light Unto My Path. The entrance Of Thy Word, Giveth Light.
The Lord Is My Light And My Salvation; Whom I Shall Fear.
There Is No Light For The Righteous, Gladness For The True.
The Lord Shall Be To Thee An Everlasting Light.
To Them That Sat In Darkness, Light Is Sprung Up.
He Stumbleth Not, Because He Seeth The Light.
I Am Come A Light Into The World, While Ye Have The Light, Believe
In The Light.
Let Your Light Shine Before Man.
To find the real origin of Masonry we must go far back into the past,
back before history. All the world over, at a certain stage of
culture, men bowed down in worship of the sun, moon and the stars.
In prehistoric graves the body was always buried in a sitting
position, and always facing to the East, that the sleeper might be
ready to spring up early to face the new and brighter day.
Such was the wonder of light and its power over man, and it is not
strange that he rejoiced in its beauty, lifting up hands of praise.
The Dawn was the first Altar in the old Light Religion of the race.
Sunrise was an hour of prayer, and sunset, with its soft farewell
fires, was the hour of sacrifice. After all, religion is a Divine
Poetry, of which creeds are prose versions. Gleams of this old Light
religion shine all through Masonry, in its faith, in its symbols, and
still more in its effort to organize the light of God in the Soul of
Man.
Such a faith is in accord with all the poetries and pieties of the
race. Light is the loveliest gift of God to man; it is the mother of
beauty and the joy of the world. It tells man all that he knows, and
it is no wonder that his speech about it is gladsome and grateful.
Light is to the mind what food is to the body; it brings the morning,
when the shadows flee away, and the loveliness of the world is
unveiled.
Also, there is a mystery in light. It is not matter, but a form of
motion; it is not spirit, though is seems closely akin to it. Midway
between the material and the spiritual, it is the gateway where
matter and spirit pass and repass. Of all the glories in its
gentleness, its benignity, its pity, falling with impartial
benediction alike upon the just and the unjust, upon the splendor of
wealth and the squalor of poverty.
Yes, God is light, and the mission of Masonry is to open the windows
of the mind of man, letting the dim spark within us meet and blend
with the light of God, in whom there is no darkness. There is "A
Light That Lighteth Every Man That Cometh Into The World," as we
learn in the Book of Holy Law; but too often it is made dim by evil,
error and ignorance; until it seems well nigh to have gone out.
Here now some of the most terrible words in the Bible: "Eyes they
have, but they do not see." How many tragedies it explains, how many
sorrows it accounts for. Most of our bigotries and brutalities are
due to blindness. Most of the cruel wrongs we inflict upon each
other are the blows and blunders of the sightless. Othello was
blinded by jealousy, Macbeth by ambition; as we are apt to be blinded
by passion, prejudice or greed.
With merciful clarity Jesus saw that men do awful things without
seeing what they do. "Father, forgive them for they know not what
they do." The pages of history are blacker than the hearts of the
men that made the history. Man is not as wicked as the wrongs he has
done. Unless we see this fact, much of the history of man will read
like the records of hell - remembering the atrocities of the
Inquisition, the terrors of the French Revolution, and the red horror
of Russia. It is all a hideous nightmare - man stumbling and
striking in the dark.
No, humanity is more blind than bad. In his play, "St. Joan," Shaw
makes one of his characters say: "If you only saw what you think
about, you would think quite differently about it. It would give you
a great shock. I am not cruel by nature, but I did not know what
cruelty was like. I have been a different man ever since." Alas, he
did not see what he had done until the hoodwink had been taken off.
More and more some of us divide men into two classes - those who see
and those who do not see. The whole quality and meaning of life lies
in what men see or fail to see. And what we see depends upon what we
are. In the Book of the Holy Law the verb "to see" is close akin to
the verb "to be," which is to teach us that character is the secret
and source of insight. Virtue is vision; vice is blindness.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see god."
Thus our gentle Masonry, by seeking to "Bring Men to Light," not
simply symbolically but morally and spiritually, is trying to lift
the shadow of evil, ignorance and injustice off the life of man. It
is a benign labor, to which we may well give the best that we are or
hope to be, toiling to spread the skirts of light that we and all men
may see what is true and do what is right.
What the sad world needs - what each of us needs - is more light,
more love, more clarity of mind and more charity of heart; and this
is what Masonry is trying to give us. Once we take it to heart, it
will help us to see God in the face of our fellows, to see the power
of a lie and its inherent weakness because it is false, to see the
glory of truth and its final victory - to see these things is to be a
Mason, to see these things is to be saved.
O Light that followeth all my way, I yield my flickering torch to
thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray, That in thy sunshine's blaze,
Its day may brighter, fairer be.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.V May, 1927 No.5
WHAT MASONRY MEANS
by: Unknown
There were four of them in the Ante Room besides the Tiler; a Past
Master, a Junior Officer, the Oldest Member and a newly raised
brother. They had been telling the newly made brother what they
could of the Ancient Craft, what he night expect from it and in it,
and how he could proceed to get the greatest benefit from it.
When they had finished, he asked: "Tell me, you are old and
experienced in Masonry, what does it really mean to you?"
"What does Masonry mean to me? The Past Master stopped to weigh his
words. "I think it means the chance of being of service to my fellow
men.
"I have had the distinguished honor of being selected, at one time,
to preside over this lodge. The honor, deserved or not, came because
I was willing to serve my fellow members and work for the good of the
Order. As I look back on it, I see that readiness to serve was
created in me by my feeling of gratitude to the Fraternity for what I
had received from it. Yet, all that I did receive - friends, good
times, instruction and a new idea - came to me from serving. So, in
a way, I have to say that a desire to serve came from serving!
I think every man has a desire to be of use in the world. It may be
in the big outside world, or some inner, restricted world; but the
desire to serve is the same. The teacher in the schools is not one
because of the rewards; a good teacher has to teach. He or she can't
be happy doing anything else. The Minister in the church is seldom
rewarded materially as he might have been in some other profession.
His reward has to come from the consciousness of having been of use.
I have talked to a great many men who are distinguished successes in
their several lines, and none of them ever considered their material
success as their greatest reward. I know a railroad builder who is
far more proud of his success in tunneling a mountain than in the
riches he has won for his family. I know a banker who points with
much more pride to the businesses he has helped to build than to his
own substantial fortune. And so I find it in Masonry - there is a
much greater joy in the actual feeling that one is of use to his
fellows, than there is in the honor of being selected as one to lead,
for a while, an organization.
"I am still active in this lodge. There are no more honors for me to
win here. I shall never be anything but a Past Master. Yet I find
real pleasure in working on the Educational Committee, and in being a
member of the Instruction Committee.
"I believe that many men, especially those whose vocations in life do
not appear, on the surface, as being of conspicuous service to
mankind, find in Masonry an opportunity to express that altruism
which is deep in every man's heart. They here express themselves as
servants of men. They learn in order to teach. They work, in order
that other men may have a better time, be happier and more
comfortable. They call on the sick, not because it is the thing for
a Mason to do, but to render to their unfortunate brethren some mead
of comfort from their own state of health and happiness.
"The lodge to me is place of labor - a place where I can be of some
use in the world without thought of reward or hope of any material
pay. Yes, I think I can answer your question by saying; "Masonry
means to me the chance to be of service."
The Junior Officer took up the conversation.
"To me, Masonry means inspiration," he stated. "I am a Municipal
Court Judge. My daily work is concerned entirely with the lower,
harder, meaner and dirtier side of life. I spend my day with
bootleggers, wife-beaters, thieves, sneaks and dope-peddlers. I hear
only the sadder sort of stories. If I believed all life was like
what I see of it, I wouldn't want to live.
"But, I don't believe it. A very wise old Judge, with whom I talked
before I went on the bench told me that the most important thing a
Judge had to do was to keep a sane viewpoint. He said a Judge who
allowed himself to become warped in his valuation of human beings was
not a good Judge. Masonry is the inspiration that keeps me from
allowing what I see, to be, to me, all there is of life.
"In Masonry I find only an altruistic viewpoint. There is not,
anywhere in Masonry a single thing that is selfish. There is in it
not a prayer for self. There is in it not a single act which a
Brother does which is for himself. Officers in the Lodge, of whom
I'm proud to be one, work hard to put on a good degree, doing the
work correctly, trying to make it impressive - why? Not for
themselves, Not that they may get anything out of it, but in order
that the candidate be properly impressed and instructed - so that he
can make something of Masonry his own and thus be a better man.
"Brethren appointed on an investigating committee must go out and
work. They must take time from their own pleasures or labors to look
into the qualifications of anyone who wants to be a Mason, and has
submitted a petition. There is nothing in it for them. They do it
unselfishly, for their fellows, and the petitioner. That is
inspiring. It shows that there is another side to life than the one
I see all day long.
"Anyone who sits all day in my sort of a court might well be excused
for thinking that God has deserted a part of the earth, and some of
His people. It's hard to believe that the drunken sot who beats an
innocent child, the dope-peddler who deliberately tries to turn a
school boy into a cocaine fiend so he can sell him "Snow," the
bootlegger who deliberately sells, to unsuspecting fools, booze he
knows to be poisonous; can have any good in him. Masonry teaches me
that there is good everywhere, in every man, if you only hunt deep
enough. Masonry never lets me forget that a Perfect Ashlar is made
of a Rough Ashlar - that the perfect stone is inside the rough stone
all the time, only waiting the cunning hand of the workman to knock
away the rough-nesses to reveal the perfection underneath. Masonry
teaches me there is a perfect ashlar under the rough exteriors I see.
I am not sure I could keep on knowing that, if it wasn't for
Freemasonry raising my eyes upward and keeping always in my heart the
knowledge that more men are good than bad, more men helpful than
hindering, more men God-Fearing than God-Hating. So I must answer
you, my brother, that to me Masonry means inspiration, a holding
constantly before my inner eyes a spiritual ideal, so that I can
forget the material wrong and evil which is so rife in the world in
which I live."
"Well, I'll agree that Freemasonry may be all things to all men," the
Oldest Mason began, seeing that the Junior Officer had finished.
"And perhaps you won't think that what Masonry means to me is as big
and as fine as the opportunity for service that the Past Master sees,
and the inspiration that the Junior Officer finds. To me, Masonry
means the chance to make friends.
"The young man thinks that friends are easy to make, and I dare say
many a man thinks he could make them as easily in a club or a board
of trade as he could in a lodge. But there is a great difference
between the friendships made in profane gatherings, and those which
result from meeting ON THE LEVEL.
"As I see it, there must be some sort of mutually shared background
for any real friendship. Two men must have something to which both
can hold if they are to draw themselves together, against the
naturally repellent forces which makes us all suspicious of all the
rest of humanity.
"There is a GOLDEN CORD in Masonry to which we can all hold. We all
have a cable tow about us, and by it we can pull ourselves closer
together. We meet on a common level. We think the same sort of
thoughts at the same time. When we worship the grand Articifer of
the Universe, we do it in the same way, with the same words, at the
same time. It is not germane to say, BUT SO THEY DO IN A CHURCH. for
there are a great many churches, each with its own way of approach to
the throne of the Most High. But in all Masonic lodges, the approach
is one ground of unity, on which friendships may be formed.
"There is another. How says our ritual? To relieve the distressed is
a duty incumbent upon all, but particularly on Masons, who are linked
together by an indissoluble chain of sincere affection. To soothe
the unhappy, to sympathize with their misfortunes, to compassionate
their miseries and restore peace to their troubled minds, is the
great aim we have in view. On this basis we form out friendships and
establish connections. I find the charity and the sympathy of a
Masonic Lodge a great force in the making of friends, and strangely
enough, it makes little difference which end of the golden cord the
individual brother holds. If I sympathize and try to help my
brother, I become friendly toward him. If I am in trouble, and he
sympathizes with and tries to help me, I feel friendly toward him. I
feel friendly to the new young brother just coming into the lodge
because he has won his way against odds, into out charmed circle, and
I wish him well. The mere wishing him good luck makes me feel
friendly. To the older members, with whom I have stood so many times
in lodge prayer, with whom I have joined so many times in degrees,
with whom so many times I have visited the sick, attended funerals or
enjoyed innocent gaiety at refreshment. I am friendly because of our
common interests and feelings.
"I have made, and I think that every good Mason does, some of the
best friends in the world, through Masonic association. Masonry
picks her brethren. We are all alike in a few fundamentals, before
we become Masons. So we have an unusual opportunity to make friends
in Masonry. I think that must stand as my answer to our young
brother's question, what Masonry means to me - an opportunity to make
friends.
"Now that our young friend has heard us, I should like to hear what
he thinks. What, my brother, does Masonry mean to you?"
The newly raised brother flushed a little, embarrassed at being
called on for an expression of opinion in the presence of those so
much older and wiser in the Craft.
"It's all so new to me," he answered, hesitating a little, "I am
quite willing to take your several interpretations of Masonry and its
meaning. But so far none of you has mentioned what it is to me, the
of the opportunity which Masonry gives. To me, Masonry means a
chance to learn. I have been instructed that I should study the
seven liberal arts and sciences, and the several degrees all put a
good deal of stress on the teachings of Masonry. I have read one or
two books which hint at a great deal that is concealed, much more
than is revealed. It seems to me that the world of study and
information which Freemasonry opens up to her initiates is her
greatest boon. I find a great many different interpretations of
Masonic symbols. Unless I conclude that some are right and some are
wrong, a symbol must have many meanings. Yet only one is given in
the degree. That must mean that it is intended that I study them,
and dig into them for myself, and try to find all the various
meanings.
"My business in life is that of a teacher of English.
I know how peculiar is the symbolism of words. Take the word
profane, which one of you used. It comes from pro - without - and
fane, the church. You used it as meaning just that - some one
without the Temple of Freemasonry. Time has corrupted that good old
English word to mean something entirely different - most of us think
of something profane as meaning opposed to what is sacred; to profane
is to make light of, or blaspheme that which is Holy. It seems to me
that some Masonic symbols may have been changed by time, too, as
words are changed, and that the patient digger after facts might
uncover a mine of interesting and valuable information if he is
willing to study. So, without in any way putting my thoughts forward
as better than those I have heard, I think Masonry means to me, at
least so far, an opportunity to increase my knowledge."
"We haven't heard from the Tiler yet!" The Past Master turned to the
Guardian of the Door. "What does Masonry mean to you?"
"You've all wasted a lot of words to say something you all mean!"
responded the Tiler. "One of you thinks Masonry means SERVICE,
another thinks it means INSPIRATION. and another thinks it means
FRIENDS, and still another thinks it means KNOWLEDGE. They all come
from the same source. And that is what Masonry really means.
"You have overlooked what is to me the most significant symbols. If
Masonry means SERVICE, and FRIENDS, and INSPIRATION, and KNOWLEDGE;
what else can you say it means, except just GOD?"

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.V June, 1927 No.6
SO MOTE IT BE
by: Unknown
How familiar the phrase is. No Lodge is ever opened or closed, in
due form, without using it. Yet how few know how old it is, much
less what a deep meaning it has in it. Like so many old and lovely
things, it is so near to us that we do not see it.
As far back as we can go in the annals of the Craft we find this old
phrase. Its form betrays its age. The word MOTE is an Anglo-Saxon
word, derived from an anomalous verb, MOTAN. Chaucer uses the exact
phrase in the same sense in which we use it, meaning "So May It Be."
It is found in the Regius Poem, the oldest document of the Craft,
just as we use it today.
As everyone knows, it is the Masonic form of the ancient AMEN which
echoes through the ages, gathering meaning and music as it goes until
it is one of the richest and most haunting of words. At first only a
sign of assent, on the part either of an individual or of an
assembly, to words of prayer or praise, it has become to stand as a
sentinel at the gateway of silence.
When we have uttered all that we can utter, and our poor words seem
like ripples on the bosom of the unspoken, somehow this familiar
phrase gathers up all that is left - our dumb yearnings, our deepest
longings - and bears them aloft to One who understands. In some
strange way it seems to speak for us into the very ear of God the
things for which words were never made.
So, naturally, it has a place of honor among us. At the marriage
Altar it speaks its blessing as young love walks toward the bliss or
sorrow of hidden years. It stands beside the cradle when we dedicate
our little ones to the Holy life, mingling its benediction with our
vows. At the grave side it utters its sad response to the shadowy
AMEN which death pronounces over our friends.
When, in our turn, we see the end of the road, and would make a last
will and testament, leaving our earnings and savings to those whom we
love, the old legal phrase asks us to repeat after it: "In The Name
Of God, AMEN." And with us, as with Gerontius in his Dream, the last
word we hear when the voices of earth grow faint and the silence of
God covers us, is the old AMEN, So Mote It Be.
How impressively it echoes through the Book of Holy Law. We hear it
in the Psalms, as chorus answers to chorus, where it is sometimes
reduplicated for emphasis. In the talks of Jesus with his friends it
has a striking use, hidden in the English version. The oft-repeated
phrase, "Verily, Verily I Say Unto You," if rightly translated means,
AMEN, AMEN, I say unto you." Later, in the Epistles of Paul, the
word AMEN becomes the name of Christ, who is the AMEN of God to the
faith of man.
So, too, in the Lodge, at opening, at closing, and in the hour of
initiation. No Mason ever enters upon any great or important
undertaking without invoking the aid of Deity. And he ends his
prayer with the old phrase, "So Mote It Be." Which is another way of
saying: "The Will Of God Be Done." Or, whatever be the answer of God
to his prayer: "So Be It - because it is wise and right.
What, then, is the meaning of this old phrase, so interwoven with all
our Masonic lore, simple, tender, haunting? It has two meanings for
us everywhere, in the Church, or in the Lodge. First, it is assent
of man to the way and Will Of God; assent to His Commands; assent to
His Providence, even when a tender, terrible stroke of death takes
from us one much loved and leaves us forlorn.
Still, somehow, we must say:" So it is; so be it. He is a wise man,
a brave man; who, baffled by the woes of life, when disaster follows
fast and follows faster, can nevertheless accept his lot as a part of
the Will of God and say, though it may almost choke him to say it:
"So Mote It Be." It is not blind submission, nor dumb resignation,
but a wise reconciliation to the Will of the Eternal.
The other meaning of the phrase is even more wonderful; it is the
assent of God to the aspiration of man. Man can bear so much -
anything, perhaps - if he feels that God knows, cares and feels for
him and with him. If God says Amen, So it is, to our faith and hope
and love; it links our perplexed meanings, and helps us to see,
however dimly, or in a glass darkly, that there is a wise and good
purpose in life, despite its sorrow and suffering, and that we are
not at the mercy of Fate or the whim of Chance.
Does God speak to man, confirming his faith and hope?
If so, how? Indeed yes! God is not the great I Was, but the great I
Am, and He is neither deaf nor dumb. In Him we live and move and
have our being - He Speaks to us in nature, in the moral law, and in
our own hearts, if we have ears to hear. But He speaks most clearly
in the Book of Holy Law which lies open upon our Alter.
Nor is that all. Some of us hold that the Word Of God "Became Flesh
and Dwelt Among Us, Full Of Grace and Truth," in a life the loveliest
ever lived among men, showing us what life is, what it means, and to
what fine issues it ascends when we do the Will of God on earth as it
is done in Heaven, No one of us but grows wistful when he thinks of
the life of Jesus, however far we fall below it.
Today men are asking the question: Does it do any good to pray? The
man who actually prays does not ask such a question. As well ask if
it does a bird any good to sing, or a flower to bloom? Prayer is
natural and instinctive in man. We are made so. Man is made for
prayer, as sparks ascending seek the sun. He would not need
religious faith if the objects of it did not exist.
Are prayers ever answered? Yes, always, as Emerson taught us long
ago. Who rises from prayer a better man, his prayer is answered -
and that is as far as we need to go. The deepest desire, the ruling
motive of a man, is his actual prayer, and it shapes his life after
its form and color. In this sense all prayer is answered, and that
is why we ought to be careful what we pray for - because in the end
we always get it.
What, then is the good of prayer? It makes us repose on the unknown
with hope; it makes us ready for life. It is a recognition of laws
and the thread of our conjunction with them. It is not the purpose
of prayer to beg or make God do what we want done. Its purpose is to
bring us to do the Will of God, which is greater and wiser than our
will. It is not to use God, but to be used by Him in the service of
His plan.
Can man by prayer change the Will of God? No, and Yes.
True prayer does not wish or seek to change the larger Will of God,
which involves in its sweep and scope the duty and destiny of
humanity. But it can and does change the Will of God concerning us,
because it changes our will and attitude towards Him, which is the
vital thing in prayer for us.
For example, if a man living a wicked life, we know what the Will of
God will be for him. All evil ways have been often tried, and we
know what the end is, just as we know the answer to a problem in
geometry. But if a man who is living wickedly changes his way of
living and his inner attitude, he changes the Will of God - if not
His Will, at least His Intention. That is, he attains what even the
Divine Will could not give him and do for him unless it had been
effected by His Will and Prayer.
The place of Prayer in Masonry is not perfunctory. It is not a mere
matter of form and rote. It is vital and profound. As a man enters
the Lodge as an initiate, prayer is offered for him, to God, in whom
he puts his trust. Later, in a crisis of his initiation, he must
pray for himself, orally or mentally as his heart may elect. It is
not just a ceremony; it is basic in the faith and spirit of Masonry.
Still later, in a scene which no Mason ever forgets, when the shadow
is darkest, and the most precious thing a Mason can desire or seek
seems lost, in the perplexity and despair of the Lodge, a prayer is
offered. As recorded in our Monitors, it is a mosaic of Bible words,
in which the grim facts of life and death are set forth in stark
reality, and appeal is made to the pity and light of God.
It is truly a great prayer, to join in which is to place ourselves in
the very hands of God, as all must do in the end, trust His Will and
way, following where no path is into the soft and fascinating
darkness which men call death. And the response of the Lodge to that
prayer, as to all others offered at its Altar, is the old,
challenging phrase, "So Mote It Be!"
Brother, do not be ashamed to pray, as you are taught in the Lodge
and the Church. It is a part of the sweetness and sanity of life,
refreshing the soul and making clear the mind. There is more wisdom
in a whispered prayer than in all the libraries of the world. It is
not our business to instruct God. He knows what things we have need
for before we ask him. He does not need our prayer, but we do - if
only to make us acquainted with the best Friend we have.
The greatest of all teachers of the soul left us a little liturgy
called the Lord's Prayer. He told us to use it each for himself, in
the closet when the door is shut and the din and hum and litter of
the world is outside. Try it Brother; it will sweeten life, make its
load lighter, its joy brighter, and the way of duty plainer.
Two tiny prayers have floated down to us from ages agone, which are
worth remembering; one by a great Saint, the other by two brothers.
"Grant Me, Lord, ardently to desire, wisely to study, rightly to
understand and perfectly to fulfill that which pleaseth Thee." And
the second is after the manner: "May two brothers enjoy and serve
Thee together, and so live today that we may be worthy to live
tomorrow."
"SO MOTE IT BE"

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.V July, 1927 No.7
G
by: Unknown
Even a stranger, entering a Masonic Lodge Room, as he may do on a
public occasion, must be struck by a mysterious Letter which hangs
over the chair of the Master in the East. No one need tell him of
its meaning; it is a letter of light and tells its own story.
Yet, no stranger can know its full meaning, much less how old it is.
Indeed, few Masons are aware of all that it implies, either as a
symbol or history. There it shines, a focus of faith and fellowship,
the emblem of the Divine Presence in the Lodge, and in the heart of
each Brother composing it.
When the Lodge is opened, the mind and heart of each member should
also be opened to the meaning of the Great Symbol, to the intent that
its light and truth may become the supreme reality in our lives.
When the Lodge is closed, the memory of that Divine initial and its
august suggestions ought to be the last thought retained in the mind
, to be pondered over.
In English Lodges its meaning and use are made clearer than among us.
There it shines in the center of the ceiling of the room, and the
Lodge is grouped around it, rather than assembled beneath it. Below
it is the checkerboard floor, symbol of the vicissitudes of life,
over which hangs the whiter light of the divine guidance and
blessing, so much needed in our mortal journey.
Also, in the Degrees its use is more impressive. In the First and
Second degrees the symbol is visible in the roof, or sky, of the
Lodge Room, like a benediction. In the Third Degree it is hidden,
but its presence is still manifest - as every Masons knows - since
the light of God is inextinguishable even in the darkest hours. In
the Royal Arch it becomes visible again, but in another form, and in
another position, not to be named here.
Thus, in the course of the degrees, the Great Letter has descended
from heaven to earth, as if to show us the deep meaning of Masonry.
In other words, the purpose of initiation is to bring God and Man
together, and make them one. God becomes man that man may become God
- a truth which lies at the heart of all religion, and most clearly
revealed in our own. At the bottom, every form of faith is trying to
lay hold of this truth, for which words were never made.
In all the old houses of initiation, as far back as we can go, some
one letter of the alphabet stands out as a kind of Divine initial.
In the Egyptian Mysteries it was the "Solar Ra," a symbol of the
Spiritual Sun shining upon the mortal path. In the Greek Mysteries
at Delphi it was the letter "E" - Eta - the fifth letter of the Greek
alphabet; five being the symbol of man, as evidenced by the five
senses.
Hence also the pentagram, or five-pointed star. In olden times
Fellowcraft Masons worked in groups of five, and five Brethren now
compose one of their Lodges. Plutarch tells us in the Greek
Mysteries. the Letter Eta was made of wood in the First Degree, of
bronze in the Second Degree, and of Gold in the Third - showing the
advance and refinement of the moral and spiritual nature, as well as
the higher value to the truth that was unfolded.
Many meanings and much history are thus gathered into the Great
Letter, some of it dim and lost to us now. In our Lodges, and in the
thought of the craft today, the Letter "G" stands for Geometry, and
also as the initial for our word for God. Now for one, now for the
other, but nearly always for both, since all Masonry rests upon
Geometry, and in all its lore Geometry is the way of God.
Of the first of these meanings not much needs to be said. In the
oldest Charges of the Craft, as in its latest interpretations, it is
agreed that Masonry is moral geometry. What was forfelt by
philosophers and mystics in ancient times is now revealed to us by
the microscope. It is an actual fact that Geometry is the thought-
form of God in nature, in the snowflake and in the orbits of the
stars.
Since this ancient insight is confirmed by the vision of science, in
the most impressive manner the great Letter may stand as the initial
of God, not alone by the accident of our language, but also and much
more by a faith founded in fact. There is no longer any secret; it
cannot be hid, because it is written in the structure of things, in
all forms which truth and beauty take.
Nor does Masonry seek to hide the fact that it rests in God, lives in
God, and seeks to lead men to God. Everything Masonry has reference
to God, every lesson. every lecture; from the first step to the last
Degree. Without God it has no meaning, and no mission among men. It
would be like the house in the parable, built on the sand which the
floor swept away. For Masonry, God is the first truth and the final
reality.
Yet, as a fact, Masonry rarely uses the name of God.
It uses, instead, the phrase; "The Great Architect Of The Universe."
Of course such a phrase fits into the symbolism of the Craft, but
that is not the only - nor, perhaps the chief - reason why it is
used. A deep, fine feeling keeps us from using the name of Deity too
often, lest it lose some of its awe in our minds.
It is because Masons believe in God so deeply that they do not repeat
His Name frequently, and some of us prefer the Masonic way in the
matter. Also, we love the Masonic way of teaching by indirection, so
to speak; by influence and atmosphere. Masonry, in its symbols and
in its spirit, seeks to bring us into the presence of God and detains
us there, and that is the wisest way.
In nothing is Masonry more deep-seeing than in the way in which it
deals with our attitude toward God, who is both the meaning and the
mystery of life. It does not intrude, much less drive, in the
intimate and delicate things of the inner life - like a bungler
thrusting his hand into our heart-strings.
No, all that Masonry asks is that we confess our faith in a Supreme
Being. It does not require that we analyze or define in detail our
thought of God. Few men have formulated their profound faith;
perhaps no man can do it, satisfactorily. It goes deeper than the
intellect, down into the instincts and feelings, and eludes all
attempts to put it into words.
Life and love, joy and sorrow, pity and pain and death; the blood in
the veins of man, the milk in the breast of woman, the laughter of
little children, the coming and goings of days, all the old, sweet,
sad human things that make up our mortal life - these are the bases
of our faith in God. Older than argument, it is deeper than debate;
as old as the home, as tender as infancy and old age, as deep as love
and death.
Men lived and died by faith in God long before philosophy was born,
ages before theology had learned its letters. Vedic poets and
penitential Psalmists were praising God on yonder side of the
Pyramids. In Egypt, five thousand years ago, a poet King sang of the
unity, purity and beauty of God, celebrating His Presence revealed,
yet also concealed, in the order of life.
No man can put such things into words, much less into a hard and fast
dogma. Masonry does not ask him to do so. All that it asks is that
he tell, simply and humbly, in Whom he puts his trust in life and
death, as the source, security and sanction of moral life and
spiritual faith; and that is as far as it seeks to go.
One thinks of the talk of the old Mason with the young nobleman who
was an atheist, in the Tolstoi story, "War and Peace." When the
young count said with a sneer that he did not believe in God, the old
Mason smiled, as a mother might smile at the silly saying of a child.
Then, in a gentle voice, the old man said:
"Yes, you do not know Him, sir. You do not know Him and that is why
you are unhappy. But he is here, He is within me, He is within you,
even in these scoffing words you have just uttered. If He is not, we
should not be speaking of Him, sir. Whom dost thou deny?"
They were silent for a spell, as the train moved on.
Something in the old man touched the count deeply, and stirred in him
a longing to see what the old man saw, and to know what he knew. His
eyes betrayed his longing to know God, and the old man read his face,
and answered his unasked question:
"Yes, h exists, but to know him is hard. It is not attained by
reason, but by life. The highest truth is like the purest dew.
Could I hold in an impure vessel that pure dew, and judge of its
purity? Only by inner purification can we know God."
All these things - all this history and hope and yearning which
defies analysis - Masonry tells us in a shining Letter which hangs,
up in the Lodge. It is the wisest way; its presence is a prophecy,
and its influence extends beyond our knowing, evoking one knows not
what memories and meditations. Never do we see that Great Letter,
and think of what it implies, that we do not feel what Watts felt:
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope in times to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
"SO MOTE IT BE"

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.V August, 1927 No.8
UNITED MASONIC RELIEF
by: Unknown
To relieve the distressed is a duty taught the Freemason as one of
the first lessons of the Ancient Craft. Nothing in Freemasonry is
more touching, more solemn or more beautiful than the Rite of
Destitution; just how closely it nestles in the hearts of all who
experience it, is demonstrated by the reputation which the Masonic
Fraternity has for assisting the needy and being charitable toward
all mankind, more especially a brother Mason.
Masonic relief is practiced by the brother toward the needy, by the
Lodge toward those of its members who have fallen upon evil days, and
often toward the profane as well. Masonic relief by a group of
Lodges to a sister Lodge is commonplace in American Masonic history.
But Masonic relief recently has come to have a new and broader
meaning, and to be administered with a national vision.
The Great War taught American Freemasonry that, no matter how ideal
was its group of forty-nine Grand Lodges, each sovereign in its own
jurisdiction, was the right to make its own rules and laws, decide
for itself what the ancient Landmarks are, and rule its Masonic
principality as it thought wise, it was not a system designed for
united Masonic effort on a National scale. The United States
Government could not treat with forty-nine Grand Lodges, which might
have forty-nine different ideas as to how Masonry might function
overseas for the relief and benefit of the men in khaki. The result
was that, except for a few sporadic and divided efforts, organized
Freemasonry in America played but a very small part in the great
struggle beyond the ocean. The spirit was willing, anxious;
brotherhood was frustrated, not by its lack of heart, but by its lack
of the machinery - or, perhaps it is better said, by its having too
much machinery for such an undertaking.
Out of this trouble - and it was a very real trouble to many earnest
American Freemasons - grew The Masonic Service Association, formed of
a majority of the Grand Lodges of the United States. In this
organization the several Grand Lodges created a servant which could
work for them all, which could do what no one of them could do for
itself. One of the two main objects of the Association is the
collection, distribution and administration of United Masonic Relief;
when fire or flood, or other national disaster makes such relief
imperative, so that Masons can show nationally, as well as
individually, that they have fully learned the lesson of the Rite of
Destitution.
This is a great country. It has not only wonderful natural
resources, but wonderful potentialities for trouble. We are subject
to disastrous fires. We have tornadoes in the Middle West which do
more damage in less time than wind storms in any other part of the
earth. We have the courage to set up Lares and Penates where nature
- and, until we learn, we set them up not always strong enough -
result, a Galveston or a Johnstown Flood. And we have the Father of
the Waters, and the disastrous floods which afflict the lower
Mississippi region.
During the immediate past, Freemasonry has had a chance to test the
instrumentality which the Grand Lodges set up. First came the
terrible storm in Florida, which did such enormous damage, then the
terrific flood in the lower Mississippi Valley, which, even if less
destructive of life than the Florida Hurricane, was definitely
greater in the destruction of property. Ten counties have been
flooded in the State of Mississippi, with a total of seven hundred
and thirty-five thousand acres. Thirty-five counties have suffered a
similar fate in Arkansas, and nearly one-half of Louisiana has been
under water. The total flood damage throughout the entire flood area
is estimated by those familiar with conditions, to be at least one-
half billion dollars.
More than twenty thousand members of the Masonic Fraternity
affiliated with more than two hundred Lodges in the Jurisdictions of
Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi are materially affected by the
floods. Many of these members of the Craft have lost everything they
had in the world, while others are able to hold on until a gracious
Providence, a beneficent government, or the Masonic Fraternity shall
render aid.
In both disasters The Masonic Service Association was immediately
upon the scene, to offer its help and cooperation to the Masonic
Authorities in the afflicted area, and to make its appeal, not only
to its constituent members, but to all Masonic Jurisdictions, for
contributions to the relief of worthy poor and distressed Master
Masons, their widows, orphans and dependents.
Let it be roundly stated here and now, lest some critic think the
Association desires credit where no credit is due. Some Masonic
relief would have come to Florida and to the Mississippi Flood
sufferers had their been no Masonic Service Association. The great
heart of Freemasonry does not need an Association to be touched by
want and suffering. But the relief could not have been either so
great, so prompt, or so effectively administered had their been no
central agency to correlate the many appeals, and assist in the
allocation of funds. A movement with no leader, or with too many
leaders, will not progress near as fast as that which has a competent
general at the head. It was in activities of this kind that the
association was of such great value in these two distressing
calamities.
We are a cautious race; we naturally discount a man's own story of
his trouble, until we have investigated. This is sound Masonic
practice. Let an appeal for assistance come to the Lodge, and a
committee is commonly appointed to investigate and report the actual
facts to the Lodge. This, not that the Lodge distrusts the good
faith of the appealing brother, but to get a dispassionate and
impersonal survey of the conditions. In these national disasters,
The Masonic Service Association was able to act as a "Committee" and
to ascertain and report to all the Grand Lodges the actual conditions
and the need.
Non-Masons not infrequently ask? "But isn't the Red Cross for just
such purposes, and do you not duplicate the work of that organization
when you, too, attempt national relief?" The answers are many.
Consider the War. Was the red Cross sufficient overseas? Had the
Y.M.C.A. no function? The Salvation Army? The Red Cross does,
indeed, get promptly on the job in national disasters, but it cannot
do it all. And among the "All" which it cannot do is the individual
rehabilitation work which Masonry is so peculiarly fitted to
accomplish, because of that Mystic tie which binds brother unto
brother, and brother unto the lodge; and, which neither the Red
Cross, nor any other sectarian organization can duplicate or
understand.
The outpouring of relief from the various Masonic bodies over the
United States for both disasters was astonishing only to Non-Masons;
to the brethren, it was the expected thing. But never before have
funds, from Masonry united to relieve the distress been so quickly
administered by one group of Masons; and it was this centralization
of relief authority and means which placed the money contributed
where it did the most good with the absolute minimum of expense. In
Florida, it was less than one cent per dollar - more than 99 cents of
every dollar contributed went to relieve distress; the partial penny
remaining paying for office, postage, printing, advertising, travel,
etc. The figures are not yet in for Mississippi Flood Relief, since
that task is still in the process of doing as these words are being
written. It will be as low in proportion, although the greater area
affected, the destruction of so many of the existing means of
transportation and the consequent difficulties might well raise it to
a higher level, and it will still be low indeed.
The amount of relief in Florida was $114,236.97 from all sources, of
which almost one hundred thousand dollars ($96,649.16) came from
Grand Lodges and other Masonic bodies outside of the State of
Florida. In the Mississippi relief campaign, more than $500,000 has
been contributed at the present writing, and the money is still
coming in. It is of special interest to note that in addition to
Lodges and Grand Lodges, nearly every Supreme Body of Masonry in
North America contributed to the Mississippi relief funds; they did
not stop to ask whether those to whom the relief would go were
Companions or Sir Knights or Nobles or Brothers, or Sisters of the
Eastern Star. Masons and their families were in distress, and
practically all joined with Grand Lodges and individual Lodges
everywhere to contribute to the one relief fund asked for by the
three Grand Lodges, through the Masonic Service Association, for the
relief of Masons, regardless of Rite or Degree. And it is to be
noted that the greatest contribution, except for those from Lodges
and Grand Lodges, came from women of the Eastern Star, who opened
their purses as wide as their hearts.
Both in Florida and the flooded area, the procedure has been of the
same general character; immediately upon receipt of the news of the
disaster the Executive Secretary of The Masonic Service Association
went immediately to the scene, there to meet the Grand Masters whose
jurisdictions were suffering, advise with him or them, assist in
sending forth the appeal, and in creating the machinery necessary for
the proper use of the funds received. It is necessary, in such
sudden disasters, first to create an organization for the use of the
funds; next, to make a survey of the situation and find out just what
is needed most, and where; and finally to see that Masons in distress
know where to come and how to reach the aid which is to be had for
the asking.
In Florida the situation was complicated by the fact that there were
so many sojourning Masons, not members of Florida Lodges. Relatives
and friends all over the United States appealed to the Grand Lodge of
Florida for information concerning their loved ones. It is to be
noted that no questions were raised in giving out of Masonic relief
as to where a brother belonged; as a matter of fact, of the 527
families relieved by Masons in Florida, 228 had men in Florida
Lodges; the remaining 297 possessed affiliates of other Grand
Jurisdictions. In the Mississippi flood area the problem is made
difficulty not only by the fact that three States are effected, but
that the vastness of the devastation, and the utter need of many for
enough help to get started again.
The machinery put in operation was run by the Grand Lodge of Florida,
in Florida; and in the flooded regions by a Board of Control of Grand
Officers from Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas who elected Grand
Master Johnson of Mississippi as Chairman. All the funds received
have gone into a common relief fund; there has been no segregation of
money for this body, or that Rite. The great bulk of the relief has
been a spontaneous outpouring from Masons everywhere, to Masons, - to
be disbursed by kindly, loving brethren of the Mystic Tie.
For the benefit of those who may be interested in figures, a table is
appended to this Bulletin, showing the amount contributed to the
Mississippi Flood Fund by various bodies and States, up to and
including July 15, 1927. Figures for Florida are not given, as that
relief campaign is closed, the Grand Master furnishing a C.P.A. audit
of the work of his committee at the Annual Communication of the Grand
Lodge in April, a copy of which has been sent to all entitled to
receive it.
Mississippi Flood Relief is not yet finished, and cannot be for some
time. But any Mason can well be proud of the relief offered by
Masonry to Masons; and the vast majority of brethren of the United
States can look with pride upon the table published herewith, and
exult that the Rite of Destitution meant something real, something
vital to their Lodges and Grand Lodges, and the allied Supreme Bodies
of other Rites.
It is pleasant to publish the following Resolution, adopted in the
Grand Lodge of Florida at the Annual Communication assembled in
Jacksonville, last April:
RESOLUTION OF THANKS
"Resolved by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Florida, that we
acknowledge with grateful hearts the liberal and substantial aid and
assistance rendered by the Masons of the United States to the
Sojourning and Resident Masons of Florida who were injured and
damaged by the storm that visited a portion of our State during the
month of September, 1926.
"That our especial thanks are due, and hereby ex-pressed, to The
Masonic Service Association of the United States, to its very
efficient Executive Secretary, Brother Andrew L. Randell, P.G.M., and
its other executive officers, and to the Masonic Bodies named below,
for valuable aid and financial assistance rendered in the emergency
which confronted us.
(Here was inserted a list of all contributors)
"Resolved Further: That we express the hope and belief that this
manifestation of humanity and brotherly love may further cement the
bond of Fraternal regard which should exist between real Masons
through the length and breadth of our common country.
"That the Grand Secretary, F. & A.M. of Florida, is hereby directed
to transmit a certified copy of this resolution, under his hand and
the Seal of the Grand Lodge, to each of the bodies and the
individuals mentioned above."
"SO MOTE IT BE"

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.V September, 1927 No.9
THE RUFFIANS
by: Unknown
As every Mason knows, at the heart of our mysteries lies a legend, in
which we learn how three unworthy craftsmen entered into a plot to
extort from a famous Mason a secret to which they had no right. It
is all familiar enough, in its setting and sequence; and it is a part
of his initiation which no Mason ever forgets.
In spite of its familiarity, the scene in which the Ruffians appear
is one of the most impressive that any man ever beheld, if it is not
marred, as it often is, alas, by a hint of rowdy. No one can witness
it without being made to feel there is a secret which, for all our
wit and wisdom, we have not yet won from the Master Builder of the
world; the mystery of evil in the life of man.
To one who feels the pathos of life and ponders its mystery, a part
of its tragedy is the fact that the Great Man, toiling for the good
of the race, is so often stricken down when the goal of his labors is
almost within his reach; as Lincoln was shot in an hour when he was
most needed. Nor is he an isolated example. The shadow lies dark
upon the pages of history in every age.
The question is baffling: Why is it that evil men, acting from low
motives and for selfish aims, have such power to throw the race into
confusion and bring ruin upon all, defeating the very end at which
they aim? Is it true that all the holy things of life - the very
things that make it worth living - are held at the risk and exposed
to the peril of evil forces; and if so, why should it be so?
If we cannot answer such questions we can at least ask another nearer
to hand. Since everything in masonry is symbolic, who are the
ruffians and what is the legend trying to tell us? Of course we know
the names they wear, but what is the truth back of it all which it
will help us to know? As is true of all Masonic symbols, as many
meanings have been found as there have been seekers.
It all depends on the key with which each seeker sets out to unlock
the meaning of Masonry. To those who trace our symbolism to the
ancient solar worship, the three Ruffians are the three winter months
who plot to murder the beauty and glory of summer, destroying the
life-giving heat of the sun. To those who find the origin of Masonry
in the Ancient Mysteries of Egypt, it is a drama of Typhon, the
Spirit of Evil, slaying Osirus the Spirit of Good, who is
resurrected, in turn rising triumphant over death.
Not a few find the fulfillment of this oldest of all dramas in the
life and death of Jesus, who was put to death outside the city gate
by three of the most ruthless Ruffians - the Priest, the Politician
and the Mob. Which of the three is the worst foe of humanity is hard
to tell, but when they work together, as they usually do, there is no
crime against man of which they have not been guilty.
A few think that Masonry, as we have it, grew out of the downfall of
the Knights Templar, identify the three Assassins, as they are called
in the Lodges of Europe, with three renegade Knights who falsely
accused the Order, and so aided King Phillip and Pope Clement to
abolish Templarism, and slay its Grand Master, A very few see in
Cromwell and his adherents the plot-ters, putting to death Charles
the First.
It is plain that we must go further back and deeper down if we are to
find the real Ruffians, who are still at large. Albert Pike
identified the three Brothers who are the greatest enemies of
individual welfare and social progress as Kingcraft, Priestcr-aft,
and the ignorant Mob-Mind. Together they conspire to destroy
liberty, without which man can make no advance.
The first strikes a blow at the throat, the seat of freedom of
speech, and that is a mortal wound. The second stabs at the heart,
the home of freedom of conscience, and that is well-nigh fatal, since
it puts out the last ray of Divine Light by which man is guided. The
third of the foul plotters fells his victim dead with a blow on the
brain, which is the throne of freedom of thought.
No lesson could be plainer; it is written upon every page of the
past. If by apathy, neglect or stupidity we suffer free speech, free
conscience, and free thought to be destroyed either by Kingcraft,
Priestcraft or the Mob-Mind; or, by all three working together - for
they are Brothers and usually go hand in hand - the Temple of God
will be dark, there will be no designs upon the Trestlboard, and the
result will be idleness, confusion and chaos. It is a parable of
history - a picture of many an age in the past of which we read.
For, where there is no light of Divine Vision, the Altar fire is
extinguished. The people "perish" s the Bible tells us; literally
they become a mob, which is only another way of saying the same
thing. There are no designs on the Trestleboard; that is, no
leadership, - as in Russia today, where the herd-mind runs wild and
runs red. Chaos comes again, inevitably so when all the lights are
blown out, and the people are like ignorant armies that clash by
night.
Of the three Ruffians, the most terrible, the most ruthless, the most
brutal is the ignorant Mob-Mind. No tyrant, no priest can reduce a
nation to slavery and control it until it is lost in the darkness of
ignorance. By ignorance we mean not merely lack of knowledge, but
the state of mind in which men refuse, or are afraid, to think, to
reason, to enquire. When "The Great Free-doms of the Mind" go,
everything is lost!.
After this manner Pike expounded the meaning of the three Ruffians.
who rob themselves, as they rob their fellow craftsmen, of the most
precious secret of personal and social life. A secret, let it be
added, which cannot be extorted, but is only won when we are worthy
to receive it and have the wit and courage to keep it. For, oddly
enough, we cannot have real liberty until we are ready for it, and
can only become worthy of it by seeking and striving for it.
But some of us go further, and find the same three Ruffians nearer
home - hiding in our own hearts. And naturally so, because society
is only the individual writ larger; and what men are together is
determined by what each is by himself. If we know who the ruffians
really are, we have only to ask; what three things waylay each of us,
destroy character, and if they have their way either slay us or turn
us into ruffians? Why do we do evil and mar the Temple of God in us?
Three great Greek thinkers searched until they found the three causes
of sin in the heart of man. In other words, they hunted in the
mountains of the mind until they found the Ruffi-ans. Socrates said
that the chief ruffian is ignorance - that is, no man in his right
mind does evil unless he is so blinded by ignorance that he does see
the right. No man, he said, seeing good and evil side by side, will
choose evil unless he is too blind to see its results. An
enlightened self-interest would stop him. Therefore, his remedy for
the ills of life is knowl-edge - more light, and a clearer insight.
Even so, said Plato; it is all true as far as it goes. But the fact
is that men do see right and wrong clearly, and yet in a dark mood
they do wrong in spite of knowledge. When the mind is calm and
clear, the right is plain, but a storm of passion stirs up sediments
in the bottom of the mind, and it is so cloudy that clear vision
fails. The life of a man is like driving a team of horses, one tame
and the other wild. So long as the wild horse is held firmly all
goes well. But, alas, often enough, the wild horse gets loose and
there is a run-away and a wreck.
But that is not all, said Aristotle. We do not get to the bottom
truth of the matter until we admit the fact and possibil-ity - in
ourselves and in our fellows - of a moral perversity, a spirit of
sheer mischief, which does wrong, deliberately and in the face of
right, calmly and with devilish cunning, for the sake of wrong and
for the love of it. Here, truly, is the real Ruffian most to be
feared - a desperate character he is, who can only be overcome by
Divine Help.
Thus, three great thinkers capture the Ruffians, hiding somewhere in
our own minds. It means much to have them brought before us for
judgment, and happy is the man who is wise enough to take them
outside the city of his mind and execute them. Nothing else or less
will do. To show them any mercy is to invite misery and disaster.
They are ruthless, and must be dealt with ruthlessly and at once.
If we parley with them, if we soften toward them, we our-selves may
be turned into Ruffians. Good but foolish Fellowcra-fts came near
being intrigued into a hideous crime. "If thy right eye offend,
pluck it out," said the greatest of Teachers. Only a celestial
surgery will save the whole body from infection and moral rot. We
dare not make terms with evil, else it will dictate terms to us
before we are aware of it.
One does not have to break the head of a Brother in order to be a
Ruffian. One can break a heart. One can break his home. One can
slay his good name. The amount of polite and refined ruffianism that
goes on about us every day is appalling. Watch-fulness is wisdom.
Only a mind well tiled, with a faithful inner guard ever at his post,
may hope to keep the ruffian spirit out of your heart and mine. No
wise man dare be careless or take any chances with the thought,
feelings and motives he admits into the Lodge of the mind, whereof he
is Master.
So let us live, watch and work, until Death, the last Ruffian, whom
none can escape, lays us low, assured that even the dark, dumb hour,
which brings a dreamless sleep about our couch, will not be able to
keep us from the face of God, whose strong grip will free us and lift
us out of shadows into the Light; out of dim phantoms into the Life
Eternal that cannot die.
"SO MOTE IT BE"

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.27 October, 1927 No.10
THE NORTHEAST CORNER
by: Unknown
Surely no Mason ever forgets the moment when he is placed in the
Northeast Corner of the Lodge, and hears the Master say, that he
there stands a just and upright Mason. It is one of the thrills
along the great journey of initiation, a point at which the idea and
purpose of Masonry begin to take shape in the mind.
A thrill of joy is felt in the Lodge, not only by the initiate but by
the Master and the Brethren, as if a son had been born, or a new
friend found; a note of exaltation on having arrived at so happy a
climax, as when a pilgrim pauses to rejoice in so much of a journey
done. And naturally so, because the Corner Stone of a Mason's life
has been laid.
Always, as far back as we can go in the story of mankind, the laying
of a Cornerstone has been a happy event. It has always been
celebrated with solemn and joyous rites. It is the basis of a new
building, the beginning of a new enterprise; and the good will of God
is invoked to bless the builders and the building.
How much more, then, should it be so when a man takes the first step
out of Darkness toward the Light, and begins the adventure of a new
life! More important by far then Temple or Cathedral is the building
of a moral character and a spiritual personality. Stones will rot
and Temples crumble under the attrition of time, but moral qualities
and spiritual values belong to the Eternal Life.
The initiate stands in the Northeast Corner on a foundation of
Justice, the one virtue by which alone a man can live with himself or
with his fellows. Without it no structure will stand, in
architecture, as Ruskin taught us, much less in morals. In the Rite
of Destitution he has learned to love Mercy, and at the Altar of
Obligation prayer has been offered, in fulfillment of the words of
the prophet:
"He hath Shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord
require of thee, but to do justly, and to love Mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God!"
In the Northeast Corner the initiate stands midway between the North,
the place of darkness, and the East, the place of Light, whence
healing, revealing rays fall upon the life of man. Such is his
position, symbolically, and rightly so. He is an Entered Apprentice,
a beginner in the Masonic Art, neither in the Dark nor in the Light.
He has come out of the Darkness, his face set toward the Light, and
his quest is for more Light, with yet much light to dawn upon him.
What is life for? To live, of course; and only by living it do we
learn what it is for, much less how live it. It is ever an
adventure, a new adventure for each man, despite the millions that
have lived before us, since, as Keats said about poets, "We Never
Really Understand Fine Things Until We Have Gone The Same Steps As
The Author." Only by living can we learn what life is, verifying the
wisdom of ages alike by our virtues and our vices.
Yet it means much to have the wisdom learned by ages of living taught
us in symbols and told us in a story, as it is taught us and told us
in a Masonic Lodge. It brings to us the truth tried by time and
tragedy, and the principles wrought out and discovered by the race in
its long experience. It gives us a plan, a picture, a prophecy, and
the fellowship of men going the same road.
The initiate stands Erect in the Northeast Corner, upright and ready
to receive his working tools, a son of the Light, himself a living
stone to be polished. What is more wonderful, what more beautiful,
than Youth standing erect before God - not cringing, not groveling -
seeking the Light by which to make its way through the dim country of
this world to the City that hath foundations! Truly, our Masonry is
the organized poetry of faith!
But why the Northeast Corner? Would not some other corner of the
Lodge do as well? Perhaps it would, but Masonry is very old, going
back into a time far gone, when ordinary things had meanings, real or
imaginary, beyond their practical use. Such a question opens a
window into things quaint, curious, and even awful; and all sorts of
explanations are offered us, some of which may be named.
For example, Albert Pike spread out the map of the old world of the
East - the mystical territory whence so many of our symbols and
legends have come - and found that "The Apprentice represents the
Aryan race in it original home on the highlands of Pamir, in the
north of that Asia termed Orient, at the angle whence, upon two great
lines of emigration South and West, they flowed forth in successive
waves to conquer and colonize the world."
Well, what of it, interesting though it may be as a fact of long ago,
if a fact it is? What truth can it teach us to our profit, beyond
the suggestion that the House of Initiation took the form of the
world as it was then mapped in the mind, and that the procession of
initiation follows the line of march of a conquering race? It may be
valuable, as preserving the dim outline of ancient history - but not
otherwise.
Another student, seeking the secret of Masonry in solar symbolism and
mythology, looks at the same map of the Eastern World, in the frame
of an Oblong Square, studying the movements of the Sun from season to
season. He finds that the point farthest North and the point
farthest South on the map mark the Summer and Winter Solstices,
respectively. In other words, the Northeast Corner of the World, as
them mapped, is the point in the annual course of the Sun when it
reaches the extreme northern limit; the longest day in the year,
which in Masonry we dedicate to St. John the Baptist, the Prophet of
righteousness.
Then, turning to the history of religion, he finds, not unnaturally,
many rites of primitive peoples - magical rituals and Midsummer Night
Dreams - celebrating the Summer Solstice. Many hints and relics of
the old Light Religion are preserved for us in Masonry - rays of its
faiths and fictions - one of them being that the Northeast Corner of
the Universe, and so of the Lodge of which it is a symbol, is the
seat of the Sun-God in the prime of his power.
So, too, the Northeast Corner, as the throne of God in hour of his
majesty, became a place unique in the symbols of man, having special
virtue and sanctity. As we read in the Institutes of Menu: "If he
has any incurable disease, let him advance in a straight path towards
the invincible northeast point, feeding on water and air till his
mortal frame totally decays, and his soul becomes united with the
Supreme." What more appropriate a place from which to start an
edifice, or to place an Apprentice as he begins to build the Temple
of his Masonic life?
Also, because of such magical ideas associated with the Northeast
Corner, it was a cruel custom for ages to bury a living human being
under the corner stone of a building, to mollify the Gods, and,
later, as a token of the sacrifice involved in all building.
Horrible as the custom was, here no doubt was a crude sense of the
law of sacrifice running through all human life, never to be escaped,
even by the loftiest souls, as we see on a dark cross outside the
city gate.
In the crude ages all things were crude; even the holiest insights
took awful shapes of human sacrifice. Life is costly, and man has
paid a heavy price for the highest truth. For there is a law of
heavenly death by which man advances - the death, that is, of all
that is unheavenly within him - that the purer, clearer truth may
rise. Evermore, by a law of dying into life, man grows - dying to
his lower, lesser self and releasing the angel hidden within him.
Thinking of all these strands of thought and faith and sorrow woven
into the symbolism of the Lodge, how can any one watch without
emotion as the Apprentice takes his place, upright and eager, in the
Northeast Corner. There he stands, against a background of myth,
symbol and old sacrifice, erect before God, and one thinks of the
great words in the Book of Ezekiel:
"And God said unto me, Son of Man, stand upon thy feet, and I will
speak unto thee. And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto
me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me."
Such is the challenge of God to the manhood of man, asking him to
stand erect and unafraid, and commune as friend to friend. Alas, it
is not easy to keep the upright posture, physically or morally, in
the midst of the years with their blows and burdens. At last, a dark
Ruffian lays us low in death, and only the Hand of God, with its
strong grip, can lift us from a dead level and set us on our feet
forever. So, at least, Masonry teaches us to believe and live:
Lord, I believe
Man is no little thing
that, like a bird in spring,
Comes fluttering to the Light of Life,
And out of the darkness of long death.
The breath of God is in him,
And his age long strife
With evil has a meaning and an end.
Though twilight dim his vision be
Yet can he see Thy Truth,
And in the cool of evening,
Thou, his friend, Dost walk with him, and talk
Did not the Word take flesh?
Of the great destiny
That waits him and his race.
In days that are to be
By grace he can achieve great things,
And, on the wings of strong desire,
Mount upward ever, higher and higher,
Until above the clouds of earth he stands,
And stares God in the face.
"SO MOTE IT BE"

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.V November, 1927 No.11
THE LAMBSKIN APRON
by: Unknown
In Masonic symbolism the Lambskin Apron holds precedence. It is the
initial gift of Freemasonry to a candidate, and at the end of life's
pilgrimage it is reverently placed on his mortal remains and buried
with his body in the grave.
Above all other symbols, the Lambskin Apron is the distinguishing
badge of a Mason. It is celebrated in poetry and prose and has been
the subject of much fanciful speculation. Some Masonic writers have
contended that initiation is analogous to birth, or our advent from
prenatal darkness into the light of human fellowship, moral truth and
spiritual faith. Much ancient lore has been adduced in an effort to
show that the Lambskin Apron typifies regeneration, or a new life,
and this thought of resurrection may be the cause of its internment
with the body of a deceased brother. At least it will serve until a
better reason is advanced for this peculiar custom in the Masonic
burial service. The association of the lamb with redemption and being
born again is expressed by John, the Apocalyptic Seer, who had a
vision on the Isle of Patmos, and beheld the purified and redeemed
"Of All Nations, Kindreds, People and Tongues." Of them it was said,
"These are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
By many it has been regarded as a great religious symbol. In our
present conception there are three parts of man; body, soul and
spirit; what the body is to the soul, the soul to the spirit; namely,
a house or habitation, but in oriental thought there are seven parts
of man; four earthly and three heavenly; four physical and three
spiritual. The four sides of the square symbolize the four physical
and the three sides of the flap, or triangle, symbolize the three
spiritual parts of man. The apex of the triangle, or point of the
flap, stood for the Atma, and which means the eternal spark, the
Divine Flame, the indestructible spirit of the living God in every
human being. In this aspect it means that:
God is not a looker on At the Life of anyone;
God is under every man, God is part of every man.
A badge is either good or bad by reason of that for which it stands.
Aside from mysticism, I believe there are five distinct things of
which the Lambskin Apron is a badge.
Firstly, in its use, it is a badge of service. In his recent book on
"Symbolical Masonry," Brother H.L. Haywood has an interesting chapter
on "The Apron wherein the Builder Builds," and says it "was so
conspicuous a portion of the costume of an operative Mason that it
became associated with him in the public mind and thus gradually
evolved into his badge." By it Speculative Freemasonry seeks to
distinguish the builder and place upon the brow of labor the laurel
wreath of dignity and honor.
Secondly, made of lambskin, it is in its fabric a badge of sacrifice.
The lamb in all ages has been not only an emblem of innocence, but
also a symbol of sacrifice, and he who wears this Apron with
understanding must be prepared for the time when hard things are to
be done, when trials are to be endured, and fortitude glorified.
Thirdly, in its color it is a badge of purity. White is the clean
color that reflects most light.
In Masonry there are three great religious rites. One is
discalceation, that is, entering a holy place or standing in the
presence of God barefooted as a symbol of humility. It comes from a
time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. When God
appeared to Moses in the burning bush, he said, "Put off thy shoes
from thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."
Another is the rite of circumambulation, that it, going around an
Altar from east to west by way of the south. Dr. Joseph Fort Newton
said: "When man emerged from the night of barbarism his religion was
a worship of light; to him light was life and love, darkness was evil
and death; to him light was the mother of beauty, the unveiler of
color, the radiant, illusive mystery of the world; his Temple was
hung with stars, his Altar a glowing flame, his ritual a woven hymn
of night and day." To him the sun was the greatest of God's
creations, it inspired his adoration and in all his religious
ceremonies he followed its apparent course through the heavens, as
though he were walking in the footsteps of the Most High. Through
this rite, memories of that religion of the dawn linger with us in
Masonry today.
The third is the rite of investure or purification; that is, the
presentation of the Apron. In a qualified way it bears the
relationship to the Lodge that baptism does to some Churches, it is
the external symbol of an inner purification. The Psalmist asked:
"Who shall ascend into the Hill of The Lord?" and answering his own
question said, "He that hath clean hands and a pure heart." The
Apron when correctly understood is the pledge of a clean life, the
testimony that a candidate means to live pure, speak true, right
wrong and reverence conscience as king.
When we turn to the Ritual for its interpretation, we find the Apron
to be an inheritance from the past, it is a badge of antiquity, "more
ancient than the Golden Fleece and Roman Eagle." A ministerial
Brother once said that the Masonic Ritual was couched in stilted
phrases and extravagant language, and, as an illustration referred to
the ritualistic speech used in the presentation of the Apron. Let us
see if he was right. The most specific way of conveying thought and
expressing truth is by comparison, It is difficult to comprehend an
idea unless we can correlate or compare it with something already
known. The Order of the Golden Fleece here referred to was founded
in the year 1429, by Phillip, Duke of Burgandy; the Roman Eagle
became Rome's Ensign of Imperial Power about one century before the
Christian era, while the Apron had come down to us from the very
sunrise of time. "Herbrew Prophets often wore Aprons," they were
used in the ancient mysteries of India and Egypt, they were used by
early Chinese secret societies, by the Jewish religious sect called
Essenes, they were employed as emblems by the Incas of Peru, the
Aztecs of Mexico, and the prehistoric races of the American
continent.
As a badge of antiquity, it emphasizes the value of the past.
Blackstone, in his commentaries on the English Law, said that in the
making of a new law three things must be considered; namely, the old
law, the mischief and the remedy. No man can apply an intelligent
remedy to a existing mischief without regard to the antecedent
conditions out of which it grew. Present progress must be based on
the accumulated experience and wisdom of the ages. Albert Pike said,
"It is the dead who govern, the living only obey." "Every ship that
comes to America got its chart from Columbus, every novel is debtor
to Homer, every carpenter who shaves with a foreplane borrows the
genius of some forgotten inventor."
As a badge of antiquity the Apron exalts the greatness and glory of
the past in its present contribution to human good and happiness.
In the fifth place, the Apron is a badge of honor. It is declared to
be "More honorable than the Star and Garter." Here we have another
comparison. The Order of the Star and Garter was created by John II
of France at the beginning of his reign in the middle of the 14th
century. It was a Royal plaything and at the time of its formation
its founder was engaged in acts of despotism and destruction.
The Order of the Garter was formed by Edward III of England in 1349.
It was composed of the King and Twenty-five knights, and originated
in the false pride and fantastic pomp of medieval manners. Edward A.
Freeman, an English historian says: "The spirit of knighthood is
above all things a class spirit. The good knight is bound to endless
courtesies toward men and women of a certain rank; and he may treat
all below that rank with any degree of scorn and cruelty." "Chivalry
is in morals what feudalism is in law. Each substitutes personal
obligations devised in the interest of an exclusive class, for the
more homey duties of an honest man and a good citizen."
Freemasonry is in striking contrast to such conceptions. It stands
for the dissipation of discord and dissension, for the promotion of
peace, the pursuit of knowledge and the practice of brotherhood, for
untrammeled conscience, equality of opportunity and the Divine right
of liberty in man, for devotion to duty, the building of character
and rectitude of life and conduct. Its symbolical supports are
wisdom, strength and beauty; the principal rounds of its theological
ladder are faith, hope and charity. Its primary tenets are brotherly
love, relief and truth; its cardinal virtues are fortitude, prudence
and justice. Its Temple is erected to the Master Builder, its Great
Light is the Word of Revelation and at its center is an Altar of high
and Holy purpose. Like the shadow of a rock in a weary land, like a
shining light in a window of a home, like a mother's kiss on a
trouble brow and the breath of her prayer in the hour of despair, is
the spirit of Freemasonry, calling men from the circumference of life
to find God at the center of the individual soul.
When we consider the messages delivered by these Orders and the
Lambskin Apron - one speaking the language of class distinction,
special privilege and the Divine right of Kings; the other telling
the story of exact justice, equality of opportunity, and the
brotherhood of man - it is not a stilted phrase and an exaggeration
of speech, to say that the badge of a Mason is more honorable than
the Star and Garter.
As a badge of honor, the Lambskin Apron spells out integrity, honesty
of purpose, probity of character, and soundness of moral principle.
"SO MOTE IT BE"

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.V December, 1927 No.12
THE LODGE
by: Unknown
"God hath made mankind one vast Brotherhood, Himself their Master,
and the World His Lodge."
Out of an old, dark abyss a whirling fire-mist emerged, and the world
was made. Ages afterwards a race of men began to walk about on its
surface and ask what it means. Dimly aware that things are more than
they seem to be, man sought in the order of nature and in the depths
of his own being for a clue to the questions which haunted his mind:
What is the world? How did it come to be? Why does it exist? Has
it a Mind, a Purpose, a Plan? Why is man here? What is he sent to
do and be? What is life for? What is its meaning, its duty, its
hope? Is death the end? Where does man go when he falls into a
still, strange sleep, and does not wake up?
Such faith as man won from the mystery of life, such truth as he
learned by living, he set forth in sign and symbol, in sacred rite
and ceremony, in the Temple and the Lodge. For, next to the Home and
the House of Prayer, the Lodge is the oldest Shrine of humanity - so
ancient is the idea and art of initiation, as far back as the
earliest ages. Rituals, if not the oldest records of the race, show
us man the mystic, telling himself the truth until it is real and
vivid, seeking to lift his life into higher rhythm of reality .
The men's house was the center of tribal society, the place where
youth was tried, trained, and taught the secret lore of the race.
Its rites were crude - often, no doubt, cruel - as all things were in
the beginning; but their intent was to test men before intrusting to
them treasures which had cost so much and must not be lost. Always
the crowning rite of initiation was a drama of the immortal life,
revealing man undefeated by death, keeping his hidden treasure - by
virtue of that in him which has never accepted utter identity with
outward force and fact.
Ages later, by the same mystic insight, the art of initiation was
linked with the art of building. Back of this blending of two arts
lay the truth that the life of man must reproduce the law and order
of the world in which he lives. So every Temple became a symbol of
the world - its floor the earth, its roof the heavens; and every
ritual repeated the life and death of man - showing the passage of
the soul through nature to Eternity. How impressive it is uniting a
truth so old that it is easily overlooked and an insight so simple
that men forget its sublimity.
If not by direct historical descent, at least by spiritual affinity
the same truth and insight are united in the moral art of Masonry, in
which the Lodge is a symbol of the world and the ritual the drama of
the life of man. Such an insight is as valid today as it was ages
ago, though our idea of the shape of the world - no longer a cube,
but a globe - has altered; since its normal order abides, and man
must learn to live in harmony with it, building upon the Will of God
by His help and in His name.
The world is a Lodge in which man is to learn the Brotherly Life. So
Masonry reads the mystery of the world and finds its purpose, its
design, its prophecy. It is a simple faith, a profound philosophy,
and a practical way of life. How to live is the one matter, and he
will wander far without learning a better way than is shown us in the
Lodge. Still less may one hope to find an atmosphere more gentle for
the growth of the best things, or a wiser method of teaching the
truth by which man is inspired and edified.
In the days of Operative Masonry, a Lodge was a hut or a shed, of a
temporary kind, near the place where the work was carried on. It was
variously used as an office, a storeroom, or a place where the
workmen ate and slept together, as we read in the Fabric Rolls of New
York Minister, in orders issued to the Craft in 1352. Not
unnaturally, in time the name of the room came to describe the
associations and meetings of the men using the Lodge Room; and they
were called the Lodge. Hence, our habit of speaking of the
Fraternity itself as a Lodge, and so it is, since in its symbolic
world men are built together in love.
At one time the Tracing Board, as it is called in England, was known
as the "Lodge;" as when Preston tells how "The Grand Master,"
attended by his officers, form themselves in order round the Lodge,
which is placed in the center, covered with white satin." Again, in
the Book of Constitutions, 1784, we read of "Four Tylers carrying the
Lodge covered with white satin;" as if it were a mystic Ark of the
Covenant, as used in certain Masonic ceremonies. Such a use of the
word has passed away, or well nigh so, along with the practice.
For us the Lodge is the world, and some trace the word Lodge back to
the Sanskrit word "Loga," meaning the world. However that may be,
manifestly it goes back to the days when men thought the world was
square, and to live "On the Square" meant to be at one with the order
of the world. Also, since the Lodge is "The Place where Masons
Work," its form, position, dimension, covering and support are
likewise symbolical of the conditions in which man lives, going forth
to his labor until in the evening, and the night cometh when no man
can work. As Goethe put it in his poem:
The Mason's ways are
A Type of Existence,
And his persistence
Is as the days are
Of men in this world.
By the same token, if the Lodge is the world, so initiation is a
symbol of our birth into it. But it is only an analogy, and may be
pressed too far, as is often done, leaving it cloudy with ideas which
have no place in it. For the Masonic initiation is a symbol of our
birth out of the dim sense life into a world of moral values and
spiritual vision; out of the animal into the angel. Not to see that
it is a moral and spiritual birth, in which the hoodwinks of the
flesh are removed, is to miss both its meaning and its beauty.
Back of the art and practice of initiation, in the olden time, lay a
profound idea, never better told than in the Hymn of the Soul in an
old book called the "Acts of Thomas." The story is told by the Soul
itself, of its descent from the house of its Father, to Egypt to
fetch a Pearl away. Before it left its heavenly home, its White Robe
and Scarlet Tunic were removed, and it went naked into a far country
in quest of a Pearl of great price, to find which all else might well
be given up.
In Egypt the Soul eats of the food of the land, forgets its Father
and serves the King of Egypt - forgets the Pearl, as if overcome by a
deep sleep. But a Letter is sent to it by its Father, bidding it
remember that it is the son of a King, and to call to mind the Pearl
and the White Robe left above. The Letter flies in the likeness of
an eagle. The Soul awakes, seizes the Pearl, strips off its filthy,
unclean dress, and sets off eastward and homeward, guided by the
light of the Letter, from Egypt, past Babylon to Maisham on the sea.
There the Soul meets the White Robe, and because it only dimly
remembered its fashion - for in its childhood it had left the Robe in
its Father's House - the Robe became a mirror of the Soul. "All over
it the instincts of knowledge were working." The White Robe speaks
and tells how it grew as the Soul grew, and then of itself it invests
the Soul with that of which it had been divested - a perfect fit -
and the Soul returns to its Home, like the Prodigal Son in the
parable of Jesus. Thus our initiation is a return of the Soul, along
a dim, hard path, led by a Shining Letter hung up in the Lodge; the
discovery by man of who he is, whence he came, and whose son he is.
So understood, the ritual of initiation is a drama of the Eternal
Life of man, of the awakening of the Soul and the building of
character. For character is built of thoughts, and by thought, and
the Lodge offers both a place of quiet and purity and a method by
which the work may be carried on, isolated from the confusions of the
ordinary life. Sect and party, creed and strife are excluded. Not
out of the world, but separate from it, "close tyled," in a chamber
of moral imagery, and in the fellowship of men seeking the good life,
we may learn what life is and how to live it.
Outside, angry passion and mad ambition fill the earth with their
cries. At the door of the Lodge, vice, hate, envy and the evil that
work such havoc are left behind. Inside, the Faith that makes us men
is taught by old and simple symbols, and the Moral Life becomes as
real and vivid as it is lovely. Where, in all the world, is there
another such shrine of peace and beauty where men of all ranks ,
creeds and conditions are drawn together, as brothers of one mystic
tie, dedicated and devoted to the best life!
Here, in the Lodge, in a world of the ideal made real, we meet upon
the Level and part upon the Square, sons of one Father, brothers in
one family, united by oath and insight and a Love which is Pearl of
great value, seeking a truth that makes is fraternal. Outside the
home of the House of God there is nothing finer than this old, far
embracing Lodge of ennobled humanity.
No hammer fell, nor ponderous axes rung, Like some tall palm the
mystic fabric sprung.
"SO MOTE IT BE"

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VI January, 1928 No.1
TIME
by: Unknown
From Chapter XXVII of "Foreign Countries," by Brother Carl H. Claudy,
a delightful and inspiring study of Masonic Symbolism, written for
and published by the Masonic Service association of the United
States.
One of the hidden, or "covered" symbols of Freemasonry is found in
the many references to time.
The Entered Apprentice is given a twenty-four inch gauge as his
working tool and with it taught to divide his time.
The Entered Apprentice must wait a certain time before taking his
Fellowcraft Degree.
The Fellowcraft is reminded of the time required for creation, and
the function of geometry as to time is emphasized; "by it, also, the
astronomer is enabled to make his observations and the fix the
duration of time and seasons, years and cycles." He is also made to
realize that there are three principal causes which contribute to
destruction; the hand of ignorance, the devastations of war and the
lapse of time.
The Fellowcraft must wait a period of time before he may receive his
Master Mason Degree.
As a Master Mason he is reminded of the passage of time in the
reading from Ecclesiastes; emphasis is put upon the journey from "the
days of thy youth" to that hour when "shall the dust return to the
earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."
In the prayer use in the Sublime Degree we hear: "Man that is born
of woman is of a few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like
a flower and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth
not. Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is
with thee; thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; turn
from him that he may rest, till he shall accomplish his day.
Master Masons are taught from the Scriptures of the length of time
required to construct the Temple of Solomon. The three steps on the
Master's carpet are of youth, manhood and old age; of which, as we
have seen, the three degrees as a whole are symbols.
The hour glass, an instrument used for the measurement of time, is
one of the symbols discussed in the lecture of the Sublime Degree.
"The Scythe is an emblem of time, which cuts the brittle thread of
life and launches us into eternity. Behold! What havoc the scythe
of time makes among the human race. If by chance we should escape
the numerous evils incident to childhood and youth, and with health
and vigor arrive at the years of manhood, yet withal, we must soon be
cut down by the all-devouring scythe of time and be gathered into the
land where our fathers have gone before us."
There are many more references to time; high twelve and low twelve,
the calling from labor to refreshment, the return to labor in due
season, and the hour glass will occur to all.
With the exception of the small paragraph quoted above, however,
explanatory of the scythe as an emblem of time, there is neither
monitorial nor secret explanation of time as a symbol. Yet surely it
is used as such, when so many references are made to it . . . nor can
we be content with the thought that, as time is so important to us
all, it could not entirely be left out in the making of the Degrees
of the Order!
What is time? No man knoweth! The very philosophers who "explain
it" confess the inadequacy of their explanations. We know of a past,
possess a present and hope for a future. If the past is dead and
gone, it yet influences our present. If the future is only a hope,
it is yet the treasure box of all our lives, for which we strive
endlessly. The only part of time we have, the immediate now, is
always the least important of all!
Objects have length, breadth, thickness. They also have a duration.
The "instantaneous cube" cannot exist; we can have no conception of
anything, material or spiritual, which does not have some length of
time of existence. Some mathematicians speak of time as the fourth
dimension of matter, and Einstein's theories, but the General and the
Special, are concerned with a something which is neither space not
time, but a blend or combination of both.
The only measurement of time we know is finite; the revolution of the
earth about its axis and about the sun, or any other heavenly body
movement, is our only means of measurement of duration. We can
expand it into "light years" or contract it with split-second
watches, but all our measurement is founded upon a purely finite,
material happening.
Infinite time is a phrase, not a concept. The human mind cannot
conceive of endless time. We say "as it was in the beginning, and
ever shall be." But the words contradict themselves, for anything
which "ever shall be" must always have been, and therefore could not
of had a beginning. Whether we think of time, or a piece of string,
we cannot conceive it as having only one end!
We conceive ourselves as moving along in time, from birth to death,
over a path which we divide into milestones of years, days, hours,
and minutes; all multiples or divisors of that which elapses between
sun and sun. Yet the human mind reels at the thought of travel
forward which does not have something behind, or which does not
approach something. If there was no beginning to leave behind, if
there is no end toward which we go, are we really traveling through
time, or is time a vast wheel, merely sweeping around and around us?
Men fool themselves. In all ages and times past, men have told
themselves fairy tales and believed them. Our remote ancestors
watched the fall of a rock and believed in the anger of the stone;
they heard in the growl of the thunder the rage of some mighty hidden
being; they saw in the lighting flash which killed, the righteous
wrath of a power unguessed.
But a few hundred years ago, an eclipse of the sun was a portent of
evil, a comet in the sky a sure sign of pestilence, the earth was
flat and mariners need beware lest they fall off the edge.
What we do not understand we ascribe to the supernatural, in spite of
the experience of science and the teachings of history. A savage
mind finds a telephone a miracle.
It behooves us to think careful and make up our minds slowly. Every
day we find the "knowledge" of yesterday was not knowledge but
fiction. Our atoms are no longer atomic, our matter is no longer
matter, our space is no longer of three dimensions, our astronomy is
as different to-day from what it was twenty years ago, as that was
from Copernicus' day.
We no longer "lay on hands," or prescribe the leech and bloodletting
for disease; we no longer withhold water from the fevered or air from
the pneumonia patient. Disease is no longer a visitation from on
high but a matter of germs, from the earth. The pestilence which was
once the work of Satin is now located in a drain pipe or a swamp.
We have certain concepts today which we believe to be absolute facts,
despite that fact that we demonstrate there is no absolute! Only a
short while ago the philosopher's stone, the elixir of life and
perpetual motion were demonstrated impossibilities. Now our
scientists talk rationally of the possibilities of transmutation of
metals, our surgeons talk of renewed youth through transferred
glands, and for all we know to the contrary some man may arise with a
new theory of energy, "A La Einstein," of space and time, in which
the self-mover may actually function.
It does not do to be too certain of anything. The open mind is the
only one into which new thoughts may come. There is no absolute; the
fact of today is the fiction of yesterday; the romance of tomorrow
becomes the experience of today, when tomorrow comes.
Time is the most familiar fact of our lives. Every man carries a
watch. We get up, eat, work, make love, marry, have children, join
Masonic Lodges, die and bury our dead; according to a schedule of
time.
Yet this very familiar fact; this thing which is as much a part of
our lives as our bodies; this commonplace, everyday, utterly usual
matter is the most mysterious, most unknown, most completely
unsolvable finite mystery about us!
Is time then, in a Freemason's Lodge, not a symbol of Deity? We
believe that The Great Architect of the Universe is a part of our
daily lives. We thank God for labor; we praise God for love; we
marry under the blessing of Deity, christen our children with His
Word, join Masonic Lodges erected to God, die in the hope of His
Immortality, and bury our dead with the Sprig of Acacia, its symbol;
and yet this familiar fact, this idea which is as much a part of our
daily lives as our souls, is our most mysterious, most unknown most
completely unsolvable infinite mystery.
Time, puzzle never solved of man's mind; God, puzzle never solved of
man's soul! The conclusion seems inescapable that the many
references to time in Freemasonry, the insistence upon time as a
factor in the Degrees, and in what they teach of life, was no
fortuitous circumstance, no mere unwitting bringing of the life of
everyday into the ritual of our degrees, but a great symbol of Deity
and our complete dependence upon Him; a symbol teaching that as our
lives are inextricably mingled with God; a hope, a faith, but a
concept never to be understood in this world.
"SO MOTE IT BE"

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VI February, 1928 No.2
DUE FORM
by: Unknown
"All ritual is fortifying. Ritual is a natural necessity for
mankind. The more things are upset, the more they fly to it. I
abhor slovenly ritual anywhere. By the way, would you mind assisting
at the examinations, if there are many visiting Brothers tonight?
"You'll find some of 'em very rusty but - it's the Spirit, not the
Letter, that giveth life. The question of visiting Brethren is an
important one. There are so many of them in London now, you see;
and so few places where they can meet."
So we read in the greatest of all Masonic stories, "In the Interests
of the Brethren," by Rudyard Kipling. It is a vivid picture of how
our gentle Craft helped its wounded members in the days of the Great
War, dark, dreadful and confused. No Mason can read it aloud; a
lump will climb into his throat and choke him.
It tells of a Lodge of Instruction, formed by the Lodge of Faith and
Works, No. 5837, for the benefit of wounded Brethren, under the guise
of giving them a chance to rub up on the Ritual. The scene when the
Lodge was called up at the sound of the Gavel; the rattle of
crutches, the shuffle of feet - some with one leg, some with one hand
- is a picture to break the heart, and mend it. The Signs were
fearfully and wonderfully made!
"D'you like it?" said the Doctor to a one-footed Brother, as they sat
together, after the Lodge had been seated with difficulty.
"Do I? It's Heaven to me, sittin' in Lodge again.
It's all comin' back now, watching their mistakes. I haven't much
religion, but all I had I learnt in Lodge," he said with flushed
face.
"Yes," he went on, "Veiled in all'gory and illustrated in symbols -
the Fatherhood of God an' the Brotherhood of Man; an' what more in
Hell do you want. Look at 'em!" he broke off, giggling.
"See! See!" cried the one-footed Corporal. "I could ha' done it
better myself - my one foot in France. Yes, I should think they
ought to do it again!"
Yet, in the midst of all the tragic confusion, the Master insisted
that the Ritual be followed as nearly letter-perfect as possible; as
had been the manner of Masonry from the first. In the Constitutions
of 1738 we learn that Grand Lodge may be opened in Form, in Due Form
and in Ample Form; all alike valid and with the same authority.
When opened by any other Officer than the Grand Master, the Grand
Lodge is opened only in "Form." If a Past Grand Master, or the
Deputy Grand Master presides, it is opened in "Due Form." When the
Grand Master himself is in the Chair, the grand Lodge is opened in
"Ample Form." And the same is true, with but slight variations, on
this side of the sea.
Why does Masonry insist so strictly upon exactness in its Ritual?
There is a profound reason, not to be forgotten or ignored. True, it
is the Spirit, not the Letter, that giveth life; but the Letter does
give a Body, without which the Spirit of Masonry would be a formless
blur, losing much of its meaning, if not all of its beauty. Ceremony
keeps things up; without form the spirit melts into thin air and is
lost.
What is true of Masonry is equally true of religion , of manners and
of art. The Poet Tennyson speaks of those, "whose faith hath center
everywhere, nor cares to fix itself in form." That is, they believe
in everything in general and nothing in particular. Their faith is
like the earth in the story of creation, as the Bible tells it,
"without form and void;" a vague sentiment, as flimsy as a mist and
as frail.
Manners, it has been said, are minor morals. That is, they are forms
of a social ritual in which the spirit of courtesy and amenity finds
expression. So essential are they as a form of social fellowship,
that, as Emerson said, if they were lost, some gentlemen would be
obliged to re-invent such a code. The phrase, "It is not done," has
more than mere convention behind it. It bespeaks a standard, a sense
of propriety, a fineness of feeling, a respect for the rights and
feelings of others.
Some of our modern artists are trying to throw off the old classic
forms of music, painting and poetry. The result is chaos, a formless
riot of color and sound, in which a horse may be green and a song a
mere mob of notes, without melody. Without lovely form the spirit of
beauty fades and is lost. Ages of experience have wrought out noble
forms of art and life, which we cannot defy or ignore without
disaster.
The same is true of Masonry. Gentle, wise, mellow with age; its
gracious spirit has fashioned a form, or body, or an art; if we call
it so, in which its peculiar genius finds expression. Its old and
lovely ritual, if rightly used, evokes the Spirit of Masonry, as each
of us can testify. The mere opening of a Lodge creates a Masonic
atmosphere in which the truths of Masonry seem more real and true.
It weaves a spell about us, making fellowship gracious. It is a
mystery; we love it, without caring to analyze it.
By the same token, if the rhythm of the ritual is bungled, or
slurred, or dealt with hastily or without dignity; its beauty is
marred and its spell broken. Just imagine the opening of Lodge, or
any one of the Degrees, jazzed up, rushed through with, and how
horrible it would be. The soul of Masonry would be sacrificed, and
its spirit evaporated. For that reason we cannot take too much pains
in giving the ritual such a rendering as befits its dignity, its
solemnity and its haunting beauty.
No wonder Masonry is jealous of its ceremonies and symbols. It
hesitates to make the slightest change, even when errors have crept
into the ritual, lest something precious is lost. Indeed, it is
always seeking "that which is lost," not alone in its great Secret,
but in all its symbols which enshrine a wisdom gray with age, often
but dimly seen, and sorely needed in the hurry and medley of our
giddy-paced age.
Mere formalism is always a danger. Even a lofty ritual may become a
rigmarole, a thing of rut and rote. Sublime truths may be repeated
like a parrot, as the creed in a church may be recited without
thought or feeling, by force of habit. Still, such a habit is worth
keeping, and often the uttering of great words stirs the heart with a
sense of the cargoes of wonder which they hold, for such as have ears
to hear.
No matter; our fear of formalism - its mockery and unreality - must
not blind us to the necessity of noble, stately and lovely form in
which to utter and embody the truths that make us men. For that
reason every part of the ritual ought to have Due Form, nothing
skimped or performed perfunctorily, in order that the wise, good and
beautiful truth of Masonry may have full expression and give us its
full blessing. Only so can we get from it what it has to give us for
our good.
Take, for example, the Opening of the Lodge, so often regarded as of
no great importance in itself, save as a preliminary to what is to
follow. Not so. Nothing in Masonry is more impressive, if we see it
aright. As a flower "opens its Lodge," as one poet puts it, when it
unfolds its petals and displays its center to the sun, which renews
its life; so the opening of a Masonic Lodge is a symbol of the
opening out of the human mind and heart to God. It is a drama of an
inward and ineffable thing, not to be spoken of except in the poetry
of symbol.
One sees more plainly in English ritual, in which the three Degrees,
or grades as they name them, has each its stage. First is the stage
appropriate to the Apprentice, a call to lift the mind above the
level of external things. The second is a further opening, an
advance in the science revealing greater things than Apprentices may
know. It is an opening "upon the square," which the first Degree is
not.
By the time we reach the Third Degree, a still deeper opening of the
mind is implied, "upon the centre," for those of the Master rank,
involving the use of finer powers of perception, to the very center
and depths of being. How far and to what depth any of us is able to
open the Lodge of his Mind, is the measure of what Masonry is to us.
As an ancient manual of initiation tells us, urging us to an inward
quest:
"There lives a Master in the hearts of men who makes their deeds, by
subtle-pulling strings, dance to what time He will. With all thy
soul trust Him, and take Him for thy succor. So shalt thou gain, by
grace of Him, the uttermost repose, the Eternal Peace."
Such meaning, and far more than here hinted, lie hidden to most of us
in the simple ceremony of opening the Lodge. How much Masonry would
mean for us and do for us, if only it had its due form both of ritual
and interpretation. It might not explain all riddles, but it would
light many a dark path, and lead us thither where we seek to go.
Religion, untainted, here dwells;
Here the morals of Athens are taught;
Great Hiram's tradition here tells How the world out of chaos was
brought.
SO MOTE IT BE

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VI March, 1928 No.3
FAITH, PROGRESS AND REWARD
by: Unknown
The three basic symbols of the Fellowcraft Lecture are the Brazen
Pillars, the Winding Stairs and the Middle Chamber.
The Brazen Pillars suggest to my mind the idea of Faith. Every Mason
has a right to interpret a Masonic symbol for himself, and the read
into or out of it the significance that has the most importance to
his own life.
Josephus, the Hebrew historian, says: "Moreover, this Hiram made two
hollow pillars, whose outsides were of brass." He then gives a
detailed description of their dimensions, including their chapiters.
He states that there was cast with each their chapiters lily work,
that stood upon the pillar, round about which there was a network
interwoven with small palms made of brass; to this also, were hung
two hundred pomegranates in two rows. One of these pillars he set at
the entrance of the porch, on the right hand, and the other at the
left hand. and gave them names.
It is a poor symbol that has but one meaning; these have been
subjected to many different readings.
It has been asserted that the Ancients believing that the earth was
flat, and being unacquainted with the law of gravity, supposed it to
be supported by two Pillars of God, placed at the Western entrance of
the then-known world. These became known as the Pillars of Hercules,
and are now called Gibraltar, on one side of the straight, and Ceuta
on the other. This may account for the origin of the twin pillars.
However this may be, the practice of erecting columns at the entrance
of an edifice dedicated to the worship prevailed in Egypt and
Phoenicia, and at the erection of King Solomon's Temple the Brazen
Pillars were placed in the porch thereof.
Some writers have suggested that they represent the masculine and
feminine elements in nature. The contention has been made that they
stand for the authority of Church and State, because on stated
occasions the High Priest stood before one pillar and the King before
the other. The opinion has been held that they have an allusion to
the two legendary pillars of Enoch, upon which, tradition informs us,
all the wisdom of the ancient world was inscribed in order to
preserve it from inundations and conflagrations. William Preston
supposed that, by them, Solomon had reference to the pillars of cloud
and fire which guided the Children of Israel out of bondage and up to
the Promised Land. Doctor Hutchinson says a literal translation of
their names is: "In Thee is Strength," and, "It Shall be
Established," and by natural transposition may be thus expressed:
"Oh, Lord, Thou Art Almighty and Thy Power is Established From
Everlasting to Everlasting." I cannot escape the conviction that in
meaning they are related to religion, and represent the strength and
stability, the perpetuity and providence of God; and in Freemasonry
are the symbols of a living faith.
Like every subject of universal extent, faith cannot be defined. The
factors and faculties of mightiest import cannot be caught up in
speech. Life is the primary fact of which we are conscious, and yet
there is no language by which it can fenced in. No chart can be made
of a mother's love, because it is deeper than words, and reads in
little, common things, a wealth that is more than golden. Paul, one
of the deepest thinkers of the ages, called faith "The Sub-stance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." But all attempts
at definition have been in vain.
While we cannot define, we can recognize the powers of faith. It
generates energy. It is the dynamics of elevated characters and
noble spirits, the source of all that bears the impress of greatness
in the world.
While we cannot define, we can realize its necessity.
Without faith it would be impossible to transact business. "It spans
the earth with railroads, and cleaves the sea with ships. It gives
man wings to fly the air, and fins to swim the deep. It creates the
harmony of music and the whir of factory wheels. It draws man up
toward the angels and brings heaven down to earth." By it all human
relationship is conditioned. We must have faith in institutions and
ideals; faith in friendship, family and fireside; faith in self,
faith in man and faith in God.
Freemasonry is the oldest, the largest and the most widely
distributed secret society on the face of the earth today by reason
of its faith in God.
The Winding Stairway is a symbol of Progress. From a few words
contained in the sixth chapter of the First Book of Kings, a
fascinating allegory has been fabricated. In his book on the
"Symbolism of Freemasonry," Dr. Albert G. Mackey says: :Although the
Legend of the Winding Stairs forms an important tradition of ancient
Craft Masonry, it is only as a symbol that we can regard this old
tradition." M.W. Oliver Day street's book on "Symbolism of the Three
Degrees" contains a statement to the effect that in the Winding
Stairs , an architectural feature of Solomon's Temple, is seized upon
to symbolize the journey of life. This symbol teaches that a man's
life should never be downward, nor on a dead level; but, no matter
how hard or difficult, should always be progressive and ascending.
It means, as Dr. Frank Crane says, that "The man who fails is not the
man who has no gifts, no chance, but the man who quits or the man who
never tries." It is a clarion call to face forward and pull the belt
tighter. It means that a Mason can at least try. Edgar A. Guest
said:
I'd rather be a failure than the man who's never tried;
I'd rather seek the mountain-top than always stand aside.
Oh, let me hold some lofty dream and make my desperate fight,
And though I fail I still shall know I tried to serve the right.
The longing to climb onward and upward, symbolized by the Winding
Stairs, caused Robert Lewis Stevenson, frail and sickly in body but
mighty of soul;, to write these words:
"To thrill with joy of girded men, to go on forever and fail and go
on again, with the half of a broken hope for a pillow at night, to
know that somehow the right is the right."
It stands for that spirit of progress which, like a pillar of cloud
by day and a pillar of fire by night, has led the race across the
wilderness of life, out of the dark night of ignorance and
superstition, up to the day-dawn of civilization, of knowledge and
science, of intellectual and spiritual power.
Just as the Brazen Pillars are symbols of faith, the Stairway winding
upward is a symbol of human progress. As such, it stands for all
that gives us better clothes, better food, better music, better
schools, better churches, better homes, better heads and better
hearts; and for the vision, industry and endurance of those through
whom the results are achieved. Robert G. Ingersoll said:
"The progress of the world depends upon the men who walk in the fresh
furrows and through the rustling corn, upon those who sow and reap,
upon those whose faces are radiant with the glare of furnace fires,
upon delvers in the mines and the workers in the shops, upon those
who give to the winter morning the ringing music of the axe, upon
those who battle with the boisterous billows and go down to the sea
in ships, the brave thinkers, the heroes, the patriots and the
martyrs."
This is the meaning of the Winding Stairs. It stands for art and
science and song and hope and love and aspirations high. As a symbol
of progress it is a prophecy of the future, that tomorrow will be
better than today. It speaks not only of the past and present but of
a dim and distant day when the "Old Ghosts of Race Prejudice and
Religious Bigotry will cover eyeless sockets with fleshless hands and
fade forever from the mind of man, when love will rule the race,
casting out fear, and brotherhood will heal the old hurt and
heartache of humanity."
Masonry has played a conspicuous part in the onward march of
civilization, and so long as Masons transmute this Legend of the
Winding Stairs into conscience, courage, character and conduct; it
will continue its contribution to the progress of the world.
The Middle Chamber is a symbol of Reward. In Speculative Freemasonry
it stands for that place in life where a man receives his wages, the
reward of his own endeavors.
Let us not misconceive this word "Reward." Some of the wealthiest
men on earth today are minus bank accounts. Carlyle said: "The
wealth of a man consists in the number of things he loves and blesses
and in the number of things he is loved and blessed by."
The word reward is like a two-edged sword, it cuts both ways; it
means to give in return, whether good or evil. The shortest Book in
the Old Testament is the Vision of Obadiah. It consists of one
chapter, at the center of which is this text: "As Thou hast done unto
Thy brother it shall be done unto Thee, Thy reward shall return upon
Thine own head."
The law of compensation is manifest in every department of nature.
The Middle Chamber is the Masonic expression of that principle. "As
Thou hast done, it shall be done unto Thee." is like saying that
lives have echoes. Out there is a great mountain of humanity;
consciously or unconsciously, silent influences issue from each life
and, striking against the peaks and summit tops of that mountain,
reverberate and echo back upon the life from whence they came. If
they go out good and true they echo back in blessings and
benedictions; if they go out mean and low they echo back in curses
and consternation.
Benedict Arnold is the saddest figure in American history. Just as
Judas Iscariot sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver, Benedict
Arnold sold his honor and his manhood for thirty thousand dollars in
English gold and became a traitor to his homeland and the cause of
freedom. The influences that came out of his life were those of
treason and treachery; and by the operation of this principle,
symbolized by the Middle Chamber, the echo that came back was the
contempt of mankind. For all the generations of time the name of
Benedict Arnold is insepara-bly linked to that of Judas Iscariot;
together they will go down the ages a byword and a hissing.
Some years ago I read a volume by Dr. Hillis, entitled:
"Great Books as Life Teachers," and in it discovered how this
principle operated in the life of one of the greatest men of the last
century.
Lord Shaftsbury was the seventh in the line of Earls.
At the age of twenty-five he took his place in the Parliament of
England. For more than forty years, when Parliament rose at midnight
in the winter, and the other Lords went to their palatial homes or
clubs, Shaftsbury would take a lantern and go through snow and sleet
to London Bridge, Waterloo Bridge and the other spots in which
unfortunates hid themselves and huddled together to keep warm. By
the light of his lantern, he led shivering men and boys to shelter
houses, where each received a bowl of soup, a loaf of bread and a
thick blanket. For the half-clothed street Arabs he started fifty
schools, in which crowded the thousand ragged boys. He established
night schools, indus-trial schools and homes.
I cannot call the roll of his manifold labors, but after years of
service had accumulated upon his head he gave this testimony:
"During a long life I have proved that not one kind word ever spoken,
not one kind deed ever done, but sooner or later returns to bless the
giver and becomes a chain, binding men with golden hands to the
throne of God." Members of the English Royalty and Nobility, many
financiers, merchant princes, scholars and statesmen of the British
Empire, assembled at his funeral in Westminster Abbey. The Orator of
the occasion began his address with this remark: "This man goeth
down to the grave amid the benedictions of the poor and the admiring
love of the rich."
The influences that came from his life were those of love and
unselfish service. By the operation of the principle symbolized by
the Middle Chamber in Freemasonry, the echo that came back was a
myriad-voiced chorus of love and honor to his memory, and the name of
Shaftsbury became one with which to conjure and inspire men forward
to noble deeds.
In his "Essay on the Law of Compensation," Emerson asked this
question: "Has a man gained anything who has received one hundred
favors and rendered none?" The answer is easy; such a man has become
a moral bankrupt, the smile has left his face, the song has deserted
his heart, to him life has become a selfish and sordid thing.
Emerson says this principle means that "Crime and Punishment grow out
of one stem, that curses recoil upon the head of him who imprecates
them, that a man cannot do wrong without suffering wrong, that in the
last analysis the thief steals from himself and the borrower runs
into his own debt," that "The Chief end of nature is benefit, but for
every benefit received a tax is levied, the benefit must be rendered
again, line for line, deed for deed, cent for cent to somebody," that
by the operation of this law "The Martyr can never be dishonored,
every lash inflicted is a tongue of fame, every prison house a more
illustrious abode, every burned book enlightens the world, every
suppressed word reverberates through the earth from side to side; it
is the whipper who is whipped and the tyrant who is undone."
The Middle Chamber, as a symbol of reward, means that a man will get
out of his Lodge, out of his home, out of his life exactly what he
puts into it. It also means that whenever a man pursues a noble
quest, whenever he is held in the viselike grip of devotion to a
great ideal, the end is sure and the reward beyond all doubt.
Much of the philosophy of the Fellowcraft Degree is contained in
these three words; Faith, Progress and Reward. The Pillars stand for
faith, the Winding Stairs for progress and the Middle Chamber for
reward. There has never been any progress without faith and there is
no good reward without progress.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VI April, 1928 No.4
TOOLS
by: Unknown
The common gavel, used by operative Masons to break off the corners
of rough stones, is in Speculative Freemasonry a symbol of power.
The twenty-four inch gauge is an instrument used by operative Masons
to measure and lay out their work, but in speculative Freemasonry we
are taught by its symbolism to divide our time into three equal
parts, whereby are found eight hours for refreshment and sleep, eight
for our usual vocation and eight for the service of God and humanity.
There is an object in view and an end attained. It is therefore, a
symbol of purpose.
Power is the ability to act so as to produce change and cause
events. Purpose is the idea or object kept before the mind as an end
of effort or action.
Modern science has uncovered so much power that thoughtful men fear
it will work for the destruction of civilization unless a
commensurate humane purpose is developed for its direction.
The day and generation in which we live pulsates with power, the
world is held in place by dynamic appositions, the universe is
vibrant with force and man is a part of the Divine energy. The
greatest thing in God's created universe is man. In him, according
to the teachings of Freemasonry, is the Eternal Flame, the
indestructible image of the living God. The power of man cannot be
defined, cannot be fenced in, because it transcends all finite
standards of measurement.
Power directed by a bad purpose is positive destruction. Alexander
the Great was the most powerful man of antiquity. With an Army of
35,000 men he flung himself against a Persian horde of over one
million. He conquered the world, but could not master himself.
Intent on lust and luxury, dissipation and destruction, his purposes
were bad, and at the age of forty-two he died in a drunken fit.
Charles the First of England insisted on the Divine right of Kings.
He had his courts decree that the King could do no wrong, he filled
the Tower of London with political prisoners, tortured and
decapitated his enemies, claimed the right of life and death over his
subjects. and exercised the unlimited power of an absolute monarch.
His purposes were bad, and under Oliver Cromwell his career was
canceled, the executioner swung his axe and the head of Charles the
First rolled in the dust.
These were unusual men occupying exceptional positions, but the power
of destruction is terrific in the most ordinary life. Czolgocz, the
Polish anarchist, was a man of low order in the social scale; without
wealth, without influence and without education; from the casual
viewpoint ignorant, insignificant and weak. His mind was a breeding
ground of crazy purposes, but he had sufficient destructive power to
shoot William McKinley and assassinate the Chief Magistrate of the
greatest nation on earth.
Power directed by a good purpose is constructive, and results in
achievement. It keeps the cars on the tracks and the wires in the
air; it turns the wheels of man's industry and carries the commerce
of continents as upon a mighty shoulder.
Warren Hastings was born in 1832; his mother was a servant girl who
died when the baby was two days old; his father deserted him, so he
grew up as a charity child. He had a hungry mind and obtained an
education as best he could. When eighteen years of age he shipped
for India, working for his own passage. He had a purpose in his life
and there came a power that enabled him to establish the Bengal
Asiatic Society, to found colleges out of his own funds and in his
own name. Disraeli and English supremacy in India was the direct
result of this man's work. Today the memory of Warren Hastings is
linked with the greatness of the British Empire,
David Livinston was a humble Scotchman, the son of a weaver and
himself a worker at the spinning wheel. Into his soul there came a
great purpose of life, and he went to South Africa as a missionary.
He was frail of body, never physically strong, but with a purpose
there came to him a power to brave danger and endure privations. For
a period of twenty years he blazed a trail of light through a dark
continent, destroyed the slave trade in Negroes, and convinced the
world that the salvation of Africa was a white man's job. In that
commission he surrendered his life on his knees in supplication to
God. His body was carried thousands of miles by a black man through
jungles, over rivers, across land and seas; last summer at West
Minster Abbey I stood before his mortal remains buried and honored in
the sepulcher of Kings.
In his early manhood Abraham Lincoln stood before a slave market in
New Orleans. Upon the block was a young woman, stripped to the
waist. He heard the auctioneer describe her fine points and estimate
her value. He became conscious, not simply of a black form, but a
life divinely given. His soul responded to the challenge of a
supreme purpose and he said: "If I have a chance to strike this
institution I will strike it hard." Through the years there came to
him the power to blaze out the path and light up the way for a new
baptism of human freedom, finally to seal that purpose with a
martyr's blood and ascend to the throne of God with four million
broken fetters in his hands. Now the whole world joins in a myriad-
voiced chorus of love and honor to his memory. In every land and
under every clime he is exalted and glorified as a mighty champion of
human rights.
History preserves in the clear amber of immortality the record of
men, who, set on fire by some sublime purpose and dedicate the power
of their lives to its prosecution.
The lesson is definite and practical. The twenty-four inch gauge and
the common gavel speak to every Mason the language of constructive
purpose and personal power. They mean that a Mason should cherish
his ideals, the beauty that forms in his mind, the music that stirs
in his heart, the glory that drapes his purest purpose, for out of
these things he has the power to build for himself and a new world in
which to live.
FELLOWCRAFT
The Level is an instrument used by operative Masons to prove
horizontals. It is trite to say that it is a symbol of equality.
The Declaration of American Independence proclaims that all men are
"Created Equal." With most of us this is a glittering generality,
born of the fact that we are all made of the same dust, share a
common humanity and walk on the level of time until the grim
democracy of death blots out all distinctions, and the scepter of the
prince and the staff of the beggar are laid side by side.
It is apparent that men are not equal, and cannot be equal either in
brain or brawn. There is no common mold by which humanity can be
reduced to a dead level. The world has various demands requiring
different powers; brains to devise great and important undertakings;
seers to dream dreams and behold visions; hands to execute the
designs laid down upon the Trestleboard; scientists to adorn the mind
and reveal the glories of the universe; poets to inspire the soul and
play music on human heart strings; pioneers to blaze out the path,
and prophets to light up the way to a land where the rainbow never
fades.
The equality of which the Level is a symbol is one of right and not
one of gift and endowment. It stands for the equal right of every
man to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; the equal right of
every man to be free from oppression in the development of his own
faculties. It means the destruction of special privilege and
arbitrary limitation.
Freemasonry presided over the birth of our Republic and by the skill
of its leaders wrote into organic law of this land the immutable
truth of which the Level is a symbol. In a Masonic Lodge George
Washington was taught that the Level is a symbol of equality. In the
darkest hour of the Colonial cause, the soldiers, in a moment of
despair and desperation, would have placed on Washington's head the
crown of a King. Hayden says, "The overthrow of the rump of
Parliament by Cromwell, the breaking up of the imbecile directory by
Napoleon were difficult tasks compared to the ease with which the
divided Continental Congress could have been dispersed." Washington
was not fighting for Royal Rank, nor for coronation. As a champion
of human rights, he was fighting for exact justice and equality of
opportunity, and so the kingship and the crown were rejected with
indignation and contempt.
I remember reading a story of the great flood that came upon the
Ohio. In the gray of the morning some men saw a house floating down
the river and on its top a human being. Going to the rescue, they
found a woman whose life they wished to save, but she said, "No! In
this house I have three dead babies I will not desert; I am going out
with them." To most of us that act would verge on the immorality of
suicide; to her it was the expression of a mother's love deeper than
despair and death; her conduct corresponded with her conscience. We
cannot place ourselves in her circumstances and in charity should
refrain from judgment.
Jean Valjan was a great hulk of a man, young and strong, ignorant and
big hearted, tramping the streets of Paris in search of work, trying
to care for a widowed sister and her family of seven little ones.
There was no work to be had. He could not bear to hear the voices of
starving children so he came home late at night, thinking they would
be sleep. But hunger gnawed, and when he came in they were wide-
awake and cried, Oh Uncle Jean, have you any work? Oh, Uncle Jean,
we are so hungry!" Madness seized the man; he went to the nearest
bakery, broke the window and stole a loaf of bread. Jean was
arrested and sent to Toulon as a galley slave. In the eyes of the
law he had committed the immoral act of theft. But his eyes saw
pinched-up faces, his ears heard cries of hunger and, regardless of
consequences, his conduct corresponded with his conscience in a deed
of moral heroism.
Back of all the temporary circumstances and conditions of men and
transitory moral codes evolved by human minds are certain positive
standards of morality which the Divine Intelligence has impressed
upon every particle of matter and every pulsation of energy. They
are the same for all mankind, regardless of place, time, race or
religion. Of these standards the try-square is the Masonic
mouthpiece. Freemasonry is defined as a beautiful system of
morality.
It is a woven tapestry of great moral principles and purposes.
Whenever a Mason fails to live up to the best that is in him,
whenever he blots out the Divine light of his conscience, whenever he
is recreant to right as God gives him to see the right, he is false
to the trying square of his profession, for by this symbol
Freemasonry teaches a morality that masters manners, molds mind and
makes mighty manhood,
The plumb is an instrument used by operative Masons to try
perpendiculars. In speculative Freemasonry it is a symbol of
righteousness, that is, an upright life before God and man.
It has been said that, in the art of building, accuracy is integrity.
If a wall not be perpendicular, as tested by the plumb line, it is a
menace to the stability of the structure. Likewise if a Mason is
ignorant of this symbol as an active principle in his life, he is a
danger to the standing of the Fraternity in the community where he
lives.
Righteousness is not a sanctimonious word. It means rectitude of
conduct, integrity of character, and deathless devotion to the truth.
The Psalmist asked, "Lord, who shall abide in Thy Tabernacle?" and
this was his answer: "He that walketh uprightly, and worketh
righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart." When correctly
understood, the truth symbolized by the Plumb constitutes a challenge
to courage.
In the sixteenth century Giordano Bruno taught a plurity of words;
for this he was accused of heresy. He was tried, convicted and
imprisoned in a dungeon for seven years. He was offered his liberty
if he would recant, but Bruno refused to stain the sanctity of his
soul by denying that which he believed to be true. He was taken from
his cell and led to the place of his execution, clad in a robe on
which representations of devils had been painted. He was chained to
a stake, about his body wood was piled, fagots were lighted and on
the spot in Rome where a monument now stands to his memory he was
consumed by the flames. Without the hope of heaven or the fear of
hell he suffered death for the naked truth that was in him.
The Great Light of Freemasonry contains this promise:
"The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance." Men of
tremendous power, men of creative genius have passed into oblivion,
but the righteousness of pure and noble character, of unselfish and
Divinely inspired life finds perpetuation in the clear amber of
immortality. Of the righteousness the Plumb is a symbol in
Freemasonry.
Unrighteousness has wrought the destruction of peoples and
civilizations, but "Righteousness exalteth a nation."
Symbols are not academic playthings, they are intended to provoke and
sustain thought.
Fellowcraft Working Tools present to the mind basic ideas of
equality, morality and righteousness.
MASTER MASON
All the implements of Masonry are assigned to the use of the Master
Mason. The principal one is the Trowel, an instrument used by
operative Masons to spread the cement which unites the building into
one common mass. In Speculative Freemasonry it is a symbol of
brotherhood.
Paul stood on the Mars Hill and said to the Athenians, "God hath made
of one blood every nation of men." That is not an expression of
sentiment but the announcement of a fact, whether men desire or deny
it, whether men cherish it in their hearts or crucify it. Man's
ignorance does not change the laws of nature nor vary their
irresistible march. God's laws vindicate themselves; they crush all
who oppose and break into pieces everything that is not in harmony
with their purpose. In the light of this truth it can be safely
asserted that no nation, no civilization can long endure which does
violence to the Divine fact of human brotherhood.
Fraternity is the basis of all important movements for the common
good and the general welfare of society.
Freemasonry has been called a "society of friends and brothers
employing symbols to teach the truth." The Trowel is a Masonic
symbol of love, and with it we are to spread the cement of brotherly
affection. Next to faith in God, the greatest landmark in
Freemasonry is the "Brotherhood of Man." We call each other
"Brother," but we sometimes fail to realize that brotherhood is a
reciprocal relationship. It means that if I am to be a brother to
you, then you must be a brother to me. It is exceedingly practical;
is it not only for grateful gifts and happy hours, but for use when
the soul is sad, when the heart is pierced and pained, when the road
is rough and rugged, and the way seems desolate and dreary.
The sentiment of brotherhood in a man's heart is a futile thing
unless he can find avenues for its external expression. So far as I
have been able to discover, there are three such avenues.
The first is sympathy. Not intellectual sympathy that passes by on
the other side of the street and expresses sorrow, but a red-blooded
sympathy that lifts a man up who has fallen down and speaks the light
of a new hope into his face. Dr. Hillis said that sympathy is the
measure of a man's intellectual power. Sympathy is more than this;
it is a measure of a man's heart-throb and soul vision. The great
painters, poets, preachers, physicians and patriots whose names
illuminate the pages of history, excelled their contemporaries in
this one quality of human sympathy.
The second avenue is service. I have read somewhere, most likely in
one of the writings of Dr. Joseph Fort Newton, a statement that all
over the vast Temple of Freemasonry, from foundation stone to the
highest pinnacle, is inscribed in letters of living light the Divine
truth that labor is love, that work is worship and that not indolence
but industry is the crowning glory of a man's life whether he be rich
or poor. In all the annals of human progress the men who have
accomplished works which have lived after them, which have come up
through cycles of time a blessing to succeeding generations, had not
before their eyes Gold or Fame, or Selfish aims or Sordid gain; but
had hung upon the walls of their minds great ideals of human service
to which they remained devoted until the light faded and the day
closed.
The third avenue is sacrifice, the most radiant word in the history
of our race. The sacrifices of father and mother for the education
of the child, the sacrifices of son and daughter for the old folks
back home, the sacrifices of the patriot for the homeland and the
Flag, the sacrifices of the great servants of humanity; have through
the ages made music in the souls of men. He who would take sacrifice
out of human life would steal from maternity its sacred sweetness,
expunge the wrinkles from the face of Abraham Lincoln, and obliterate
the stripes of red in our National Flag.
Every advance in civilization involves a victim.
Before the progress of the world stands an Altar and on it a
sacrifice.
Back in the centuries Socrates, with a cup of hemlock poison to his
lips, offered himself upon the Altar of human sacrifice for the
Divine right of liberty in man.
The words of Patrick Henry before the Virginia Assembly: "The next
gale that blows from the north will bring to our ears the resounding
clash of arms. I know not what course others may take, but as for
me, give me liberty or give me death," lifted the soul of Colonial
America up to the coronation of a supreme sacrifice and made this
Republic of the West a possibility.
In the world crisis, American soldiers and sailors, as the champions
of civilization, laid their all, their hopes, their aspirations,
their ambitions, their home ties and affections upon the altar of
human sacrifice to insure our National safety, defend our National
honor, and vindicate the ideals of American independence on the
battlefields of Flanders and France.
In a little country school I was taught that our National Flag stands
for the graves of men and the tears of women, for untrammeled
conscience and free institutions, for sacred memories and great
ideals; that is red stands for the blood that bought it, it white for
the purity of the motive that caused it to be shed, its blue for
loyalty ascending to the sky, and its stars for deeds of bravery
brighter than the stars of a faultless night. But when I think of
George Washington and Gen. Joseph Warren, and Capt. John Paul Jones,
and that heroic band of Masonic patriots in the American Revolution,
and cast the utility of out Craft against the background of its
history, I can see its stripes of red baptized in the sacrificial
blood of our Fraternity, and its stars of glory illuminated by the
deathless light that shines from a Masonic Altar.
In Freemasonry we are familiar with the ancient drama of sacrifice
made in the name of faith, fortitude and fidelity.
These three; sympathy, service and sacrifice are the avenues for the
external expression of the sentiment of brotherhood in man's heart.
In proportion as we are inspired by this ideal and use these avenues
of expression, our Fraternity will contribute to human good and
happiness, and answer the end of its institution.
Tools have been called "The evangelists of a new day."
They are teachers not less than college and cathedral. Just as the
Twenty-four inch Gauge and Common Gavel stand for purpose and power;
the Level, Square and Plumb present basic ideas of equality, morality
and righteousness; so the Trowel is Freemasonry's symbol of unity and
brotherhood among men.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VI May, 1928 No.5
THE LEGEND OF THE LOST WORD
by: Unknown
Ancient Craft Masonry attains its climax in the symbolism of the Lost
Word, and a quest for its recovery; but in our ritualistic work there
is little attempt at explanation.
The observation has been made that language is a growth; every word
had to be created by man. Back of every word is some want or
necessity of mind or body and the genius to make expression in some
sign or sound that we call a word. "Some words are rough and rugged
like the skins of wild beasts, other glitter and glisten like satin
and gold. Words have been born of hatred and revenge, of love and
sacrifice, of hope and fear, of agony and joy. In them mingle the
darkness and the dawn. They are the garments of thought , the robes
of reason, the shadows of the past, the reflection of the present and
the crystallization of human history."
It has been said that the egocentric instinct in man has made "self-
preservation the first law of nature," that growing out of or
alongside of it is the gregarious instinct which has produced social
governments and philanthropic enterprises. Deeper than these
instincts there is in man a consciousness, however dim, in explicable
forces and agencies, and an urge to realize their potency. In the
childhood of the race this occasioned the thought of supernatural
power in a word.
The word that causes the heavens on high to tremble, The word that
makes the world below to quake.
Constitute the first two lines of a Babylonian hymn inscribed upon a
clay tablet five thousand years ago, in which the wise preisthood of
a great religion sang praises to the might and power of a word.
Some Masonic writers have held that A U M, pronounced "oom," is the
oldest omnific name of God in the world; that it came out of India,
and that it has also been spelled A O M, but pronounced the same way.
Frank C. Higgins has written a book on his name as the "Lost Word,"
and claims it is concealed in the terminal letters of the names of
the three ruffians. To the best of my knowledge this concealment has
not been satisfactorily explained.
In my opinion, Freemasonry is largely indebted to the Hebrews for the
legend of The Lost Word. Shakespeare says, "What's in a name?" The
Jews saw in a name "a sign standing for the personality, the
achievements, the reputation, the character, the power and the glory
of the one who wore it." Joseph meant "increaser," Moses meant "drawn
out of water," Israel meant "Prince of God." At the burning bush the
ineffable name of God Almighty was communicated to Moses; so
overwhelming was its glory that the people pronounced it in whispers.
The third commandment of the Decalogue, delivered from Mount Sinai,
declared, "Thou Shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God in
vain." The priestly rule contained in Leviticus reads, "He that
pronounceth the name of the Lord distinctly shall be put to death."
At last only the high priest was permitted to utter the name, and
that but once a year. On the day of atonement, and in the holy of
holies, its utterance was accompanied by the beating of cymbals and
the blowing of trumpets, so as to completely extinguish the sound of
the human voice. Such were "the wrappings of secrecy and sanctity
which the Jews threw about the name of God."
As they used no vowels in writing, all that was ever seen were four
consonants, J H V H, the Tetragrammation or four lettered name of God
which we call Jehovah. From the letters there was no clue to the
pronunciation. No one could understand them any more than we could
know that Mr. stands for Mister and Dr. stands for Doctor unless
someone told us so.
According to tradition, the great catastrophe of the Babylonian
captivity was that, through the death of the high pries without a
successor, the name was lost. "At the end of that captivity priests
and scribes began a search for the lost name which has continued
without avail for two and one-half millenniums." The four consonants
they had, but it is doubtful if anyone has been able to supply the
sound of the vowels. It is believed that this four-lettered name of
God is the Lost Word of Masonry today.
Like everything else in our science, it is a symbol.
It is the consummation of all Masonic symbolism because it stands for
the Divine truth. Brotherly love and relief are but the means to an
end; the final design of our Institution is its third principle
tenet, the imperial truth. In some aspects truth seems relative,
because it is not complete, but only partial. Now we see through a
glass darkly, but the ultimates of truth are immutable and eternal,
the Fatherhood of God and the immortality of the soul, "Down to this
deep foundation Masonry digs for a basis of its Temple and finds an
everlasting rock."
Dr. Joseph Fort Newton says:
"Freemasonry makes no argument, but presents a picture, the oldest,
if not the greatest, drama in the world, the better to make men feel
those truths which no mortal words can utter. It shows us the
tragedy of life in its blackest hour, the forces of evil, cunning,
yet stupid, which come up against the soul, tempting it to treachery,
a tragedy which, in its simplicity and power, makes the heart ache
and stand still. Then out of the thick darkness there rises, like a
beautiful white star, that in man which is most akin to God, his love
of truth, his devotion to duty, his willingness to go down into the
night of death, if only virtue may survive and throb like a pulse of
fire in the evening sky."
"Here is the ultimate and final witness of our Divinity and
immortality, the sublime, death-defying moral heroism of the human
soul." Translated into personal terms it is the Apostle Peter at his
execution asking to be crucified head downward. It is the Spartan
Leonidas at the Pass of Thermopylae, with a handful of men holding
back the hordes of Persia and spelling out the salvation of the Greek
Republic. It is the Swiss, Arnold von Winkelried, receiving the
points of Austrian spears into his own breast and making his dead
body a bridge of victory for his countrymen. It is the American,
Nathan Hale, grieving that he had but one life to give, but one
supreme sacrifice to make at the altar of our National Liberty. It
is our operative Grand Master, the Tyrian Builder before the brute
forces of death and destruction, surrendering his life but preserving
his integrity.
Brother H.L. Haywood says: "The search for a lost word is not a
search for a mere vocable of a few letters which one might write down
on a piece of paper, it is the search for a truth." It is a quest
for the highest possible life in the spiritual unfoldment of
humanity; it is the seeking after the name, the power and the glory
of God.
The purpose is the same whether this age-old legend of the quest be
woven into a tragic tale like Eugene Sue's "Wandering Jew," or thrown
about a mystic drama like Maurice Maeterlinck's "Blue Bird," or
crystallized in an epic poem like James Russell Lowell's "Vision of
Sir Launfal," whether it be a missing chord of music, the vacancy of
a sanctuary, a design left unfinished by the death of the Master
Builder, or the Lost Word in Masonry to be recovered through
patience, perseverance and time. It always symbolizes a search for
something good and beautiful and true.
At times of meditation and introspection there is something vaguely
haunting in the Legend of The Lost Word; like the fleeting fragrance
of a forest flower experienced in the past, the murmured music of a
rippling brook heard in childhood, the purple sheen of twilight on a
distant hilltop, or some exquisite dream of infinite love in the long
ago; forgotten, but trembling at the doorway of memory.
This quest is the central thought of Henry van Dyke's "The Other Wise
Man," an inspirational story of beauty and charm, which tells of the
days when Augustus Caesar was the master of many Kings and Herod
reigned in Jerusalem.
Artaban, the Median, the fourth wise man; studied the constellations
and certain prophecies of Zoroaster, Balaam and Daniel. Inspired by
the appearance of a star in the sky, he sold his possessions and
bought three gems; a sapphire, a ruby and a pearl; to bear as tribute
to a new-born King. The other three wise men were to wait for him at
the ancient temple of the seven Spheres. Because he tarried in a
palm grove outside the walls of Babylon to minister to a Parthian Jew
in the ravages of a fever, he did not reach the appointed place in
time, and found a note which said, "We have waited past the midnight
hour and can delay no longer. We go to find the King. Follow us
across the desert." This meant that Artaban must sell his sapphire
to buy camels and provisions for the journey . A ministry of mercy
cost him the first jewel.
The third day after the wise men had laid at the feet of a child in a
manger their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, Artaban entered
Bethlehem, weary but full of hope, bearing his Ruby and his Pearl.
The streets were deserted, but from an open door of a low stone
cottage he heard a woman's voice singing softly. He entered and
found a young mother hushing her baby to sleep. She told him of the
strangers from the east who had appeared and gone, that the man from
Nazareth had taken the babe and its mother and fled away to Egypt.
She placed food before him, the plain fare of humble peasants. The
baby slumbered, as great peace filled the quiet room; but suddenly
there came the noise of wild confusion in the street, the shrieking
and wailing of women's voices crying: "The Soldiers of Herod! They
are killing our children."
The mother's face grew white with terror, she huddled with her child
in a dark corner of the room. Artaban's form filled all the doorway,
and looking straight at the Captain he said: "I am alone in this
place and am waiting to give this jewel to the prudent Captain who
will leave me in peace." He showed the Ruby glistening like a great
drop of blood in the palm of his hand.
The lines of greed tightened hard around the Captain's lips. He took
the Ruby in his fingers and gave the order:
"March on, there is no child here, this house is still." Artaban
turned his face to the East and prayed, "God of Truth, forgive my
sin, I have said that which is not to save the life of a child." The
voice of the woman said, very gently, "Because thou hast saved the
life of my little one, may the Lord Bless thee and keep thee, lift up
the light of His Countenance upon thee and give thee peace." Thus he
parted with his second jewel.
Down in Egypt Artaban found faint traces here and there of the holy
family. Though he found none to worship, he found many to help. He
fed the hungry, clothed the naked, healed the sick and comforted the
captive. His years moved swiftly by; after thirty-three had gone, in
his old age an irresistible impulse came upon him to go up again to
Jerusalem. He had his Pearl and was looking for the King.
It was the season of the Passover when he reached the city. There
was great excitement; multitudes were being swept as by a secret tide
toward the Damascus Gate. He joined the throng and inquired the
cause of the tumult and where they were going. "We are going," they
answered, "Outside the city walls to a place called Golgotha where
Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, is to be crucified."
How strangely the words fell on the tired heart of Artaban. At last
he was to see the King and he still had his Pearl, in time, perhaps
to offer it as ransom. A troop of Macedonian soldiers came down the
street dragging a young girl into bondage and slavery for debts of
her father who had died. Being of Artaban's country, she recognized
the sign of the Priesthood, the Winged circle of Gold which he wore.
Tearing away from the soldiers and throwing herself at his feet, she
prayed, "Have pity upon me, save me from a fate that is worse than
death."
Artaban trembled as a conflict entered his soul. It was the old
conflict which had come to him in the Palm grove and again in the
Stone cottage; the conflict between expectations of faith and the
impulses of love. In the darkness of his mind it seemed clear that
the inevitable comes from God. He took the Pearl from his bosom and
placed it in the slave girl's hand, saying, "This is thy ransom. It
is the last of my jewels which I kept for the King."
As he spoke the sky darkened, the earth quaked, the houses rocked, a
heavy tile shaken from a roof fell and struck the old man on the
temple. He lay breathless and pale.
As she bent over him there came a voice through the twilight, small
and still, like music sounding from a distance. The old man's lips
began to move; she heard him say, "Not so my Lord, for when I saw I
Thee an hungered and fed Thee, or thirsty and gave Thee to drink?
Thirty and three years have I sought Thee, but I have never seen Thy
face nor ministered to Thee, my King." Again the maid heard the
sweet voice, faintly, as from afar, but now it seemed as though she
understood the words. "Verily I say unto thee, inasmuch as thou hast
done unto one of the least of these my brethren, thou hast done it
unto me."
At the end of the journey, in the presence of human need, in the
expression of human sympathy, in the rendering of human service, he
came face to face with his King and discovered his Lost Word. He
heard a Divine voice saying, "Inasmuch" and "Well done, good and
faithful servant."
The Lost Word symbolizes the kind of truth that cannot be acquired
from reading books, that cannot be obtained by paying so much money
and listening to so many college lectures. It symbolizes a truth
that must be wrought out through the vicissitudes of life in personal
experience.
If the Word stands for the personality, the attributes, the power and
the glory of God, we must be satisfied with a substitute, because
human life and ages of time are too short for a complete revelation
of that high and holy name.
The whole design of Masonic science is a quest for the truth.
"Divine truth is symbolized by the Logos, the Word, the Name."
Through this symbol all the other symbols of Masonry guide a man
onward and upward to God.
Over the hills to a valley of endless years,
Over roads of woe to a land without a tear,
Up from the haunts of men to the place where angels are,
This is the march of morality, to a wonderful goal afar.
SO MOTE IT BE

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VI June, 1928 No.6
VALLEY FORGE
by: Joseph Fort Newton
Address at the 150th Anniversary, French - American Alliance, Valley
Forge, May 5, 1928.
What memories, what historic echoes the very words bring back to
every patriotic heart! What deeds of daring, what almost superhuman
endurance they symbolize in the heroic legend of our country! As far
back as we can remember, in the pride and tenderness of childhood,
our hearts turned to this spot as to a shrine. Today we take off our
hats and lift up our hearts, in homage to the heroism of man and the
mercy of God.
Surely he is a strange man, and no American at all, who can read the
story of the winter at Valley Forge, and not feel his warm heart with
a new pulse of love and loyalty to his country, which inspired such
devotion and endurance. Who can walk over the old campground, now a
lovely park, with its memorial Chapel, an exquisite poem in stone, a
Gothic shrine both of patriotism and religion, and not feel that he
is indeed on Holy Ground! Such a day should make us renew our vows
to the ideals for which men were ready and willing to give their all,
lest we forget what the liberty we enjoy cost in sacrifice.
One hundred and fifty years ago this land was the scene of events of
vast import and moment, the meaning of which is felt today, not only
in our institutions, but in the life of the world. Not simply a new
nation, but a new kind of nation was struggling to birth in a new
world, a nation "Conceived in liberty and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal." It was, indeed, "the
last great hope of man;" and at Valley Forge the issue hung in the
balance - due to profound discouragement of the people.
Lexington, Bunker Hill and Saratoga were behind;
Monmouth, Stony Point and Yorktown were ahead. Between lay the snows
of Valley Forge, when the people were depressed, the Army well-nigh
demoralized, its moral almost broken, and the fortunes of freedom
were at their lowest ebb. If despair had been possible, our fathers
would have been the victims of it in that awful ordeal of winter,
both in weather and in spirit, when the Chief city of the land was
the playground of the enemy, and the ragged remnant of the army,
decimated by disease, at times almost starving, was shivering on the
hills of Valley Forge.
Even in the brief, austere official documents of the day we realize
that the hardship of this camp was more trying than the hazard of
battle; and the diaries and letters of the day which gave the vivid
human color of the scene makes its details poignant. Huddled in a
city of huts, under an icy sky, half-clothed and half-fed, the cause
of freedom almost lost, tempted by offers of compromise, and, in the
light of a glimmering lamp in a cottage window a tall form pacing to
and fro, waiting, watching, planning, praying - such is the picture,
and such is its meaning in our history. Valley Forge was not a
battlefield where men met the thrilling issues of a conflict; it was
a campground where they waited, suffered and endured. It has a glory
all its own, a fame complete and perfect, from which nothing can
detract, to forget which would be sacrilege.
The obvious strategy of Washington was to keep the British from
cutting the Colonies in two, dividing their strength, and defeating
their hopes. Lexington and Bunker Hill were memorable, but in nowise
vital as compared with the battles that raged about Philadelphia.
The danger lay in the middle states of the long coast line. If a
wedge could be driven through the center of the colonial domain,
separating their forces and resources, the rebellion, as it was
regarded in England, would be broken. But it was not to be so,
thanks to the God of history who gave us a leader and Commander who,
alike in symmetry of character and splendor of achievement, is one of
the greatest men in the records of mankind. Frederick the Great said
that the Trenton campaign was the most brilliant of the century, and
it was the century of himself and Marlborough. But Washington was
supreme, not alone in flashes of genius, such as amaze us in
Alexander and dazzle us in Naploleon, but no less in more useful and
less glittering gifts which won the loyalty of his people, and led
him through the intrigues of friends and the treachery of foes to
victory. In the whole story of the race there is no man to surpass
him in disinterested nobility, in practical capacity, solid wisdom
and majesty of moral character.
It was the military strategy of Washington to prevent the colonial
republic from being divided and defeated, it was diplomatic strategy
of Franklin and his fellow workers to divide Europe and, if possible,
enlist aid for our struggling cause. For several years, work to that
end had been going on secretly, and in the autumn of 1777 it became
open and distinct, which no doubt explains the conciliatory Bills,
offering everything except independence, received and rejected by
Congress in April 1778, under the influence of Washington saying,
"that nothing but independence would do" In the meantime, von Steubon
was training the army in tactics and discipline such as it had not
know before; and Lafayette - "the Boy," as Cornwallis called him,
derisively - alike by his gallant courage and chivalrous friendship
helped to keep American hopes alive.
At last, after no end of doubt, delay and intrigue. during which
Franklin revealed his extraordinary tact, patience and skill; on
February 6th, Treaties of Amity, Commerce and Alliance were signed
between France and the United States. The Independence of America
was acknowledged and made the basis of alliance, and it was mutually
agreed that neither nation would lay down its arms until England
had conceded our freedom and separate nationhood. A fleet, an army,
munitions and supplies were promised by the King of France, who
immediately declared war on Great Britain. So, America was united,
and Europe was divided, and the issue of liberty in the new world was
no longer in doubt.
All historians agree to regard this as the turning-point in our
struggle for independence; and so it was. But neither the fleet of
France nor her armies were as valuable to America at that moment, as
the moral effect, both at home and abroad, of the Alliance. It
electrified our country; it cemented a discouraged and distracted
people; it restored their shattered morale, when, at eleven o'clock
at night, May 4th, the news of the French Treaty reached Washington
at Valley Forge - so long did it take the tidings to travel.
May the 6th was a gala day, by General orders; the army, after
impressive religious services of thanksgiving and joy, was drawn up
under arms; salutes were fired; cheers were given for the King of
France and the United States; and in the evening a banquet was given
by the Commander-in-Chief to his officers. Today we are met on this
campground of an eternal fame and friendship, to celebrate the
anniversary of the thrilling event, mingling prayer and play, as was
done of old; beseeching the God of our fathers to make us worthy of a
history so noble, a legacy so sacred, and a heritage so heroic.
Once again, after one hundred and fifty years, we have heard the
voice of France, the land of Lafayette, in the words of its brilliant
Minister of State, appealing to America, the land of Washington, to
join hands, as in the days agone, in a treaty, openly arrived at,
outlawing war between the two nations forever, as the basis and
beginning of a better world order. Truly he is a strange man who can
read such a gallant proposal, so definitely made by a practical
statesman, and not feel his heart beat faster. What hopes and
visions fill the mind as one reads the calm measured words of a great
son of France, offering an olive branch of perpetual peace, and the
settlement of all disputes by reason and law, thereby giving an
example of civilized life to all the world:
"If there were need for those two great democracies to give high
testimony to their desire for peace, and to furnish to other peoples
an example more solemn still, France would be willing to subscribe
publicly with the United States to any mutual engagement tending to
outlaw war as between those two countries. Every engagement entered
into in this spirit by the United States toward another nation such
as France would contribute greatly in the eyes of the world to
broaden and strengthen the foundations on which the international
policy of peace is being erected."
Here are great words of prophetic overture, worthy to be set to
music; and the land of Washington has made memorable response to a
spirit so fine and a gesture so gracious. They err who say,
cynically, that no good came out of the mad hell of the world war,
when in the open forum of the world, two great republics - bound by a
common historic faith and friendship - lead the way to the
enthronement of law above force and reason above passion, in behalf
of a creative and cooperative goodwill. It makes a kinder light from
a higher sky fall upon this old campground, and upon the little white
crosses in France, where heroes sleep together, since, by the
goodwill of God, it shows that they did not die in vain.
At last, or soon or late, so the prophets forfeit and proclaimed by a
Divine pragmatism, men will learn that only the ideal is actually
practical, and that only when societies and institutions are built
square with the righteous order of the world, will they endure. The
path of man through the ages is littered with the wreckage of states
and civilizations fallen into dust, because they built upon force and
not upon brotherhood. So runs the record of centuries, as far back
as written history goes.
Must it be so always? Is man too blind to see and too stupid to
learn that the visible is set in the Invisible, and that it is the
spiritual - seemingly so impalpable and frail - that finally rules,
and must rule, because the universe is made on that plan? Today it
means much that practical men are beginning to see what poets and
prophets have proclaimed from time immemorial - that moral and
spiritual laws are universal, and that man is wise only when he
learns the way God is going and makes a highway for the Eternal Will.
Today, on these hills of Valley Forge, as we celebrate an alliance
for war, may we devoutly hope and pray that God has brought us far
enough down the ways of time and tragedy that we are ready, by His
Grace, to make a great Alliance for Peace, led by two mighty peoples
who more than once have been one in arts, arms, and ideals - France
lending aid in the founding of our Republic, and America lending aid
in the salvation of France and so, by a grand adventure of practical
and constructive fraternity, lay the corner stone of a new order of
the ages, making peace a law and not a dream!
SO MOTE IT BE

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VI July, 1928 No.7
LAFAYETTE
by: Unknown
Lafayette stands apart and alone. His spirit was unique, and his
career without parallel. Although a man of another race and land,
his life is a part of the heroic legend of our country and our Craft.
His story is more like fiction than fact. He was the last of the old
knights who, through all the foulness and folly of his time, kept a
name without stain.
In all history no man of one land has been more beloved in another.
He came to the aid of America like a crusader, asking to serve at his
own cost, and without reward. No man ever loved Liberty with a purer
devotion, or served her with more self-spending zeal. A poet, a
mystic, a great-hearted gentleman, he is linked in our minds with
Joan of Arc.
Even romance has few stories to match the life of Lafayette. The
father of four revolutions, he is yet a figure of such grace and
purity that he suggests only beautiful things. Blood and fire and
terror fall away leaving only a shining spirit. Friend of America at
nineteen, hero of French liberty at thirty, a tragic figure for the
rest of his days, he cultivated roses and dreamed dreams in the
perfumed gardens of La Grange.
The life of Lafayette falls into five acts. First, his thrilling
adventures of youth in America; second, his service in the French
Revolution when, for a time, he held the fate of his country in his
hands; third, in the revolution of 1839 when, again, he was Master of
France; fourth, his long, lonely later years; and finally, fourscore
years later, when his spirit seemed to rise from the grave and beckon
America to aid France in the World-War.
Yet, strangely enough, he was not a mind of the first rank. Nature
had not given him ten talents; his power and charm lay in his heart.
He had courage, energy, honesty, frankness, simplicity, loyalty and a
flaming zeal for what he deemed high causes; a spirit so lovely, so
fine, so unselfish that all who really knew him loved him with
unwavering devotion. Withal, he had a generosity rare among men, and
a power of admiration that knew no limit. No man was ever more
beloved, and no man more richly deserved it.
Lafayette was born in Auvergne, among sturdy, thrifty folk ever ready
to take up hard tasks. Nobly born, he was far nearer the farmer than
the courtier. His soldier father was killed at Minden when the child
was only two, and he grew up, country-bred, woman-tended, a gay,
truant, poet-boy, amid forests, fields and sparkling streams. For
his own good, he lacked all the social graces, being shy, gawky, red-
headed, a clumsy horseman and a bad dancer. Yet always in his heart
there burned a desire to go all over the world in pursuit of fame.
By an odd accident was he started on the road of romance and glory.
The Duke of Gloucester, in disgrace with his Royal Brother George,
was passing through Metz where, at a dinner, Lafayette met him. The
Duke, with the independence known only to Englishmen, made no secret
of his sympathy with the American Colonies in their struggle for
liberty. The young nobleman listened, and the seed fell on ready
soil. As he said to Jared Sparks long years afterward, his whole
soul leaped in love of America. and he vowed to offer his life and
fortune in the service of its cause.
So, fitting out his ship, named "Victory," at his own expense, and
gathering a few select souls like Baron de Kalb aboard, he set sail
from an obscure port in Spain. Chased by the British fleet, he was
as elusive as an eel, dodging all his enemies. They weighed anchor
at Georgetown, South Carolina, got into a little boat and rowed up
the river to a farm house that showed lights. Dogs began to bark;
the family were frightened, thinking it a party of the enemy. De
Kalb, who spoke English, explained who they were, and they received a
hearty welcome.
Nor was the welcome ever belied. Something in the sublime effrontery
of "The Boy," as he came to be known, ready to do anything, no matter
how difficult, and angry only when a risk was put out of his reach by
ranking etiquette; won the hearts of our people. By horseback
Lafayette went to Philadelphia, and presented himself to Congress.
He asked that he might serve at his own expense, and as a volunteer.
It was as if a being from another planet had suddenly alighted among
grave, kindly, farmer-like men. Like all the rest, they surrendered
to his charm, made him a Major General, and sent him to Washington.
The meeting of the two men, under a tent, is a scene for a painter.
One forty-five, tall, erect, calm, direct, fifty-per-cent will,
forty-nine-per-cent reason, one-per-cent chance; the other slight,
poetic, eloquent and twenty. They came out of the tent arm in arm.
It was the beginning of one of the great friendships of history. No
two men were ever more unlike. Each had what the other lacked. They
belonged together, virile power blending with fresh ardor. When
Lafayette was wounded at Brandywine, shot in the leg, Washington said
to the physician: "Look after him as after my son." Fidelity and
tenderness united in a devotion unmarred by time, and unbroken by
death.
Besides, we do not forget that they were Brothers in the Lodge.
Where and when Lafayette was made a Mason is a matter of dispute.
Some say it was at the great meeting of Military Lodges in
Morristown, New Jersey, when the proposal was made to form a General
Grand Lodge, of which Washington was to be the Supreme Grand Master.
Yet, Lafayette more than one spoke as if he had been made a Mason
before he arrived in America. The exact fact is hard to find, but we
do know that he was a man of our Craft.
At Valley Forge, under rain and frost, amid scurvy and fever, when
men ate acorns and died haphazard, "The Boy" rolled a big snow ball.
Slowly, at the touch of his dreaming fingers, it took the shape of a
woman. When finished, he engraved on her breast the magic word -
"Liberty!" He enchanted the army, kept up its morale, and brought
good luck. Spring came, the Alliance with France was celebrated, and
the Army went on to Monmouth and Yorktown. When the whole British
Army became prisoners of war, Lafayette wrote to his wife: "The Play
is ended. The British are in the Soup!"
The years following, amid upheavals in France, need not detain us.
It was a wild and stormy time. Twice, at least, Lafayette held the
destiny of his country in his hands. The Queen hated him. As
Napoleon said: "I could not have believed that hatred could go so
far." Marat thirsted for his blood. "He was always quoting
Washington," says Brissot. Time tossed him right to the height of
fame, then to the depth of a dungeon, and finally aside.
Fifty years passed, and a thin old man, bent and spent, landed
stiffly at New York, wondering whether he could "get a hack to take
him to the hotel." No man, except Lindberg, ever received such a
welcome on our shores. Rockets soared. Bonfires reddened the sky.
Militia marched. Arches crossed the road. His tour was an ovation.
He was a link with our heroic past, a living legend. Walking slowly
over the ground where he had galloped and waved his sword fifty years
before, he was a symbol.
To this day the name of Lafayette is a magic word among us. He came
to our country - a friend, a knight errant - in an hour of its
struggle as black as the night on which he landed. He was young, he
was romantic, with bright airs and graces. He dazzled, charmed, and
captivated our nation. Enthusiasm shone in his eyes. He wanted
nothing - except to fight for Liberty, the goddess of his idolatry.
He was as one following a vision, in quest of a Holy Grail - the
triumph of the rights of man. He went away, and when he returned it
was as if our own heroic past had returned to bless and purify us.
Liberty was the religion of Lafayette, and his faith remained
undivided an unshaken. With all his grace of soul, he was well nigh
a fanatic in its service. When he said that the happiest day of his
life would be when he mounted the scaffold for his faith, he did not
exaggerate. A soldier of the order of poets, his life had a purity
as amazing as its unity. Ardent and serious, yet gay and gallant, he
is of such stuff as legends are made of.
If men see after death what passes here below, what must have been
the feelings of Lafayette when, fourscore and three years after his
bodily death, he looked down from his home in the celestial
habitations and saw France again in dire danger, sorely pressed by
foreign foes, fighting for her life, and a general in an American
uniform standing by his grave in the cemetery of Picpus, and heard
him say:
"Lafayette, we are here!"
SO MOTE IT BE

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VI August, 1928 No.8
THE WONDER OF MASONRY
by: Unknown
One of the Unwritten Sayings of Jesus, picked up in a rubbish heap in
Egypt, is as follows: "Let him that seeketh desist not from his
quest until he hath found; and when he hath found, he shall be
smitten with wonder; and when he hath wondered, he shall come into
his Kingdom, and coming into his Kingdom, he shall rest."
A great English critic said that there are two impulses by which men
are governed; the impulse of acceptance - the impulse to take for
granted and unchallenged the facts of life as they are - and the
impulse to confront those facts with the eyes of inquiry and wonder.
Men are of two kinds, according as they obey one or the other of
these two impulses.
As Watts-Dunton goes on to point out, in the latter years of the
eighteenth century it was the impulse of acceptance that held sway;
and it was precisely those years that made the winter of English
poetry, when Pope and Dryden shone like stars on a frosty night.
Then came what he has called "The Renascence of Wonder,: and we heard
again the bird notes of spring, of Cowper and Burns, of Wordsworth
and Coleridge, of Shelly and Keats.
In the same way, Masons may be divided into two classes: those who
take Masonry as a matter of course, and those who confront it with
the eyes of inquiry and wonder. Let it be said at once, a man may be
content - as, indeed many are - with the impulse of acceptance, and
may live a Masonic life without reproach; but he will never feel the
thrill of Masonry as one of the great romances of the world.
II
To some of us Masonry is more fascinating than any fairy story - a
thing so wonderful that we can never think of it without
astonishment. The very existence of such an order, older than any
living religion, in one form or another going back into a far time
where history and legend blend, like the earth and the sky on the
horizon, is a fact amazing beyond words. If its real story were
tellable, it would make other romances seem flat and tame.
Deep in the heart of man is an instinct, if we may call it such, by
which he feels that there are truths so high and faiths so holy that
they are not to be trusted to men unless they are trustworthy, lest
the most precious possessions of humanity be lost or debased. Out of
this feeling grew the idea and practice of initiation, as we see it
in the Men's House, and trace it through all lands and races.
No matter what forms the old initiations may take, at the heart of it
all, somewhere, one finds the rudiments of and remsemblances to the
great drama of the immortal life, showing that from earliest time man
defied death and refused to let it have the last word. How this
instinct for initiation, if one may so describe it, linked itself
with the art of architecture, using simple symbols to teach moral
truths; as if to teach man that he must build up the eternal life
within himself - how can one think of such a fact without wonder and
a strange warming of the heart!
Yet there are brethren who seem to take it all for granted, as a
matter of rite and rote, and nothing more. They remind one of the
letter of Horace Walpole written from Florence: "I recollect the joy
I used to propose to myself if I could but once see the Great Duke's
Gallery: I walk in it now with as little emotion as I should into
St. Paul's Cathedral. The farther I travel, the less I wonder at
anything."
Truly, those words tell a pitiful tale of a jaded, blas<61> tourist who
walked through ancient shrines of beauty and prayer with sealed,
unwondering eyes. Yet, more marvelous than any cathedral is the
story of the Builders, out of whose faith and dream and skill the
cathedral was born and built; and it is Masonry that tells us who the
builders were, why and how they wrought, and how we must be builders,
too, of a House not made with hands.
III
To name the marvels of Masonry would require many books, but two may
be mentioned, and the first is its anonymousness. Who made Masonry
no one knows; when and how it was made no one has told us. Much is
said about the "Revival" in 1717, but back of that date lies a long
history, only glimpses and fragments of which we glean. Neither
author, nor date, nor locality is attached to it. It is a monument,
not of an individual, but of a mighty and mysterious past - like a
cathedral the names of whose builders are lost. The genius that
produced it has been forgotten in the service rendered.
Today we sit in a lodge listening to a ritual, not knowing when, or
where, or by whom it was written. It is a lyric fragment detached
from time and place; it has come down to us singing its way on the
unrelated wings of time. Its anonyousness is a part of its power.
It is universal; it is not of an age or a race, but of the world.
Someone ought to write a book entitled "The Anonymous in Life,"
though is would assuredly take many volumes to tell the story of the
wonders wrought by unknown, unnamed pilgrims of the past.
Think how much of the Bible is anonymous. Who wrote the idyll of
Ruth, with the color of the loveliest sky on it and the wine of the
purest love flowing through it? Who wrote that sublime epic of the
desert, in which Job struggles with the mystery of undeserving
suffering, and discovers a new dimension of faith in God? Who wrote
the Epistle of the Hebrews, one of the most refined and gracious
books of the New Testament? Origen said long ago, "No one knows but
God."
Anonymousness takes all the egotism out of genius, gives absolute
disinterestedness, converts the particular into the universal, and
burdens it with a beauty and pathos, a dignity and nobility, which
belong to humanity; as if the very soul of the race spoke to us, as
the organ of the Infinite, instructing us, illuminating us. What
Goethe said is true:
But heard are the voices, Heard are the Sages, The Worlds and the
Ages.
How much of Masonry is anonymous! We do not know who is speaking to
us. Their names are lost, like autumn leaves long fallen into dust.
Like us, they were pilgrims and had to pass on. Yet, what a legacy
of inspiration and instruction they left us for our guidance on the
old-world human road. They told us what they learned by living,
leaving their marks on the walls and arches of the Temple; and the
rest is silence.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VI September, 1928 No.9
THE FUTURE OF MASONRY
by: Unknown
Even a brief glimpse of the history of modern Masonry, its almost
accidental origin and its amazing evolution, gives one many problems
to ponder. It is an astonishing story, fit for romance, and no man
can read it without wonder. But in our days the minds of thoughtful
men turn to the future more than the past, thinking of the times
ahead, and they naturally ask: "What part, if any, is Masonry to
have in helping to shape a better world order?
The past is secure. Masonry had a silent but mighty part in the
making of America and in fashioning its fundamental life and law.
The story of the American Revolution might have been very different,
had not Washington and his Generals; most of them at any rate, been
held together by the peculiar tie which Masons spin and weave
between men. But what of the future of Masonry in America and in the
world? Obviously such an Order lies under special obligations to our
country in these tangled times. The closing paragraph of the ninth
edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica is very significant, doubly so
because the writer was not a Mason:
"As regards the future of Masonry, it is impossible, at least for an
outsider, to say much. The celebration of the brotherhood of man,
and the cultivation of universal good-will in the abstract, seem
rather indefinite objects for any society in this unimaginative age.
There is, on the other hand, a tendency to degenerate into mere
conviviality; while, if schools, asylums and other charities are
supported to that extent, of course the society becomes local and
exclusive in its character. In the meantime, Masonry is to blame for
keeping afloat in the minds of its members many of the most
absolutely puerile ideas. A more accurate knowledge of its singular
and not undignified history would tend more than anything else to
give worth and elevation to its aims."
Thus, even an outsider sees clearly enough that Masonry, as now
organized and employed, is not adequate to the demands of a realistic
generation, and that to go on making men Masons, as we are doing,
wholesale, without giving them an intelligent and authentic knowledge
of what Masonry is, or what it means, with no definite objects beyond
fellowship and philanthropy - objects to which other orders are
equally devoted - is for Masonry to lose, by ignorance or neglect,
what has been distinctive in its history and genius, and invite
degeneration, if not disaster. Indeed, not a little of the tendency
in our time to turn Masonry aside from its historic spirit and
purpose - to say nothing of the multiplication of extraneous,
initiative or associated orders, fanciful in purpose and fantastic in
program - is due to lack of knowledge of the history of Masonry and
the reason why has held so tenaciously to certain principles and
policies through so many years of storm and strife. The future of
Masonry, it is to have a future worthy of its past, will be
determined by its historic genius and purpose, not in lavish
adherence to details, but by local and constructive obedience to its
peculiar spirit and tenants. Otherwise our Lodges will become mere
clubs, like a thousand other such organizations - useful and
delightful in their degree, but in nowise distinctive - far removed
from the original meaning and intent of the Craft.
Hence, the desire and endeavor of our time, as indicated in the
three-fold purpose of the Masonic Service association of the United
States that Speculative Masonry shall once more be Operative by
becoming Co-operative in its spirit and labor. There is manifest in
the growing mind of the Fraternity today a wider realization and a
larger application of the time-honored and beautiful mission of
Masonry, as expressed in its oft-declared trinity of purpose,
Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. Lets us take Relief first, since
it is so fundamental that nothing need be said beyond the famous
words of an eastern seer: "When man will not help man the end of the
world has come!" By Relief we mean the urgent necessities of
humanity in the time of woe, whether it be war, pestilence or
disaster - flood, fire, earthquake - which may, any day, devastate
any part of the world, helping not only our Brethren in dire plight,
but also, to the measure of our power, all who by affliction are made
helpless. An unknown poet puts it vividly, as only poets know how to
do:
Men in the Street and mart,
Felt the same kinship of the human heart That makes them, in the
face of flame and flood, Rise to the meaning of true Brotherhood.
By the Truth we mean, in this connection, three vitally important
things in the service of which the modern Masonic Craft is enlisted
and devoted. First, let it always be remembered that Freemasonry,
today as in the past, by virtue of its principles and history, stands
for those "Great Freedoms of the Mind" by which men arrive at the
Truth. Our Craft is utterly committed to the principle of freedom of
thought - unhampered by political or ecclesiastical dictation - the
right, and also the duty, of man to seek everywhere and in every way
for the Truth by which no man is injured, but by which we have the
only basis for freedom and faith. Second, we mean by Truth our
devotion to the everlasting enterprise of Public Education without
which democratic societies cannot permanently endure. We insist upon
letting in all the light, and letting all the light all the way in,
driving ignorance. superstition and despotism off the earth. By the
same token, we mean that Public Education shall be kept clear of
party or class propaganda.
Which brings to us the matter of most importance, and that is what is
to be the future of Freemasonry, if any, in the field of Public
Service and with the world community. Without advocating any
innovation in the Body of Masonry - none is needed much less desired
- it must be plain enough that something else, something more, is
needed to meet the demands of our growing Fraternity, as well as the
needs of the society in which we labor, and that is an adaptation of
our methods to the spirit and needs of modern life. Masonry need not
change either its spirit or its principles - God Forbid - but its
Lodges must become increasingly as they were in the early days, civic
and social centers, leaders in whatever required to be done for the
common good in their communities, if they are to train, direct and
utilize for the highest ends the teeming life and abounding energies
of the Craft, which otherwise, as is now too much the tendency, may
find vent in other and less desirable ways. Just as the Churches
within the last two decades, without changing their faith or
principles, have adapted and continue to adapt; their method of work
and appeal is so marked a feature of our generation; so Masonry must
somehow find its place and take its part, or be left behind as
useless - just an order to belong to, nothing more.
Masonry, as some one said, has so far been a Fraternal Order founded
upon a philosophy of individualism, but it cannot remain so and be of
much use to the modern world. Individualism, of course, is
fundamental, and the work of training men in personal moral
excellence is indispensable; but noble private mindedness must become
public-mindedness, with a sense of social duty and service. While
Masonry rightly abjures political and sectarian disputes in its
Lodges, it cannot be inactive in that vast area of opportunity, with
which sectarian and partisan feuds have nothing to do, where most
important work of the world is done. Indeed, it can help to keep
political trickery and dickering out of the fields where they have
neither right nor value, as it is now doing in defense of the
American Public School System, to which it has pledged allegiance.
What will America be like in fifty or a hundred years hence? Even
today we find ourselves in a new and almost terrifying America, where
wild forces are at play and strange influences are at work. For
years we have been inundated by tides of immigration, not only from
lands friendly to our institutions, but from lands where our ideals
are like an unknown tongue. Those multitudes will be changed by
America, no doubt - by the alchemy of its large and liberal
fellowship - but America, in turn, may be changed by them, unless we
have a care, something very different from what our fathers meant it
to be. These, and like questions, are much in the minds of
thoughtful men, whether Masons or not, often with alarm, sometimes
with dismay, as they watch the procession of events. Surely there is
abundant room for the right kind of propaganda; sanely, wisely and
intelligently American, and here Masonry may find, and is finding, a
great opportunity.
Further afield, on the high and animated scene of world affairs, much
is taking place, the final issue of which no one can foresee. The
old balance of power among nations may easily give way to a new
alignment of races and colors, with consequences one dare not
contemplate, and possibilities that make the heart stand still.
Surely Masonry, by its spirit and genius internationally, has a
mission here, especially among peoples who have a common conception
of civilization. However, for such a ministry we need what
ultimately, sooner or later, must have some kind of Masonic world
fellowship. No sovereignty need be surrendered, no jurisdiction
invaded, no legislation enacted. But we must somehow make articulate
and effective the spirit of unity, purpose and aspirations latent in
universal Masonry, as an influence making for good will among men.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VI October, 1928 No.10
INCREASING LODGE ATTENDANCE
by: Unknown
There are few more vexatious problems which the Worshipful Master has
to meet than that of increasing the attendance in a Lodge in which
the members have, to some extent at least, lost interest.
It is a fact no less true than sad, that, on the average, an
attendance of ten per cent of the membership is looked upon as a
"Good" turnout. Yet there are Lodges which have a greater number at
almost every communication.
It is the natural and laudable desire of all Worshipful Masters to so
conduct the affairs of the Lodge as to make all its meetings so
interesting that members will desire to fill the benches.
As a general principle, the way to arouse interest is to do something
different from what is normally done in Lodge. A Lodge which is
overburdened with degree work can increase attendance by holding some
special meetings for purely social and fraternal purposes. A Lodge
in which a speaker from another Lodge - and better, another Grand
Lodge Jurisdiction - is seldom heard, may increase its attendance by
making such addresses a feature. A Lodge in which Masonic education
is unknown and untried may increase attendance by the preparation and
putting on of an educational program. A Lodge which has small
interest for its members because it appears to be set off, isolated,
from the life of the community, may increase not only attendance but
stimulate the desire for membership among non-Masons by taking part
in some civic activity.
The Worshipful Master is faced at the start of the preparation of any
entertainment with two conflicting principles; the more of his own
members he can persuade to work in and take part in the
entertainment, the more interest he can arouse among them and their
friends; the more he goes outside the lodge for amusement and
instruction, the more he is apt to interest all its members, most of
whom have seen or heard the home talent before.
In arranging for any program, whether it be one of entertainment or
instruction, Masonic or otherwise, it is wise to put the entire
affair in the hands of a competent chairman of a committee, give him
plenty of assistance, and then let him run it without interference.
Some Worshipful Masters, with the best intentions in the world, are
so unwise as to appoint a chairman of a committee and then attempt to
do his work, or dictate how it should be done. A chairman should be
a willing worker, and in sympathy with the ideas of the worshipful
Master, but unless he has some ideas and initiative of his own, he is
not qualified to be a chairman; if he has ideas and initiative, he is
not being properly used unless he is allowed to employ them.
As a general rule, a small committee is better than a large one; if
the plans are elaborate, the committee may divide itself into sub-
committees with a sub-chairman, who may call to their assistance all
the help they may need. But a large central committee is unwieldy
and difficult to handle; there are too many ideas, and too many
conflicting desires, to make such an organization a success.
Individual lodges differ largely, but as a rule an entertainment
committee of three, or five at the most is sufficiently large.
He is a well advised Worshipful Master who does not consider Masonic
dignity and honors as the first requisite in an entertainment
committee chairman. The senior Past Master has not necessarily the
most original mind; the Senior Warden may be an excellent officer and
a prospective Master of charm and ability, without being constituted
by nature and training to be a good chairman of an educational
committee. A wise Master doesn't hesitate to use the brains and
enthusiasm of the younger members. It is easy to gain the
cooperation of the older members, and of those the Lodge has honored,
by asking them to give way to the young and untried that these may
show their quality.
A few plans which have been tried and proved successful in increasing
attendance are herewith suggested:
ONE
A SURPRISE MEETING: Advertise to the membership that there is a
surprise waiting for them. Tell them there will be "something doing"
on the surprise night which they have never seen before. then
arrange with a capable committee to exemplify during the meeting a
dozen or so matters of law and behavior. Have a new brother
deliberately cross the lodge room between the Altar and the East.
Call him down for it. Have a Past Master explain to the lodge why
this is not good Masonic usage. During a ballot have a brother leave
the room by the way of the West Gate. Declare the ballot illegal,
and then take it over again. Have another Past Master explain why it
was illegal. Let some brother move that the lodge adjourn. Have
some one else, or another Past Master explain that parliamentary
procedure which governs most assemblages cannot apply in a Masonic
lodge because of the powers and prerogatives of the Worshipful
Master, at whose pleasure alone the lodge convenes and is closed.
Get a debate started on something, anything, and have a brother
appeal from the decision of the Worshipful Master, to the lodge.
Rule him out of order, and then explain that the only appeal lies to
the Grand Master and the Grand Lodge, and why this is so. Have some
brother give the wrong salute on entering or leaving; correct him,
and have someone make a short talk on the reasons for the salute on
entering or leaving, and how the brother may always know by an
examination of the Great Lights upon which degree the lodge is open
on. Think up a half dozen more matters in which the customs, the
etiquette or the law of Masonry may be violated, and have an
explanation and an answer ready for each one. It is surprising, the
interest which brethren take in a practical demonstration of this
kind, and how simple and easy it is to arrange without any expense
whatever.
TWO
A MASONIC EXPERIENCE MEETING: In any lodge a certain number of
brethren have had some pleasant, different, unusual experience of
Masonry. One may have had to borrow money in a strange city and did
through a Masonic connection. Another has discovered a Masonic
impostor. A third has made a pleasant friend in another city through
mutual Masonry. A fourth has had some odd experience of the manners,
customs and usages of Masonry in a sister Jurisdiction. Another has
seen a funeral service in another Jurisdiction, quite different from
that you use, etc. Get a committee to ascertain the names of a half
dozen such brethren, and persuade them to give their experiences.
Advertise it in the lodge Trestleboard and see the increase in
attendance.
THREE
A LODGE DEBATE: Choose some interesting Masonic subject on which
opinion is divided, appoint two teams of debaters of two men each,
and stage a contest between them. A Masonic debate should not run
over forty minutes. A is given eight minutes for the affirmative, B
eight minutes for the negative, following by C for eight minutes more
of affirmative, and D eight minutes more for the negative. Each
debater is then allowed 2 minutes for closing. The decision is to
rest on a vote by the Lodge. A few suggested topics are: "Resolved,
that Masonry would be more effective if all Lodges were limited in
size;" "Resolved, that perpetual jurisdiction over rejected
candidates is unjust;" "Resolved, that a Master's powers should be
limited by a Lodge," etc., etc.
It should be carefully explained that these subjects are debated
purely for the information such debates may bring out, and that there
is no thought of attempting by Lodge action to alter existing law or
practice. If desired, such a Lodge debate could be humorous in
character rather than educational; such as, "Resolved, that golf
should not interfere with business;" "Resolved, that the Worshipful
Master should pay the Lodge a salary for his privilege," etc.,etc.
If debaters are ready speakers, such simple entertainment can be made
very effective and interesting.
FOUR
PAST MASTER'S NIGHT: Fill all the officers chairs with Past Masters,
in the order of seniority; for the conferring of a degree. If no
candidate is available and there is no local regulation or edict
against it, use a dummy candidate from among the members, or have the
degree conferred upon the oldest Past Master. Those officers who
have born the heat and burden of the day are usually very proud of
the opportunity to get into harness again, and the membership is
usually much interested in their performance.
FIVE
"TELL US WHAT YOU THINK:" Have ten brethren, each with an idea, give
four-minute talks on what the lodge needs. This does not mean what
it requires in the way of a new hall, or new equipment, or more
money; but, what it requires to be better, more alive, more
interesting and more able. Such a discussion will bring out many
ideas. Throw the meeting open to the members as soon as those who
have been arranged for as speakers have finished; often these
unprepared speeches will be the best and most illuminating of the
evening.
SIX
THE QUESTION BOX: Put a small box with a slot in the top somewhere
in the ante-room of the lodge, and invite the brethren to submit
questions regarding anything Masonic; assure them that as many of the
questions as possible will be answered at the next meeting/ See that
a half-dozen brethren, instructed in advance, drop questions in the
box. The Worshipful Master will probably get a number for which he
had not arranged, but these are his sheet anchor; he can then have
prepared a half-dozen answers to the questions he had asked in this
way, and these answers delivered to the lodge in five-minute
addresses. Questions and answer both, or course, can be obtained
from books. A sample list of some half-dozen questions, interesting
to most Masons, is as follows:
"How old is Masonry, and how do we know its age?"
"What are the ten most Masonic verses in the Bible, not including
those quotations from the Great Light used in the Ritual?"
"Who was William Morgan and what happened in the "Morgan Affair?"
"In wearing a Masonic ring, should the points of the compass point to
the wearer or toward his finger tips?"
"What is the origin of the Masonic use of the word "Profane," meaning
one not a member, and why are they so-called?"
"England permits dual membership. What American Grand Jurisdictions
permit it, and what are some of the arguments for and against it?"
"What and where is the oldest Lodge in the world, in the United
States, and in this State?"
SEVEN
THE SONGS OF MASONRY: Good Masonic poetry is scarce. But there is
enough of it to furnish a pleasant and interesting hour or so of
instruction and entertainment. Pick out a half-dozen of the best
known Masonic poems, and a half-dozen brethren who will memorize them
and prepare a little talk on them. Let these brethren recite the
poem of their choice, and then comment upon it, its meaning and
significance. An anthology of Masonic Poems is in Volume Twenty of
the Little Masonic Library. Good poems for an evening of this kind
are: Kipling's "The Palace" and "Mother Lodge," Burn's "Masonic
Farewell," Goethe's "Mason Lodge" Leigh Hunt's "About Ben Adhem,"
Carruth's "Each In His Own Tongue," Burn's "On The Apron," Meredith's
"Ebony Staff of Solomon," Bowman's "Voice of America," and Malloch's
"Father's Lodge."
EIGHT
It is often possible to awaken interest in a Lodge by the formation
if some Lodge organization; a glee club, a dramatic club, a study
club, a Fellowcraft team, etc. These are good ways to increase
attendance.
NINE
A little stunt which always holds the attention of the members is
having some part of the Masonic Ritual - it may be the charge to a
candidate in one of the degrees, a section from the Middle Chamber
Lecture, or perhaps the prayer from the Third degree - committed by a
half-dozen brethren. These brethren then deliver the same work to
the lodge, in order to show how different the appeal of it may be, as
done in different ways. Naturally, the parts selected should be
short. If the brethren are willing to sacrifice themselves for the
good of the evening, a prize may be put up for the most effective
rendition, the deci-sion, of course, will be by the lodge. The vote
on the best rendition should be by paper ballot. But do not do this
unless the brethren have been previously consulted and are willing to
enter into the spirit of the little contest.
TEN
In a lodge which has much work and much business, the Worshipful
Master will add to the interest and the attendance if he runs the
business meeting with dispatch. The dragging business meeting, with
a great deal of "Hot Air" from well-meaning brethren who really have
little to say, is often sufficiently boresome to keep members away.
It is not suggested that the Master shut off debate arbitrarily, or
to rap a brother down. But it is perfectly possible to run the first
part of the business meeting snappily, have a prepared speech or so,
very short and interesting, and then have a couple of "planted"
brethren comment on the shortness and snappiness. The round hand of
applause which such comments usually draw will keep the prolix and
the long-winded off their feet!
ELEVEN
It adds to the interest and, therefore, to the attendance, if the
Master always has something to tell his lodge. "Give Them Good and
Wholesome Instruction" means what it says. A five-minute talk by the
Master upon some matter of interest to the particular lodge, or to
Masons generally, will often prove an interesting feature of business
meetings. Of course, it means some work for the Worshipful Master to
get up some twenty little addresses during his year, but Worshipful
Masters expect to work - or else they are much surprised brethren
when they get in the East!
The Master who is a ready speaker has a great advantage over the slow
of tongue - different speeches to different Past Masters as they are
welcomed, a different set of remarks to every visitor. keep the
membership keyed up wondering what the Master will say next! To call
brother after brother to his feet and say only "It gives me much
pleasure to welcome you to this communication of your own lodge, you
are cordially invited to seat in the East," is not thrilling, and is
monotonous. On the other hand, the Master must be careful not to
"talk the interest to death." Nor should he ever be witty at the
expense of his members or visitors, unless it is that kindly wit
which compliments at the same time it brings a smile.
TWELVE
Finally, the Worshipful Master may largely increase interest in his
meetings by departing from the custom of many previous Masters and
doing what they didn't do! This does not mean a criticism of
previous Masters; what they did may also have been interesting and
different. But the new is always interesting, and that which is
interesting usually stimulates attendance. With good reason, depart
from the usual order of business; it is a Master's privilege. Have
some brother, the more obscure the better, who has done something,
anything; escorted to the Altar and thank him, congratulate him, or
comment on his work; the more unexpected this is the more interesting
to the membership. Extend a special welcome to the oldest Past
Master, or more beloved brother; if you have no regularly appointed
chaplain, or if he is absent, call some other brother - different
brother every time - to take over the simple duties of lodge
chaplain. Encourage debate; ask for comments on any question which
comes up on which no one voluntarily has anything to offer; the more
members getting on their feet, the greater interest there is in the
meeting; always providing they are not long-winded about it!

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VI November, 1928 No.11
FOREIGN COUNTRIES
by: Carl H. Claudy
A reprint of Chapter XXX of "Foreign Countries," published and
copyrighted by the Masonic Service association in 1925.
Our ancient operative brethren desired to become Masters so that,
when they travelled in foreign countries, they could still practice
their craft. Speculative Freemasons still desire to "travel in
foreign countries" and study their craft that they may receive such
instruction as will enable them to do so, and when travelling, to
receive a Master's Wages.
But the "Foreign Countries" do not mean to us the various
geographical and political divisions of the Old World, nor do we use
the Word we learn as a means of identification to enable us to build
material temples and receive coin of the realm for our labor.
"Foreign Countries" is to us a symbol.
Like all the rest of the symbols, it has more than one
interpretation; but, unlike many, none of these is very difficult to
trace or understand.
Freemasonry itself is the first "foreign country" in which the
initiate will travel; a world as different from the familiar workaday
world, as France is different from England, or Belgium from Greece.
Everything is different in the Masonic world; the standards are
different, the "Money" is different, the ideas are different. In the
familiar world, money, place and power are the standards by which we
judge our fellows. In the fraternity all are on the level, and there
are neither rich nor poor. In the world outside there are laws to
prevent, and police and penalties to enforce obedience; in the
fraternity the laws are not "thou shalt not" but "thou shalt" and the
fundamental of them all is the golden rule, the law of brotherly
love. Men conform to the laws of Freemasonry not because they must
but because they will. Surely such a land is a "foreign country" to
the stranger within its borders; and the visitor must study it, learn
its language and its customs, if he is to enjoy it.
Many learn but a few phrases and only enough of its customs to
conform. There are thousands of Americans who went all over France
during the war with a pack of cigarettes, a friendly smile and "no
comprende!" as their sole knowledge of the language; but did they
learn to know France? A Lodge member may know the words of the
opening and closing and how to act in a lodge, learn to call his
fellows "brother" and pay his dues; but will that get him all there
is in the foreign country in which he finds him-self?
America north and south is a mighty continent . . . It has many
countries. To know one is not to know all. The man at home in
Mexico will find Newfoundland strange, and the Canadian will not feel
at home in Chile if he knows nothing of that country.
So it is with the vast continent of Freemasonry. It has many
"foreign countries within it; and he is the wise and happy Freemason
who works patiently at the pleasant task of visiting and studying
them. There are the foreign countries of philosophy, of
jurisprudence and of history. No Freemason is really worthy of the
name who does not understand something of how his new land is
governed, of what it stands for and why.
And there is the foreign country of Symbolism of which this little
book is far less a guide than a gateway.
As a Master Mason, a man has the right to travel in all the foreign
countries of Freemasonry. There is none to say him nay. If he will
but "learn the work" and keep himself in good standing, he may visit
where he will. But it is not within the door of other lodges than
his own that he will find the boundary line and the guide posts of
those truly Masonic "Foreign Countries" to which he has been given
the passport by his brethren. He will find gateways to those lands
in the library, in the study club, in books and magazines; and, most
and best of all, in the quiet hour alone, when what he has read and
learned comes back to him to be pondered over and thought through.
The "foreign country" of symbolism has engaged the thoughtful and
serious consideration of hundreds of able Masonic students, as has
that of the history of our Order. Not to visit them both; aye, not
to make oneself a citizen of them both, is to refuse the privileges
one has sought and labored to obtain. One asks for a petition, prays
one's friend to take it to his lodge, knocks on the door, takes
obligations, works to learn and finally receives the Master's Degree.
One receives it, struggles for it, hopes for it . . . why? That one
may travel in the far lands and receive the reward there awaiting. .
Then why hesitate? Why wait? Why put it off? Why allow others to
pass on and gain; while one stands, the gate open, the new land
beckoning, and all the Masonic world to see?
That is the symbolism of the "foreign countries" . . . that is the
meaning of the phrase which once meant, to operative Masons, exactly
what it says. To the Freemason who reads it aright it is a clarion
call to action, to study, to an earnest pressing forward on the new
highway. For time is short and the night cometh when no man can
work!
To the young Freemason, particularly, is the symbol a ringing appeal.
To those who are old in the Craft, who have set their pace,
determined their course and become satisfied with all they have
managed to learn of the fraternity, with what little they have been
able to take from it, "foreign countries" means countries which are
foreign and nothing more. But to the young man just starting out as
a Freemason . . . Oh, my brother, heed you the symbolism of the
phrase and make your entry through the gateway, your limbs strong to
travel, your mind open to learn. For if you truly travel in the
Masonic foreign countries, you will receive Master's Wages beyond
your greatest expectations. The way is open to the Freemason; not an
easy way, perhaps, or a short way, but a clear way. Not for the old
Mason, the man set in his ways, the man content with the literal
meaning of the words, the "book Mason," the pin- wearer, not for them
the foreign countries of symbolism, and Masonic knowledge.
But you, you who are new, you to whom Freemasonry is yet a wonder and
a vision. a mystery and a glory . . . for you the gate is wide, for
you the path is clear; for you the foreign countries beckon . . .
hang you not back!
For at the end of the journey, when the last foreign country of
Freemasonry has been travelled and learned and loved, you shall come
to a new gate, above which there is a new name written . . . and when
you have read it you will know the True Word of a Master Mason.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VI December, 1928 No.12
THE MOTHER GRAND LODGE
by: Unknown
It has often been remarked how casually , if not accidentally, so
many great movements seem to start. They seem to spring up of
themselves, at the bidding of impulses of which men are only vaguely
aware, and the full measure and meaning of which they do not know.
As in the Alps, a shout or the report of a gun may start an avalanche
of ice and snow, because of the poise of forces, so in history a
little act often releases a vast pent-up power.
A perfect example is the "Revival" of Masonry in 1717,. which, not
only gave a new date to our annals, but a new form and force to the
Craft, sending it to the ends of the earth on its benign mission. So
true is it that we almost say that modern Masonry, in its origin and
organization, is as much a mystery as ancient Masonry with its
symbols and rites, and the mystery may never be solved.
Out of a period of dim half-light and much obscurity the new Masonry
arose, and knowing what it is, we have a keen curiosity to know how
it came to be what it is. How many questions we are eager to ask,
answers to which are not found, or likely to be found, unless un-
guessed records should leap to light. Anyway, our brethren of those
formative days practiced the Masonic virtues of silence and
circumspection to an extraordinary degree, telling us very little of
what we should like to know so much.
How many lodges of Masons existed in London at that time is a matter
of conjecture, but there must have been a number. What tie, if any,
united them for common action and fellowship we do not know. Some
were purely operative lodges, others seem to have been purely
speculative - there were such lodges, such as the one in which
Ashmole was initiated as early as 1646 - while others, as we shall
see, were mixed; made up of men part of whom were Accepted Masons and
part actual working masons.
The Craft, as all agree, was in a state of neglect, if not
disintegration. It enjoyed a period of prosperity in the rebuilding
of London after the great fire in 1666, but as we read in the only
record we have, "the few lodges at London finding themselves
neglected by Sir Christopher wren, though it fit to cement under a
Grand Master as the centre of union and harmony." Wren was the great
architect of the day, the builder of St. Paul's Cathedral. Whether
he was actually a lodge member or not is uncertain, but such was the
reason given for the forming of a Grand Lodge.
Gould, our great historian, in describing "the assembly of 1717," out
of which the first Grand Lodge grew, remarks that "unfortunately, the
minutes of Grand Lodge only commence on July 24th, 1723 - six years
after the event! For the story of those first six years we are
dependent upon an account not written, or at least not published,
until the second edition of the Constitutions of 1738 - twenty-one
years after the event to which it refers! Surely, no other movement
of equal importance ever left so scanty a record made so long after
the fact.
Why no minutes were kept - or if kept at all, were lost we do not
know. Still less do we know why the first Grand Lodge was formed
without a Constitution/ The General Regulations did not appear until
1721, the Constitutions in 1723. The impression is unmistakable that
is was only an experiment, in response to a growing need for a
"Center of Union and Harmony," and that those who took part in it did
not dream that they were launching a movement destined to cover the
earth with a great fraternal fellowship. Four lodges united to form
the Mother Grand Lodge, those that met:
1. At the Goose and Gridiron Ale-House in St. Paul's Church Yard.
2. At The Crown Ale-House in Parker's Lane, near Drury Lane.
3. At the Apple-Tree Tavern in Charles Street, Covent Garden.
4. At the Rummer and Grape Tavern in Channel-Row, Westminster.
In those days. as in our own day in London. lodges met in taverns and
ale-houses - the hotels of the time. Their meetings were festive,
and often convivial, in the manner and custom of the day. A rare old
book called "Multa Paucis" asserts that six lodges, not four, were
represented, but there is no record of the fact, though members of
other lodges were no doubt present as guests. Indeed, we have a hint
to that effect in the meager record, as follows:
"They, (the four lodges) and old Brothers met at said Apple-Tree, and
having put into the chair the oldest Master Mason (now Master of a
lodge) they constituted themselves a Grand Lodge pro Tempore in Due
Form, and forthwith revived the Quarterly Communication of the
Officers of Lodges (called the Grand Lodge), resolved to hold the
Annual Assembly and Feast, then Chuse a Grand Master from among
themselves, till they should have the honor of a Noble Brother at
their Head."
Such is the record of the preliminary meeting - what would we not
give for a full account of its discussions and proceedings! Diligent
search has been made among the records, diaries and papers of the
time, but few facts have been added to this record. Even the date of
the meeting was omitted, but it must have been in the spring or early
summer of 1717, as the meeting at which the Grand Lodge was actually
organized took place shortly afterward, in June of that year, and was
held in the Goose and Gridiron Ale-House in St. Paul's Churchyard,
near the west end of the Cathedral.
The old Ale-House had a long story, being one of the most famous in
the city, whereof we may read in "London Inns and Taverns," by
Leopold Wagner. Before the Great Fire it had been called the Mitre,
the first "Musick House" in London, and the meeting place of a
Company of Musicians, its sign being a Swan and a Lyre. Its master
had gathered many trophies of travel, which he displayed, and which
are said to have formed the nucleus of the Britian Museum. After the
fire it was rebuilt on the same site, but the new sign was so badly
made that the wits of the town called it the Goose and Gridiron, and
the name clung to it. The record goes on:
"Accordingly, on St. John Baptist's Day, in the 3rd year of King
George I, A.D. 1717, the assembly and Feast of the Free and Accepted
Masons was held at the foresaid Goose and Gridiron Ale-House.
"Before dinner, the oldest Master Mason (now the Master of a Lodge),
in the Chair, proposed a list of proper candidates; and the Brethren
by a majority of Hands elected Mr. Anthony Sayer, Gentleman, Grand
Master of Masons (Mr. Jacob Lamball, Carpenter; Capt. Joseph Elliot,
Grand Wardens), who being forthwith invested with the Badges of
Office and Power by said oldest Master, and installed, was duly
congratulated by the Assembly, who paid him the Homage.
"Sayer, Grand Master, commanded the Masters and Wardens of Lodges to
meet the Grand Officers every Quarter in Communication, at the place
that he should appoint in the Summons sent by the Tyler."
So reads the only record that has come down to us of the founding of
the Mother Grand Lodge. Who were present, besides the three officers
named, has so far eluded all research; their faces have faded, their
names are lost - but imagine the scene. The big room extended the
width of the house, thirty feet one way and nearly twenty the other.
In the center was an oak table, around which the delegates from the
various lodges sat on chairs, smoking their pipes. The seat of
Anthony Sayer was before the fireplace, with its polished brass fire-
irons, with chestnut-roasters and bed-warmers hanging on either side
of it.
It was an hour of feast and fun and fellowship, as they sat down to
dinner together, as English lodges do today. Each man had a rummer
of foaming ale before him on the table, and as he drained it betimes
it was refilled by a handsome maid, Hannah, whose name has survived
long after others were lost. Only a few memories live of that event
which divided the story of Masonry into before and after; the famous
sign in front of the house, so ugly that a Swan and a Lyre were
mistaken for a Goose and a Gridiron; the skittleground on the roof;
the small water-course, a rivulet of Fleet Brook, for which a way had
to be made through the chimney; the pillar that propped up the
chimney, and - Hannah, the maid.
How strange that the Masons of England allowed the old Ale-House to
be taken down in 1893 - it ought to have been kept as a shrine of
fellowship and fun. But so little interest was taken in its fate
that the historic sign was sold to a citizen of Dulwick, who put it
in his greenhouse. Later on, however, the old relic was recovered,
and it now has a place of honor in the Guildhall Museum, along with
other tokens of the London that is no more. Alas, so little do men
see, and so lightly do they value what is passing before their eyes.
What of the men who formed the Mother Grand Lodge?
They did not - could not - realize what they had done so casually and
in the spirit of frolic, much less foreknow its meaning and future.
They merely wanted to make a "Centre of Union and Harmony," as they
called it, between the lodges of the city. There was no thought of
imposing the authority of Grand Lodge upon the country in general,
still less upon the world, as is clear from the Constitutions of
1723, which are said to be "for the use of Lodges in London." Yet,
so great was the necessity for a Grand Lodge, that, once started, the
impulse spread to Ireland, Scotland, and the ends of the earth. Link
was added link until it put "a girdle around the earth."
As a great man of the Craft has said so picturesquely, it is
possible, and it is true, to say that Masonry was born in a Tavern,
but it belongs to Almighty God; and so gentle was its spirit, so
friendly and tolerant and wise withal, that it began to make the life
of the Tavern like a vestibule for the life of the Church.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VII January, 1929 No.1
THE MOTHER GRAND LODGE II
by: Unknown
Of "the few Lodges at London," as the record puts it, who constituted
themselves a Grand Lodge in 1717, only four are named. If other
lodges were invited, it maybe surmised that they either had not been
notified of the purpose of the meeting, or if so, that they declined
to associate themselves with the undertaking. Or perhaps no one knew
what was afoot when the meeting was held, and the idea of a Grand
Lodge was born of the spirit of the hour.
The phrase "time immemorial," used to denote the age of the four
lodges taking part, is all a blur, telling us no authentic story of
their history. On the Engraved List of Lodges of 1729, the Goose and
Gridiron Lodge No.1, known after as the Lodge of Antiquity, is said
to have dated from 1691. Of the others we have no early knowledge at
all, except the part they took in founding the first Grand Lodge.
Even the Lodge of Antiquity pursued an uneventful career until
Preston became its Master in 1774, when it was involved in a dispute
with Grand Lodge.
The lodge, which met at the Crown Ale-House, Parker's Lane - No.2, of
the original four - played no part in Masonic history, and died of
inanition twenty years later; stricken off the roll in 1740. No
Mason of any note seems to have belonged to it. The Apple-Tree
Tavern Lodge - No.3 - gave the Grand Lodge its first Grand Master,
Anthony Sayer, who apparently appointed two members of his own Lodge
as Grand Wardens - so at least we may conjecture. The lodge moved to
the Queen's Head, Knaves Acre, about 1723, and, if we may believe
Anderson, it was loath to come under the new Constitution adopted in
that year.
These two lodges seem to have been Operative Lodges, or largely so,
composed of working Masons and Brethren of the artisan class.
Clearly, then, the new Grand Lodge was made up, predominately, of
Operative Masons, and not, as has so often been implied, the design
of men who simply made use of the remnants of Operative Masonry the
better to exploit some hidden cult. Still, it may be argued that,
even if Operative Masons were in the majority, the real leadership of
the movement came from Accepted Masons, and that is quite true. But
anyone who knows the ingrained conservatism of Masons of every sort,
will be slow to admit that any designing group could have imposed
anything not inherently Masonic upon such an assembly.
The premier lodge of the period, which seems to have initiated and
led the formation and policy of the new Grand Lodge, was No.4,
meeting at the Rummer and Grape Tavern in Channel Row, Westminster.
It was almost entirely a Specu-lative Lodge, made up of Accepted
Masons, and almost all the leading men of the Craft in that formative
time were members of it. The other lodges had perhaps twenty members
each, while No.4 had a roll of seventy, among them men of high social
rank, including members of nobility. Had it not been for such a
lodge, the only one of is kind and quality in London, the chances are
many that no Grand Lodge would have been formed, and the story of our
Craft, if it had any story at all, would have been very different.
Besides Dr. Anderson, to whom, Gould says, we may safely attribute
the authorship of the Constitutions - as well as much else, some of
it rather fantastic - and Dr. Desaguliers, to whom tradition
ascribes the refashioning of much of the ritual, the second and third
Grand Masters were men of that lodge. It also furnished a Grand
Secretary, William Cowper. The lodge continued to hold first place
in numbers, social rank, and influence until 1735, when a decline set
in, both in attendance and contributions, and in 1747 it was decreed
that the lodge "be erased from the Book of Lodges." Four years later
the lodge was restored, but it never regained its former power, and
twenty years later appeared to be once more on the edge of
extinction, from which it was rescued by being merged with the
Somerset House Lodge founded in Dunckerley.
The Goose and Gridiron Lodge, No.1, is the only one of the original
four lodges now in existence. After various changes in name it is
now the Lodge of Antiquity, No.2, having lost its proud position of
first on the list when the lodges were renumbered by the casting of
lots, at the time of the union of the two rival Grand Lodges, in
1813. It seems to have been a mixed lodge, part Operative and part
Speculative, and this fact, no doubt, made for continuity and
stability in its long history and service.
Not much is known of the first Grand Master, Anthony Sayer, whose
life seems to have been uneventful, if not unimportant, save for the
"accident," if we may call it such, of his election to his high
office. About the only record of him - save the story of his ill
fortune in later life - is to be found in the Anderson version of the
organization of the Grand Lodge in the 1738 edition of the
Constitutions. Nothing is known of his previous history, except that
he is described as a "gentleman," in the old English meaning of the
word, and that he was a member of the lodge meeting at the Apple-Tree
Tavern. He was a Warden of his Lodge in 1723; apparently he had
never been its Master, or if so, there is no record of it.
Sayer served as Grand Master for one year, and in June, 1718, was
followed by George Payne; he was made Grand Senior Warden in 1719.
Later he fell upon evil days - Never, it would seem, having been a
man of much influence or position in the world - and more than once
was aided by the Craft over which he was the first to preside. He
became Tyler of Old King's Arms Lodge, No.28, and it is reported in
the records that he was assisted "out of the box of this society."
He was also aided by Grand Lodge, in spite of some kind of irregular
conduct of which he was accused in 1730, the nature of which is not
known, for which he was called to account by Grand Lodge. The
finding amounted to a verdict of "not guilty," but don't repeat the
offence;" and Sayer did not again approach Grand Lodge for aid until
1741, when he received help.
After that one finds no allusion to him in the records of Grand
Lodge, or anywhere else, until his death the following year, 1742,
which was announced in the London papers - both in the "Champion" and
in the "Evening Post. From these accounts we learn that his funeral
was attended "by a great number of gentlemen of that honorable
society of the best quality," and that he was buried in St. Paul's
Church, Covent Garden - where his widow was buried a few months later
in the same year. The vague impression of Sayer that is left us,
almost too vague to be perceptible, is that of an amiable but rather
ineffective man rescued from utter oblivion by the one brief honor of
his life. Hardly more than a name, no biography of his has been
written, and no materials for one exists - if indeed so obscure and
colorless man deserved to be celebrated at all.
Shortly after his death, probably in 1744, a portrait of Sayer was
painted by Joseph Highmore, which was engraved by John Faber, a Dutch
artist, both men of the Craft, as an appendix to a Masonic History,
in which Highmore was interested. Bromley, in his Catalogue, issued
in 1793, assigns the year 1750 as the date when the picture was
published, with the legend, "Anthony Sayer, Gent, Grand Master of
Masons." Of this engraving many copies have come down to us, which
are highly prized as giving us the only image and likeness of the
first ruler of our gentle Craft.
So much for the first Grand Master, of whom we know so little, not
even the place or date of his birth. It is plain that the real work
of the Grand Lodge, in those critical and creative years, was done by
other and stronger men. They wrought well, but, excepting Anderson,
and less certainly Desaguliers, we know very little of what part each
took in the work. Nor does it greatly matter, as it is the building
and not the builders that is the goal of our labors, and it is an
eloquent fact that Masonry, even in its modern form, which took shape
in the First grand Lodge, is a cooperative enterprise, in which no
names out-top their fellows.
Let us be grateful that it is so, remembering the wisdom of Goethe,
one of the greatest men in the annals of our Craft, who, as he grew
older, took comfort in the beautiful feeling that entered his mind
that only mankind together is the true man, and that the individual
can only be happy when he has the courage to feel himself in the
whole, and lose himself in it.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VII February, 1929 No.2
THE MOTHER GRAND LODGE III
by: Unknown
There is a reason for everything, even for superstition, if we seek
far enough to find it. There was a reason, both in the spirit of the
age and the state of the Craft, for the "revival" of Masonry in 1717.
It was a fad of the day to form all sorts of queer clubs and secret
societies, some of them with odd, fantastic names. Our Craft was
caught by that craze, but Masonry lived, while the rest were left in
limbo. Why should it have been so?
The Cathedrals had long been finished and the work of the Craft
seemed done. The place of the Master Mason had been taken by the
architect who, like Sir Christopher Wren and Inigo Jones was no
longer a child of the Lodge, but a man trained in books and by
travel. By all the rules, Masonry should have died, or else reverted
to some kind of guild or trade union. But, it did not. Instead, men
who were not working Masons had long been joining the Lodges, in
quest of truth they had not found elsewhere.
Put otherwise, why did Masonry alone of all trades live after its
work was done, preserving not only its identity and its old emblems
and usages, but transforming them into teachers of morality and
charity? Of course, in the end only that lives which is in accord
with the need of man and the nature of things; but we may go further
and say that Masonry lived because it had never been simply an order
of architects, but a moral and spiritual fellowship - the keeper of
great symbols and a teacher of truths that never die.
Having reviewed the meager record, let us examine the facts in more
detail. The new Masonry was not merely a "revival;" it was a
revolution. The Craft had fallen to a low estate, following the
rebuilding of London after the Great Fire. The new Grand Lodge was
intended to give it "a centre of union and harmony," a community of
action, such as it had not had for years; but it did much more. It
gave the Craft not only an old form with a new meaning, but a new
spirit, a new force, a new direction, and sent it forward to a new
destiny such as no one had ever dreamed of.
More than one writer has told us that the leaders of the Masonry of
that day were fuzzy-minded men who did not know what they were doing;
but the results show that they were wise men. Never more so than
when they were careful to say that what they were doing was
"according to ancient usage," a phrase which still has magical power
among us, because Masons love things old, tried and lovely. They
were doing things never done before "according to ancient usage" from
"time immemorial," and that was surely a rare feat! They made the
past glide into the future without loss, using an ancient form to
clothe a new spirit and purpose.
The brethren who met in the Apple-Tree Tavern "constituted themselves
a Grand Lodge pro tempore in Due Form and forthwith revived the
Quarterly Communication of Officers of Lodges, called the Grand
Lodge." The quarterly meeting was never before called a Grand Lodge,
so far as we are aware, but it became one none the less. Under the
guise of reviving an old usage they created a new form of
organization - new, certainly, in its power. No wonder there was a
great Schism later on, made, as we now know, by Lodges not
represented at the Apple-Tree Tavern, and who denied the right of a
few men to constitute themselves a Grand Lodge.
What was the "Due Form" with which the new Grand Lodge was
constituted? A postscript to the record tells us that "when the
Grand Master is present it is a lodge in Ample Form; otherwise, only
in Due Form." But what Ritual, if any, was used on that important
occasion? Nobody knows; our Brethren have practiced the virtue of
secrecy too successfully for us to penetrate the veil. Some sort of
ceremony must have been employed, but we do not know what it was,
unless it was that found in the "Narrative of the Freemasons Words
and Signes" contained in the Sloan MS. The Grand Lodge itself being
a new invention, no doubt it set about revising and elaborating such
Ritual as existed, which developed into the Ritual as we now have it.
Under the guise of a "revival" still further innovations were made
when the four lodges met to elect a Grand Master and celebrate the
Feast of St. John in the Goose and Gridiron Ale-House. The office of
Grand Master was new, both in its creation and in its amazing power -
a power almost absolute, including the "sole" right of appointing
both his Wardens. There must have been murmurs against it, because
Anderson found it necessary to say a little later that it was found
"as necessary as formerly, according to an ancient custom." Whereas
he was in fact attempting to justify a new fact by appeal to an old
fiction, since no such office existed in former times.
Old usages were in evidence, to be sure, as the observance of St.
John's Day, the manner of voting by show of hands, the badges of
office, the Tyled Lodge, to name no others. But if the new Grand
Master wore an old Badge of office, he himself was a new figure in
Masonry, invested with a new and vast power. His Badge was a large
white apron, though hardly so large as the one we see in the Hogarth
picture. The collar was of much the same shape as that at present in
use, only shorter. When the color was changed to blue, and why, is
uncertain, but probably not until 1813, when we begin to see both
Apron and Collar edged with blue. By 1727 the officers of all lodges
were wearing "the jewels of Masonry hanging to a White Apron." Four
years later we find the Grand Master wearing gold jewels pendant to
blue ribbons about the neck.
As regards innovations, it is pointed out by Gould that the new Grand
Lodge introduced three striking changes in English Masonry, besides
those already named. First, it prohibited the working of "the
Master's Part" - now, probably the Master's Degree - in private
Lodges, as if it intended to keep the most sacred and secret part of
the Ritual within its own control. Not unnaturally this provoked
rebellion on the part of many, and was done away with in November
1725. However, it was a wise thing, because, as Stuckeley said in
his diary, under the date of January 1721, "Masonry took a run, and
ran itself out of breath through the folly of its members." It seems
that Masons were being made not only by Lodges, but by private
groups.
The second innovation named by Gould was less important, but worthy
of mention. The new Grand Lodge arbitrarily imposed upon the English
Craft the use of two compound words new in its vocabulary - Entered
Apprentice and Fellow Craft. These words were known elsewhere in the
Craft, but they were new in England. More serious, by far, was the
article on "God and Religion" in the First Constitutions, by which
Christianity was no longer to be the only religion recognized by
Masonry. As Gould remarks, "the drawing of a sponge over the ancient
Charge, 'To be True To God and Holy Church,' was doubtless looked
upon by many Masons of those days in very much the same manner as we
now regard the absence of any religious formulary whatever in the so-
called Masonry of the Grand Orient of France."
The full import of this article was not realized at first; but it was
one factor leading to the Great Schism which divided the Craft for
fifty years. Indeed, the "epoch of transition," as it has been
named, from the old Masonry to the new, covered a long period, say
from 1717 to 1738, when the second book of constitutions was issued,
and the first Papal Bull was hurled at the Craft. It was a period of
ups and downs, all kinds of tangles, new and vexing problems, when
the Craft was attacked and defended by turns, with many alleged
"exposures" as well , as we know not only from the record of the
Craft, but from items in the papers of the time.
The old diarist was right when he said that "Masonry took a run," and
it did not stop until it reached the ends of the earth. Lodges
multiplied, charity flourished, and the gentle influence of the
Fraternity spread afar. In spite of the schism within and opposition
without, the Craft grew almost too rapidly, and measures had to be
taken to restrain it, least it go too fast, making members without
making Masons. Those "Fuzzy-minded old men," as they have been
called, knew what they were about, and while they made more than one
sad mistake of policy, they helped forward the Brotherhood of Man.
Even the Great Schism helped, rather than hindered, the onward march
of Masonry.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VII March, 1929 No.3
LANGUAGE OF THE HEART
by: Carl H. Claudy
Chapter I of "Foreign Countries," a delightful and inspiring study of
Masonic Symbolism, written for and published by the Masonic Service
Association of the United States.
FREEMASONRY TEACHES BY SYMBOLS!
Why? Why does she veil in allegory and conceal in an object or
picture a meaning quite different from its name?
Why should Freemasonry express Immortality with Acacia, Brotherly
Love with a Trowel, the World by a Lodge and Right Living by a
Mason's
That Freemasonry conceals in symbols in order to arouse curiosity to
know their meaning is often considered the only explanation. But
there are many more lofty ideas of why this great system of truth,
philosophy and ethics is hidden in symbols.
It is hardly a matter of argument that man has a triple nature; he
has a body and senses which bring him into contact with and translate
the meanings of the physical world of earth, air, fire and water
which is about him. He has a brain and a mind by which he reasons
and understands about the matters physical with which he is
surrounded. And he has a Something Beyond; call it Soul, Heart,
Spirit or imagination, as you will; it is something which is allied
to, rather than a part of reason, and connected with the physical
side of life only through its sensory contacts.
This soul, or spirit, comprehends a language which the brain does not
understand. The keenest minds have striven without success to make
this mystic language plain to reason. When you hear music which
brings tears to your eyes and grief or joy to your heart, you respond
to a language your brain does not understand and cannot explain. It
is not with your brain that you love your mother, your child or your
wife; it is with the Something Beyond; and the language with which
that love is spoken is not the language of the tongue.
A symbol is a word in that language. Translate that symbol into
words which appeal only to the mind, and the spirit of the meaning is
lost. Words appeal to the mind; meanings not expressed in words
appeal to the spirit.
All that there is in Freemasonry, which can be set down in words on a
page, leaves out completely the Spirit of the Order, If we depend
upon words or ideas alone, the Fraternity would not make a universal
appeal to all men, since no man has it given to him to appeal to
minds of all other men. But Freemasonry expresses truths which are
universal; it expresses them in a universal language, universally
understood by all men without words. That language is the language
of the symbol, and the symbol is universally understood because it is
the means of communication between spirit, souls and hearts.
When we say of Masonry that it is universal we mean the word
literally; it is of the universe, not merely of the world. If it
were possible for an inhabitant of Mars to make and use a telescope
which would enable him to plainly see a square mile of the surface of
the earth, and if we knew it and desired to, we could draw upon that
square mile a symbol to communicate with that inhabitant of Mars, we
would choose, undoubtedly, one with as many meanings as possible; one
which had a material, mental and spiritual meaning. Such a symbol
might be the triangle, the square or the circle. Our supposed
Martian might respond with a complimentary symbol; if we showed him a
triangle he might reply with the 47th Problem. If we showed him a
circle he might send down 3.141659 - the number by which a diameter
is multiplied to become the circumference. We could find a language
in symbols with which to begin a communication, even with all the
universe!
Naturally then, Freemasonry employs symbols for heart to speak to
heart. Imagination is the heart's collection of senses. So we must
appeal to the imagination when speaking a truth which is neither
mental nor physical, and the symbol is the means by which one
imaginations speaks to another. Nothing else will do; no words can
be as effective (unless they are themselves symbols); no teachings
expressed in language can be as easily learned by the heart as those
which come via the symbol through the imagination.
Take from Masonry its symbols and you have just the husk; the kernel
is gone. He who hears but the words of Freemasonry misses their
meaning entirely. Most symbols have many interpretations. These do
not contradict but amplify each other. Thus, the square is a symbol
of perfection, rectitude of conduct, honor, honesty and good work.
There are all different and yet allied. The square is not a symbol
of wrong, evil, meanness or disease! Ten different men may read ten
different meanings into a square, and yet each meaning fits with and
belongs to the other meanings.
Ten men have ten different kinds of hearts. Not all have the same
power of imagination. They do not all have the same ability to
comprehend. So each gets from a symbol what he can. He uses his
imagination. He translates to his soul as much of the truth as he is
able to make a part of him. This the ten cannot do with truths
expressed in words. "Twice two is equal to four" is a truth which
must be accepted all at once, as a complete exposition, or not at
all. He who can not understand the "twice" or the "equal" or the
"four" has no conception of what is being said. But ten men can read
ten progressive, different, correct and beautiful meanings into a
trowel, and each can be right as far as he goes. The man who sees it
merely as an instrument which helps to bind has a part of its
meaning. He who finds it a link with operative Masons has another
part. The man who sees it as a symbol of man's relationship to
Deity, because with it he (spiritually) does the Master's Work, has
another meaning. All these meanings are right; when all men know all
the meanings the need for Freemasonry will have passed away.
We use symbols because only by them can we speak the language of the
spirit, each to each, and because they form an elastic language,
which each man reads for himself according to his ability. Symbols
form the only language which is thus elastic, and the only one by
which spirit can be touched. To suggest that Freemasonry use any
other would be as revolutionary as to remove her Altars, meet in a
Public Square or elect by majority vote. Freemasonry without symbols
would not be Freemasonry; it would be but a dogmatic and not very
erudite philosophy, of which the world is full of as it is, and none
of which ever satisfies the heart.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VII April, 1929 No.4
ACACIA LEAVES AND EASTER LILIES
by: Unknown
April brings us to Easter Day - the festival of Memory and Hope.
That a day in spring should be set apart in praise of the victory of
Life is in accord with the fitness of things, as if the seasons of
the soul were akin to the season of the year. It unites faith with
life; it links the fresh buds of spring with the ancient pieties of
the heart. It finds in Nature, with its rhythm of winter and summer,
a ritual of hope and joy.
So run the records of all times. Older than our era, Easter has been
a day of feast and song in all lands and among all peoples. By a
certain instinct man has found in the seasons a symbol of his faith,
the blossoming of his spirit attuned to the wonder of the awakening
of the earth from the white death of winter. A deep chord in him
answers to the ever-renewed resurrection of Nature, and that instinct
is more to be trusted than all philosophy. For in Nature there is no
death, but only living and living again.
Something in the stir of spring, in the reviving earth, in the tide
of life overflowing the world, in the rebirth of the flowers, begets
an unconscious, involuntary renewal of faith in the heart of man,
refreshing his hope. So he looks into the face of each new spring
with a heart strangely glad, and strangely sad too, touched by tender
memories of springs gone by never to return, softened by thoughts of
"those who answer not, however we may call."
Truly, it is a day of Hope and Courage in the heart of man. Hope and
Courage we have for the affairs of daily life; but here is a Hope
that leaps beyond the borders of the world, and a Courage that faces
eternity. For that Easter stands, in its history, its music, its
returning miracle of spring - for the putting off of the tyranny of
time, the terror of the grave, and the triumph of the flesh, and the
putting on of immortality. Men can work with a brave heart and
endure many ills if he feels that the good he strives for here, and
never quite attains, will be won elsewhere.
There is something heroic, something magnificent in the refusal of a
man to let death have the last word. Time out of mind, as far back
as we can trace human thought - in sign or symbol - man has refused
to think of the grave as the coffin lid of a dull and mindless world
descending upon him at last. It was so in Egypt five thousand years
ago, and is so today. At the gates of the tomb he defies the Shadow
he cannot escape, and asserts the worth of his soul and its high
destiny. Surely this mighty faith is its own best proof and
prophecy, since man is a part of Nature, and what is deepest in him
is what nature has taught him to hope.
For some of us Easter has other meanings than those dug up from the
folklore of olden time. Think how you will of the lovely and heroic
figure of Jesus, it is none the less His day, dedicated to the pathos
of His Passion and the wonder of His Personality. For some of us His
Life of Love is the one everlasting romance in this hard old world,
and its ineffable tenderness seems to blend naturally with the thrill
of springtime, when the finger of God is pointing to the new birth of
the earth. No Brother will deny us the joy of weaving Easter lilies
with Acacia leaves, in celebration of a common hope.
The legend of Hiram and the life of Jesus tell us the same truth; one
in fiction and the other in fact. Both tragedies are alike
profoundly simple, complete and heartbreaking - each a symbol not
only of the victory of man over death, but of his triumph over the
stupidity and horror of evil in himself and in the world. In all the
old mythologies, the winter comes because the ruffian forces of the
world strike down and slay the gentle spirit of summer; and this dark
tragedy is reflected in the life of man - making a mystery no mortal
can solve, save as he sees it with courage and hope.
Jesus was put to death between two thieves outside the city gate.
The Master Builder was stricken down in the hour of His Glory, His
Prayer choked in His Own Blood. Lincoln was shot on Good Friday,
just as the temple of Unity and Liberty was about to be dedicated.
Each was the victim of sinister, cunning, brutal, evil force - here
is the tragedy of our race, repeated in every age and land, as
appalling as it is universal, and no man can fathom its mystery.
Yet, strangely enough, the very shadow which seems to destroy faith,
and make it seem futile and pitiful, is the fact which created the
high, heroic faith of humanity, and keeps it alive. Love, crucified
by Hate; high character slain by low cunning! Death victorious over
life - man refuses to accept that as the final meaning of the world.
He demands justice in the name of God and his own soul. The Master
Builder is betrayed and slain; his enemies are put to death - that
satisfies the sense of justice. Jesus dies with a prayer of
forgiveness on His lips; Judas makes away with himself - and the hurt
is partly healed.
But is that all? On the mount of Crucificiton, by the outworking of
events, goodness and wickedness met the same muddy fate - is that the
meaning of the world? The Master Builder and his slayers are alike
buried - is that the end? Are we to think that Jesus and Judas sleep
in the same dust, all values erased, all issues settled in the great
silence? In the name of reason it cannot be true, else chaos were
the crown of cosmos, and mud more mighty than mind!
When man, by his insight and affirmation of his soul, holds it true,
despite all seeming contradiction, that virtue is victorious over
brutal evil, and Life is Lord of Death, and that the soul is as
eternal as the moral order in which it lives, the heart of the race
has found the truth. Argument is unnecessary; the great soul of the
world we call God is just. Here is the basis of all religion and the
background of all philosophy. From the verdict of the senses and the
logic of the mind, man appeals to the justice of God, and finds
peace.
Thou wilt not leave us in the dust;
Thou maddest man, he knows not why, He thinks he was not made to
die;
And thou has made him; Thou art just.
With what overwhelming impressiveness this faith is set forth in the
greatest Degree of Freemasonry, the full meaning and depth of which
we have not yet begun to fathom, much less realize. Edwin Booth was
right when he said that the Third degree of Masonry is the
profoundest, the simplest, the most heart-gripping tragedy known
among men. Where else are all the elements of tragedy more perfectly
blended in a scene which shakes the heart and makes it stand still?
It is pathetic, It is confounding. Everything seems shattered and
lost. Yet, somehow, we are not dismayed by it, because we are made
to feel that there is a Beyond - the victim is rather set free from
life than deprived of it.
Without faith in the future, where the tangled tragedies of this
world are made straight, and its weary woe is healed, despair would
be our fate. By this faith men live and endure in spite of ills.
Its roots go deeper than argument, deeper than dogma, deeper than
reason, as deep as infancy and old age, as deep as love and faith -
older than history - that the power which weaves in silence, robes of
white for the lilies or red for the rose, will the much more clothe
our spirits with a moral beauty that shall never fade.
But there is a still deeper meaning in the Third Degree of Masonry,
if we have eyes to see and ears to hear. It is not explained in the
lectures; it is hardly hinted at in the lodge. Yet it is as clear as
day, if we have insight. The Degree ends not in a memorial, but in
the manifestation of the Eternal Life. Raised from the dead level to
a living perpendicular by the strong grip of faith, the Master
Builder lives by the power of an endless life. That is to say,
Masonry symbolically initiates us into Eternal Life here and now,
makes us citizens of eternity in time and bids us live and act
accordingly. Here is the deepest secret Masonry has to teach - that
we are immortal here and now; that death is nothing to the soul; that
eternity is today.
When shall we become that which we are? When shall we, who are sons
of the Most High, born of His Love and Power, made in His Image, and
endowed with His Deathless Life, discover who we are, whence we came,
and whither we tend, and live a free, joyous, triumphant life which
belongs of right to immortal spirits! Give a man an hour to live,
and you put him in a cage. Extend it to a day, and he is freer.
Give him a year, and he moves in larger orbit and makes his plans.
Let him know that he is a citizen of an eternal world, and he is free
indeed, a master of life and time and death - a Master Mason.
Thus Acacia leaves and Easter lilies unite to give us the hint, if
not the key to a higher heroism and cheer, even "the glory of going
on and still to be;" a glory which puts new meaning and value into
these our days and years - so brief at their longest, so broken at
their best, their achievements so transient, and so quickly
forgotten. Sorrows come, and heartache, and loneliness unutterable,
when those we love fall into the great white sleep; but the sprig of
Acacia will grow in our hearts, if we cultivate it, watering it the
while with our tears, and at last it will be not a symbol but a
sacrament in the house of our pilgrimage.
What to you is Shadow,
to Him is Day,
And the end He Knoweth;
Thy spirit goeth;
The steps of Faith
Fall on a seeming void,
and find A rock beneath.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VII May, 1929 No.5
MASONRY AND PUBLICITY
by: Unknown
How much may Masonry use the modern idea of publicity without injury
to the Ancient Craft?
By "Publicity" is meant that advertising which reaches both the Mason
and the non-Mason. Masonic news or information in Masonic Journals,
books and pamphlets is not "publicity" within the meaning of the word
here used.
Masonic Lodges do not usually parade, or join with other bodies in
civic celebrations. Individual Masons do, but seldom as a lodge,
except when laying Corner Stones of Public Buildings, or at Funerals.
In both of these ceremonies, the Masonic Lodge, or the Grand Lodge is
preeminent.
No criticism of a Grand Master or a Grand Lodge is here intended,
when it is stated that as a general rule most of them hold that
Freemasonry, being greater than any man or body of men, should not
lend itself to play tail to any kite. Circumstances alter cases.
When Grand Masters have approved the taking of minor parts in some
civic demonstration by a Lodge or Grand Lodge, their reasons were
doubtless excellent. As a rule, however, Grand Masters and Grand
Lodges believe it belittling for the oldest fraternal organization in
the world to occupy a subordinate place in any public exercises.
In laying Corner Stones, the Grand Lodge is either in charge, or it
does not take any part. The Grand Master (or the officer who
represents him) lays the Corner Stone, or the Corner Stone is not
laid Masonically. Other organizations may join in a corner stone
laying, be present as spectators, and add the weight of their
importance to the occasion, but the Grand Lodge conducts the
ceremonies.
In a Masonic Funeral, the lodge takes charge of the remains after all
other ceremonies are completed and keeps charge until the body is
committed to the dust. The lodge is last, most important,
preeminent. If Freemasonry is to conduct a funeral, she demands that
no claim on the departed body be considered greater than her own; not
the Grand Army, Loyal Legion, other Masonic Bodies such as the
Chapter, Commandry, Council or Consistory is to come before the Blue
Lodge. All may hold their services before the lodge takes charge,
and as many after the body is in the grave as they wish. But, after
the body is placed in the loving hands of the sorrowing Brethren,
none may dispute with them the right to lay away in the clay the
remains of him who was a brother of the ancient Craft. Membership in
other organizations, the claims of the church, the friendships of
associates cannot come before the Blue Lodge. If others insist on
preeminence, then, with regret but finality, the Blue Lodge withdraws
form any participation.
These matters are cited here at some length, are as foundation stones
on which the opponents of too much publicity base their arguments.
There has grown up in this country, through the years, and with the
increase of publicity methods, an idea that the Masonic Lodge, like
other organizations, would find that "it pays to advertise." In many
Saturday evening and Sunday newspapers can be found a "Fraternal
Column" in which may be found "news" of the ancient Craft. It is not
unheard-of to find a brother appointed in a lodge as a "newspaper
correspondent" or "publicity director," whose business it is to get
"news" of the doings of his lodge in the newspaper! Those who
believe that nothing makes more potency for the prestige and
influence of Freemasonry among men than her deserved reputation for
quiet, retiring, unselfseeking and secret devotion to her ideals,
think that "advertising" can be carried to extremes, when it does the
ancient Craft far more harm than good.
The genesis of the movement is east to understand. In these busy,
hurrying days, with a thousand things to take time and attention,
"getting out the crowd" is a problem for any Master. The larger the
city, the harder the task. The smaller lodge in the smaller center
suffers to some extent from the competition of the radio, moving
pictures, automobile, golf club, theater, lecture room, library.
amusement park; but not as much as the lodge in the big city which
adds to all these a dozen clubs, other organizations, pressure of
business, social engagements and entertainment of all kinds.
To publish in the Sunday newspaper that "Hiram Lodge will work the
Third, or Master Mason Degree on a full class on next Tuesday
evening, with Worshipful Master James Jones in the East and Senior
Deacon William Smith delivering the Historical Lecture, followed by
entertainment and refreshments," is considered in many Jurisdictions
only a matter of commonplace form and not subject to criticism.
And yet, what a great change from a hundred or a hundred and fifty
years ago. then, only such matters Masonic got in the news; a
funeral procession, a corner stone laying. It was considered then -
and is considered now by many - that the power of Freemasonry is over
men's "Hearts," not their minds, pocket books, attendance or interest
in being amused. In other words, many think the "crowd" obtained for
an evening by advertising is of no real benefit to the lodge, and the
"work" of no real benefit to those who come merely for the
"refreshment and enter-tainment."
This is A.L. 5929; in many ways Masonry has kept up, and in some
others she must also keep up with the times. We no longer meet "on
hills or in vales" but in handsome Temples. We use electricity for
the Lesser Lights and have a ventilation system to take out the
vitiated air. What a modern city lodge pays in just rent for a year
would have run George Washington's Mother Lodge for the same period;
rent, charity and other expenses of all other kinds included. In the
older days, notice of the lodge meeting was sent around by word of
mouth; quietly and secretly. Our Masonic forefathers were a hand-
picked body of men and they guarded themselves as such from profane
curiosity. Perhaps, too, many a good man was intrigued to petition
them who would have scoffed at the idea, had everyone known of
Masonic activities and when they were held. Certainly the personnel
of the lodges of a hundred; two hundred years ago were a cross-
section of the best there was in the land.
Today we live at a faster pace. It is now generally agreed that a
mere notice of a lodge meeting in the daily paper, if beyond the
imagination of our ancient brethren, is not necessarily un-Masonic or
improper unless so held by the Grand Master. But a notice is one
thing; an account of what has happened, with names, dates, places,
even a verbatim report of a speech is something else again. Well
meaning brethren, with the best intentions in the world, like to see
the name of their lodge and an account of her meetings in print;
forgetting that Masonry is neither the Rotary, Kiwanis, Chamber of
Commerce or the Board of Trade.
The Freemasonry of an older day was sufficient unto itself; extremely
careful as our ancient brethren were as to the men they made
brethren, its lodges may even have been more imbued with serious
purpose than today. Entertainment was sufficiently provided in the
traditional banquet and the "innocent mirth" of the Old Charges.
Today some men come into the Fraternity with the idea, mistaken but
strong, that a lodge is but "another organization" and as such should
provide picnics, ladies nights, excursions, theatricals and what have
you. We have "Masonic" Glee Clubs and "Masonic" Bowling Teams,
"Masonic" Dramatic Associations and "Masonic" Debating Societies.
Admitting that these are but an expression of the times, and in
themselves elements for good, it is also true that they do lead to
the same practice of publicity which attends similar organizations
which have no "Masonic" as a qualifying label before their names.
Many lodges - perhaps most lodges - publish a monthly Trestleboard,
or lodge notice. It is Masonic law in some Jurisdictions that the
name and address of applicants for the degrees shall be sent to the
entire membership, and that the candidates for any degree shall be
made known to all the brethren prior to the degree.
This too, may be a necessity of A.L. 5929, but the practice of
sending such notices out under one-cent postage, or by postal card is
wholly indefensible. In some Jurisdictions it is forbidden by Grand
Lodge regulation; it is considered that those who are candidates
either for election or for degrees have the right of privacy and that
it is no part of Masonic duty to advertise the facts to the profane.
There is much discussion, pro and con, as to what may and what may
not be put in print regarding our ceremonies, our ritual or our
organization. In ancient days nothing was printed which could
possibly be considered of esoteric nature. Then came Webb and the
Monitor; followed by many a student of Freemasonry to write many a
book. Now it is generally conceded that the "secrets" of Freemasonry
are not divulged in the printed Monitor, or in any Masonic Book which
deals with the history, symbolism, jurisprudence; or ethics and
ideals of the Craft. We say "generally considered" - some "bitter
enders" resent anything printed about Freemasonry, thinking that if
it be set down in ink that a Master may wear a silk hat, or that the
Lesser Lights are grouped around the Altar, some one has violated an
obligation, in spite of the fact that any charwoman may, and does see
the interior of a lodge room and any Masonic supply house pictures
and gives prices of "Master's Silk Hats."
Such a view point is the other extreme. Just where the lodge shall
steer as between the Scylla of too much and the Charybdis of too
little publicity is for the individual lodge to decide. But Grand
Lodges themselves are often in a fog of uncertainty; they have no
time to take up every piece of Masonic publicity and make of it a
bone of contention in a Grand Lodge meeting. Much, if not all, of
the responsibility for a due regard for Masonic retiringness, not to
say secrecy, must rest in the hands of the individual Master and
Secretary.
In fairness it must be admitted that a certain amount of Masonic
publicity, both in newspapers and otherwise, has many reasons in its
favor. Masters desire a large attendance at meetings. To advertise
some special feature of a meeting is to insure that more brethren
will be interested and come. The postal card reminding of a lodge
meeting, is far easier and cheaper than a letter. The "reading
notice" in the local papers attracts the attention of wives,
daughters, sisters, and mothers who are quick to tell the bother,
husband or son; "Don't forget to go to Acacia Lodge tonight!"
Many good brethren argue "Freemasonry needs good men.
In this day and age, the quiet, retiring, little-known organization
attracts no attention. Freemasonry must be made known to the general
public, that non-Masons may be attracted to the organization and
apply for membership."
But beneath all arguments, pro and con, lies a fact too often lost
sight of: Freemasonry is a power in the world because of her
reputation. What is the reputation? Silence, secrecy, lack of self-
seeking, good works, mystery. These are the factors which lead
serious and thoughtful men to ask themselves: "Should I not apply to
an organization which does good in secret, which asks nothing for
itself, which does not seek?"

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VII July, 1929 No.6
THE MASON AS A CITIZEN
by: Unknown
Hardly a speech is made in a Masonic lodge, to interest and inspire
an audience of Master Masons, which does not refer to the Mason's
duty as a citizen. But it is rare to hear any particulars as to how
the duties of a Mason as a citizen differ from those of the citizen
who is a non-Mason.
As a matter of fact, the duties do not differ; but there are grave
reasons why the Mason should add the weight of his Masonic
membership, his loyalty, his obligations and his Masonic Character to
his intent to be a good citizen of the country in which he lives.
In the Charge to an Entered Apprentice in most Jurisdictions, these,
or similar words appear in the manual or monitor:
"In the State you are to be a quiet and peaceable citizen, true to
your government and just to your country. You are not to countenance
disloyalty and rebellion, but patiently submit to legal authority,
and conform with cheerfulness to the government of the country in
which you live."
All citizens will agree that to be "quiet and peaceable" is a duty.
To be "true to your government" may have many interpretations; in a
large sense it means "do not be a traitor." In the narrow sense it
may mean "don't fake your income tax!" No good citizen "countenances
disloyalty and rebellion" against a "good" government, yet such a
revolution as our War of Independence against the mother country was
certainly considered at that time, by the British Authorities, as
"disloyalty and rebellion." To "patiently submit to legal authority"
needs no interpretation; to "conform with cheerfulness" means a
smiling willingness to abide by a particular statute or an equally
smiling shouldering of the inconvenience of going to the polls on a
stormy election day.
The great lesson of life - as distinct from spiritual values - as
taught in the Master Mason degree, is integrity, fidelity to trust,
staunch loyalty to duty in the face of the greatest odds and most
severe temptations.
To most citizens, at times, comes the opportunity to break some law
for private gain. We are fond of making the statement that we are a
"law abiding people" but, as a matter of fact, "going to the law
about it" has been called "the great American pastime." In
practically every suit of law, one side accuses the other of not
having acted in accordance with some law, made and provided. There
are many acts which are difficult to prove to be illegal, but which
all may see as unmoral, or immoral; it is these, perhaps, more than
the infraction of the letter of the law, which the real Master Mason
will avoid, if he lives his Masonry.
For instance! A Master Mason possesses a valuable painting. He
insures if for a thousand dollars. As he leaves his house to go to
lodge, the nail pulls out of the wall and the picture falls to the
floor breaking the glass, which cuts the valuable painting to
ribbons. Being in a hurry, and there being nothing to do about it
right then, the Mason leaves the wreck on the floor and goes on to
lodge. While he is away his home burns down.
A Man might collect that insurance and still be a "good citizen"
according to the law. But a good Mason would no collect it - even if
the man who sold him the insurance and the men in insurance company
were "not" Masons. A real Mason will not wrong any man, Mason or
not, out of the value of a penny, even when the letter of the law
permits it.
In the charge to the Master Mason, he hears "Your virtue, honor, and
reputation are concerned in supporting with dignity the character you
now bear. Let no motive, therefore. make you swerve from your duty,
violate your vows or betray your trust "
True, the vows and the trust here mentioned are those made within the
lodge. But, "virtue, honor and reputation" a man possesses as a
citizen, not as a Mason. The newly-raised Master Mason is told that
all with which he faces the world, unafraid, able to look any man in
the eye, is concerned in his character as a member of an Ancient
Craft.
It is a poor rule which does not work both ways. "Per Contra," then,
all the reputation as a Master Mason, all the "teachings" of
integrity and fidelity, all the magnificent examples of firmness and
fortitude in trial and danger - even in the Valley of the Shadow -
which a man has been taught, as a Master Mason, are concerned in
supporting with dignity his character as a citizen of the land of his
birth.
It is well understood in all Masonic lodges that politics are never
to be discussed. This law, so well known and obeyed that it is not
even written in most Grand Lodge Constitutions of lodge by-laws, and
comes down to us from the sixth of the Old Charges in which it is set
forth that:
"No private Piques or Quarrels must be brought within the door of the
lodge, far less, any Quarrels about Religion or Nations or State
Policy * * * we * * * are resolved against all Politicks, as what
never yet conduc'd to the welfare of the Lodge, nor ever will. This
charge has always been strictly enjoin'd and observ'd," etc.
In the lodge we meet upon the level and part upon the square. We are
not Democrats, Republicans, Progressives; but Masons!
Similarly, no lodge may take any political action; to do so would be
to draw upon it the immediate censure of the Grand Master and Grand
Lodge.
But neither of these prohibitions mean that Masons should not study
political economy; even as a lodge of Masons they may listen to talks
upon the science of government, which is, of course, a "political"
matter if the word is used in its broad acceptation.
It is the duty of all citizens to be interested in the Public Schools
of their city, town, country or state. The prosperity and progress
of this nation rests on education. So much is agreed. The Masonic
citizen should be especially interested in education; his interest
should mount higher than the non-Mason's, for the reason that
Masonry's continued existence rests upon the kind and character of
the candidates who enter her West Gate. Give the Fraternity
educated, intelligent, thoughtful men and she will grow, prosper and
continue to be a silent, static power for good in a noisy and dynamic
world. Provide her only ignorant, prejudiced, intolerant men for
candidates and in time she too must become intolerant, prejudiced and
ignorant.
"A FREEMASONRY WHICH IS INTOLERANT CANNOT LIVE!"
The welfare of the state depends upon the education of its youth.
But the very life of Freemasonry depends upon the quality of its
membership. Therefore, the Mason as a citizen has two reasons for
his interest in, his support of and his loyalty to the Public Schools
of his State and Town.
No doctrine is more fundamental to America than the separation of
Church and State. No body of men insists more strongly that the
individual brother need subscribe only to "That Religion in Which All
Men Agree" (Old Charges) to be left free within the lodge to worship
God as they choose. Freedom to worship God was the reason for the
perilous voyage and the terrible privations of the Pilgrim Fathers.
Separation of Church and State is a natural outgrowth of freedom to
worship as we please. Masonry has only the Fatherhood of God and The
Brotherhood of Man for her religion - the foundation of all
religions, a faith in which Presbyterian and Parsee, Methodist and
Mohammedan, Buddhist and Brother of Christ may, and do agree.
The Public School System is one of the bulwarks of liberty in this
nation; not only political liberty, but liberty of thought and
conscience. As long as the Public School has no sectarian or
political bias, it will remain a cradle of liberty of thought.
Therefore, not only as American citizens but as Masons, our brethren
are obligated to see that no encroachment, from any angle, from and
sect. from any political party or private organization be made upon
the utter and complete freedom from any religious bias of our Public
Education System.
In a few words, and brief:
The duties of the citizen of the United States, devolve upon the
citizen by virtue of the "manifold blessings and comforts he enjoys"
because he lives in the United States.
As a citizen, a man is expected:
To obey the law;
To uphold the Constitution and Government;
To do his duty in jury service;
To go to the polls and vote;
To bear arms when called to the colors;
To pay his just share of taxes;
To take an intelligent interest in his Government, his party and
political economy;
To support the Public Schools;
To reverence and honor the Flag;
To keep peace;
To serve his country, state, country and town; when called to
leadership;
To live so that his neighbors are happier for his living.
When the citizen becomes a Mason, he adds to these moral obligations
his pledged word, his sacred honor, his character as it is seen naked
to God; that he will do certain things, and refrain from doing
certain things. Every one of these pledges involve not only his duty
as a man but as an American citizen.
Underlying all Masonic duties as a Masonic citizen are those which
are meant when it is said to the Newly-raised Master Mason:
"You are now bound by duty, honor and gratitude; to be faithful to
your trust, to support the dignity of your character upon every
occasion, and to enforce, by precept and example, obedience to the
tenets of our Order!"
The Master Mason should be a better citizen than the non-Mason
because he knows better, has been better taught, and has pledged his
sacred honor!

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VII July, 1929 No.7
LODGE AND GRAND LODGE ORGANIZATION
by: Unknown
All Master Masons should be familiar with the organization and
government of the Craft. Yet, only occasionally is instruction in
these subjects given to the newly-raised Master Mason. He is
required to attain a sufficient proficiency in the esoteric work of
the preceding degrees, and some Jurisdictions insist upon a
proficiency in the Master's degree, but information regarding the
structure of Freemasonry is left to time and chance in far too many
cases.
To become a Freemason of his own free will and without solicitation,
a man makes a written application, which is duly endorsed or
recommended by brethren of the lodge to which he applies. His
application is laid before the lodge for acceptance, or rejection.
If accepted, the Worshipful Master appoints a committee, the duty of
which is to satisfy itself of the applicant's fitness to be a Mason.
After a certain period of time (usually a month), the report of the
committee is read to the lodge, and a ballot taken on the
application. A unanimously favorable ballot elects the applicant to
receive the degrees, or, in some Jurisdictions, just the First
Degree. He is initiated into the First or Entered Apprentice Degree,
attains a suitable proficiency in the esoteric work, waits a month or
more, is Passed to the Second or Fellowcraft Degree, again attains a
suitable proficiency in its works, waits another month or so, and
finally is Raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason.
Before any of these steps can be taken, there must be what is called
in some Jurisdictions a "just, perfect and regular lodge," in others
a "just and regularly constituted lodge," to which the petitions can
be made, and in which the degrees may be conferred.
Before such a lodge can come into existence, there must be a Grand
Lodge, or governing body of all private, the particular, or the
subordinate lodges (they are called by all three names in different
places) to give a Warrant of Constitution, or Charter, to certain
brethren, empowering them to work and to be a Masonic Lodge.
The age-old question which has plagued philosophers; did the first
hen lay the first egg, or did the first egg hatch into the first hen;
may seem to apply here, since before there can be a Grand Lodge,
there must be two or more private lodges to form it! But this
Bulletin is written of conditions as they exist in the United States
today - and indeed, in almost all the civilized world - and not of
the historical conditions which pertained in 1717 when the four
lodges in London formed the first grand Lodge!
Today no regularly constituted lodge can come into existence without
the consent of an existing Grand Lodge. It is certain that other
Grand Lodges will be formed in the future, but they probably will not
be many. Let us suppose that Commander Byrd should discover a
habitable continent at the South Pole. This continent slowly fills
up with adventurers, travelers and pioneers. Some of them will be
Masons. They then ask the consent of some Grand Lodge permission to
form a lodge - Massachusetts, for instance, has five lodges in China.
Some English Brethren, let us suppose, receive a Charter for a lodge
in Antarctica from the Mother Grand Lodge of England. Perhaps the
Grand Lodge of Texas Charters another lodge in "Byrdland." After a
while these lodges unite to form their own Grand Lodge; the Grand
Lodges which have Chartered them relinquish jurisdiction, and a new
Grand Lodge is born. But most civilized countries now do have Grand
Lodges; the great formative period of Grand Lodges - the Eighteenth
and Nineteenth Centuries - is practically over. Therefore we may
consider that most of our hens are grown up and laying, and that the
vast majority of new lodges which are hatched will grow up to be
chicks of the mother, and not start out to form other Grand Lodges
for themselves! It is not contended that no new Grand Lodges will
ever be formed, but only that less will come into being in the future
than have in the past.
A Grand Lodge, then, is formed of particular lodges; the Masters, or
the Masters and Wardens of which, then represent their lodges in the
meetings of the Grand Lodge.
The private or particular lodge usually comes into being when a
certain number of brethren, in good standing, will petition a Grand
Master to form a lodge. The Grand Master, if it his pleasure, issues
a Dispensation to these brethren which forms them into a provisional
lodge, or a lodge "Under dispensation." The powers of this Lodge
Under Dispensation are strictly limited; it is not yet a "Regularly
Constituted Lodge;" but an inchoate sort of organization, a fledgling
in the nest. Not until the Grand Lodge has authorized the issuance
of the Warrant, or Charter, does it begin to assume the status of a
"regular" lodge, and not even then, until the new lodge is
consecrated, dedicated and constituted by the Grand Master and his
officers, or those delegated for the ceremony. The ceremony, by the
way, is one which every Master Mason should make an effort to see, if
possible. The Charter of the new lodge will name those who are to be
its first Worshipful Master, Senior and Junior Wardens, who will hold
office until their successors are duly elected and installed.
The Grand Lodge (consisting of the particular lodges represented by
their Masters - in most cases also include the Senior and Junior
Wardens, Past Masters; and Past Officers and Past Grand Masters of
the Grand Lodge), is the governing body in its Jurisdiction. In the
United States, Jurisdictional lines are coincident with the state
lines; there are currently forty-nine United State Grand Lodges; the
forty-ninth being that of the District of Columbia. Each Grand Lodge
is supreme unto itself; its word is Masonic law within its own
borders.
Grand Lodges adopt for themselves a Constitution and By-Laws for
their own government, just as particular lodges adopt by-laws for
their government. These documents are the body of law of the Grand
Jurisdiction, which, however, rest upon the Old Charges and the
ancient Constitutions (which have descended to us from the first
Mother Grand Lodge).
The decisions in mooted questions made by Grand Masters, or the Grand
Lodge (or both); are usually based on the Ancient Landmarks, Usages
and Customs of the Fraternity.-."
In the interim between meetings of a Grand Lodge, the Grand Master is
the Grand Lodge. His powers are arbitrary, absolute and almost
unlimited; at least in theory. Most Grand Lodges provide that the
acts of the Grand Master may be revised, confirmed or rejected by the
Grand Lodge in its meetings; which is, of course, a check against any
too radical moves. But, as a matter of fact, a brother rarely
becomes a Grand Master without having served a long and arduous
apprenticeship. Almost invariably he has been Master of his own
lodge, and by years of service and interest in the Grand Lodge has
demonstrated his ability and fitness to preside over the grand Lodge.
The real check against arbitrary actions of the Grand Master is more
in his Masonry than the law, more in his desire to do the right thing
than in the legal power compelling him to do so.
Private lodge and Grand Lodge officers arrive at their respective
stations either by election or appointment. In some lodges, all
officers in the "line" are elective. In other lodges, only the
senior officers (Master, Senior and Junior Wardens, Secretary and
Treasurer) are elected, all other being appointed by the Master. The
same is true of Grand Lodges; for instance, in the District of
Columbia all officers are elected. In New Jersey, the Grand Master,
Deputy Grand Master, Senior Grand and Junior Grand Wardens, Grand
Secretary, Grand Treasurer are elected; all other Line officers are
appointed by the Grand Master.
In particular lodges, as a general rule, appointed officers are re-
appointed to one station higher each year; the highest appointed
officer is then, usually, elected to the lowest elective office.
This custom is broken, of course, when incumbents are no longer
available, or when the lodge decides, for any reason, not to re-elect
an officer. In the normal course of events, in most lodges, both
particular and Grand Lodges, election or appointment at the "foot of
the line" will eventually lead to the highest office, provided the
officer works, is able, willing and demonstrates that he can fill the
highest chairs. It is this system which is depended upon to give
long experience and years of Masonic knowledge to future Masonic
leaders.
The term of office for Masters and Grand Masters is one year; in some
Jurisdictions, by custom and not by law, Grand Masters are elected
two years in succession and in one he serves three consecutive terms.
In some Jurisdictions, also, the "line" is not advanced, but Grand
Masters are elected "from the floor." Occasionally the Master of a
particular lodge will be elected for a second or third, or even
greater number of years, but generally the "line" proceeds to "move
up" at the annual elections.
Secretaries and Treasurers generally serve as long as they are
willing; a lodge which has a good Secretary and Treasurer almost
invariably re-elects the same incumbents year after year, which is
also true of Grand Lodges. These officers, then, become the
connecting links between different administrations, which makes for
stability and smooth running, except in those rare instances in which
a Secretary, from long service, comes to believe that "his" lodge and
"his" Master should do "his" will, not their own. When the tail thus
attempts to wag the dog, the remedy is found in the annual election!
In Grand Lodges, decisions are reached in four ways:
"by Viva voce" or rising votes, by a showing of hands, votes by
lodges and/or written ballot. The method is usually a matter of
constitutional law; ordinary questions are decided by the least
cumbersome method; difficult and involved questions by votes of/by
lodges; elections and matters of grave import, such as expulsions,
are usually by paper (secret) ballot.
The same holds true of the particular lodge; except of course that it
cannot "vote by lodges" and that it uses the ball or cube instead of
the paper ballot.
In the absence of a Master, the senior Warden presides sand has, for
the time being, the powers and duties of the Master; in his absence,
the same devolves upon the Junior Warden. Should all three be absent
the lodge (1) either cannot be opened at all, or (2) can be opened by
a Past Master, or (3) only by the Grand Master, or his Deputy acting
in his stead. Which of these three depends upon local law in the
particular Grand Jurisdiction.
In these few pages, only the broad outlines of the organization of
Lodges and Grand Lodges can be given. But enough has been written to
indicate that the simple skeleton of the Fraternity has a complicated
and involved body of law and procedure, that there is much to know,
and much, therefore, which the individual Mason should make it his
business to study.
In these words we point out the way, and indicate the extent to which
his inquiring mind should reach, and if followed they will have been
written to a good purpose.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VII August, 1929 No.8
THE POWERS OF THE WORSHIPFUL MASTER
by: Unknown
The incumbent of the Oriental Chair has powers peculiar to his
station; powers far greater than those of the President of a society
or the Chairman of a meeting of any kind. President and Chairman are
elected by the body over which they preside, and may be removed by
that body. A Master is elected by his lodge, but he cannot be
removed by it; only by the grand Master or Grand Lodge. The
presiding officer is bound by rules of order adopted by the body and
by its by-laws. A lodge cannot pass by-laws to alter, amend or
curtail the powers of a Master. Its by-laws are subject to approval
by the proper Grand Lodge Committee or by the Grand Master; seldom
are any approved which infringe upon his ancient prerogatives and
powers; in those few instances in which improper by-laws have been
approved, subsequent rulings have often declared the Master right in
disregarding them.
Grand Lodges differ in their interpretation of some of the "ancient
usages and customs" of the Fraternity; what applies in one
Jurisdiction does not necessarily apply in another. But certain
powers of a Master are so well recognized that they may be considered
universal. The occasional exceptions, if any, but prove the rule.
The Master may congregate his lodge when he pleases, and for what
purpose he wishes, "provided" it does not interfere with the laws of
the Grand Lodge. For instance, he may assemble his lodge as a
Special Communication to confer degrees, at his pleasure; but he must
not, in so doing, contravene that requirement of the grand Lodge
which calls for proper notice to the brethren, nor may a Master
confer a degree in less than the statutory time following a preceding
degree without a dispensation from the Grand Master.
The Master has the right of presiding over and controlling his lodge,
and only the Grand Master, or his Deputy, may suspend him. He may
put any brother in the East to preside or to confer a degree; he may
then resume the gavel at his pleasure - even in the middle of a
sentence if he wants to! But even when he has delegated authority
temporarily, the Master is not relieved from responsibility for what
occurs in his lodge.
It is the Master's right to control lodge business and work. It is
in a very real sense "his" lodge. He decides all points of order and
no appeal from his decision may be taken to the lodge. He can
initiate and terminate debate at his pleasure, he can second any
motion, propose any motion, vote twice in the case of a tie (not
universal), open and close at his pleasure, with the usual exception
that he may not open a Special Communication at an hour earlier than
that given in the notice, or a Stated Communication earlier than the
hour stated in the by-laws, without dispensation from the Grand
Master. He is responsible only to the Grand Master and the Grand
Lodge, the obligations he assumed when he was installed, his
conscience and his God.
The Master has the undoubted right to say who shall enter, and who
must leave the lodge room. He may deny any visitor entrance; indeed,
he may deny a member the right to enter his own lodge, but he must
have a good and sufficient reason therefore, otherwise his Grand
Lodge will unquestionably rule such a drastic step arbitrary and
punish accordingly. "Per contra," if he permits entry of a visitor
to whom some member has objected, he may also subject himself to
Grand Lodge discipline. In other words, his "power" to admit or
exclude is absolute; his "right" to admit or exclude is hedged about
by pledges he takes at his installation and the rules of the Grand
Lodge.
A very important power of the Master is that of appointing
committees. No lodge may appoint a committee. The lodge may pass a
resolution that a committee be appointed, but the selection of that
committee is an inherent right of the Master. He is, "ex officio," a
member of all committees he appoints. The reason is obvious; he is
responsible for the conduct of his lodge to the Grand Master and the
Grand Lodge. If the lodge could appoint committees and act upon
their recommendations, the Master would be in the anomalous position
of having great responsibilities, and no power to carry out their
performance.
The Master, and only the Master, may order a committee to examine a
visiting brother. It is his responsibility to see that no cowan or
eavesdropper comes within the tiled door. Therefore, it is for him
to pick a committee in which he has confidence. So, also, with the
committees which report upon petitioners. He is responsible for the
accuracy, fair-mindedness, the speed and intelligence of such
investigations. It is, therefore, for him to say to whom shall be
delegated this necessary and important duty.
It is generally, not exclusively, held that only the Master can issue
a summons. The dispute, where it exists, is over the right of
members present at a Stated Communication to summons the whole
membership.
It may now be interesting to look for a moment at some matters in
which the Worshipful Master is not supreme, and catalog a few things
he may "not" do.
The Master, and only the Master appoints the appointive officers in
his lodge. In most Jurisdictions he may remove such appointed
officers at his pleasure. But, he cannot suspend, or deprive of his
station or place, any officer elected by the lodge. The Grand Master
or his Deputy, may do this; the Worshipful Master may not.
A Master may not spend lodge money without the consent of the lodge.
As a matter of convenience, a Master frequently does pay out money in
sudden emergencies, looking to the lodge for reimbursement. But he
cannot spend any lodge funds without the permission of the lodge.
Some Jurisdictions do allow the lodge by-laws to permit the Master to
spend emergency funds up to a specified amount without prior consent
of the lodge.
A Master cannot accept a petition, or confer a degree without the
consent of the lodge. It is for the lodge, not the Master, to say
from what men it will receive an application, or a petition; and upon
what candidates degrees shall be conferred. The Master has the same
power to "reject" through the "black cube" as any member has, but no
power whatever to "accept" any candidate against the will of the
lodge.
The lodge, not the Master, must approve or disapprove the minutes of
the preceding meeting. The Master cannot approve them; had he that
power he might, with the connivance of the secretary, "run wild" in
his lodge, and still his minutes would show no trace of his improper
conduct. But the Master may refuse to put a motion to confirm or
approve minutes which he believes to be inaccurate or incomplete; in
this way he can prevent a careless, headstrong Secretary from doing
what he wants with his minutes! Should a Master refuse to permit
minutes to be confirmed, the matter would naturally be brought before
the Grand Lodge or the Grand Master for settlement.
A Master cannot suspend the by-laws. He must not permit the lodge to
suspend the by-laws. If the lodge wishes to change them, the means
are available, not in suspension; but, in amendment.
An odd exception may be noted, which has occurred in at least one
Grand Jurisdiction, and doubtless may occur in others. A very old
lodge adopted by-laws shortly after it was constituted, which by-laws
were approved by a young Grand Lodge before that body had,
apparently, devoted much attention to these important rules.
For many years this lodge carried in its by-laws and "order of
business" which specified, among other things, that following the
reading of the minutes, the next business was balloting. As the time
of meeting of this lodge was early (seven o'clock) this by-law worked
a hardship for years, compelling brethren who wished to vote to hurry
to lodge, often at great inconvenience.
At last a Master was elected who saw that the by-law interfered with
his right to conduct the business of the lodge as he thought proper.
He balloted at what he thought was the proper time, the last order of
business, not the first. An indignant committee of Past Masters, who
preferred the old order, applied to the Grand Master for relief. The
Grand Master promptly ruled that "order of business" in the by-laws
could be no more than suggestive, not mandatory; and that the
Worshipful Master had the power to order a ballot on a petition at
the hour which seemed to him wise, provided - and this was stressed -
that he ruled wisely, and did not postpone a ballot until after a
degree, or until so late in the evening that brethren wishing to vote
upon it had left the lodge room.
A Worshipful Master has no more right to invade the privacy which
shrouds the use of the "Black Cube" (or Ball), or which conceals the
reason for an objection to an elected candidate receiving the
degrees, than the humblest member of the lodge. He cannot demand
disclosure of action or motive from any brother, and should he do so,
he would be subject to the severest discipline from the Grand Lodge.
Grand Lodges usually argue that a dereliction of duty by a brother
who possesses the ability and character to attain the East, is worse
than that of some less informed brother. The Worshipful Master
receives great honor, has great privileges, enjoys great prerogatives
and powers. Therefore, he must measure up to great responsibilities.
A Worshipful Master cannot resign. Vacancies occur in the East
through death, suspension by a Grand Master, expulsion from the
Fraternity. No power can make a Master attend to his duties if he
desires to neglect them. If he will not, or does not attend to them,
the Senior Warden presides. He is, however, still Senior Warden; he
does not become Master until elected and installed.
In broad outline, these are the important and principal powers and
responsibilities of a Worshipful Master, considered entirely from
the standpoint of the "ancient usages and customs of the Craft."
Nothing is said here of the moral and spiritual duties which devolve
upon a Master.
Volumes might be and some have been written upon how a Worshipful
Master should preside, in what ways he can "give the brethren good
and wholesome instruction," and upon his undoubted moral
responsibility to do his best to leave his lodge better than he found
it. Here we are concerned only with the legal aspect of his powers
and duties.
Briefly then, if he keeps within the laws, resolutions and edicts of
his Grand Lodge on the one hand, and the Landmarks, Old Charges,
Constitutions and "ancient usages and customs" on the other, the
power of the Worshipful Master is that of an absolute monarch. His
responsibilities and his duties are those of an apostle of Light!
He is a gifted brother who can fully measure up to the use of his
power and the power of his leadership.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VII September, 1929 No.9
SUGAR COATING MASONIC EDUCATION
by: Unknown
However improper curiosity may be as a principal motive for applying
for the degrees, it is probable that no man ever passed through the
West Gate for his initiation as an Entered Apprentice without an
eager desire to know "what will happen next?"
Immediately thereafter the candidate usually develops a healthy
curiosity as to the "why" of that which "happened next." Entered
Apprentices and Fellowcrafts are generally hungry for explanations of
the reasons and for the motives behind the words and acts of a
degree.
Man is incurably curious; his desire to know and to understand is the
mainspring of invention, discovery, civilization and progress; it is
the driving force which leads men to learn.
Worshipful Masters can - and many of them do - make use of the desire
to know, to make better Masons of the brethren of their lodges.
Masters are charged with the duty of giving the Craft "good and
wholesome instruction," or causing the same to be done. But one of
the principal methods developed by Masonic educators, the
"educational meeting," is a method of instruction more injured than
helped by its name! For many brethren had boyish experiences with
"education" which lead them to associate with that word a process
which is dry, dull and uninteresting.
What is here called a "sugar coated" Masonic educational meeting is
just the reverse; interesting, intriguing, alive, vital and
satisfying a great curiosity. Lodges which have tried any of the
educational experiments here listed usually repeat them, and almost
invariably the repetition is to a "packed house."
Here are some suggestions for "sugar coated" educational meetings;
all of them have been tried, and all found successful methods of
interesting the Craft in the various phases of Freemasonry.
1. BREAKING RULES TO MEND THEM
Certain unwritten rules of Masonic conduct, as well as some specified
by Grand Lodges, become so much a matter of custom in lodges that
many brethren lose sight of the reasons therefore, if, indeed, they
ever knew them.
The Worshipful Master may arrange a program in which a number of
brethren, instructed beforehand, to deliberately commit or attempt to
commit infractions of the rules. When the error is made, the Master,
or some previously instructed brother (a Past Master), explains the
mistake and the reason for the rule. For instance, in most
Jurisdictions it is not considered courteous for a brother to pass
between the Worshipful Master and the Alter (except when in the
process of conferring a degree). When the instructed brother crosses
the lodge between the Altar and the East, the Master may admonish the
"culprit" that it is not considered proper, and call upon some
previously instructed Past Master to explain that, in theory, the
Great light and the Square and Compasses on the Altar; are dedicated
to God, the Master and the Craft; and, therefore at no time should
his view of them be interrupted. A brother who attempts to leave the
room during a ballot may be corrected and the reason given; Grand
Lodges usually hold that a ballot on a petition, interrupted by any
one entering or leaving the room, is invalid, since such an action
may interfere with the secrecy of said ballot. Similarly, a brother
balloting may object to the officer in charge of the ballot box
standing so close to the altar that he might discover how a brother
votes. Either or both of these incidents provide an excellent
opportunity for a little talk upon the sacredness and secrecy of the
Masonic ballot, and its importance. Others are: speaking more than
twice to the same question, speaking without being recognized,
speaking without rising, addressing an individual brother or the
lodge instead of the Master, making a motion to appoint a committee
with certain specified personnel, offering a resolution "to adjourn"
or to "lay a motion on the table," are suggested infractions of
Masonic law and custom, all of which may be corrected in an
educational meeting in an interesting way.
2. DISSECTING A DEGREE
Especially recommended for lodges which have little work to do is the
dissection and explanation of the first section of any degree. A
dummy candidate is initiated, and the ceremony interrupted at each
stage by some brother who offers a little explanation of the
symbolism of that part of the degree; entry, circumambulation, rite
of destitution, the antiquity of the Apron, origin of the Lesser
Lights, etc. Such dissection and exposition of parts of a degree
require some little study by those who take part, but by giving each
brother who offers an interruption only one subject, the work of
preparation is minimized and the variety increased by having many
take part.
It is suggested here that inquiry be first made of the District
Deputy, or the Grand Master; in some Jurisdictions the practice of
using a dummy candidate has been frowned upon, as derogatory to the
dignity of our ceremonies. When it is explained that the purpose of
the idea is educational, however, it is probable that no difficulty
will be experienced in obtaining cooperation from those in authority.
3. YOU MUST - YOU MUST NOT!
The average lodge member knows little about Masonic Law. The very
term "Jurisprudence" seems repellent. Yet Masonic Law is intensely
interesting, and may be made to appear so to the lodge by any brother
who will devote a little time and attention to developing a talk on
those parts of our legal system which most intimately touch the
brethren. Masonic Law is vastly different from civil law; most
Masonic Law is a matter of "thou shalt" rather than "thou shalt not."
A few salient points chosen for their interest to the average Mason,
and explained; first, as to their origin; and second, as to their use
or necessity will interest the lodge. It is not at all an arduous
task for a clever brother to arrange such a talk. He may use any
good book on Jurisprudence as a foundation, Mackey or Pound for
choices, as both are complete and concise.
4. COMPETITION IS THE LIFE OF - EDUCATION!
The more brethren that take part in an educational meeting, the
greater the enjoyment. No scheme for an educational meeting yet
developed exceeds the lodge contest in this respect, since it gives
everyone in the lodge room an opportunity to participate.
The educational contest is conducted by a Master of Ceremonies asking
a series of questions, carefully prepared in advance, the correct
answers to which can be given in a word or two, a date or a name.
Supplied with paper and pencils, the brethren write and number their
answers to the questions, as they are asked. Then they exchange
papers, the correct answers are read, and the brethren mark the
replies "right" or "wrong" according to the facts. The winners, of
course, are those who have the greatest number, the next greatest and
the third greatest answered correctly. Interest is such a contest is
increased by offering prizes. These may be very inexpensive; a good
Masonic book, a subscription to a Masonic Magazine, a Masonic lapel
pin are all appreciated.
The questions should not be complex; answers should be facts, not
opinions. For instance, "In what lodge was George Washington
raised?" "Who is the Grand Master in this state?" "How old is this
lodge?" "How many lodges in our Grand Lodge Jurisdiction?" These
are the type of questions that need only a word or two for an answer
with facts. Such questions as "Do you think Masonry is a religion?"
should not be included, since any answer must be an opinion, not a
fact. Questions like "Explain the part Freemasonry played in the
Revolution" should not be asked, as it would require a lengthy reply.
In giving out the correct answers, a clever Master of Ceremonies will
be able to offer some "good and wholesome instruction" of Masonic
value; for instance, if the question is: "How many landmarks are
recognized in this Jurisdiction?" If the correct answer is "twenty-
five", the Master of Ceremonies may explain that some Jurisdictions
have less, others more; that many Jurisdictions have adopted Mackey's
list, while others have condensed Mackey's twenty-five into a lesser
number; which, never the less contains all of Mackey's points, and so
on.
A lodge debate will draw a crowd and keep it interested for the best
part of an hour, with pleasure and profit to all. Debating teams may
be composed of two or more brethren on each side of the issue; two to
a side usually produces a snappier debate than three. Some questions
of universal Masonic interest should be chosen; such as "Resolved,
that dual membership is advantageous to the Fraternity," or
"Resolved, that Masonic trials are better conducted by a Grand Lodge
Commission than a particular lodge."
Such debates should be planned well in advance. An impromptu debate
often produces amusing results. Two captains are chosen; each
captain chooses six debaters. The Master then announces the subject.
Each debater is given two minutes and must sit down when the gong
rings at the end if his time, even if in the middle of a sentence.
The simpler the subject, the more lively the debate. Such questions
as "Resolved, that this lodge should start a library," or "Resolved,
that the fees for the degrees are too low" (or too high!) will
produce more debate than more abstruse questions, because brethren
seldom argue well on difficult matters unless they have previously
spent some time in preparation.
It is not suggested that these "sugar coated" methods of holding
Masonic educational meetings should replace older, tried and true
forms in which some learned brother delivers an address upon a
Masonic subject, or presents an illustrated lecture. The speaker and
the lecturer we have always had with us; illustrated lectures on
Masonic subjects will always be of interest to the Craft, as will the
well conceived and delivered address.
But we tire of anything in too great qualities. Quail is considered
the best eating, yet it is a restauranteur's tradition that no man
can eat a quail a day for a month!
The Masonic educational meeting conducted on new, different lines -
of which the above list is only suggestive, not complete - will
largely "take the curse off" the word "educational" meeting.
Brethren who are provided with "sugar coated" education do not stay
away on "educational nights" but come out in full force. Once the
lodge members begin thinking "I wonder what new idea the Master will
spring tonight!" when an educational meeting is announced, and the
Stewards will have to go to the basement after extra chairs.
Sugar coated pills do the same work as those more difficult to
swallow - and they are much easier to take!

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VII October, 1929 No.10
EVERY BROTHER HIS OWN TILER
by: Unknown
All Masons know the importance of the Tiler, and the scope of his
duties. But the Tiler is only one brother - secrecy is a Masonic
duty for all. Throughout the three degrees, and in the ceremonies of
opening and closing a lodge, are references to the importance of
preserving inviolate the secrets of the Order, preventing the
approach of cowans and eavesdroppers, guarding against the disclosure
of the esoteric work to those whom it is not proper to be made known.
In the Ritual explanation of the third cardinal virtue, Prudence, we
are told (see most monitors) "This virtue should be the peculiar
characteristic of every Mason, not only for the government of his
conduct while in the Lodge, but also when abroad in the world. It
should be particularly attended to, in all strange and mixed
companies, never to let fall the least sign, token, or word whereby
the secrets of Freemasonry might be unlawfully obtained.
The charge to the entered Apprentice admonishes him, among other
things; "Neither are you to suffer your zeal for the Institution to
lead you into an argument with those who, through ignorance, may
ridicule it."
The FellowCraft is exhorted to preserve steadily "in the practice of
every commendable virtue." In the Third Degree the newly Raised
Master Mason learns that "The Book of Constitutions, guarded by the
Tiler's Sword, reminds us that we should be ever watchful and guarded
in our words and actions, particularly before the enemies of Masonry,
ever bearing in remembrance those truly Masonic virtues, silence and
circumspection."
Not only the "work," both printed and exoteric, and secret and
esoteric, exhorts us to "silence and circumspection;" the inner
meaning of the symbolism of the Tiler and his Sword teaches plainly
that each of us should be a Masonic Tiler.
In other words, the duties of the Tiler are not confined to that
officer; every Mason should be, in effect, a Tiler. He is a good
Mason as his words and actions are duly "Tiled," and a detriment, if
not a positive injury, to the Craft as he is careless of or
indifferent to these duties.
In the ancient operative days the secrets of a Master Mason were
valuable in coin of the realm. The Mason who knew the Master's Word
could travel in foreign countries and receive Master's Wages. Many
who could not, or would not, conform to the requirements tried to
ascertain the Master's Word and some of a Master's skill in a
clandestine manner.
The "eavesdropper" - literally, one who attempts to listen under the
eaves, and so receives upon him the droppings from the roof - was
altogether without the pale; he was only a common thief, who tried to
learn by stealth what he could not learn by work.
The cowan was a more or less ignorant Mason; one who laid stones
together without mortar, or piled rough stones from the field into a
wall, without working upon them to make them square and true. He was
a "Mason without a word" with no reputation; the apprentice who tried
to masquerade as a master.
The operative Masons guarded their assemblies against intrusion of
both the non-Mason thief, and the half-instructed craftsman, who,
like the Fellowcrafts of old, desired to obtain the secret word of a
Master Mason by force, rather than by labor.
While nothing very positive is known either as to the date when the
guardian of the door first went on duty, or why he was called a
Tiler, or Tyler, it is believed that the office is very ancient, and
that, inasmuch as the man who put on the roof, or tiles, (tiler)
completed the building and made those within secure from intrusion,
so the officer who guarded the door against the intrusion was called,
by analogy, a Tiler.
In modern days the Tiler of a lodge uses his sword only as a symbol
of authority. While all faith and trust in his zeal is entertained
by the Master and the Brethren, it is usual to make sure by a
ceremony familiar to all Masons that no profane, cowan, or
eavesdropper, Apprentice, or Fellowcraft has entered the lodge room
of Master Masons prior to opening.
So ancient is the office, and so important the functions, that Mackey
says that the Eleventh of his Twenty-Five Landmarks is "The Necessity
that every lodge when congregated shall be duly tiled."
But of what avail is it to tile a lodge meeting, if individual
brethren do not "bear in remembrance those truly Masonic virtues,
silence and circumspection;" if we fail to heed the charge and do
suffer our zeal to leads us into argument with the profane, regarding
Masonic matters?
Unless all of understand and abide by the need for us to tile our own
words and actions, our portals might as well be in charge of a door
keeper who would admit on the production of a printed ticket!
In the profane world (the word is used in its ancient sense of
meaning "without the doors of the Temple") considerable curiosity
exists regarding the Masonic Fraternity. The inescapable newspaper
reporter, with his accounts of Masonic meetings, does not lessen it.
Public appearances of Masons naturally arouse curiosity; spectators
are interested when the Grand Lodge, in silk hats and frock coats,
embroidered Aprons and with solemn and ancient ceremony, lays the
cornerstone of a church, or when a private lodge, attired in white
Aprons and Gloves, conducts an impressive funeral, with customs quite
different from those of the usual religious service.
Masonry has given to the language certain phrases used by the entire
English speaking world. The "Third Degree" of the police is a
perversion of a Masonic matter; so is the "goat" of the familiar
joke. "He's on the level" - "He's on the square" are commonplaces.
Naturally the public begins to ask questions. What is Masonry? Who
may be Masons? Why can't women be Masons? What do Masons do? Why
do you wear those funny little aprons?
The Mason who is his own Tiler is "ever watchful and guarded" in what
he answers.
To satisfy a legitimate curiosity about Freemasonry there is much
information which a brother may conscientiously give. A sincere
desire to learn something of the Fraternity, on the part of a man who
is considering making an application, is an evidence of
thoughtfulness. He is entitled to a serious and thoughtful answer to
all proper questions. Much information regarding Masonry is printed;
its history, its government, its extent, its public appearances -
such matters are no more "secret" than a Masonic Temple is secret.
Few Masons, not even the careless and indifferent, will disclose the
esoteric work of the degrees; the modes of recognition, the words or
our methods of teaching. It is not the disclosure of these that we
who would tile our hearts and lips must fear.
But in between lies a vast body of knowledge and information which
are borderland to both the exoteric and esoteric. Here the
indifferent, the careless, the uninstructed and the ignorant can -
and sometimes do - work an injury to the Fraternity.
A Mason comes home from lodge and remarks to his wife - "Joe Smith
has applied to the lodge. I'm glad old Joe is coming in!"
Friend wife thinks nothing of it. Apparently it is a harmless
statement.
"But suppose Joe Smith is blackballed!"
"By the way," remarks Mrs. Mason, after a few months.
"Why don't you call for Joe Smith when you go to lodge tonight?"
What is the Mason going to say? What can he say? And so Mrs. Mason
learns - and with the utmost innocence may tell - that Joe Smith
applied for the degrees of Freemasonry and was rejected.
If Joe Smith wants to make the matter public, that's his business.
But as a man may be rejected for the degrees for many reasons; and,
while the public thinks only that the rejection means unfitness it's
unfair for the lodge, or for any individual member of the lodge, to
make the matter known.
This is offered merely as one small instance of the harm that may be
done by a Mason who is not his own Tiler. A thousand others will
occur to the thoughtful. Particularly should we Tile our lips in
communities so small that a lodge meeting assumes almost the
importance of a Public Event. As a general rule, we are well advised
if we do not talk of anything which occurs in a lodge - even such
matters as are harmless - with those who are not of the Fraternity,
since such conversations give rise to questions, and questions lead
to answers.
Freemasonry works her gentle miracles in men's hearts in a way which
no profane can understand. Her reputation among the general public
is that of silence, secrecy, good works, unselfish doing of good,
failure to advertise and to seek publicity. These facts in the jewel
of her reputation are the working tools of the Craft among the
profane. Every inadvertence which breaks down any one of them,
injures the Fraternity in the public eye and thus her ability to do
good. Every airing of scandals, every dragging of lodge politics -
hateful words! - into community talk, every disclosure of charity,
even when dictated by pride, is, in the long run, injurious to the
Fraternity.
Many good men and true seek to "improve" Masonry.
Modern conditions do demand ideas; our brethren of two hundred years
ago, for instance, never hard of a Masonic Home. Many "improvements"
are wholly exoteric, and necessary. Others, so-called, attempt to
change the "Ancient Usages and Customs," destroy some of the
Landmarks and nullify some of the Old Charges. The Freemason who is
his own Tiler will set his face steadfastly against all such efforts.
As one bad egg will spoil an omelet, so the unfit candidate,
admitted, does more harm to the lodge, and thus to the Fraternity,
than ten good men and true can do good. The well Tiled Mason will be
very careful in the petitions he brings into the lodge. It is not
enough to say" "Oh, Jim's a good fellow." Jim must be more than a
"good fellow" to be a real Mason. It is for us to see that we Tile
the petitions we sign with truly Masonic "circumspection."
Finally - and perhaps most important of all personal duties we
perform as Tiler - let us see to it that we do not ourselves bring
anything into the lodge but brotherly love. Let us be "ever watchful
and guarded" that, in the language of the Old Charges, we bring "no
private piques or quarrels" within the tiled door. Not only with our
lips but truly, let us meet on the level and part upon the square.
Let us each so act in the lodge, as a brother, and out in the world,
as a member of the Ancient Craft, that our brethren within, and our
friends at large without, can be proud of what Masonry means.
For only by so tiling ourselves can we insure that, that with which
we are so solemnly charged as Entered Apprentices will endure; "that
the honor, glory and reputation of the Institution may be firmly
established and maintained; and, the world at large convinced of its
good effects."

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VII November 1929, No.11
THE BLACK CUBE
by: Unknown
"A WHITE ball elects, a black cube (or ball) rejects."
This, or some similar statement, is usually made at a lodge prior to
voting on the application of one who would be an initiate of
Freemasonry.
In all Jurisdictions in the United States, the ballot on an applicant
is taken secretly<6C>that is, with no brother knowing how another may
vote. In most Jurisdictions it is an infraction of Masonic law<61>in all
it is a serious infraction of Masonic ethics<63>to endeavor to ascertain
how another brother will vote, or has voted on an applicant or to
disclose how he voted or will vote.
The "secrecy of the ballot" and the universal (in this country)
requirements that a ballot be unanimous to elect are two of the
greatest bulwarks of the Fraternity. Occasionally both the secrecy
and the unanimity may seem to work a hardship on a man apparently
worthy of being taken by the hand as a brother; but no human
institution is perfect, and no human being acts always according to
the best that is in him. The occasional failure of the system to work
complete justice may be laid to the individuals using it and not to
the Fraternity.
"Harmony being the strength and support of all well regulated
institutions, especially this of ours." This phrase, or one similar,
is familiar to all Masons. Harmony<6E>oneness of mind, effort, ideas and
ideals<EFBFBD>is one of the foundations of Freemasonry. Anything which
interferes with Harmony by so much hurts the Institution. Therefore
it is essential that lodges have a harmonious membership; that no man
be admitted to the Masonic home of any brother against his will. For
this reason it is required that the names of applicants to a lodge be
set before the entire membership, prior to a vote, that all may know
that John Smith is to be balloted upon; that any who think him unfit
timber for the lodge, or who have personal objections to entering
into the sacred relation of brotherhood with him, may have the
opportunity to say "No."
The power thus put in the hands of the individual Master Mason is
very great. No officer, not even the Grand Master, may inquire how we
vote, or why we voted as we did. No Grand Master has the power to
set aside the black cube we cast. If in the ballot box is a black
cube, the applicant is rejected. (In many Jurisdictions a single
black cube in the ballot box requires the ballot to be taken again,
immediately, to avoid the possibility of a mistake. If the black cube
reappears the second time, the applicant is rejected.)
This rejection of an application does more than merely prevent the
applicant from being given the degrees. It creates over the
petitioner a lodge jurisdiction. He may not apply to another lodge
for the degrees refused him by this one, without first securing from
that lodge a waiver of jurisdiction. He may not again apply even to
the lodge which rejected him until after a certain statutory period<6F>
usually six months. When his application is again received and
brought up for ballot, the fact that he previously applied and was
rejected is stated to the lodge.
In other words, the casting of a black cube not only rejects for the
degrees, but puts a certain disability upon the applicant which he is
powerless to remove.
The brother who casts a ballot, then, upon an applicant, wields a
tremendous power. Like most powers, it can be used well or ill. It
may work harm, or good, not only upon him upon whom it is used, but
to him who uses it. Unlike many great powers put into the hands of
men, however, this one is not subject to review or control by any
human agency. No king, prince, potentate; no law, custom or
regulation; no Masonic brother or officer, can interfere with the
individual's use of his power.
For no one knows who uses the black cube. No one knows why one is
cast. The individual brother and his God alone know. The very
absence of any responsibility to man or authority is one of the
reasons why the power should be used with intelligence, and only
when, after solemn self-inquiry, the reason behind its use is found
to be Masonic.
Any one can think of a hundred reasons why black cubes are cast. Our
neighbor applies for the degrees. Outwardly he is an honest man of
good character, bearing a good reputation. However, we have heard him
quarreling violently with his wife. We are morally sure that he
struck her. We can't prove it; the poor woman never said anything
about it; she suffered the blow in silence rather than endure the
greater agony of publicity. It is not for us to have him arrested as
a wife beater if his wife can stand him! But we don't want a coward,
a bully in our lodge! Naturally<6C>and most brethren will say properly<6C>
we cast the black cube.
Our office associate wants to be a Mason. He applies to our lodge.
As far as the investigating committee can ascertain he is a good man,
honest, pays his debts, is a church member, a hard worker. But we
have heard him repeat, to us and to others, matters which we know
were given to him in confidence. We have learned to distrust his
discretion. We don't believe that a promise means much to him. It
may be, of course, that a Masonic obligation would be kept. But we
are not sure. Naturally, we vote against him.
Some men otherwise "good and true" are ill-natured, violent tempered,
disagreeable. To admit them to our lodge might destroy its harmony of
spirit. Others are vain and boastful, self-seeking, apt to bend every
agency in which they come in contact to their own ends. We do not
believe such a man will be an asset to our lodge. We keep him out.
A certain man IS our personal enemy. The quarrel between us may have
nothing to do with right and wrong; it may be the result merely of a
life time of antagonism. He applies to our lodge. Our lodge is our
Masonic home. We would not want this man in our family home; we do
not think we will be happy with him in our Masonic home. It is our
privilege to keep him out.
These, and a thousand other good reasons, are all proper ones for the
casting of a black cube. If the lodge might suffer, if we might
suffer, if we know that our absent brother would suffer from the
applicant being elected, we have the best of reasons for seeing that
he is rejected. Such use of our power is proper, Masonic, ethical,
wise, just.
But there is another side of the shield. Unfortunately, no hard and
fast rule can be laid down. There is no way to explain "this is a
good reason, but that is not a good reason" for casting a black cube.
Each of us has to judge the reason for himself. Yet some suggestions
may be given.
We know a man we dislike. He has different ideas from ours. He
belongs to a different "set." He is not the type we admire. Our
dislike does not amount to hatred, nor is it predicated upon any evil
in the man's character. He and we are antipathetic; we rub each other
the wrong way. When he applies to our lodge we must decide this
question: will the unpleasantness to us, in having him as a member,
be greater than the good to him which may come from his reception of
the Masonic teachings? Are we sure that we cannot accept him as a
brother merely because we "have never liked him?"
We all know cases like this; the president of the bank turns down
Johnson's application for a second mortgage. Johnson makes the matter
personal. He "has it in" for the president. The president applies for
the degrees. Some one casts a black cube. It may, and may not, be
Johnson. We don't know. But perhaps, later, we hear Johnson's boast
"I got even with the son-of-a-gun who turned down my loan !" He
doesn't say how he "got even," of course. But we are pretty sure we
know.
Such a use of the black cube is, of course, utterly un-masonic. It is
a misuse of a great power. As well turn down the minister of the
Baptist church because he doesn't agree with our minister, who is a
Methodist! As well turn down the automobile dealer because he refused
to give us a larger allowance on our old car! Turning the Masonic
black cube into a secret dagger for personal revenge is indefensible.
Freemasonry works some curious miracles. A self-made man applied five
times for the degrees in a certain lodge. The man was rather
ignorant, yet a commercial success. He had, literally, raised himself
by his bootstraps from the poverty of the streets to a business
position of some prominence. Yet he was rather raw, rough add ready,
even uncouth. No shadow of personal unworthiness rested upon him; he
was honest, upright, a good citizen. In this lodge a certain Past
Master<EFBFBD>as was discovered in after years<72>voted four times against this
applicant. The Past Master left the city. On the fifth application
the petitioner was elected. Something in Masonry took hold of his
heart; through Masonry he was led to acquire some of the education he
lacked; through Masonry he was led into the church. In time he made
such a reputation for himself as a Mason that he was put in line, and
finally achieved the solemn distinction of being made Master of his
lodge. He is still regarded as one of the best, most constructive and
ablest Masters that lodge has ever had.
In the course of ten or twelve years the absent Past Master returned.
In the light of history, he confessed (which strictly speaking he
should not have done!) that it was he who had kept this man out for
what he really believed were good reasons; he thought the "rough
neck" would detract from the dignity and honor of the Fraternity. Yet
this same "rough neck," through Masonry, became educated, a good
churchman, a fine Mason and an excellent officer.
Had the Past Master whose black cube were cast with honest intention
to benefit the Fraternity not left town, the blessings of Masonry
might forever have been denied a heart ready to receive them, and
society, lodge and church been prevented from having the services of
a man who gave largely of himself to all three.
The black cube is the great protection of the Fraternity; it permits
the brother who does not desire to make public his secret knowledge
to use that knowledge for the benefit of the Craft. It gives to all
members the right to say who shall not become members of their lodge
family. But at the same time it puts to the test the Masonic heart,
and the personal honesty of every brother who deliberates on its use.
The black cube is a thorough test of our understanding of the Masonic
teaching of the cardinal virtue Justice, which "enables us to render
to every man his just due without distinction." We are taught of
justice that "it should be the invariable practice of every Mason,
never to deviate from the minutest principles thereof."
Justice to the lodge requires us to cast the black cube on an
applicant we believe to be unfit.
Justice to ourselves requires that we cast the black cube on the
application of the man we believe would destroy the harmony of our
lodge.
Justice to the applicant<6E>we are taught to render justice to every
man, not merely to Masons<6E>requires that no black cube be cast for
little reasons, small reasons, mean reasons.
And justice to justice requires that we think carefully, deliberate
slowly, and act cautiously. No man will know what we do; no eye will
see, save that All Seeing Eye which pervades the innermost recesses
of our hearts, and will, so we are taught, reward us according to our
merits.
Shakespeare said, "O, it is excellent to have a giant's strength, but
it is tyrannous to use it like a giant!"
The black cube is a giant's strength to protect Freemasonry. Used
thoughtlessly, carelessly, without Masonic reason, it crushes not
only him at whom it is aimed but him who casts it.
A well used black cube goes into the ballot.
Ill used, it drops into the heart and blackens it.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VII December, 1929 No.12
THE LAWS OF MASONRY
by: Unknown
Every Master Mason is obliged to abide by the laws, regulations and
edicts of his Grand Lodge; the by-laws of the particular lodge of
which he is a member, and to maintain and support the Landmarks and
"Ancient Usages and Customs of the Fraternity."
It is impossible to abide by any laws if we do not know what they
are. The American automobile driver who attempts to negotiate a
London street without knowing the peculiarities of English law will
be arrested in the first block; he must there drive on the left and
pass on the right; not drive on the right and pass on the left, as in
this country.
The laws of Masonry, like the laws of nations, are both the unwritten
- "Common Law" - and written. The written laws, based on the
"General Regulations" and the "Old Charges," are the Constitution and
By-Laws of his own Grand Lodge, its resolutions and edicts; and the
By-Laws of his particular lodge. The Ancient Landmarks are written
in some Jurisdictions; in others they are a part of unwritten law.
In a foreign Jurisdiction, a Mason is amenable to its laws, as well
as those of his own Jurisdiction. In this duality of allegiance
Masonry follows civil law; thus, am American residing abroad is
amenable to the laws of the nation in which he lives, but is also
expected to obey the laws of his own nation; for instance, an
American residing abroad is not exempt from the United States income
tax laws. Neither is a Mason from California exempt form the laws of
the Grand Lodge of that State, merely because he happens to be
sojourning in Maine, or some foreign country.
The "General Regulations" as set forth in "Anderson's Constitutions
of 1723" have a curious history, into which it is not necessary to go
here; suffice it that they were adopted shortly after the formation
in 1717 of the First or Mother Grand Lodge in England. The work was
first published under the date of 1723. Unquestionably it embodied
the laws of Masonry as they were known to the members of the four
lodges which formed the first Grand Lodge, and hence have the
respectability of an antiquity much greater than their printed life
of two hundred and six years (in 1929).
In general, it may be said that the "Old Charges" are concerned with
the individual brother, and his relations to his lodge and his
brethren; the General Regulations with the conduct of the Craft as a
whole. The General Regulations permit their own alteration by Grand
Lodge - the Old Charges do not!
The Old Charges very evidently deal with both the operative and
speculative sides of Masonry; some of the phrases are concerned with
"The Lord's Work." The context shows that it is not the Lord God who
is here meant, but the particular nobleman for whom building
construction is undertaken
Law in Masonry is so much more a matter of the heart than of the
head, so much more concerned with setting forth conduct than in
assessing penalties, that, to thoroughly comprehend it, we must be
willing to revise our ideas of law, as we understand the enactments
of legislatures.
many civil laws are provided with measures of enforcement and
penalties for infringement. Masonic law knows but four penalties;
reprimand, definite suspension, indefinite suspension and expulsion
or Masonic Death. These Masonic penalties for serious infractions of
Masonic Law may be ordered after a Masonic trial, and a verdict of
guilty; but the punishment is usually made to fit the crime, and
mercy is much more a part of Masonic than civil law. Infractions of
Masonic Law resulting in trial and punishment are rare, compared to
the number of Masons, the vast majority of whom are so willing and
anxious to obey the laws that "enforcement" is seldom required.
There is no universality in Masonic law in all Jurisdictions.
Different latitudes. different characters of people, different ideas
have all left their marks upon our forty-nine Grand Lodges and their
enactments. In the majority of essentials, they are one; in some
particulars, they hold divergent views. A very large majority of
Grand Lodges in the United States adhere to the spirit of the "Old
Charges," and - so far as modern conditions permit - to the sense of
the "General Regulations."
It is, therefore, of real importance that Masons desiring to
understand the law by which the Craft is governed, and the legal
standards by which Grand Lodge measures its "laws, resolutions and
edicts;" should read both the "Old Charges" and the "General
Regulations of 1723." When he reaches the last (thirty-ninth) of the
"General Regulations," he will read: "Every Annual Grand Lodge has
an inherent Power and Authority to make new Regulations, or to alter
these, for the real benefit of this Ancient Fraternity; provided
always that the Old Landmarks be carefully preserved," etc.
The "Old Landmarks" or the "Ancient Landmarks" as we customarily call
them, are thus stated to be the foundations of the law of Masonry
which are not subject to change. Had the Grand Lodge which first
adopted these "General Regulations" formulated the "Ancient
Landmarks" it would have saved much trouble and confusion for those
newer Grand Lodges which came after. Apparently, however, the
unwritten law of Masonry - the common law - was so well understood
and practiced then that it was not thought necessary to codify it.
There is still a great body of unwritten law which Masons customarily
observe - our "ancient usages and customs" - which are not specified
in print now, any more than they were then. But the Landmarks have
been reduced in print and made a part of the written law in many
Jurisdictions. Mackey's list of twenty-five Landmarks (thirty-nine
in Nevada) has been adopted as official in many American Masonic
Jurisdictions; others have condensed his list into a lesser number,
still keeping all his points; a few Jurisdictions have a greater
number, including some not specified on Mackey's list. Those
Jurisdictions which do not include a printed list of the ancient
Landmarks in their written law, usually follow and practice them as a
part of their unwritten law. In a few instances, some of the
Landmarks as listed by Mackey are not recognized as such; for
instance, Mackey's Eighth Landmark, the inherent right of a Grand
Master to "make Masons at sight" was specifically abrogated by an
early Grand Lodge in California. In general, however, whether written
or unwritten, Grand Lodges adhere to the spirit of all of Mackey's
list!
The Landmarks may be regarded as bearing the same relation to Masonic
law in general, including the "Old Charges" and the "General
Regulations," as the provisions of the Magna Charta bear to modern
constitutional law. Just as the Magna Charta specified some of the
inherent rights of men which all laws of all governments should
consider and respect, so the Landmarks crystallize in words the
inherent characteristics of Masonry - those fundamentals which make
Freemasonry, and without which it would be something else.
Mackeys' explanations of several of the Landmarks are too long for
inclusion here, but his twenty-five statements are short and are
herewith printed. His list is chosen to appear here because it is
the most universally used. Juris-dictions which have lesser, or a
greater number, with very few exceptions, include all of Mackey's
points.
Mackey states that the Landmarks are:
1. The modes of recognition.
2. The division of Symbolic Masonry into three degrees.
3. The legend of the Third Degree.
4. The government of the Fraternity by a Grand Master.
5. The prerogative of the Grand Master to preside over every
assembly of the Craft.
6. The prerogative of the Grand Master to grant dispensations for
the conferring of degrees at irregular intervals.
7. The prerogative of the Grand Master to give dispensations for
opening and holding lodges.
8. The prerogative of the Grand Master to make Masons at sight.
9. The necessity for Masons to congregate in lodges.
10. The government of the Craft when congregated in a lodge, by a
Master Mason and two Wardens.
11. The necessity that every lodge, when congregated, should be
duly tiled (tyled).
12. The right of every Mason to be represented in all general
meetings of the Craft.
13. The right of every Mason to appeal from his brethren in lodge
convened, to the Grand Master.
14. The right of every Mason to visit and sit in every regular
lodge.
15. That no visitor, unknown to the brethren present, or some one
of them, as a Mason, can enter a lodge without first passing an
examination according to ancient usage.
16. No lodge can interfere with the business of another lodge.
17. Every Freemason is amenable to the Laws and Regulations of the
Masonic Jurisdiction in which he resides.
18. A candidate for initiation must be a man, free born,
unmutilated and of mature age.
19. A belief in the existence of God as the Grand Architect of the
Universe.
20. Belief in the resurrection to a future life.
21. A "Book of the Law" constitutes an indispensable part of the
furniture of every lodge.
22. The equality of all Masons.
23. The secrecy of the institution.
24. The foundation of speculative science upon an operative art.
25. These Landmarks can never be changed.
With these as a foundation, the "Old Charges" for precedent, the
first "General Regulations" for organic law, Grand Lodges write and
adopt their Constitutions and by-laws, which are usually subject to
approval by the Grand Lodge, a Grand Lodge Committee or the Grand
Master, Grand Masters, "ad interim," formulate and issue edicts and
make decisions; often these are later incorporated by the Grand Lodge
into the written law of the Jurisdiction. All of these together,
except where they conflict (as some of the early "General
Regulations" necessarily conflict with later enactments made to
supersede them) form the legal structure of Freemasonry.
Undeniably it is looser than the similar body of law for the
government of a nation. If Masonic Law were interpreted wholly by
the letter - as is necessarily the case of civil law - the government
of the Craft might often be as loose as its statutes. But as a
matter of fact, the Craft is well governed. Its "Ancient Usages and
Customs" so soon win their way into the hearts of new brethren that
there is a great resistance to any attempt to change the old order,
unless necessity shows that it is inescapable. Masons much prefer to
whisper good counsel to an erring brother, rather than subject him to
Masonic trial, whenever the gentler method can be made effective.
The Fraternity in this nation deals, yearly, with very large sums of
money. The Craft erects and maintains numbers of expensive Temples,
and Homes for the helpless Mason and his dependents. The Institution
disburses a very large amount in charity. The vast majority of its
executives and officers serve long and arduous apprenticeships,
giving their services for love, not money. These very practical
matters are all conducted in accord with a more or less loosely woven
body of law - and yet the Fraternity as a whole can take great pride
in the undoubted fact that it is orderly, well governed, almost
completely law abiding and very reluctant to make any more new laws
for itself than are absolutely necessary.
The reason, of course, is found in the answer to the classic
question: "Where were you first prepared to be made a Mason?"

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VIII January, 1930 No.1
THE SWORD IN THE CRAFT
by: Unknown
Before the door of all lodges stands a Tiler (Tyler) <20>with a drawn
sword in his hand.<2E>
Customarily it is a straight blade; such a shining shaft of steel as
was carried by Knights of olden times. According to Mackey it should
have a snake-like shape. Formerly such swords were the badge of
office of the Tiler, so made in allusion to the <20>Flaming Sword which
was placed at the East of the Garden of Eden which turned every way
to keep the way of the tree of life.<2E>
Properly no Tiler<65>s sword is ever carried in a scabbard; it<69>s
symbolism requires it to be ever ready at hand to <20>keep off cowans
and eavesdroppers.<2E>
Our lectures refer to the sword but twice; we are taught of <20>the Book
of Constitutions Guarded by the Tiler<65>s Sword,<2C> and we learn also of
the <20>Sword Pointing to a Naked Heart.<2E>
<EFBFBD>The Book of Constitutions, Guarded by the Tiler<65>s Sword,<2C> is a
comparatively modern symbol; its introduction has been traced to
Webb, about 1800. Its symbolism is rather obscure, the more so that
it seems so obvious.
We are told that it <20>Admonishes us to be ever watchful and guarded in
our words and actions, particularly before the enemies of Masonry,
ever bearing in remembrance those truly Masonic virtues, silence and
circumspection.<2E> But the Book of Constitutions is not, in any sense
of the word, a secret work. It was first ordered printed by the
Mother Grand Lodge, and a few original copies as well as uncounted
reprints of the Old Charges and the General Regulations of 1723 are
in existence, to be seen by Mason and profane alike.
Obviously, then, it is not the secrecy of the Book of Constitutions
which the Tiler<65>s sword guards; neither silence nor circumspection
regarding that particular Masonic volume is necessary.
Some have read into Webb<62>s symbol the thought that it was intended to
express the guardianship of civil liberties (a constitutional
government) by the Masonic Fraternity, but this seems rather far
fetched. It is a principle of science never to formulate a difficult
hypothesis when a simple one explains the facts. Surely it is easier
to think that the Tiler<65>s sword admonishes us to brook no changes in
our Ancient Landmarks, to be guarded lest our words and actions bring
the foundation book of Masonic law into disrepute before the enemies
of Masonry, applying the Book of Constitutions as well as to the
secrets of Freemasonry <20>those truly Masonic virtues, silence and
circumspection.
<EFBFBD>The sword pointing to the naked heart<72> is a symbolical adaptation of
an old ceremony not peculiar to Masonry, but used by many orders and
secret societies, in which the initiate taking his vows is surrounded
by swords with their points resting against his body, ready to pierce
him upon the instant if he refuses obedience. The sword is so used
at the present time in some of the <20>higher Degrees<65> of freemasonry
and contemporary engravings of the eighteenth century show swords
were once used in some English and many Continental lodges. How this
comparatively modern symbol became associated with the <20>All-Seeing
Eye<EFBFBD> - which is one of the most ancient symbols know to man, and
borrowed by Freemasonry from ancient Egyptian ceremonies - is too
long and difficult a study for any but the Masonic student with
plenty of time and Masonic sources at hand.
The sword appears in the Grand Lodge as the implement of the Grand
Sword Bearer, an officer found in most, if not all Grand Lodges. It
comes, undoubtedly from the ancient <20>Sword of State,<2C> which seems to
have begun in Rome when the lictor carried - as a symbol of authority
and power to punish the evil doer - his bundle of rods with an axe
inserted. In the middle ages the rods and axe metamorphosed into the
naked sword, carried in ceremonial processions before the sovereign
as a symbol of his authority and his power over life and death; and
his dispensation of swift justice. The custom in England was known
at least as early as 1236 when a pointless sword (emblematical of
mercy) was carried at the coronation of Henry III.
The second edition of Anderson<6F>s Constitutions sets forth, that in
1731 the Grand Master, the Duke of Norfolk, presented to the Grand
Lodge of England <20>The Old Trusty Sword of Gustavus Adolphus, King of
Sweden, that was worn next by his successor in war, the brave
Bernard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, with both their names on the blade,
which the Grand Master had ordered Brother George Moody (The King<6E>s
sword cutler) to adorn richly with the arms of Norfolk in silver on
the scabbard, in order to be the Grand Master<65>s sword of state in the
future.<2E>
Brother Moody was later appointed Grand Sword Bearer, so the office
has the respectability of an antiquity almost coincident with the
formation of the Mother Grand Lodge.
The idea the Grand Sword Bearer carries his implement to protect the
Grand Master from enemies seems entirely fanciful; the sword is
merely the emblem of his power, the evidence that he is supreme
within the Masonic state over which he rules.
Early prints of lodge meetings on the Continent show the sword in use
in the ceremonies; in this country the sword was never brought into
the lodge room even during that era when a sword was as much a
necessary article of a gentleman<61>s dress as shoes or gloves. It was
then deemed, as now, incompatible with that <20>Meeting Upon the Level<65>
which is so integral a part of all lodge communications; the sword,
either as a weapon, which made its possessor stronger than he who was
unarmed, or as a badge of rank or distinction; was held to have no
place in the lodge. From this development the almost universal
custom of the Tiler requesting all military men in uniform to leave
their swords without the lodge before entering.
This rule, or custom, comparatively little known in this country
because few military men in times of peace go to lodge in full
uniform, was often broken during the recent war when soldiers clanked
up and down lodge rooms with the arms of their profession at their
sides. But it is as Masonically inconsistent to wear a sword in
lodge as to appear therein without an Apron.
It goes without saying that the Tiler<65>s Sword is wholly symbolic;
whether it was always so or not is a matter lost in the mists which
shroud ancient history. In the operative days of Masonry the workmen
upon a Cathedral held meetings in the house erected for their
convenience - the lodge. Operative Masons possessed secrets of real
value to the craftsmen; the Master knew the geometrical method of
<EFBFBD>trying the square;<3B> all those who had submitted their Master<65>s
Pieces and satisfied the Master<65>s of the Craft as to their
proficiency received the <20>Mason<6F>s Word,<2C> which enabled them to
satisfy others, in <20>foreign countries<65> (which might be the next town
as well as the adjacent nation) of their proficiency as builders.
When the beginnings of Speculative Masonry made their appearance,
they added, those secrets which only Masons possessed.
Naturally, many desired to obtain those secrets. These were divided
into two classes; the <20>eavesdropper,<2C> who listened under the eaves of
a building and therefore received the droppings from the roof, and
the <20>cowan,<2C> or, partially instructed Mason. As early as 1589 (Schaw
Manuscript) appears this passage: <20>That no Master or Fellow of the
Craft shall receive any cowans to work in his society or company. nor
send none of his servants to work with cowans.<2E>
Mackey traces the word to Scotland. In Scott<74>s Rob Roy, Allan
Inverach says: <20>She does not value a Cawmil mair as a cowan.<2E>
Scottish usage of <20>cowan,<2C> a term of contempt, an uninstructed Mason;
a Mason who builds dry walls, without mortar, a <20>dry-diker.<2E> But
there are other possible derivations of the word; for instance, it
may have come from an old Swedish word <20>kujon<6F> meaning a silly
fellow, or the French, <20>conyon,<2C> meaning a coward, a base man.
The Tiler of the operative lodge may well have been armed with a
sword for actual defense of himself, or the lodge in which his
fellows were meeting, from the encroachment of the cowans who wanted
the word and the secret of the square without the necessity of
serving a long period as an apprentice and of laboring to produce a
satisfactory Master<65>s Piece.
The modern tiler keeps off the cowan and eavesdropper by the simple
process of refusing to admit those he does not know; if they still
desire to enter the tiled door, they must either be vouched form or
request a committee. The Tiler<65>s sword is but the emblem of his
authority, as the Gavel is the symbol of that possessed by the
Master.
Occasionally a lodge member is a little hurt, perhaps offended, if
the Tiler does not know him and demands that some one vouch for him
before he is permitted to enter.
<EFBFBD>Why, I<>ve been a member of this lodge for fifteen years!<21> he may
say. <20>Here<72>s my good standing card. You ought to know me!<21>
It is possible that the Tiler <20>ought to know him.<2E> But Tilers - even
the very best and most experienced Tilers - are just human beings
with all the faults of memory which beset us all. Many of us are
sure that we know a face and are yet unable to say that we have seen
it in a lodge. How much more true this may be of the Tiler, who must
see and memorize so many faces!
To be offended or hurt because a Tiler does his duty is merely to
say, in effect, <20>Id rather you didn<64>t do what you are supposed to
than hurt my vanity by failing to remember me!<21>
Not very long ago a Grand Master paid a surprise visit, all
unaccompanied, to a small lodge. Their Tiler did not know him. The
Master, sent for, to vouch for the distinguished visitor, was highly
mortified and said so in lodge. The Grand Master stopped him. <20>You
must not be mortified, my brother,<2C> he said. <20>You are to be
congratulated on having a Tiler who knows his duty and does it so
well. I commend him to the brethren.<2E>
All of which was a graceful little speech, which carried a wholesome
lesson on the reality of the authority and the duty represented by
the shining blade which no Tiler is supposed to put down while on
duty.
No symbol in all Freemasonry but is less than the idea symbolized.
The Volume of the Sacred Law, the letter <20>G,<2C> the Square, the
Compasses; all symbolize ideas infinitely great than paper and ink, a
letter formed of electric lights, or carved from wood, a working tool
of metal. Consequently the Tiler<65>s sword (like the sword of state of
the Grand Sword Bearer) has a much greater significance, not only to
the Tiler but to all Masons, than its use as a tool of defense
against an invasion of privacy.
As not all cowans which may beset a lodge come through the Tiler<65>s
door, every Master Mason should be, to some extent, a Tiler of his
lodge and wear a symbolic Tiler<65>s Sword when on the important task
assigned to the committee on petitions.
Some <20>cowans<6E> slip through the West Gate, are duly and truly
prepared, properly initiated, passed and raised; yet, never become
real Master Masons. This happens when members of the committee have
not heeded the symbolism of the Tiler<65>s sword. All of us know of
some members who might better have been left among the profane. They
represent the mistaken judgment, first of the committee, then the
lodge. Had all used their symbolic Tiler<65>s sword - made as accurate
an investigation of the petitioner as the Tiler makes of the would-be
entrant through his door - these real <20>cowans<6E> would not be a drag
upon the lodge and the Fraternity.
The <20>eavesdropper<65> from without is longer feared. Our lodge rooms
are seldom so built that any one may listen to what goes on within.
The real <20>eavesdropper<65> is the innocent profane who is told more than
he should hear, by the too enthusiastic Mason. In the monitorial
charge to the entered Apprentice we hear: <20>Neither are you to suffer
your zeal for the institution to lead you into argument with those
who, through ignorance, may ridicule it.<2E> The admonition of the
emblem of the <20>Book of Constitutions Guarded by the Tiler<65>s Sword<72>
applies here - we must <20>be ever watchful and guarded of our words and
actions, particularly before the enemies of Masonry.<2E>
Constructively, if not actively, every profane who learns more than
he should of esoteric Masonic work is a possible enemy.
Let us all wear a Tiler<65>s sword in our hearts; let us set the zeal of
silence and circumspection upon our tongues; let us guard the West
Gate from the cowan as loyally as the Tiler guards his door.
Only by doing so may the integrity of our beloved Order be preserved,
and <20>the honor, glory and reputation of the Fraternity may be firmly
established and the world at large convinced of its good effects.<2E>
For only by such use of the sword do we carry out its Masonic
symbolism. To Masonry the sword is an emblem of power and authority,
never of blood or wounds or battle or death. Only when thought of in
this way is it consistent with the rest of the symbols of our gentle
Craft and wins obedience to the mandates of the Tiler by brotherly
love, an infinitely stronger power than strength of arm, point of
weapon or bright and glittering steel!

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VIII February, 1930 No.2
THE VISITING BROTHER
by: Unknown
The Lodge of Antiquity (England) possesses an old Masonic document
written during the reign of James II between 1685 and 1688; in it
appears the following:
<EFBFBD>that every Mason receive and cherish strange fellows, when they come
over the country, and set the mon work, if they will work, as the
manner is; that is to say, if the mason have any mould stone in his
place, he shall give him a mould stone, and set him on work; and if
he have none, the Mason shall refresh him with money unto the next
lodge.<2E>
In the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of England it is set forth
that:
<EFBFBD>A Brother, who is not a subscribing member to some lodge, shall not
be permitted to visit any lodge in the town or place in which he
resides, more than once during his secession from the Craft.<2E> (Which
declares, by inference, that Masons who are <20>subscribing members to
some lodge<67> may visit as often as they wish.)
Mackey<EFBFBD>s Fourteenth Landmark reads as follows:
<EFBFBD>The right of every Masons to visit and sit in every regular Lodge is
an unquestionable Landmark of the Order. This is called the <20>right
of visitation.<2E> This right of visitation has always been recognized
as an inherent right, which inures to every Masons as he travels
through the world. And this is because Lodges are just considered as
only divisions for convenience of the universal Masonic Family. This
right may, of course, be impaired or forfeited on special occasions
by various circumstances; but when admission is refused to a Mason in
good standing, who knocks at the door of a lodge as a visitor, it is
to be expected that some good and sufficient reason shall be
furnished for this violation, of what is in general a Masonic Right,
founded on the Landmarks of the Order.<2E>
Where two rights conflict, the lesser must give way to the greater.
This is in accord with human instinct, common sense and a proper
social attitude.
Thus, it is the right of every tax payer and citizen to walk freely
upon the streets of his city; he has a vested interest in what is
common to all, for the benefit of all, and paid for by all. But if
an emergency arises the police may rope off a street and forbid,
temporarily, travel upon it; the immediate right of protection to
all, or of expediency for the good of all, is, for the time being
greater than the individual right to use the street.
In a very large degree the Master is the absolute ruler of his lodge.
He has the unquestioned power to exclude or admit at his pleasure.
Visitors come into his lodge when and only when he orders them
admitted; he has the power to exclude a member, or even an officer of
his lodge.
But this great power is hedged about with restrictions; he is
responsible to the Grand Lodge; and, <20>ad interim,<2C> to the Grand
Master, for all of his acts. If he rules arbitrarily, excludes a
member or a visitor for an improper reason, or for no reason at all,
he can and should be called to account before the supreme Masonic
authority.
A Mason in good standing who desires to visit a lodge other than his
own makes his wishes known to the Tiler, who communicates with the
Master that a would-be visitor desires admission. The Master is not
compelled to order a committee to examine the would-be visitor; but,
if he does not, so it is generally held, he should have good and
sufficient reasons for failure to permit the brother to exercise his
right of visitation.
The usual <20>good and sufficient reason<6F> for refusal to permit a would-
be visitor to be examined - or, if vouched for, to enter the Tiled
door - is that his presence has been objected to by some member
present.
If over ruled by the Master, such an objection might easily destroy
the peace and harmony of his lodge. The member who has a personal
quarrel with a would-be visitor - no matter how regrettable is such a
state of affairs between Masons - has the greater right in the lodge.
The member has the right of membership; the right of voting on all
questions; the right to take part in and be a part of the
deliberations of his lodge. The visitor has only the right of
visitation in the lodge; even if obtains entry he cannot vote,
propose motions or speak on a question without invitation from the
Master.
Having the greater rights in the premises the member of a lodge is to
be considered before the would-be visitor; the peace and harmony of
the lodge are of more importance than the right of visitation.
In spite of the Landmark quoted, and the authority of antiquity, not
all Grand Jurisdictions are at one on this subject of the right of
visitation. In some Jurisdictions it is held that the lodge, being a
little Masonic family of its own, has the right to say who shall and
who shall not visit it for any reason or for no reason; that
visitation is a courtesy accorded from a host to a guest, not a right
possessed by the individual Mason as a small part of a greater whole.
With this standpoint the majority of Masonic authorities do not agree
but as all Grand Lodges are sovereign unto themselves, Jurisdictions
which so rule are right within their own borders.
The question of the regularity of the would-be visitor<6F>s lodge is
important in some Jurisdictions, in others it is considered as less
vital. Where clandestine Masonry flourishes or has flourished Grand
Jurisdictions usually insist on being satisfied that the applicant
comes from a lodge under the obedience of a recognized Grand Lodge.
Where clandestine Masonry is but a name the committee may, and often
does depend upon a careful examina-tion than a <20>List of Regular
Lodges<EFBFBD> to satisfy itself that the visitor is from a <20>just and
legally constituted lodge.<2E>
Whether a would-be visitor is in good standing is a question easily
answered if he possesses a current dues or good standing card. The
majority of American Grand Jurisdictions give such a card on payment
of dues and demand its presentation to the committee at the time of
examination; but there are exceptions.
Some Grand Lodges hold that if a would-be visitor<6F>s Tiler<65>s oath that
he has been regularly initiated, passed and raised; does not stand
suspended or expelled; knows of no reason why he should not visit his
brethren is to be believed, his statement under oath that he is in
good standing may also be credited!
Masonic authorities are almost universally agreed that the
unaffiliated Mason has no right of visitation beyond a single visit
to a lodge. The unaffiliated Mason pays nothing towards the upkeep
of the Fraternity from whose ministrations he would profit if he were
permitted to visit as freely as the affiliated Mason. But it is
recognized that many unaffiliated Masons earnestly seek a new Masonic
home in the location in which they have come live; therefore, it is
conceded that such demitted members of other lodges have a right to
visit at least once, to learn something of the lodge to which they
may make application for affiliation.
A great and important duty involves upon the examination committee to
which is intrusted the task of ascertaining if a would-be visitor is
a regular Mason and entitled (under the Master<65>s pleasure) to visit
with his brethren. Committee members are, for the time being,
Tilers; their examination should be so conducted that in the event
the would-be visitor is a cowan, nothing has been said or done which
would give him any information. On the other hand brotherly courtesy
dictates that it be not necessarily long. That committee of two is
well advised to regard the examination as being a ceremony conducted
by <20>Three<65> brethren to ascertain their mutual brotherhood, rather
than an inquisition in which a man must prove himself innocent of the
charge of being a cowan.
It is better that ninety-nine culprits escape punishment, than, that
one innocent man be punished. Masonically it is better that ninety-
nine true brethren unable to satisfy a committee and be turned away,
than one cowan be admitted to the lodge. But there is a middle
course between asking a Mason who is obviously well instructed and
knowledgeable every possible question in all three degrees, and being
<EFBFBD>satisfied<EFBFBD> with the <20>Tiler<65>s Oath<74> and just one or two questions.
A good committee seeks for the spirit rather than the form. There is
no uniformity in ritual through this nation or the world. It is not
important that the would-be visitor know the exact words of the
ritual of the Jurisdiction in which he would visit; it is important
that he know the substance of the work as taught in his own
Jurisdiction. If this were not so, no English brother could visit in
an American lodge, no American brother could work his way into a
Scotch lodge. In all recognized Jurisdictions the world over the
essentials are the same; only words and minor details differ. Thus,
Aprons are worn <20>as a Master Mason<6F> indifferent ways in several
Jurisdictions in the United States, <20>but in all Jurisdictions a
Master Mason wears an Apron!<21>
A visitor has the undoubted right (Mackey) to demand to see the
Charter or Warrant of the lodge he desires to visit, in order to
satisfy himself that it is a <20>regularly constituted lodge.<2E>
Admittedly, such a request is a rare as for a committee to discover a
cowan attempting to enter a lodge; but the right is generally
conceded by Masonic authority, no matter how seldom it is exercised.
The visitor to a lodge pays it the highest compliment he can, short
of seeking affiliation. Once admitted his status is that of a
brother among brethren, a guest in the home of his host. Alas, too
often the visitor is relegated to the benches and left severely
alone. Too often a Master is <20>too busy<73> with his meeting to attend
to his duty as a host and the brethren too interested in their own
concerns to pay much attention to the visiting brother.
Careless Masonic hospitality is only less serious than carelessness
in the committee. A stranger in town visits a lodge with the hope of
finding friends, companions and brethren; he desires human contacts,
to refresh himself at the Altar of Brotherhood, to mingle with his
fellows on a level of exact equality. If he finds them not, he has a
right to judge the lodge he visits as lacking in that fine Masonic
courtesy than which nothing is more heartening.
Happy the lodge with ideals of welcoming the visitor.
Fortunate the lodge whose Master makes it his business, either
personally or through a committee, to say a brotherly word of
welcome, to see that the brother is in friendly hands, and make him
feel that although far from his habitat yet he is at home. The fame
of such a lodge spreads far!
In many lodges the Secretary writes a letter to the lodge from which
a visitor has come, advising them of his visit; a pretty custom and
heartening, especially if the brother who has visited finds it in his
heart to tell his own lodge of the pleasant time he had, the
brotherly treatment he received, perhaps the homesickness cured by
the Fraternal kindliness with which he was greeted.
Generally the visitor gets a greater reward for the time he has spent
than the lodge he visits. Masons who visit many lodges, especially
if in other than their own Jurisdiction, receive a new idea of the
breadth of the Order, a new feeling for the underlying principles of
the ancient Craft. If he can express his pleasure in his visit,
bring a message from his home lodge to those brethren he visits, they
also may gain from the occasion. In any event the lodge visited has
been paid a compliment; the visitor has received trust and faith,
regardless of the character of the welcome.
A Mason who has the opportunity to visit in other lodges may well
recall the words of the Great Light upon the Altar, no less true for
him that they were said in olden time; <20>Let us go again and visit our
Brethren in every city<74> (acts 15:36). Brethren of that lodge which
has the privilege of acting as host to him who comes to the Tiler<65>s
door a stranger and enters the lodge as a brother may rejoice in the
words: <20>Let Brotherly Love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain
strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.<2E>
(Hebrews 14:1, 2.)

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VIII March, 1930 No.3
SUN, MOON AND STARS
by: Unknown
We have more right to be astonished that the astronomical references
are so few, rather than to be surprised that there are so many!
We are taught that geometry and Masonry were originally synonymous
terms and geometry, fifth of the seven liberal arts and sciences, is
given more prominence in our Fellowcraft degree than the seventh,
astronomy. Yet the beginnings of astronomy far antedate the earliest
geometrician. Indeed, geometry came into existence to answer the
ceaseless questionings of man as to the <20>why<68> of celestial phenomena.
In these modern days it is difficult to visualize the vital
importance of the heavens generally, to early man. We can hardly
conceive of their terror of the eclipse and the comet, or sense their
veneration for the Sun and his bride, the Moon. We are too well
educated. We know too much about <20>the proportions which connect this
vast machine.<2E> The astronomer has pushed back the frontiers of his
science beyond the inquiries of most of us; the questions which occur
as a result of unaided visual observations have all been answered.
We have substituted facts for fancies regarding the sun, the moon,
the solar system, the comet and the eclipse.
Albert Pike, the great Masonic student <20>who found Masonry in a hovel
and left her in a palace<63> says:
We cannot, even in the remotest degree, feel, though we may partially
and imperfectly imagine, how those great, primitive, simple-hearted
children of Nature, felt in regard to the Starry Hosts, there upon
the slopes of the Himalayas, on the Chaldean plains, in the Persian
and Median deserts, and upon the banks of the great, strange River,
the Nile. To them the universe was alive - instinct with forces and
powers, mysterious and beyond their comprehension. To them it was no
machine, no great system of clockwork; but a great live creature, in
sympathy with or inimical to man. To them, all was mystery and a
miracle, and the stars flashing overhead spoke to their hearts almost
in an audible language. Jupiter, with its kingly splendors, was the
Emperor of the starry legions. Venus looked lovingly on the earth
and blessed it; Mars with his crimson fires threatened war and
misfortune; and Saturn, cold and grave, chilled and repelled them.
The ever-changing moon, faithful companion of the sun, was a constant
miracle and wonder; the Sun himself the visible emblem of the
creative and generative power. To them the earth was a great plain,
over which the sun, the moon and the planets revolved, its servants,
framed to give it light. Of the stars, some were beneficent
existences that brought with them Spring-time and fruits and flowers
- some, faithful, sentinels, advising them of coming inundations, of
the season of storm and of deadly winds some heralds of evil, which,
steadily foretelling. they seemed to cause. To them the eclipse,
were portents of evil, and their causes hidden in mystery, and
supernatural. The regular returns of the stars, the comings of
Arcturus, Orion, Sirius, the Pleides and Aldebaran; and the
journeyings of the Sun, were voluntary and not mechanical to them.
What wonder that astronomy became to them the most important of
sciences; that those who learned it became rulers; and that vast
edifices, the pyramids, the tower or Temple of Bel, and other like
erections elsewhere in the East, were builded for astronomical
purposes? - and what wonder that, in their great childlike
simplicity, they worshipped the Light, the Sun, the Planets, and the
stars; and personified them, and eagerly believed in the histories
invented for them; in that age when the capacity for belief was
infinite; as indeed, if we but reflect, it still is and ever will
be?<3F>
Anglo-Saxons usually consider history as their history; science as
their science; religion as their religion. This somewhat naive
viewpoint is hardly substantiated by a less egoistic survey of
knowledge. Columbus<75>s sailors believed they would <20>fall off the
edge<EFBFBD> of a flat world, yet Pythagoras knew the earth to be a ball.
The ecliptic was known before Solomon<6F>s Temple was built. The
Chinese predicted eclipses long, long before the Europeans of the
middle age quit regarding them as portents of doom!
Astronomical lore of Freemasonry is very old. The foundations of our
degrees are far more ancient than we can prove by documentary
evidence. It is surely not stretching credulity to believe that the
study which antedates <20>Geometry, the first and noblest of sciences,<2C>
must have been impressed on our Order, its ceremonies and its
symbols, long before Preston and Webb worked their ingenious
revolutions in our rituals and gave us the system of degrees we use -
in one form or another - today.
The astronomical references in our degrees begin with the points of
the compass; East, West, and South; and the place of darkness, the
North. We are taught the reason why the North is a place of darkness
by the position of Solomon<6F>s Temple with reference to the ecliptic, a
most important astronomical conception. The Sun is the Past Master<65>s
own symbol; our Masters rule their lodges - or are supposed to! -
with the same regularity with the Sun rules the day and the Moon
governs the night. Our explanation of our Lesser Lights is obviously
an adaption of a concept which dates back to the earliest of
religions; specifically to the Egyptian Isis, Orsiris and Horus;
represented by the Sun, Moon and Venus.
Circumambulation about the Altar is in imitation of the course of the
Sun. We traverse our lodges from East to West by way of the South,
as did the Sun Worshipers who thus imitated the daily passage of
their deity through the heavens.
Measures of time are wholly a matter of astronomy.
Days and nights were before man, and consequently before astronomy,
but hours and minutes, high twelve and low twelve, are inventions of
the mind, depending upon the astronomical observation of the Sun at
Meridian to determine noon, and consequently all other periods of
time. Indeed, we are taught this in the Middle Chamber work, in
which we give to Geometry the premier place as a means by which the
astronomer may <20>fix the duration of time and seasons, years and
cycles.<2E>
Atop the Pillars representing those in the porch of King Solomon<6F>s
Temple appear the terrestrial and celestial globes. In the
Fellowcraft degree we are told in beautiful and poetic language that
<EFBFBD>numberless worlds are around us, all framed by the same Divine
Artist, which roll through the vast expanse and are all conducted by
the same unerring law of nature.<2E>
Our Ancient brethren, observing that the sun rose and set, easily
determining East and West in a general way. As the rises and sets
through a variation of 47 degrees north and south during a six
month<EFBFBD>s period the determination was not exact.
The earliest Chaldean star gazers, progenitors of the astronomers of
later ages, saw that the apparently revolving heavens pivoted on a
point nearly coincident with a certain star. We know that the true
north diverges about from the North Star one and one-half degrees,
but their observations were sufficiently accurate to determine a
North - and consequently East, West and South.
The reference to the ecliptic in the Sublime Degree has puzzled many
a brother who has not studied the elements of astronomy.
The earliest astronomers defined the ecliptic as the hypothetical
<EFBFBD>circular<EFBFBD> plane of the earth<74>s path about the sun, with the sun in
the <20>center.<2E>
As a matter of fact, the sun is not in the center and the earth<74>s
path about sun is not circular. The earth travels once about the sun
in three hundred and sixty-five days, and a fraction, on an
<EFBFBD>elliptic<EFBFBD> path; the sun is at one of the foci of that ellipse.
The axis of the earth, about which it turns once in twenty-four
hours, thus making a night and a day, is inclined to this
hypothetical plane by 23 and one-half degrees. At one point in its
yearly path, the north pole of the earth is inclined towards the sun
by this amount. Half way further around in its path the north pole
is inclined away from the sun by this angle. The longest day in the
northern hemisphere - June 21st - occurs when the north pole is most
inclined toward the sun.
Ant building situated between latitudes 23 and one-half north and 23
and one-half south of the equator, will receive the rays of the sun
at meridian (high twelve, or noon) from the north at some time during
the year. King Solomon<6F>s Temple at Jerusalem, being in latitude 31
degrees 47 seconds north, lay beyond this limit. At no time in the
year, therefore, did the sun or moon at meridian <20>darts its rays into
the northerly portion thereof.<2E>
As astronomy in Europe is comparatively modern, some have argued that
this reason for considering the North, Masonically, as a place of
darkness, must also be comparatively modern. This is wholly mistaken
- Pythagoras (to go further back) recognized the obliquity of the
world<EFBFBD>s axis to the ecliptic, as well as that the earth was a sphere
suspended in space. While Pythagoras (510 B.C.) is much younger than
Solomon<EFBFBD>s Temple, he is almost two thousand years older than the
beginnings of astronomy in Europe.
The <20>world celestial and terrestrial<61> on the brazen pillars were
added by modern ritual makers. Solomon knew them not, but
contemporaries of Solomon believed the heavens to be a sphere
revolving around the earth. To them the earth stood still; a hollow
sphere with its inner surface dotted with stars. The slowly turning
<EFBFBD>celestial sphere<72> is as old as mankind<6E>s observations of the <20>starry
decked heavens.<2E>
It is to be noted that terrestrial and celestial spheres are both
used as emblems of universality. They are not mere duplications for
emphasis; they teach their own individual part of <20>universality.<2E>
What is <20>universal<61> on the earth - as for instance, the necessity of
mankind to breathe, drink water, and eat in order to live - is not
necessarily <20>universal<61> in all the universe. We have no knowledge
that any other planet in our solar system is inhabited - what
evidence there is, is rather to the contrary. We have no knowledge
that any other sun has any inhabited planets in its system. Neither
have we any knowledge that they have not. If life does exist in some
other, to us unknown world, it may be entirely different from life on
this planet. Hence a symbol of universality which applied only to
earth would be a self-contradiction.
Real universality means what it says. It appertains to the whole
universe. While a Mason<6F>s charity, considered as giving relief to
the poor and distressed, must obviously be confined to this
particular planet, his charity of thought may, so we are taught,
extend <20>through the boundless realms of eternity.<2E>
Hence <20>the world terrestrial<61> and <20>the world celestial<61> on our
representations of the pillars, in denoting universality mean that
the principles of our Order are not founded upon mere earthly
conditions and transient truths, but rest upon Divine and limitless
foundations, coexistent with the whole cosmos and its creator.
We are taught of the <20>All Seeing Eye whom the Sun, Moon and Stars
obey and under whose watchful care even comets perform their
stupendous revolutions.<2E> In this astronomical reference is, oddly
enough, a potent argument, both for the extreme care in the
transmission of ritual unchanged from mouth to ear, and the urgent
necessity of curbing well-intentioned brethren who wish to <20>improve<76>
the ritual.
The word <20>revolution<6F> in this paragraph (it is so printed in the
earliest Webb monitors) fixes it as a comparatively modern
conception. Tycho Brahe, progenitor of the modern maker and user of
fine instruments among astronomers, whose discoveries have left an
indelible impress on astronomy, made no attempt to consider comets as
orbital bodies. Galileo thought them <20>emanations of the atmosphere.<2E>
Not until the seventeenth century was well underway did a few daring
spirits suggest that these celes-tial portents of evil, these
terribly heavenly demons which had inspired terror in the hearts of
men for uncounted generations, were actually parts of the solar
system, and that many if not most of them were periodic, actually
returning again and again; in other words, that they revolved about
the sun.
Obviously, then, this passage of our ritual cannot have come down to
us by a <20>word of mouth<74> transmission from an epoch earlier than that
in which men first commenced to believe that a comet was not an
augury of evil but a part of the solar system.
The so-called <20>lunar lodges<65> have far more a practical than an
astronomical basis. In the early days of Masonry, both in England
and in this country, many if not most lodges, met on dates fixed in
advance, but according to the time when the moon was full; not
because the moon <20>Governed<65> the night, but because it illuminated the
traveler<EFBFBD>s path! In days when roads were but muddy paths between
town and hamlet, when any journey was hazardous and on black nights
dangerous in the extreme, the natural illumination of the moon,
making the road easy to find and the depredations of highwaymen the
more difficult, was a matter of some moment!
One final curious derivation of a Masonic symbol from the heavens and
we are through. The symbol universally associated with the Stewards
of a Masonic lodge is the cornucopia.
According to the mythology of the Greeks, which go back to the very
dawn of civilization, the God Zeus was nourished in infancy from the
milk of a goat, Amalthea. In gratitude, the God placed Amalthea
forever in the heavens as a constellation, but first gave one of
Amalthea<EFBFBD>s horns to his nurses with the assurance that it would
forever pour for them whatever they desired!
The <20>horn of plenty,<2C> or the cornucopia, is thus a symbol of
abundance. The goat from which it came may be found by the curious
among the constellations under the name of Capricorn. The <20>Tropic of
Capricorn<EFBFBD> of our school days is the southern limit of the swing of
the sun on the path which marks the ecliptic, on which it inclines
first its north and then its south pole towards our luminary. Hence
there is a connection, not the less direct for being tenuous, between
out Stewards, their symbol, the lights in the lodge, the <20>place of
darkness<EFBFBD> and Solomon<6F>s Temple.
Of such curious links and interesting bypaths is the study of
astronomy and its connection with Freemasonry, the more beautiful
when we see eye to eye with the Psalmist in the Great Light; <20>The
Heavens Declare the Glory of God and the Firmament Sheweth His
Handiwork.<2E>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VIII April, 1930 No.4
THE REPUTATION OF THE FRATERNITY
by: Unknown
<EFBFBD>To preserve the reputation of the Fraternity unsullied must be your
constant care.<2E>
Every Master Mason is charged with that great duty.
Obviously it means the reputation of the Fraternity before the non-
Masonic world. That reputation is one of the greatest assets of
Freemasonry; indeed, only by our reputation do we live and grow,
since Masons are forbidden to proselyte. No real Mason ever asks a
profane to join the Order; the man must seek the Light; not the Light
seeking the man.
The reputation of Masonry in the world is that of an Order in which
men bind themselves to secrecy; practice charity and brotherhood; do
good without self advertising; choose wisely among our petitioners;
work a gentle influence upon themselves and their fellows towards
right conduct, clean thinking and fine citizenship.
Freemasonry has certain contacts with the public; for instance, her
Masonic Homes are public in the sense that they stand as monuments to
Masonic Charity for all the world to see. The world at large
observes us in funeral processions, burying our dead with reverence,
honor and ceremonies strange to profane eyes. It watches our Grand
Lodges lay the corner stones of public buildings, pouring the ancient
sacrifices of corn, wine and oil; dedicating and consecrating (if it
is a church) the building to its uses. It sees us occasionally
attend Divine services in a body. It can obtain beautiful books
about Freemasonry, from which it can learn of the fundamental
principles which underlie the Order.
But <20>the secrets of Freemasonry are safely lodged in the repository
of faithful breasts.<2E>
Some Masons consider certain matters as <20>secrets<74> which are not so,
in fact, even though they are not the subject of common talk or vain
boast. It is no <20>secret<65> that Freemasonry teaches and inculcates, in
so far as her power lies, those principles of law, order, morals,
citizenship, fear and love of God which make for the highest type of
manhood.
The non-secret teachings of the three degrees are briefly as follows:
In the Entered Apprentice Degree the initiate is taught the necessity
of a belief in God; of charity towards all mankind, and especially a
brother Mason; of secrecy; of the meaning of brotherly love; the
reasons for relief; the greatness of truth; the advantages of
temperance; the value of fortitude; the part played in Masonic life
by prudence and the equality of strict justice.
He is charged to inculcate the three great duties; to be reverent
before God, to pray to Him for help, to venerate Him as the source of
all that is good. He is exhorted to practice the Golden Rule and to
avoid excesses of all kinds. He is admonished to be quiet and
peaceable, not to countenance disloyalty and rebellion, to be true
and just to government and country and to be cheerful under its laws.
He is charged to come often to lodge but not to neglect his business,
not to argue about Freemasonry with the ignorant but to learn Masonry
from Masons, and once again, to be secret. Finally he is urged to
present only such candidates as he is sure will agree to all that he
has agreed to.
In the Fellowcraft Degree he argues that he will be secret regarding
that which must be kept secret; that he will obey the by-laws of his
own lodge; and the laws, rules, regulations and edicts of his Grand
Lodge; to answer proper summons; is again reminded of his duty as a
Mason in charity and relief. He agrees that a good Mason is an
honest and upright man. He is taught the importance of the seventh
day and the advantages of learning in general are placed before him,
with especial reference to the science of geometry. Emphasis is
again placed upon a reverent attitude before Deity.
Then he is charged with the need for balanced judgment; is exhorted
to study the seven liberal arts and is shown that geometry is not
only a mathematical and Masonic science, but also a moral one.
Regular behavior is impressed upon him, as well as <20>the practice of
all commendable virtues.<2E>
In the Master Mason Degree all that has gone before is again
emphasized, and many additional duties and responsibilities are laid
upon the initiate. Science, secrecy, fidelity to trust, courage,
resignation and sacrifice are taught in the great drama. His
obligations are extended; his brotherly relations with his fellows
are more clearly and strictly defined. Her is taught the need for
willing service; that prayer is not only for the petitioner; that he
must be worthy of confidence; that his strength is not only for
himself but for his falling brother; that wisdom in not only for the
possessor but should be shared; that a brother has the right to know
of approaching disaster.
He is charged to set a good example; to guard others, as well as
himself from a breach of fidelity; he must preserve the ancient
Landmarks and he must not countenance any changes in our established
customs. Secrecy is again emphasized; the dignity of the character
of a Master Mason is to be upheld; the faith and confidence of his
fellows is put before him as the reward for fidelity and faith.
Reducing these great teachings to the least possible number of words
and avoiding duplications produces the following list of those
matters which a Mason is taught, and to which he promises, either
actually or by implication, complete agreement. On these rest the
reputation of the Fraternity.
Belief in God
Charity
Secrecy
Brotherly Love
Relief
Truth
Temperance
Fortitude
Prudence
Justice
Reverence
Prayer
Veneration
Golden Rule
Peaceableness
Good Citizenship
Obedience to Masonic Authority
Honesty
Observance of the Sabbath
Education
Judgment
Fidelity to Trust
Courage
Resignation
Self Sacrifice
Service to Others
Trustworthiness to Confidence
Sharing Strength and Wisdom
Setting a Good Example
Preservation of the Ancient Landmarks
Faith
Dignity
If <20>every<72> Freemason lived up to <20>all<6C> these teachings, what an
Utopia the world would be!
But what is remarkable is not how many Masons fail, but how many
succeed! That they do succeed is evidenced by the reputation of the
Fraternity in Non-Masonic circles. Were Masons as a class false to
their teachings, lax in their conduct, forsworn as to their
obligations; Freemasonry would not posses the fair reputation she
has:
<EFBFBD>Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy
soul and with every mind. This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets.<2E>
If the Man of Galilee was content to reduce <20>all the law<61> to fifty-
three words, surely Freemasonry might formulate an equally short
statement of her aims and purposes. But while <20>all the law<61> may be
put into a few words, many thousand words of New Testament are needed
to explain the teachings of Christianity.
Men learn by repetition. They absorb that which is told to them, and
retold, and told once more. Freemasonry but follows the ancient
manner of teaching when she iterates and reiterates the duties of a
Mason towards his God, his neighbor and himself. But because
Freemasonry teaches by repetition, her detailed reiteration makes
possible many ways in which a Mason may offend. If he does not
actively break a rule, he may fail as a Mason merely by a negative
attitude. To fail to do good is not necessarily to do evil, but
neither is a failure to work mischief necessarily a doing of good
works! It is expected of men that they will fail, otherwise they are
not men, but Gods! If no man ever failed, Freemasonry would be
unnecessary. When a building is completed, the workmen depart. When
the House Not Made With Hands is perfectly erected, the Craft is no
more use.
It is one thing to fail in any Masonic duty; it is another to fail so
publicly that the reputation of the Fraternity is hurt - that
reputation of which we are taught that its preservation is of vital
importance. Occasionally, more<72>s the pity, it is necessary for a
Masonic organization to take practical steps in regard to some
brother who has failed to live up to the Masonic teachings. Masons
are only men who have solemnly agreed to do certain things; sometimes
they are foresworn. Sometimes our committees do not do their work
aright and we are given cracked stones to work upon. Sometimes a
good man changes as he grows older, and even the sweet and gentle
influence of the Craft cannot hold him in the straight and narrow
way.
The lodge in which someone holds membership may well be advised to do
little rather than much. There are times when something must be
done; when the reputation of which we think so much is hurt by
failure to do. Then we have all the misery and pain of a Masonic
trial; the sad washing of dirty linen in the lodge; the grief of
seeing our good and great Order dragged to some extent into public
notice; when ever a Mason receives the worst Masonic penalty -
expulsion, or Masonic death - the world at large usually hears of it.
Few are the Masons who have no friends! Hence a Masonic trial is
very apt to create tense feelings in a lodge, if not worse, and the
harmony which is <20>the strength and support of all well regulated
institutions<EFBFBD> is made into a discord.
However, it cannot always be helped! - <20>But in a great many cases it
can be helped!<21>
It is human to want to <20>get even.<2E> Our brother wrongs us; it is only
natural to wish him taken before the bar of lodge opinion, and,
perhaps, punish him for his infraction of his obligation. Brethren
often see no further than the immediate present; the immediate wrong
doing; the immediate lodge trial and its results. A word of wise
caution may make him look further. No man, unless suffering wrong of
the most grievous character, but may be caused to stop and think by
reminding him of the many obligations and duties he assumed when he,
too, became a Mason. Let all such be asked, gently, kindly,
considerately but pointedly - <20>will this action you propose benefit
you as much as it will injure the lodge and the Fraternity? Will the
results, inevitably to some extent public, do more harm to that
reputation which we cherish than they will good to you? Is it not
possible that our erring brother may be brought to make amends by
less drastic means than the sad lodge trial?
Let no brother retort <20>but it should not become public!<21> Agreed, a
lodge trial should never be a public matter. But while we hold our
own Mystic Tie, and the cord of secrecy is tight about our lips, we
do not hold relations and friends in the same manner. John Smith is
tried and suspended, perhaps expelled. He no longer goes to lodge.
People want to know why. In self defense he says what he can - but
what can he say? Inevitably the result of the trial becomes public.
Then we suffer.
At times it is necessary to stand pain to get rid of a cancer. But
the best surgeon does not use a knife until all other means fail.
That lodge, that Master and those brethren who seek to compose
differences, win the erring back to the path their feet should never
have left, do a real service to their lodge, to their offended
brother, to their erring brother and to the Fraternity whose
reputation <20>should be our constant care.<2E>
To whisper good counsel in the ear of an erring brother is sound
Masonic teaching. To prevent tarnishing the reputation of the
Fraternity we must not only endeavor to live up to the high level of
our teachings, but strive to help our brethren do likewise. The best
way, the brotherly way, the way of Freemasonry is by kindly caution,
the friendly word of admonition, the hand stretched out to assist and
save the worthy falling brother.
Only when these fail - and never then until after thinking first of
the Order, next of the lodge and last of self - should we go to the
court of last resort, prefer charges, have a trial and do ourselves
the injury which comes always from the knife of publicity in the body
of our Ancient Craft.
Freemasonry - so we truly believe - is one of God<6F>s bright tools for
shaping of the rough ashlars which we are.
<EFBFBD>LET US STRIVE TO KEEP IT BRIGHT!<21>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VIII May, 1930 No.5
THE CANDIDATE
by: Unknown
Freemasonry first asks questions of the candidate for initiation,
then questions about him.
A lodge must be satisfied as to five important matters; a
petitioner<EFBFBD>s motive for applying for the degrees; his physical being;
his mental equipment; his moral character and his political status,
using the word in its non-partisan sense.
It is highly important that Freemasons understand that a man<61>s
motives for petitioning a lodge are proper, otherwise we cannot guard
our West Gate from invasion by those who will not, because they
cannot, become good Master Masons.
A man must ask for <20>Light, of his own free will and accord.<2E> Not
only must he so declare in his petition, but nine times during his
initiation he must repeat the statement. Here grow the roots of that
unwritten but universally understood prohibition - no Mason must ask
his friend to join the Order.
It is easy to persuade a friend to <20>join something.<2E>
We enjoy our country club - we would enjoy it more if our friend was
a member. We put an application before him and persuade him to sign
it; quite right and proper. We belong, perhaps, to a debating club
or an amateur theatrical society, or a Board of Trade or a luncheon
club. Enjoying these activities, we desire our friend also to have
these pleasure so we ask him to become one of our circle.
An entirely proper procedure in such organizations but it is a wholly
improper course in Masonry. Unless a man petitions the Fraternity
impelled by something within himself, he must state an untruth nine
times in his initiation. Unless he is first prepared <20>in his heart<72>
and not in his mind, he can never grasp the simple but sublime
essentials of brotherhood. To ask our friend to petition our lodge,
then, is to do him not a favor but an injury.
In most Jurisdictions a petitioner is required seriously to declare
upon his honor, not only that he comes of his own free will and
accord, but uninfluenced by any hope of financial gain. There are
men who want to become Freemasons because they believe that the wider
acquaintance and the friends made in the lodge will be <20>good for
business.<2E> So do men join the church or a bible class because they
believe they can sell their goods to their fellow members. But the
man who desires to become a member of a church that he may sell it a
new carpet will hardly be an asset to the house of God; he who would
become a Freemason in order to get the trade of his fellow lodge
members will hardly be in a frame of mind either sincerely to promise
brotherhood or faithfully to live up to its obligations. Hence
Freemasonry<EFBFBD>s need to obtain the most solemn declaration possible of
the secret intentions, the real motives, the hidden desires of those
who would join our Mystic Circle.
The <20>Doctrine of the Perfect Youth<74> is perennially a matter for
discussion in Grand Lodges. The origin of the requirement that a man
be perfect in all his limbs and parts goes back to the days before
written history of the Craft. Mackey states that the first written
law on the subject is found in the fifth article of the Old York or
Gothic Constitutions adopted at York in A.D. 926:
<EFBFBD>A Candidate must be without blemish and have full and proper use of
his limbs; for a maimed man can do the Craft no good.<2E>
This requirement has been repeated, and again repeated at various
times in many different forms; in the <20>Ancient Charges at Making<6E>
(1686) and in the <20>Constitutions of 1722-23<32> which put into print the
customs and enactments of the Mother Grand Lodge in 1717.
The same Masonic authority makes the 18th Landmark read:
<EFBFBD>Certain qualifications of a candidate for initiation are derived
from a Landmark of the Order. These qualifications are; that he
shall be a man - shall be unmutilated - free born and of mature age.
That is to say, a woman, a cripple or a slave, or one born in
slavery, is disqualified for initiation into the rites of Masonry.<2E>
Just how strictly this law should be interpreted is a moot question,
and different Jurisdictions rule in different ways upon it. In no
Jurisdiction, for instance, is a man considered to be ineligible
because he wears glasses, or has a gold tooth! In most Jurisdictions
he must be <20>perfect<63> with two arms, two legs, to hands and two feet.
In some Jurisdictions, if he can conform to the requirements of the
degrees, he may lack one or more fingers not vital to the tokens; in
other he may not.
The foundation of the doctrine was an operative requirement;
obviously a maimed man could not do as <20>good work, true work, square
work<EFBFBD> as the able-bodied man. The requirement has been carried over
in Speculative Masonry. Its greatest importance today is less in the
need for physical strength and mobility than in undoubted fact that
if we materially alter this Ancient Landmark, these old <20>usages and
customs,<2C> then we can alter others; admit women, elect by a majority
vote, dispense with the Tiler and hold our meetings in the public
square! Physical qualifications have a further importance of a
practical nature; other things being equal, the maimed man and the
cripple are more apt to become charges upon the lodge than the strong
and whole. Finally, the weak and feeble of body cannot offer to
their brethren that same assistance in danger which the able-bodied
may give.
Inspired by patriotism some Jurisdictions have relaxed the severity
of their physical requirements in favor of soldiers who have suffered
in behalf of their country. Into the argument pro and con as to the
expedience of such relaxations this Bulletin can not go. Suffice it
here that the lodge to which an applicant applies should be
meticulously careful to see that the candidate conforms literally to
the requirements as laid down by the Grand Lodge.
It is hardly necessary to say that the petition of a woman cannot be
entertained under any circumstances whatsoever, nor need the reasons
for it to be discussed here.
The mental qualifications required of a candidate are dictated more
by the desires of the individual lodges than by any stated law. Many
Jurisdictions have ruled that a man who cannot read is not an
eligible petitioner, for the good and sufficient reason that he who
cannot read cannot search the Great Light, nor discover for himself
the by-laws of his lodge, the constitution of the Grand Lodge, or the
Old Charges and ancient Constitutions.
The ability to read and write, however, important though it is, does
not make a man educated! Nothing is said in our Ritual about the
need of an education prior to becoming a Mason, but by implication a
man is supposed to have sufficient educational background to be able
to study the seven liberal arts and sciences. <20>Sufficient education<6F>
is a very broad phrase and may include all sorts of men, of all sorts
of education, as, indeed, it does. A man may not know the
multiplication table, murder the King<6E>s English, and believe geometry
is something to eat; and yet be a hard-working, true-hearted, single-
minded brother to his brethren. But it will hardly be doubted that
if all Freemasons were of such limited educational equipment the
Order would perish from the earth from the lack of appreciation of
what it is, where it came from, and whither is it going!
First the friend who presents the petition; next the committee
appointed to investigate; and finally the lodge must be the judge of
what constitutes <20>sufficient mental equipment<6E> to enable a man to
become a good member of the lodge.
A few ritualistic lions are in the path. He who is silly, is
childish, in his dotage, who is insane, is known to be a fool - may
not legally receive the degrees. It is to be noted that <20>dotage<67> is
not a matter of years but of the effect of years. A man of four
score, in full possession of his mental faculties is not in his
dotage. Premature senility may attack a man in his fifties; he may
truly be in his <20>dotage.<2E> Similarly, a <20>fool<6F> does not mean,
Masonically, a man without what we consider good judgment. <20>Jones
was a fool to go into that stock<63> - <20>He is foolish to try to build
that house<73> - What a fool he is to sell his store now<6F> - do not
really express belief that the man is a <20>fool<6F> in the Masonic sense,
merely that in these particular cases he acts as we think a fool
would act.
Masonically, a man is a <20>fool<6F> who suffers from arrested mental
development. He is not mad, neither is he in his dotage, but he
lacks the ordinary mental equipment and judgment ability of the rest
of humanity. Such a one, of course, is ineligible to receive the
degrees, since he can neither comprehend not live up to their
teachings.
The moral qualifications a petitioner should possess are fully
understood by all. The petitioner must express his belief in Deity.
No atheist can be made a Mason. He must be <20>under the tongue of good
report<EFBFBD> - i.e., have a good reputation in his community. He must
<EFBFBD>obey the moral law.<2E> But just how much is included in this phrase
is an open question.
While a <20>moral man<61> may be hard to define, he is easy to recognize.
Committees seldom have much trouble in ascertaining that a man
<EFBFBD>morally fit<69> to become a Mason is, indeed, so. The contrary is not
always true - moral unfitness often masquerades under the appearance
of virtue - hence the need for the competent committee.
In some Jurisdictions a separate ballot is taken on the candidate for
the second and third degrees, to test his <20>moral fitness,<2C> but
usually the ballot which elects a petitioner to the degrees is
considered to express the opinion of the membership on all his
qualifications at once.
The applicant for the degrees must be <20>of mature and discreet age<67>
(from the Old Charges). In this country that is the legal majority.
In some foreign Jurisdictions it varies from eighteen, for a <20>lewis<69>
or son of a Mason, to twenty-five.
Our requirement of legal age is dictated not only by the fact that
Masonry is for men, and a youth does not become a man until he is
twenty-one; but because to be made a Mason in the United States a man
must be a citizen, and citizenship, in its real sense, is not held by
minors.
Our political requirements are most explicit upon the question of
being free born. Many have erroneously thought that such
qualification was <20>read into<74> the body of Masonry to keep out men of
the colored race. Unquestionably <20>free born<72> means not only not born
a slave, but not born of parents who have been slaves, or whose
forebears were slaves. Thus <20>free born<72> does bar men of African
descent in this country from becoming a Mason.
But the provision was an integral part of Masonic law long before
Africans were imported into this country - see the statute from the
Old York Constitution already quoted. The custom even goes further
into antiquity. In the ancient Mysteries of Greece and Rome, from
which Masonry derives something of its form, similar law prevailed.
No man born a slave, or made a slave, even if freed (manumitted)
could be initiated.
It is practically a universal requirement that the candidate be a
resident of the Jurisdiction to which he applies for a period of one
year prior to making the application. A man who has not resided for
a reasonable period in one place cannot have demonstrated to his
neighbors the kind of man that he really is. A committee is
handicapped in making an investigation of a man who is not among
friends and neighbors. Grand Lodges are usually very strict about
this; but Grand Masters occasionally, upon a very good reason being
shown, grant dispensations to shorten the statutory period. A man
who has resided in a Jurisdiction for ten months, let us say, is
ordered to Japan for three years. He desires to become a Mason
before he departs. If he is satisfied that the applicant can show
the committee his moral worth, a Grand Master may permit him to make
application and receive the degrees before he departs. During the
war, when all requirements seemed of less than the usual importance
when seen in the fierce white light of patriotism; length of
residence in a Jurisdiction was sometimes lost sight of.
A man considered worthy to have his petition placed before a Masonic
lodge has much to recommend him. If the committee has done its work
well, and, if on the strength of that report the lodge elects him. he
may well feel that an important seal has been placed upon his
reputation and character. That some committees do their work ill is
evidenced by the occasional failures of brethren to walk uprightly.
That the vast majority of committees are intelligent and faithful is
proven by the reputation of the Fraternity and the undoubted fact
that a man known to be a Master Mason is almost universally
considered to be a good man and true!

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VIII June, 1930 No.6
THREE GRAND COLUMNS
by: Unknown
All Masons are taught of Wisdom, Strength and Beauty; the words <20>For
there should be Wisdom to contrive, Strength to support and Beauty to
adorn<EFBFBD> are older than our Rituals.
Attempting, as we do, to convey an outline of Masonic wisdom in three
degrees, conferred in three evenings, our work necessarily devotes
but little time to any one of our great teachings. We give the hint,
refer the initiate to the Great Light, abjure to study the Seven
Liberal Arts and Sciences, instruct him to converse with well-
informed Masons, and pass on to offer another outline of a great
truth.
It would take pages, where here are but paragraphs, even to list the
references to Wisdom in the Great Light; the word occurs in the Bible
two hundred and twenty-four times!
For Masons, however, perhaps the most illuminating passage regarding
wisdom is from I Kings (IV. 30-32):
<EFBFBD>Solomon<EFBFBD>s wisdom exceeded the wisdom of all children of the east
country and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men;
than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman and Chalcol and Darda, the sons of
Mahol; and his fame was in all the nations round about.<2E>
As might be expected of the man who was wiser than <20>all children of
the East country,<2C> Solomon esteemed wisdom greatly. In Proverbs he
says: <20>Incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thy heart to
understanding. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that
getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the
merchandise of silver and the gain thereof than fine gold. For
wisdom is better than rubies and all things that may be desired are
not to be compared to it!<21>
It is easy, Masonically, to confuse wisdom with knowledge as it is to
do so in profane life. Pope is often misquoted:
<EFBFBD>A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, Drink deep, or taste not
the Pierian spring.<2E>
What he really said was <20>a little <20>learning<6E> is a dangerous thing,<2C>
which is as different from knowledge as is wisdom.
Knowledge is the cognizance of facts. Wisdom is the strength of mind
to apply its knowledge. A Mason may know every word of our ritual
from the beginning of the entered Apprentice Degree to the final
words of the Sublime Degree of Master Mason and still have no wisdom,
Masonic or otherwise. Many a great leader of the Craft has been a
stumbling, halting ritualist; yet possessed in abundance a Masonic
wisdom which made him a power for good among the brethren, by whom he
was well beloved.
Knowledge comes from study; Wisdom from experience.
Knowledge may be the possession of the criminal, the wastrel, the
<EFBFBD>irreligious libertine<6E> and the atheist. Wisdom comes only to the
wise, and the wise are ever good.
Surely the first of the three Grand Columns which support our
Institution should be taken to heart by every Mason as a symbol of
the real need of a brother to become wise with the goodness of
Masonry, skilled in the arts of brotherhood, learned in the way to
the hearts of his brethren. If he knew not, and asked <20>how may I
gain Masonic Wisdom,<2C> let him find the answer not in the ritual,
important though it is; not in the form and ceremony, beautiful
though they are, and in themselves strong with the strength of
repetition and age - let him look to the Five Points of Fellowship,
for there is the key to the real wisdom of the brotherhood of man.
The connection between wisdom, strength and beauty is by no means
confined to Masonry. The terms have been associated in many great
and good minds. Thus, Tupper sings:
<EFBFBD>Few and precious are the words which the lips of Wisdom utter
To what shall their rarity be likened, what price shall count
their worth?
Perfect and much to be desired, and giving joy with riches,
No lovely thing on earth can picture all their beauty.<2E>
Milton wrote:
<EFBFBD>What is strength, without a double share of wisdom?
Vast, unwieldy, burdensome;
Proudly secure, yet liable to fall By weakest subtleties;
not made to rule But to subserve, where wisdom bears command.<2E>
And the immortal Bard of Avon knew:
<EFBFBD>O, how much doth beauty beauteous seem
by that sweet adornment which truth doth give!<21>
Strength, the second of our Grand Columns, without which nothing
endures, not even when contrived by wisdom and adorned with beauty;
we know in two forms in our daily lives. First, the strength which
lies in action, power, might - the strength of the arm, the engine,
the army. Second, that other, subtler strength which is not less
strong for being passive; the strength of the column which supports,
the strength of the foundation which endures; the strength of the
principles by which we live, individually, collectively, nationally -
Masonically.
It is the second form of strength with which the Speculative Mason is
concerned. Freemasons build no temporal building. True, we do lay
the cornerstone of the public building in the northeast corner, but
the building is symbolic, not practical. The operative Mason who
sets the stone for the Grand Master would place it as strongly in the
building without our ceremony as with it. Our building is with the
strength which endures in hearts and minds rather than that which
makes the sun-dry materials of which an edifice is composed to do
man<EFBFBD>s will. The Freemason constructs only the spiritual building;
his stone is his mind; mentally, not physically, chipped by the
common gavel to a perfect ashlar. The strength by which he
establishes his kingdom is not a strength of iron but a strength of
will; his pillars support not a wall to keep out the cowans and
eavesdroppers, but a character, proof against the intrusion of the
vices and superfluities of life.
The lesson of the second column is made plain in the second degree.
The <20>promise of God unto David<69> may be found by any who will read in
II Samuel<65>
<EFBFBD>And when thy days shall be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy
fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of
thy bowels and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house
in my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
He who reads not merely the promise, but the reason for it, will
understand that when David wished to build a house for the Lord, the
Prophet Nathan brought him a message of the Lord, that he, not David,
will build a <20>house not made with hands<64> in the form of sons and
their sons forever. Later, in the Great Light, we learn that the
house which is <20>the Temple of the Holy Spirit<69> is man. If we follow
out Masonic teachings, and believe that <20>the inestimable gift of God
to man for the rule and guide of his faith<74> holds a true
interpretation of the Mason<6F>s conception of life and living, the
<EFBFBD>strength<EFBFBD> which Masons should strive to acquire is that which will
establish our sovereignty over ourselves, that our kingdom of
character may endure.
Beauty is represented in a Masonic lodge by the Corinthian Column,
most beautiful of the ancient orders of architecture; by the Junior
Warden, who observes the sun at Meridian when the day is most
beautiful; by Hiram Abif, who <20>beautified and adorned the Temple.<2E>
We are taught that it is as necessary that beauty adorn all great and
important undertakings as that wisdom contrives and strength supports
them. In the story of Solomon<6F>s Temple in the Great Light we find
detailed descriptions of what was evidently, to those who went into
details of its construction; the most beautiful building possible for
the engineering skill, the wealth and the conception of the people of
Israel of that day.
Artists have disputed and philosophers have differed about what is
beauty. All of us have our individual conceptions of what constitutes
it. That the beauty is largely in the mind of the beholder is
demonstrated vividly to every traveler! The Turk thinks Ruben<65>s
women are beautiful; while the American admires the pulchritude of
the slender woman. Doubtless the pyramids were beautiful to the
Egyptians, but modern architecture finds them too plain, too severe
for beauty. Harmonies which the trained musical ear enjoys are but
sounding brass and tinkling cymbal to the radio devotee, who finds in
the spontaneity of a Negro jazz orchestra something to which his
conception of musical beauty responds to. The man who finds pleasure
in Edgar Guest gets none from Swinburne, or the sonnets to the
Portuguese; he who finds beauty in a diatom or a bacteria under a
microscope will see none in tiger or a rose.
Obviously then, the beauty of which Masons are taught is that variety
which, like the <20>natural religion<6F> of the Old Charges, is one <20>in
which all men agree.<2E>
As no two men are agreed as to what is beautiful in a material sense,
the Masonic conception of beauty cannot be of a material beauty. Its
symbol of beauty - the sun at Meridian - is actually blinding to see.
If we think the sun is beautiful, it is, for what it does for us
rather than for what it is.
The Masonic Pillar of Beauty then, must be the symbol of an inward
loveliness; a beauty of the mind, of the heart; a beauty of idea and
ideal; a beauty of the spirit. Our Corinthian Column is to us not
merely the support of the building, but that which upholds a
character. Our Junior Warden represents not only the beauty of the
sun at Meridian, but the illumination by which a life is made
beautiful. Hiram Abif is to us not only an exemplary character but
an ideal to follow, a tradition to be preserved, a glory for which we
may strive.
All about us, among our neighbors, are examples of what we term <20>a
beautiful life.<2E> Such beauty is almost wholly composed of
unselfishness. He who walks in beauty thinks of others before
himself, of stretching forth his hand, not for personal gain, but to
help, aid and assist the poor and the unfortunate. Such a conception
of the third Grand Column is foreshadowed in our teaching that <20>the
greatest of these is charity<74> - charity of thought, of action, of
understanding as well as of alms and of giving.
Masonic beauty was wholly an operative matters in the days when the
Gothic Cathedrals first lifted their arches and spires to heaven.
Today, when Masonry is purely speculative, Masonic beauty must be
considered only as a beauty of the spirit.
It cannot be had by wishing. It is not painted by the brush of
desire. No musician may compose it upon any material piano. The
poet may write about it, but he cannot phrase it. For it is of the
inward essence which marks the difference between the <20>real good
man<EFBFBD> and he who only outwardly conforms to the laws and customs of
society.
A man may keep every law, go to church three times on Sunday, belong
to our Order and subscribe to every charity; and still be mean of
spirit, unhappy to live with, selfish, inconsiderate, and
disagreeable. Such a one has not learned the inward meaning of the
Pillar of Beauty. He has never stood, symbolically in the South.
For him, the sun at Meridian is but the orb of the day at high noon
and nothing more.
But for the real Mason, the brother who takes the lessons of the
three Grand Columns to heart, Beauty is as much a lamp to live by as
are Wisdom and Strength. He finds beauty in his fellow-man because
his inner self is beautiful. His <20>house not made with hands<64> is
glorious before heaven, not because, in imitation of Solomon, he
<EFBFBD>overlaid also the house, the beams, the post and the walls thereof
and doors thereof with gold<6C> but because it is made of those stones
which endureth before the Great Architect - unselfishness, and
kindness, and consideration, and charity, and a giving spirit - in
other words, of brotherhood genuine because it springs from the
heart.
For these things endure. Material things pass away.
The Temple of Solomon is but a memory. Scattered are the stones,
stolen is the gold and silver, destroyed are the lovely vessels cast
by Hiram Abif. But the memory. like the history of the beauty and
the glory which was Solomon, abide into this day. So shall it be
with our <20>house not built with hands,<2C> so be it if we build with the
Beauty which Masons teach.
In conclusion consider an oddity of this dear old Craft of ours, a
coincidence to be cherished in the heart, if only to keep constantly
in memory of the real meaning of the three Grand Columns.
The ancient Hebrew word for strength is <20>Daath.<2E>
The ancient Hebrew word for strength is <20>Oz.<2E>
The ancient Hebrew word for a hewn stone, our perfect Ashlar, which
may well stand here as meaning beauty, is <20>Gazith.<2E>
According to our ideas, Hebrew is read backwards.
The initials of these three Old Testament words, read backwards,
produce our name for Deity!
Surely it is the Great Architect, of whom they speak to the Mason who
hath ears to hear, to whom we must look for the inner and spiritual
meaning of the three Grand Columns which support our Institution!

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VIII July, 1930 No.7
UNAFFILIATED
by: Unknown
The most dramatic legend in history concerns Ahasuerus, a doorkeeper
in the Palace of Pontius Pilate, who offered insult to Jesus as He
Struggled under the burden of His Cross on the way to Calvary. Jesus
turned to him and said:
<EFBFBD>Tarry thou Till I come!<21> Ever since, the Wandering Jew has tarried
in the world, unable to die. All knowledge is his; all ambitions are
fulfilled; all pleasures are satisfied. He has done all that may be
done; seen all that may be seen; experienced all that the world has
to offer, save one thing only - he cannot die! Accident, injury,
disease touch him not; a frightful fate, to long for death and rest,
and be compelled to live and wander!
Unaffiliates are the Wandering Jews of Masonry, that pitiful group of
Master Masons who are neither the quick nor the dead. They are, yet
they belong not. They know; yet they cannot use their knowledge.
They are of, but not in, the Order.
Their penalty is self-inflicted; theirs is the sin of indifference;
worst of all, they know not all their punishment or they would end
it!
As a universal factor in Freemasonry, lodge membership dates only to
1717, when the Mother Grand Lodge was formed. There were some
continuing lodges before the Grand Lodge in which brethren held
membership but most were like the occasional, emergent sporadic,
temporary lodges convened for any building operation. For the time
being all Master Masons attended these. When the labor was over, the
Master Masons went their several ways, and the lodge in which they
had met, was no more.
As a consequence of the stabilization of lodges as continuing
organizations, resulting from the formation of Grand Lodges, lodge
membership became an important matter. It is distinct from the state
of being a Master Mason. No man may belong to a lodge unless he is a
Master Mason, but he may be a Master Mason without holding membership
in any lodge. Indeed, it is possible that man be made a Master Mason
without ever being a member of a lodge. Thus, a Grand Master may
convene an Emergent Lodge to make a Master Mason <20>at sight.<2E> This
brother may be unable to pass the ballot for affiliation in any
lodge. Such a one would be a Master Mason even though he never
belonged to any regular lodge, the Emergent Lodge in which he was
made going out of existence. as it came into it, at the pleasure and
will of the Grand Master.
With membership as an inalienable right of the newly made Master
Mason - a <20>right<68> since he becomes a member of the lodge in which he
was elected to receive the degrees, and as soon as he is Raised a
Master Mason - came also a duty, inevitable accompaniment of all
right; that of continuing a member of a lodge.
This was recognized in the formation of the Grand Lodge in 1717, if
it can be believed that the Constitutions of 1723 truly represent the
state of the law and the beliefs of the brethren of the Mother Grand
Lodge six years before their first publication in print. In the
description of a lodge, the Constitutions say: <20>Every brother ought
to belong to one,<2C> and later: <20>in ancient times no Mason or Fellow
could be absent from it, especially when warned to appear at it,
without incurring a severe censure, until it appeared to the Master
and Wardens that pure necessity hin-dered him.<2E>
The modern Constitution of England provides that <20>a brother who is
not a subscribing member of some lodge (i.e., affiliated with it)
shall not be permitted to visit any one lodge in the town, or where
he resides more than once during his secession from the Craft.<2E>
A similar rule is found in many American Grand Jurisdictions - which
have been a solid unit frowning upon the state of being unaffiliated,
because if a non-affiliated could visit as often as he pleased, he
might argue <20>why pay dues to any lodge, when I can attend when I wish
without it?<3F>
The one visit to each lodge in <20>the town or place where he resides<65>
is permitted that the non-affiliate may be able to judge for himself
whether any of the lodges he visits are such as he may wish to apply
to for affiliation.
The unaffiliated Masons, when remaining so for any length of time
(except is a very unusual case, of which more in a moment) works a
real injury to the ancient Craft. Any man who receives and gives not
is a liability, not an asset, to that institution from which he
takes.
An unaffiliated Mason in possession of a demit or certificate of
transfer, or even a mere certificate that his dues have been paid
(sometimes given a brother who has been dropped N.P.D. and been
refused re-affiliation, after a year, with the lodge that dropped
him) is, technically <20>in good standing.<2E> He owes no money to any
lodge. He is not under charges. He has not been censured,
suspended, or expelled. He is a member of the Fraternity, although
he belongs to no Masonic family.
The old saying, <20>Once a Mason, always a Mason<6F> is true in the sense
that no act of any man or any body of men, no Grand Master or Grand
Lodge can release a brother from his Masonic obligations. Once
given, there can be no going back. We may expel him for un-Masonic
conduct, visit him with the greatest punishment we know - Masonic
death - but we cannot release him from his pledged word. How much
less, then, can it be considered that the unaffiliate (who has
committed no crime, although his state is considered a Masonic
offense) is not bound by his obligations.
But, if he is bound to us by so much, then are we bound to him. The
unaffiliated Mason has still all the rights and privileges which
inure Masons to Masons, as distinct from lodge members. Of the
rights which go with lodge membership he has none. Conversely, he is
bound by all his obligations to the Craft as a whole, but not by
those which relate only to the lodge in particular, since he has no
<EFBFBD>lodge in particular.<2E>
No Mason would refuse a non-affiliate the right of assistance in
peril. We do not ask of a drowning man, <20>Are you an affiliated
Mason? Show me your good standing card!<21> But the unaffiliated Masons
have no right to ask for, and no Mason is foresworn who refuses to
give <20>help, aid or assistance<63> to the Mason who has voluntarily
severed himself from his Fraternal relations to avoid payment of dues
to his lodge. No unaffiliated Mason has the right to ask any lodge
for assistance.
He has no right of visitation, except as permitted by the Grand Lodge
in the Jurisdiction in which he may be. Commonly, as noted above,
this is limited to one visit to the lodges in his locality, that he
may determine their desirability as a permanent Masonic Home.
Like the entered Apprentice and the Fellowcraft, the unaffiliated
Mason has no right to a Masonic burial nor may he walk in a Masonic
procession.
The unaffiliated Mason is as subject to government by the Order as
his affiliated brother. If he commits a Masonic offense, he may be
tried by any lodge in the Jurisdiction in which he may be at the
time.
Mackey asserts that it follows that a persistently non-affiliated
Mason may be tried for the offense of non-affiliation. Doubtless it
is true, but it is improbable that a Grand Lodge would push the
theory that far. Masonic trials are also Masonic tribulations; non-
affiliation. while an offense against Masonic law, is usually held to
be a matter of the head and not the heart; in other words, an offense
against a regulation, not against Masonic nature.
In some situations a willful non-affiliation might be applauded
rather than condemned. A brother commits a crime against civil law;
he regrets, makes restitution and leaves his home to rehabilitate
himself. If permitted to take a demit, on the promise not to attempt
affiliation until his brethren are convinced his reformation is
complete, he helps his brethren avoid the self-protective measure of
a trial and suspension or expulsion. In his status as unaffiliated,
he cannot ask for relief from another lodge; he cannot willfully
break his promise and affiliate, even with his demit, because the
lodge to which he applies will, of course, request particulars as to
his character from the lodge from which he demitted!
But such instances are extraordinary and exceptional.
It is the generality of non-affiliates who are the Wandering Jews of
the Order. The vast majority are merely indifferent. Some don<6F>t
care, because they have not the background, the imagination or the
education to take unto themselves the reality of the principles of
Masonry. Such cases are usually failures of the investigating
committee. Some become indifferent because of too many other
interests. They take a demit - or become suspended N.P.D. -<2D>to save
paying dues.<2E>
We are to blame for a certain proportion of such non-affiliates if we
do not sufficiently educate our members as to what really happens
when they allow themselves to be suspended for non-payment of dues.
Many a man submits to that penalty who would be shocked if he
realized that a permanent, ineradicable record becomes a part of the
lodge and Grand Lodge archives. Many men look upon being <20>posted<65> in
a club for <20>arrears in dues<65> as a joke. They pay up and forget it,
as does the club. These may think that being dropped N.P.D. in a
lodge is a similar light matter.
It is not. Down in black and white to remain as long as the records
exist are the few words which say <20>John Smith wouldn<64>t pay his debt
to his lodge, so his lodge dropped him.<2E> No lodge drops any
unfortunate brother. He needs only to ask to be carried, and the
brethren do it cheerfully. None may rightfully plead poverty as an
excuse for non-affiliation <20>Via<69> the disgraceful road of failure to
pay dues.
Some brethren plead they could not sacrifice their pride by going to
the Master or Secretary, confessing their inability to pay, and
asking to be carried. But that is false modesty. The permanent
record is an indelible mark against their names; confession of
inability to pay and a request to have dues remitted is usually, as
it always should be, a secret between the unfortunate and his
brethren. As the unaffiliated Mason, no matter what the case,
injures the Fraternity, it is far better for the lodge to remit the
dues of the unfortunate than to have him become a Masonic Ahaseurus.
A splendid opportunity for constructive Masonic work is to be found
among the unaffiliated Masons in any locality. Masons may not ask
the profane to join the Fraternity. But there is no reason why we
should not seek to recreate interest in the Order in hearts which
once possessed it. Brethren who know of a Mason unaffiliated of his
own will and not by compulsion may do <20>good work, true work, square
work<EFBFBD> by persuading him of the advantages of affiliation, securing
his application and, eventually, making him a member of the lodge.
The Chapter, Commandry, Council and Scottish Rite, not to mention
such quasi-Masonic orders such as Shrine, Tall Cedars, Grotto and
Eastern Star automatically drop from membership the brother not
affiliated with a lodge. As many demits are taken when moving from
one city to another with the intention of re-affiliating, these
bodies usually wait six months before dropping the unaffiliated.
After whatever time is statutory, the bodies, membership in which
depends upon on membership in a Blue Lodge, strike from their rolls
the unaffiliated Mason.
This fact too, may be called to the attention of the non-affiliate,
who may remain in that state merely because he has never had brought
home to him the fact that it is a Masonic offense, frowned upon by
Grand Lodges, a loss to his brethren, and a failure of that
brotherhood he has voluntarily assumed. The brother who is anxious
to do something for his lodge and the great Order which may do so
much for him can find no better place to begin than an interview with
a non-affiliated Mason and attempt to persuade him back into the
Mystic Circle.
Romances and poems have detailed most movingly the sufferings of
Ahaseurus, driven continually from place to place to escape from
himself, shut out from the fellowship of mankind, joined not only by
their common life, but their expectancy of a common death, a united
immortality.
Salathiel the Immortal must tarry, earthbound, a wanderer till Christ
shall come again. But the wandering non-affiliated Mason - unless he
is, indeed, of those infortunates who have so lived that no Mason
wants again to take him by the hand as a brother - may apply to a
lodge, again pass the ballot, and once again become of that circle
the bonds of which are the stronger that they cannot be seen.
Pity the Wandering Jew - and be not his Masonic prototype, not only
for your own but for the sake of all who have joined hands across the
Altar to tie the knot that may not be untied!

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VIII August, 1930 No.8
CORN, WINE AND OIL
by: Unknown
The wages which our ancient brethren received for their labors in the
building of King Solomon<6F>s Temple are paid no more. In the lodge we
use them as symbols, save in the dedication, constitution and
consecration of a new lodge and in the laying of cornerstones, when
once again the fruit of the land, the brew of the grape and the
essence of the olive are poured to launch a new unit of brotherhood
into the fellowship of lodges; or to begin a new structure dedicated
to the public use.
Corn, wine and oil have been associated together from the earliest
times. In Deuteronomy the <20>nation of fierce countenance<63> which is to
destroy the people <20>shall not leave thee either corn, wine or oil.<2E>
In II Chronicles we read <20>the children of Israel brought in abundance
the first fruits of corn, wine and oil -.<2E>Nehemiah tells of <20>a great
chamber where aforetime they laid the meat offerings, the
frankincense and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new
wine and the oil - <20> and later <20>then brought all Judah the tithe of
the corn, the new wine and the oil into the treasures.<2E>
There are other references in the Great Light to these particular
forms of taxes, money and tithes for religious purposes; wealth and
refreshment. In ancient days the grapes in the vineyard and olives
in the grove and the grain of the field were not only wealth but the
measure of trade; so many skins of wine, so many cruses of oil, so
many bushels of corn were to them as are dollars and cents today.
Thus our ancient brethren received wages in corn, wine and oil as a
practical matter; they were paid for their labors in the coin of the
realm.
The oil pressed from the olive was as important to the Jews in
Palestine as butter and other fats are among occidentals. Because it
was so necessary, and hence so valuable, it became an important part
of sacrificial rites. There is no point in the sacrifice which is
only a form. To be effective it must offer before the Altar
something of value; something the giving of which will testify to the
love and veneration in which the sacrificer holds the Most High.
Oil was also used not only as a food but for lighting purposes; more
within the house than in the open air, where torches were more
effective. Oil was also an article of the bath; mixed with perfume
it was used in the ceremonies of anointment, and in preparation for
ceremonial appearances. The <20>Precious ointment upon the head, which
ran down upon the beard, even Aaron<6F>s beard, that went down to the
skirts of his garment;<3B> as the quotation has it in our entered
Apprentice Degree, (and Nevada<64>s Master Mason opening and closing)
was doubtless made of olive oil, suitably mixed with such perfumes
and spices as myrrh, cinnamon, galbanum and frankincense. Probably
oil was also used as a surgical dressing; nomadic peoples, subject to
injuries, could hardly avoid knowledge of the value of soothing oil.
With so many uses for oil, its production naturally was stimulated.
Not only was the production of the olive grove a matter of wealth,
but the nourishing and processing of the oil gave employment to many.
Oil was obtained from the olive both by pressing - probably by a
stone wheel revolving in or on a larger stone, mill or mortar - and
also by a gentle pounding. This hand process produced a finer
quality of oil. <20>And thou shalt command the children of Israel that
they bring pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to
burn always.<2E> (Exodus, 27-20.)
The corn of the Bible is not the corn we know today.
In many, if not the majority of the uses of the word, a more
understandable translation would be simply <20>grain.<2E> The principal
grains of the Old Testament days were barley and wheat; corn
represents not only both of these, but all the grains which the Jews
cultivated. Our modern corn, cultivated and cross-bred was, of
course, unknown to the ancients, although it might be going too far
to say they had no grain similar to the Indian maize from which our
great corn crop has grown.
An ear of grain has been an emblem of plenty since the mists of
antiquity which shroud the beginnings of mythology. Ceres, goddess
of abundance, survives today in our cereals. The Greeks call her
Demeter, a corruption of Gemeter, our mother earth. She wore a
garland of grain and carried ears of grain in her hand.
The Hebrew Shibboleth means both an ear of corn and a flood of water.
Both are symbols of abundance, plenty and wealth. American Masonic
use of a sheaf of wheat in place of an ear of wheat - or any other
grain such as corn - seems rather without point or authority. As for
the substitution occasionally heard, of <20>water ford<72> for <20>water
fall,<2C> we can only blame the corrupting influence of time and the
ignorance of those who have permitted it, since a water <20>Ford<72>
signifies a paucity, the absence of water, while a water <20>Fall<6C>
carries out both the translation of the word and the meaning of the
ear of corn - plenty.
Scarcely less important to our ancient brethren than their corn and
oil, was the wine. Vineyards were highly esteemed both as wealth and
as a comfort - the pleasant shade of the <20>vine and fig tree<65> was a
part of ancient hospitality. Vineyards on mountain sides or hills
were most carefully tended and protected against washing away by
terraces and walls, as even today one may see the hillsides of the
Rhine. Thorn hedges kept cattle from helping themselves to the
grapes. The vineyardist frequently lived in a watch tower or hut on
an elevation to keep sharp look-out that neither predatory man nor
beast took his ripening wealth.
The feast of Booths, in the early fall, when the grapes were ripe,
was a time of joy and happiness. <20>New Wine<6E> - that is, the
unfermented, just pressed-out juice of the grape - was drunk by all.
Fermented wine was made by storing the juice of the grape in skins or
bottles. Probably most of the early wine of Old Testament days was
red, but later the white grape must have come into esteem - at least,
it is the principal grape of production for that portion of the world
today.
Corn, wine and oil form important and necessary parts of the
ceremonies of the dedication, consecration and constitution of a new
lodge.
Lodges were anciently dedicated to King Solomon, but as we all know,
our modern lodges are dedicated to the Holy Sts. John. <20>and since
their time there is represented in every regular and well-governed
lodge a certain point within a circle, emborderd by two parallel
perpendicular lines, representing those saints.<2E>
This symbol of the point within the circle is far older than King
Solomon<EFBFBD>s Temple. The two lines which emborder it, and which we
consider represent the Saints, were originally representative of the
summer and winter solstices. The Holy Sts. John have their <20>days<79> so
closely to the summer and winter solstices - (June 24 and December 27
are almost coincident to June 21 and December 21) that there can be
little doubt that both lines and dates represented to our <20>ancient
brethren<EFBFBD> the highest and lowest points which the sun reached in its
travels north and south. They are, most intimately connected with
the time of fecundity and harvest, the festivals of the first fruits,
the depths of winter and the beginning of the long climb of the sun
up from the south towards the days of warmth which that climb
promised.
Hence corn, wine and oil - the produce of the land - are natural
accompaniments to the dedication of a lodge which it is hoped will
prosper, reap in abundance of the first fruits of Masonic cultivation
and a rich harvest of ripe character from the seeds it plants.
Corn, wine and oil poured upon the symbolic lodge at the ceremony
which creates it, are essential to <20>erection<6F> or <20>consecration.<2E> All
lodges are <20>erected to God and Consecrated to the services of the
Most High.<2E> From earliest times consecration has been accompanied by
sacrifice, a free-will offering of something of real value to those
who thus worship. Hence the sacrifice of corn, wine and oil - the
wealth of the land, the strength of the tribe, the come-fort and
well-being of the individual - at the consecration of any place of
worship or service of God.
Like so much else in our ceremonies, the idea today is wholly
symbolic. The Grand Master orders his Deputy (or whatever other
officer is customary) to pour the Corn, the Senior Grand Warden to
pour the Wine and the Junior Grand Warden to pour the oil upon the
<EFBFBD>lodge<EFBFBD> - usually a covered structure representing the original Ark
of the Covenant. The corn is poured as an emblem of nourishment; the
wine as an emblem of refreshment and the oil as an emblem of joy and
happiness.
The sacrifice we thus make is not actual, any more than Masonic work
is physical labor. The ceremony should mean to those who take part
in it, to those who form the new lodge, that the symbolic sacrifice
will be made real by the donation of the necessary time, effort,
thought and brotherly affection which will truly make the new lodge
an effective instrument in the hands of the builders. When the Grand
Master constitutes the new lodge, he brings it legally into
existence. A man and a woman may be married in a civil ceremony of
consecration. But as the joining of a man and woman in matrimony is
by most considered as a sacrament, to be solemnized with the blessing
of the Most High, so is the creation of a new lodge, but the
consecration is also its spirit.
In the laying of a corner stone the Grand Master also pours, or
causes to be poured, the corn, wine and oil, symbolizing health,
prosperity and peace. The fruits of the land are poured upon the
cornerstone to signify that it will form part of a building which
shall grow, be used for purposes of proper refreshment, and become
useful and valuable to men. The ceremonies differ in different
Jurisdictions - indeed, so do those of the dedication, consecration
and constitution of a lodge - but the essential idea is the same
everywhere. regardless of the way in which they are applied in the
ritualistic ceremonies.
It probably matters very little what varieties of grain, of oil and
juice of the grape are used in these ceremonies. The symbolism will
be the same, since the brethren assembled will not know the actual
character of the fruits of the earth being used. The main theme is
that <20>Fruits of the Earth<74> are being used, no matter which fruits
they are! To be quite correct though, barley or wheat should be used
for the corn, olive oil for the oil, and sacramental wine, such as is
permitted by the Volstead Act (during the days of the prohibition!)
for religious purposes for the wine. It may be noted, however, that
<EFBFBD>new wine<6E> or unfermented grape juice was used by the children of
Israel as a sacrificial wine, the ordinary grape juice in no way
destroys the symbolism. Mineral oil, of course is oil, and is a
<EFBFBD>fruit of the earth<74> in the sense that it comes from the <20>clay which
is constantly being employed for man<61>s use.<2E> The oil of Biblical
days, however, was wholly vegetable, whether it was the olive oil of
commerce, or the oil of cedar as was used in burials.
Corn, wine and oil were the wages paid our ancient brethren. They
were the <20>Master<65>s Wages<65> of the days of King Solomon. Masons of
this day receive no material wages for their labors; the work done in
a lodge is paid for only in the coin of the heart. But those wages
are no less real. They may sprout as does the grain, strengthen as
does the wine, nourish as does the oil. How much we receive and what
we do with our wages depends entirely on our Masonic work. A brother
obtains from his lodge and from his Order only what he puts into it.
Our ancient brethren were paid for their physical labors. Whether
their wages were paid for work performed upon the mountain and in the
quarries, or whether they received corn, wine and oil because they
labored in the fields or vineyards, it was true then, and it is true
now, that only <20>in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.<2E> To
receive the equivalent of corn, wine and oil, a brother must labor.
He must till the fields of his own heart or build the temple of his
own <20>house not made with hands. <20>He must labor to his neighbor or
carry stones for his brother<65>s temple.
If he stands, waits, watches and wonders he will not be able to
ascend into the Middle Chamber where our ancient brethren received
their wages. If he works for the joy of working, does his part in
his lodge work, takes his place among the laborers of Freemasonry, he
will receive corn, wine and oil in measures pressed down and running
over, and know a Fraternal Joy as substantial in fact as it is
ethereal in quality; as real in his heart as it is intangible to the
profane of the world.
For all of us then corn, then wine and then oil are symbols of
sacrifice, of the fruits of labor, of wages earned. For all of us,
<EFBFBD>SO MOTE IT BE!<21>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VIII September, 1930 No.9
I VOUCH FOR HIM
by: Unknown
To vouch for a Mason is, Masonically, to say to the brother to whom
you are introducing the one you are vouching for: <20>I know that
Bother J.D. (John Doe) is a Master Mason.<2E>
By implication it means (1) that the brother doing the vouching has
sat in open lodge with the brother being vouched for: or (2) that the
brother vouching has subjected the brother vouched for to a strict
trial and due examination: or (3) that the brother vouching has
received an avouchment of another brother he knows to be a Master
Mason, that the brother now vouched for is known to <20>Him<69> as a Master
Mason.
In some jurisdictions Grand Lodges have decided that no brother may
undertake a private examination of any man representing himself as a
brother without orders from the Worship Master of his lodge, or the
Grand Master. In these Jurisdictions it is held that the Worshipful
Master is solely responsible for the proper purging of his lodge, and
that, in consequence, he and only he has the right to select the
committee which shall examine a stranger. In such Jurisdictions only
the Master (or the Grand Master) may decide who is competent and who
is not competent to examine a visitor for entrance into his lodge.
Some Jurisdictions have ruled that no <20>second-hand<6E> avouchment is
permissible - that <20>A) can vouch for <20>B<EFBFBD> only if he has sat in open
lodge with him, with the exception, of course, that the members of a
properly qualified and appointed committee may vouch for the brother
they have examined if he has proved himself to be a Master Mason.
Avouchment is a very important matter; much more important than
appears upon the surface. It demands, and should receive, the
earnest thought of all officers of the lodge. The <20>good and
wholesome instruction<6F> which a Master is charged to give, or cause to
be given to his brethren may be well concerned, occasionally, with
this vital matter.
The number of men who have never taken the degrees who try to get
into Masonic lodges is very small. Nevertheless, there have been,
are, and doubtless will be such men; men without principle or honor;
<EFBFBD>eavesdroppers<EFBFBD> who have heard what was not intended for their ears,
or men who have become <20>book Masons<6E> by the study of some of the
exposes of Masonry which may still be found in some libraries, and
which they deem to set forth the correct ritual.
However few in number these importers may be, they must be strictly
guarded against. No such crook desires to work his way into a
Masonic lodge for any other purpose than to obtain credit for being a
Master Mason, and, later, to defraud some of the brethren with whom
he thus hopes to sit in lodge.
Far more dangerous than the <20>eavesdropper<65> is the <20>cowan.<2E> In these
modern days the <20>cowan<61> is the man who has been legally raised but
who has been dropped N.P.D., or suspended or expelled after a Masonic
trial; or he is an Entered Apprentice, or Fellowcraft, whose further
advancement has been stopped for cause.
If such be evilly disposed he may - and has been known to - forge a
good standing card to use as credentials. Or he may find a lost card
and assume the identity of the name upon it. Some brethren are so
unwise as to keep their good standing cards from year to year as an
interesting collection. If such a collection be stolen, it may be
the innocent means of letting loose upon the Fraternity a whole flock
of designing cowans, since dates upon such cards are changed with
little difficulty. It is an excellent Masonic rule to destroy last
year<EFBFBD>s card as soon as you new one arrives. Loss of a current card
should be immediately reported to the Grand Secretary, as well as to
the Master of the Lodge. The Grand Secretary will probably notify
all constituent lodges to be on the lookout for any person presenting
that lost card.
In many Jurisdictions Masters may not authorize the examination of
any would-be visitor who cannot produce credentials. In other
Jurisdictions it is considered sufficient if some known brother
vouches for the credibility of the would-be visitor even if he has no
credentials. Some Jurisdiction require Masters to assure themselves
that the lodge from which the visitor purports to come is a <20>just and
legally constituted lodge<67> under some recognized Grand Lodge.
Particularly, Jurisdictions which are afflicted with clandestine
Masons are apt to be strict in this regard. All Jurisdictions should
be especially strict with putative brethren who hail from
Jurisdictions where clandestine Masonry is know to flourish.
Unless forbidden by Grand Lodge, <20>A<EFBFBD> may accept the avouchment of <20>B<EFBFBD>
that he has sat in lodge with <20>C<EFBFBD>, and therefore knows <20>C<EFBFBD> to be a
Master Mason. But <20>A<EFBFBD> is not obliged to accept this avouchment. <20>A<EFBFBD>
may have no Masonic confidence in <20>B<EFBFBD>. He may believe that <20>B<EFBFBD> has
not been to lodge for a decade and distrusts his memory as to his
sitting in lodge with <20>C<EFBFBD>. No Masonic authority has the power to
compel <20>A<EFBFBD> to vouch for a brother because he has been vouched for to
him by another. To vouch or not to vouch is matter of conscience and
belief. Neither is under control of any law, secular or Masonic.
Under no circumstances whatever should <20>A<EFBFBD> ever accept an avouchment
from <20>B<EFBFBD> as to <20>C,<2C> unless all three be present together.
<EFBFBD>B<EFBFBD> will call up <20>A<EFBFBD> on the telephone: <20>I<EFBFBD>m sending Brother <20>C<EFBFBD>
around to see you,<2C> he may say. <20>I vouch for him as a Master Mason.
Will you see that he is properly introduced to our Tiler tonight?<3F>
(A<>s) proper answer is: <20>Not unless you bring him around and
introduce him to me personally.<2E>
<EFBFBD>A<EFBFBD> has no Masonic means of knowing that the man who comes in and
says: <20>I<EFBFBD>m Brother <20>B,<2C> is really the <20>B<EFBFBD> for whom <20>C<EFBFBD> has vouched!
For the same reasons, no avouchment by letter should ever be
accepted, no matter what the circumstances - nay, not even if the
letter contains a picture of the man it vouches for! Letters can be
lost. Photographs may be changed. Even Lodge Seals may be imitated.
Masonically, there is no such thing as vouching in absence. Masonic
avouchment can only be accomplished in the presence of all three; the
brother vouched for, the bother vouched to, and the brother doing the
vouching. Any other is spurious, un-Masonic and should never be
tolerated or accepted.
<EFBFBD>B<EFBFBD> does not receive <20>lawful Masonic information when <20>A<EFBFBD> says to
him: <20>I have been to the Chapter with <20>C.<2E>
It is true that no man may become a Royal Arch Mason unless he is
first a Master Mason. A Royal Arch Mason, therefore, may have at
some time been a Master Mason. But <20>A<EFBFBD> cannot know how well the
Chapter in question guards its tiled door. For all he knows to the
contrary, <20>C<EFBFBD> held a forged Chapter card, had been expelled from his
Blue Lodge and yet managed to get, or retain his Chapter card.
Doubtful? Probably! But possible never the
What applies to the Chapter, of course, also applies to the
Commandry, Council, Scottish Rite, Shrine, Grotto and Eastern Star -
any body of Masonry the members of which must first be Master
Masons.
Especially does it refer to the Masonic Club! The Masonic Club,
worthy and valuable organization though it might be, is in no sense a
Masonic organization. It is an organization of Masons. In some
cities are Interchurch Men<65>s Clubs, in which male members of all
churches are welcome as members. But no one, the Men<65>s Club least of
all, would claim that such clubs are Churches! A Masonic club is
made up of Master Masons, presumably in good standing, but it is not
Masonically Tiled, it is not under direct control of a Grand Lodge,
it is not Masonic, and it is not competent to judge for any Blue
Lodge the genuineness of Masonic Membership. Therefore, the fact
that <20>A<EFBFBD> meets <20>B<EFBFBD> in his Masonic club is not <20>lawful Masonic
information<EFBFBD> which <20>A<EFBFBD> can pass on to his Tiler, saying: <20>I know <20>B<EFBFBD>
to be a Master Mason.<2E>
None of these cautions or restrictions can legitimately be considered
to reflect upon the honesty of either the brother who desires to
vouch, or the honor of the brother who wishes to be vouched for. Let
us draw a parallel case and consider what <20>Avouchment<6E> is in the
business world.
<EFBFBD>A<EFBFBD> desires to borrow money from his bank. The bank knows and trust
<EFBFBD>A<EFBFBD>. But long experience has taught the bank that <20>one name paper<65>
is at times not good paper. The bank, therefore, requires <20>A<EFBFBD> to
secure some additional name as an endorsement. <20>A<EFBFBD> asks <20>B<EFBFBD> to
endorse his paper. Now <20>B<EFBFBD> may know <20>A<EFBFBD> as a good neighbor, a fellow
club member, the owner of an adjoining pew in the church. <20>B<EFBFBD>
however, may know absolutely nothing of <20>A<EFBFBD>s<EFBFBD> finances or credit
rating. If <20>B<EFBFBD> refuses to <20>vouch for<6F> <20>A<EFBFBD> at the bank, it does not
mean, and is not taken to mean, that he distrusts <20>A<EFBFBD>, - merely that
he knows nothing about his financial standing. Similarly even if <20>B<EFBFBD>
knows all about <20>A<EFBFBD> and trusts him up to the hilt, the bank may not
know <20>B<EFBFBD> and therefore may be unwilling to take his <20>avouchment<6E> -
his endorsement of <20>A<EFBFBD>s<EFBFBD> note. That does not mean that the bank
distrusts <20>B: - merely that the bank has no knowledge of <20>B<EFBFBD>, one way
or another.
Let us suppose <20>A<EFBFBD> says to <20>B:<3A> <20>I<EFBFBD>m going to bring <20>C<EFBFBD> around to
see you. I<>ve been to Shrine with him. I know him well. He says
he<EFBFBD>s a member of Temple Lodge and I believe him. I<>ll vouch for him,
although I haven<65>t sat in lodge with him.<2E>
When <20>B<EFBFBD> very properly refuses to take this avouchment, neither <20>A<EFBFBD>
or <20>C<EFBFBD> have any cause to think that <20>B<EFBFBD> feels any personal distrust
of either. He simply has not received that <20>legal Masonic
Information<EFBFBD> which both <20>A<EFBFBD> and <20>B<EFBFBD> know - and <20>C<EFBFBD> should know, if he
really is a Master Mason - is essential to any proper avouchment.
From these premises it necessarily follows that any avouchment
predicated upon an examination other than that in Ancient Craft
Masonry is of no value as <20>lawful Masonic information.<2E> <20>A<EFBFBD> comes to
the Tiler<65>s door with <20>C and asks for a committee to examine him that
he may visit. <20>A<EFBFBD> has a little talk with the Master. <20>C<EFBFBD> is a Mason
alright!<21> he assures the Master. <20>But he<68>s rusty. He never comes to
Blue Lodge; spends all his time in the Chapter. Appoint a couple of
Chapter Members on the committee, will you, Worshipful? They<65>ll soon
be satisfied!<21>
The Worshipful Master will do as he pleases, but he is well advised
if he picks two brethren who are <20>Not<6F> Chapter Masons. The brother
who cannot satisfy a Blue Lodge Committee that has been regularly
Entered, Passed and Raised in a lodge of Master Masons should not be
permitted to enter the lodge - not if he is letter perfect in the
Chapter work and can give all the signs, tokens, and words of the
Scottish Rite - which are numerous.!
No avouchment may be accepted from an Entered Apprentice or a
Fellowcraft. A brother of the first or second degree may be
absolutely sure that all those in the lodge in which he took his
degrees were Master Masons, he cannot posses <20>lawful Masonic
information<EFBFBD> about Master Masons. Neither is he competent to vouch
to a Tiler for any entered Apprentice or Fellowcraft he remembers as
in lodge with him, as a Mason of the degree in which the lodge was
then open on. The right to vouch is strictly a Master Mason<6F>s right<68>
no brother of the first or second degree possesses it!
Vouching for a brother is a solemn undertaking. Before the lodge and
the brethren the voucher puts his Masonic credit against the
credibility of the brother he vouches for. No squeamishness of
feeling should ever interfere. A Master Mason should not vouch for
his blood brother unless he has sat in lodge with him, tested him for
himself, or unless his brother has been vouched for to him. He may
be morally sure his brother is a Mason but a lodge does not recognize
such surety as <20>lawful Masonic information.<2E>
No brother should ever feel offended because a brother will not vouch
for him. <20>A<EFBFBD> may remember having sat in lodge with <20>B<EFBFBD>, yet <20>B<EFBFBD> may
have forgotten that they sat together in lodge. If <20>B<EFBFBD> refuses to
vouch for <20>A<EFBFBD>, <20>A<EFBFBD> should be happy that <20>B<EFBFBD> is so careful a Mason,
not offended that <20>B<EFBFBD> does not remember or because <20>he doesn<73>t trust
me.<2E>
The lodge is more important than the brother. The sanctity of the
Tiled door is greater than the feelings of the individual. The
Masonic honor of the brother doing the vouching should be of far
greater worth to him than any consideration of expediency.
The entire law and the prophets may be covered in one small
commandment: <20>Never vouch unless you have lawful Masonic
information.<2E>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VIII October, 1930 No.10
THE 47th PROBLEM
by: Unknown
Containing more real food for thought, and impressing on the
receptive mind a greater truth than any other of the emblems in the
lecture of the Sublime Degree, the 47th problem of Euclid generally
gets less attention, and certainly less than all the rest.
Just why this grand exception should receive so little explanation in
our lecture; just how it has happened, that, although the
Fellowcraft<EFBFBD>s degree makes so much of Geometry, Geometry<72>s right hand
should be so cavalierly treated, is not for the present inquiry to
settle. We all know that the single paragraph of our lecture devoted
to Pythagoras and his work is passed over with no more emphasis than
that given to the Bee Hive of the Book of Constitutions. More<72>s the
pity; you may ask many a Mason to explain the 47th problem, or even
the meaning of the word <20>hecatomb,<2C> and receive only an evasive
answer, or a frank <20>I don<6F>t know - why don<6F>t you ask the Deputy?<3F>
The Masonic legend of Euclid is very old - just how old we do not
know, but it long antedates our present Master Mason<6F>s Degree. The
paragraph relating to Pythagoras in our lecture we take wholly from
Thomas Smith Webb, whose first Monitor appeared at the close of the
eighteenth century.
It is repeated here to refresh the memory of those many brethren who
usually leave before the lecture:
<EFBFBD>The 47th problem of Euclid was an invention of our ancient friend
and brother, the great Pythagoras, who, in his travels through Asia,
Africa and Europe was initiated into several orders of Priesthood,
and was also Raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason. This wise
philosopher enriched his mind abundantly in a general knowledge of
things, and more especially in Geometry. On this subject he drew out
many problems and theorems, and, among the most distinguished, he
erected this, when, in the joy of his heart, he exclaimed Eureka, in
the Greek Language signifying <20>I have found it,<2C> and upon the
discovery of which he is said to have sacrificed a hecatomb. It
teaches Masons to be general lovers of the arts and sciences.<2E>
Some of facts here stated are historically true; those which are only
fanciful at least bear out the symbolism of the conception.
In the sense that Pythagoras was a learned man, a leader, a teacher,
a founder of a school, a wise man who saw God in nature and in
number; and he was a <20>friend and brother.<2E> That he was <20>initiated
into several orders of Priesthood<6F> is a matter of history. That he
was <20>Raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason<6F> is of course
poetic license and an impossibility, as the <20>Sublime Degree<65> as we
know it is only a few hundred years old - not more than three at the
very outside. Pythagoras is known to have traveled, but the
probabilities are that his wanderings were confined to the countries
bordering the Mediterranean. He did go to Egypt, but it is at least
problematical that he got much further into Asia than Asia Minor. He
did indeed <20>enrich his mind abundantly<6C> in many matters, and
particularly in mathematics. That he was the first to <20>erect<63> the
47th problem is possible, but not proved; at least he worked with it
so much that it is sometimes called <20>The Pythagorean problem.<2E> If he
did discover it he might have exclaimed <20>Eureka<6B> but the he
sacrificed a hecatomb - a hundred head of cattle - is entirely out of
character, since the Pythagoreans were vegetarians and reverenced all
animal life.
Pythagoras was probably born on the island of Samos, and from
contemporary Grecian accounts was a studious lad whose manhood was
spent in the emphasis of mind as opposed to the body, although he was
trained as an athlete. He was antipathetic to the licentiousness of
the aristocratic life of his time and he and his followers were
persecuted by those who did not understand them.
Aristotle wrote of him: <20>The Pythagoreans first applied themselves
to mathematics, a science which they improved; and penetrated with
it, they fancied that the principles of mathematics were the
principles of all things.<2E>
It was written by Eudemus that: <20>Pythagoreans changed geometry into
the form of a liberal science, regarding its principles in a purely
abstract manner and investigated its theorems from the immaterial and
intellectual point of view,<2C> a statement which rings with familiar
music in the ears of Masons.
Diogenes said <20>It was Pythagoras who carried Geometry to perfection,<2C>
also <20>He discovered the numerical relations of the musical scale.<2E>
Proclus states: <20>The word Mathematics originated with the
Pythagoreans!<21>
The sacrifice of the hecatomb apparently rests on a statement of
Plutarch, who probably took it from Apollodorus, that <20>Pythagoras
sacrificed an ox on finding a geometrical diagram.<2E> As the
Pythagoreans originated the doctrine of Metempsychosis which
predicates that all souls live first in animals and then in man - the
same doctrine of reincarnation held so generally in the East from
whence Pythagoras might have heard it - the philosopher and his
followers were vegetarians and reverenced all animal life, so the
<EFBFBD>sacrifice<EFBFBD> is probably mythical. Certainly there is nothing in
contemporary accounts of Pythagoras to lead us to think that he was
either sufficiently wealthy, or silly enough to slaughter a hundred
valuable cattle to express his delight at learning to prove what was
later to be the 47th problem of Euclid.
In Pythagoras<61> day (582 B.C.) of course the <20>47th problem<65> was not
called that. It remained for Euclid, of Alexandria, several hundred
years later, to write his books of Geometry, of which the 47th and
48th problems form the end of the first book. It is generally
conceded either that Pythagoras did indeed discover the Pythagorean
problem, or that it was known prior to his time, and used by him; and
that Euclid, recording in writing the science of Geometry as it was
known then, merely availed himself of the mathematical knowledge of
his era.
It is probably the most extraordinary of all scientific matters that
the books of Euclid, written three hundred years or more before the
Christian era, should still be used in schools. While a hundred
different geometries have been invented or discovered since his day,
Euclid<EFBFBD>s <20>Elements<74> are still the foundation of that science which is
the first step beyond the common mathematics of every day.
In spite of the emphasis placed upon geometry in our Fellowcrafts
degree our insistence that it is of a divine and moral nature, and
that by its study we are enabled not only to prove the wonderful
properties of nature but to demonstrate the more important truths of
morality, it is common knowledge that most men know nothing of the
science which they studied - and most despised - in their school
days. If one man in ten in any lodge can demonstrate the 47th
problem of Euclid, the lodge is above the common run in educational
standards!
And yet the 47th problem is at the root not only of geometry, but of
most applied mathematics; certainly, of all which are essential in
engineering, in astronomy, in surveying, and in that wide expanse of
problems concerned with finding one unknown from two known factors.
At the close of the first book Euclid states the 47th problem - and
its correlative 48th - as follows:
<EFBFBD>47th - In every right angle triangle the square of the hypotenuse
is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.<2E>
<EFBFBD>48th - If the square described of one of the sides of a triangle be
equal to the squares described of the other two sides, then the angle
contained by these two is a right angle.<2E>
This sounds more complicated than it is. Of all people, Masons
should know what a square is! As our ritual teaches us, a square is
a right angle or the fourth part of a circle, or an angle of ninety
degrees. For the benefit of those who have forgotten their school
days, the <20>hypotenuse<73> is the line which makes a right angle (a
square) into a triangle, by connecting the ends of the two lines
which from the right angle.
For illustrative purposes let us consider that the familiar Masonic
square has one arm six inches long and one arm eight inches long.
If a square be erected on the six inch arm, that square will contain
square inches to the number of six times six, or thirty-six square
inches. The square erected on the eight inch arm will contain square
inches to the number of eight times eight, or sixty-four square
inches.
The sum of sixty-four and thirty-six square inches is one hundred
square inches.
According to the 47th problem the square which can be erected upon
the hypotenuse, or line adjoining the six and eight inch arms of the
square should contain one hundred square inches. The only square
which can contain one hundred square inches has ten inch sides, since
ten, and no other number, is the square root of one hundred.
This is provable mathematically, but it is also demonstrable with an
actual square. The curious only need lay off a line six inches long,
at right angles to a line eight inches long; connect the free ends by
a line (the Hypotenuse) and measure the length of that line to be
convinced - it is, indeed, ten inches long.
This simple matter then, is the famous 47th problem.
But while it is simple in conception it is complicated with
innumerable ramifications in use.
It is the root of all geometry. It is behind the discovery of every
unknown from two known factors. It is the very cornerstone of
mathematics.
The engineer who tunnels from either side through a mountain uses it
to get his two shafts to meet in the center.
The surveyor who wants to know how high a mountain may be ascertains
the answer through the 47th problem.
The astronomer who calculates the distance of the sun, the moon, the
planets and who fixes <20>the duration of time and seasons, years and
cycles,<2C> depends upon the 47th problem for his results.
The navigator traveling the trackless seas uses the 47th problem in
determining his latitude, his longitude and his true time.
Eclipses are predicated, tides are specified as to height and time of
occurrence, land is surveyed, roads run, shafts dug, and bridges
built because of the 47th problem of Euclid - probably discovered by
Pythagoras - shows the way.
It is difficult to show <20>why<68> it is true; easy to demonstrate that it
is true. If you ask why the reason for its truth is difficult to
demonstrate, let us reduce the search for <20>why<68> to a fundamental and
ask <20>why<68> is two added to two always four, and never five or three?<3F>
We answer <20>because we call the product of two added to two by the
name of four.<2E> If we express the conception of <20>fourness<73> by some
other name, then two plus two would be that other name. But the
truth would be the same, regardless of the name.
So it is with the 47th problem of Euclid. The sum of the squares of
the sides of any right angled triangle - no matter what their
dimensions - always exactly equals the square of the line connecting
their ends (the hypotenuse). One line may be a few 10<31>s of an inch
long - the other several miles long; the problem invariably works
out, both by actual measurement upon the earth, and by mathematical
demonstration.
It is impossible for us to conceive of a place in the universe where
two added to two produces five, and not four (in our language). We
cannot conceive of a world, no matter how far distant among the
stars, where the 47th problem is not true. For <20>true<75> means absolute
- not dependent upon time, or space, or place, or world or even
universe. Truth, we are taught, is a divine attribute and as such is
coincident with Divinity, omnipresent.
It is in this sense that the 47th problem <20>teaches Masons to be
general lovers of the art and sciences.<2E> The universality of this
strange and important mathematical principle must impress the
thoughtful with the immutability of the laws of nature. The third of
the movable jewels of the entered Apprentice Degree reminds us that
<EFBFBD>so should we, both operative and speculative, endeavor to erect our
spiritual building (house) in accordance with the rules laid down by
the Supreme Architect of the Universe, in the great books of nature
and revelation, which are our spiritual, moral and Masonic
Trestleboard.<2E>
Greatest among <20>the rules laid down by the Supreme Architect of the
Universe,<2C> in His great book of nature, is this of the 47th problem;
this rule that, given a right angle triangle, we may find the length
of any side if we know the other two; or, given the squares of all
three, we may learn whether the angle is a <20>Right<68> angle, or not.
With the 47th problem man reaches out into the universe and produces
the science of astronomy. With it he measures the most infinite of
distances. With it he describes the whole framework and handiwork of
nature. With it he calcu-lates the orbits and the positions of those
<EFBFBD>numberless worlds about us.<2E> With it he reduces the chaos of
ignorance to the law and order of intelligent appreciation of the
cosmos. With it he instructs his fellow-Masons that <20>God is always
geometrizing<EFBFBD> and that the <20>great book of Nature<72> is to be read
through a square.
Considered thus, the <20>invention of our ancient friend and brother,
the great Pythagoras,<2C> becomes one of the most impressive, as it is
one of the most important, of the emblems of all Freemasonry, since
to the initiate it is a symbol of the power, the wisdom and the
goodness of the Great Articifer of the Universe. It is the plainer
for its mystery - the more mysterious because it is so easy to
comprehend.
Not for nothing does the Fellowcraft<66>s degree beg our attention to
the study of the seven liberal arts and sciences, especially the
science of geometry, or Masonry. Here, in the Third Degree, is the
very heart of Geometry, and a close and vital connection between it
and the greatest of all Freemasonry<72>s teachings - the knowledge of
the <20>All-Seeing Eye.<2E>
He that hath ears to hear - let him hear - and he that hath eyes to
see - let him look! When he has both listened and looked, and
understood the truth behind the 47th problem he will see a new
meaning to the reception of a Fellowcraft, understand better that a
square teaches morality and comprehend why the <20>angle of 90 degrees,
or the fourth part of a circle<6C> is dedicated to the Master!

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VIII November, 1930 No.11
HONORS FROM THE CRAFT
by: Unknown
<EFBFBD>Freemasonry regards no man for his worldly wealth or honors.<2E> In
her lodges all men meet on the level. That she should provide
elaborate and ceremonious honors in many forms for those who love and
labor for the Craft is one of he delightful inconsistences of the
Order!
These orders are of several kinds - ceremonious, as in the
receptions; salutary from the brethren to the Worshipful Master and
to the Grand Master; titular when the brother honored receives the
permanent right to the use of a Masonic title, usually accompanied by
certain rights and privileges, and symbolic, when the recipient is
presented with a decoration, emblem or other device to be worn upon
proper occasions.
Highest of the salutary honors are the Grand honors; usually given
upon four occasions; the visit to the lodge of a Grand Master, or a
Deputy Grand Master acting for him; installations of Grand Masters
and Worshipful Masters, the dedication of a Masonic Hall or Temple
and the constitution of a new lodge. Their manner is esoteric and
therefore cannot be described here.
Any who have read a history of the manners and customs of ancient
Rome will at once see a resemblance between the prescribed form of
both our private and public Grand Honors, and the carefully
restricted and formal methods of laudation and applause practiced in
those days.
In this modern era, applause by clapping the hands is common to the
theater, the concert hall and the lecture room; such applause as is
given at a baseball or football game would be considered ill-bred in
a theater. In ancient Rome applause was even more particularly
formal. Three kinds of laudation with the hands were prescribed to
express various degrees of enthusiasm. <20>Bombi<62> was given by
striking the cupped hands gently and frequently, a crowd thus
produced a humming sound. <20>Imbrices<65> was similar to our usual
applause, hands struck smartly palm to palm; while <20>Testae<61> was
produced by hitting the palm of the left hand with the fingers of the
right hand grouped to a point, producing a hollow sound (when done by
many) something like that made by hitting a hollow vessel.
Freemasonry<EFBFBD>s private Grand Honors given at corner-stone layings and
funerals - crossing the arms on the breast, raising them over the
head and dropping them to the sides - have evidently the same
classical origin. The three motions are repeated three times; there
is thus a succession of nine blows, as hands strike shoulders, strike
each other overhead and strike thighs. This feature makes
intelligible the phrase occasionally used <20>giving honors of three
times three.<2E> (There are different honors for this in Nevada.)
It is unnecessary (and illegal) to dwell upon the familiar salutes to
the Master in the lodge room, since every Mason who can enter a lodge
must know their origin and allusions. Suffice it to say here that
when offered to a Worshipful Master, they but emphasize the respect
and veneration which the Craft pays to the Oriental Chair, looking to
its occupant for wisdom, guidance and counsel. Happy the brother in
the East who deserves all the respect shown his office.
Conferring honorary membership in a lodge or Grand Lodge is a method
of honoring a brother the greater, as its bestowal is rare. It is
more common on the continent than in England or the United States.
Some lodges provide in the their By-Laws for a definite number of
honorary memberships, which cannot be exceeded without the trouble
and inconvenience of an amendment. Other lodges refuse to consider
thus honoring a brother. In a few instances honorary members pay
dues. The lodge honoring them thus puts them on a parity with its
own members in everything but the right to ballot on petitions and in
elections, and the right to hold office. In some lodges honorary
membership carries with it the privilege of the floor (under the
pleasure of the Master); in others, it is a mere gesture and carries
no inherent rights.
The gift of life membership by a lodge to one of its own members is
an honor, indeed. By so doing the lodge says to the recipient:
<EFBFBD>You are so beloved among us; your services to us and to the Craft
have been so great that we desire to relieve you from the payment of
dues for the rest of your life.<2E> Life Memberships, as honors, are
often presented in the form of a <20>Good Standing Card<72> made of gold,
suitably engraved.
Inasmuch as financial experience has demonstrated that disposing of
life memberships by purchase is often an unwise policy for lodges
which give life memberships but rarely. When really earned by some
outstanding service to a lodge, or to Masonry, life membership is
among the most distin-guished honor which can be conferred upon a
brother.
It is the custom in most lodges to honor the retiring Worshipful
Master with a jewel of the office he is then assuming, the honorable
and honored station of Past Master. The jewel of the Past Master in
the United States is universally the compasses (<28>compass<73> in six
jurisdictions!) open sixty degrees upon an arc of the fourth part of
a circle, and the legs of the compasses inclosing the sun. In
England the Past Master<65>s jewel was formerly the square on a
quadrant, but is now a square from which is suspended the 47th
problem of Euclid.
Not all lodges give their Past Masters jewels as they become Past
Masters. Failure to do so usually comes either from a lack of
understanding that <20>Past Master<65> is something more than a mere empty
title, or by finances too modest to stand the strain.
<EFBFBD>Past Master<65> is not only a name given to the brother who has served
his lodge in the East, when he makes way for his successor in office,
but is also an honorary degree which all newly elected Masters must
receive before they can legally be installed. The Past Master<65>s
degree is given in the Chapter of Capitular Masonry, or in an
Emergent Lodge of Past Masters called for that purpose. This
requirement is very old - certainly as old, or older than the Mother
Grand Lodge - and is universal in England and the United States.
Whether the degree is conferred in a Chapter or an Emergent Lodge of
Past Masters, the recipient (who thus becomes a <20>virtual Past Master<65>
before he is actually installed as Worshipful Master) is taught many
esoteric lessons regarding his conduct while in the Oriental Chair.
Past Masters are usually members of Grand Lodge, but, according to
the most eminent Masonic authorities, not by inherent right but by
the local regulations of their own Grand Lodge. In some Grand Lodges
Past Masters have individual votes; in others they have only a
fraction of a vote; all the Past Masters from any one lodge being
given one whole vote between them.
The fact that a Past Master must receive that degree before he became
an Installed Master, and that he is a member of Grand Lodge is
evidence that the title is not empty. As it confers privileges, it
also requires the performance of duties. The honor is in the state;
the jewel is but the expression of the lodge<67>s appreciation of that
honor. To most brethren their Past Masters<72> jewel is their <20>Master<65>s
Wages<EFBFBD> to be cherished as, perhaps, the greatest honor which can ever
be given them.
An additional honor usually accorded Past Masters is a special word
of welcome extended by the Worshipful Master, who may, and often
does, invite them to seats in the East. This is a courtesy entirely
under the Worshipful master<65>s control. It is not required that he
invite his predecessors to sit with him; neither is he forbidden to
invite anyone in the lodge to sit in the East.
Another honor the Worshipful Master has wholly in his discretion is
offering the gavel to a distinguished visitor. Usually this is
reserved for the Grand Master or the Deputy Grand Master acting in
his place, who are received with the lodge standing. In tendering
such a distinguished visitor the Gavel the Worshipful Master says in
effect: <20>In full knowledge of your wisdom I trust you to preside
over my lodge.<2E> The recipient of such an honor usually receives the
gavel, seats the lodge, and returns it immediately to the Master.
What to do with the brother who has served his lodge in some one
capacity for so many years that he can neither successfully carry the
burden longer nor decline the honor of re-election or appointment,
has troubled many a Master. Borrowing the title Emeritus from the
classic custom of universities may solve the problem.
Emeritus comes from the latin word <20>emerere,<2C> meaning <20>to be greatly
deserving.<2E> The Secretary, Treasurer or Tiler who has served for a
generation and now wishes to retire, may be appointed or elected
<EFBFBD>Treasurer Emeritus<75>, <20>Secretary Emeritus<75>, <20>Tiler Emeritus,<2C> etc.
Such an honor says in effect: <20>You have served so long and so well
that we cannot dispense with your services or your experience, but we
wish you to enjoy them without burdening you with the cares of
office. Therefore we give you the title and the honor and relieve
you of the labor.<2E> If salaried officers are retired with the title
Emeritus, continuing their salary for life makes the honor practical.
Receptions in lodges differ in different Jurisdictions, but all such
honors express respect and veneration. Thus a Grand Master may be
received by the Marshall, the Deacons and the Stewards. Escorted to
the East, the Worshipful Master receives him, accords him the Grand
Honors (Private or Public as is the case) and tenders the gavel.
Less distinguished Grand Lodge officers may be received with the
Marshall and Deacons only, Marshall and Stewards only, Marshall only,
or with the lodge standing, without any escort. It is wise to adhere
strictly to the form of reception prescribed by local regulations and
never to offer such honors to any brethren not specified by
regulations as entitled to them. To use them promiscuously is to
lessen their dignity and their effectiveness.
If election as Worshipful Master is the greatest honor which a lodge
may confer upon a brother, election to the <20>foot of the line<6E> or
appointment to any office in the line under the discretion of the
Master, is less an honor by but a few degrees, since it is usual,
though not invariable, that the brother who begins at the bottom ends
at the top. Whatever his future career may be, at least either lodge
or Master has said to the brother who thus takes service in the
official family of his lodge: <20>We trust you; wee believe in you; we
expect that you will demonstrate that we are right when we say we
think in time you will be worthy to be Master of this lodge.<2E>
Selection for membership on either of the four most important
committees a Master may appoint; upon charity or upon trials, is a
great honor. For these committees the Master naturally selects only
brethren of wisdom, experience, knowledge and an unselfish
willingness to serve.
Masonry honors her dead. Masonic funeral services conducted over the
remains of a deceased brother show his surviving relatives and
friends that we are mindful of his worth. As such, the ceremonies we
conduct at the grave are an honor and should be so considered.
Occasionally arises the problem of the active, hard-working brother,
who has done much for the lodge, but who has never held an office, or
who, if a Past Master, has received his jewel. Brethren become lodge
instructors; serve for years upon the finance committee, are selected
Lodge Trustees or whose advise and counsel is so valued that it is
frequently sought. After long service of this kind a lodge may
desire to express its affection in some concrete way.
The presentation Apron is one very pretty solution of this problem.
Presentation Aprons may be obtained from Masonic regalia supply
houses with any degree of elaboration and at any cost desired. They
are particularly effective for bestowal upon brethren who have served
more than one year as Master. It detracts from, not adds to, the
value of a Past Master<65>s Jewel to present any brother with two or
more of them! The presentation apron with the Past Master<65>s Emblem
worked in gold embroidery upon it, is a graceful honor which can be
worn in the Mother Lodge, or in lodges visited, and is cherished by
all who receive it.
Every brother is familiar with the solemn words with which an Entered
Apprentice receives his lambskin or white leather apron - <20>More
Honorable Than the Star and Garter, or any other order - .<2E> An
honor, indeed, but sometimes less appreciated than it deserves
because it is given to so many; given, indeed, to all who are
permitted to knock upon the West Gate.
This honor differs from a Past Master<65>s jewel, or other permanent
honors which Freemasonry may bestow, in this vital particular; it is
given before the performance. Others come as a recognition of labor
done and a Master<65>s Wages earned. The apron may become a great and
distinguished honor, or it may be <20>merely a piece of white lambskin.<2E>
Which it will become is wholly in the power of the recipient to say.
When worthily worn, only one grant from Freemasonry may exceed it in
value - the honor of being raised to the Sublime Degree of Master
Mason. Here, too, the honor comes before the work. But if the work
is done, if the wages are earned, if the newly made brother does
indeed live according to the precepts of the Fraternity, then at long
last, even if he has received the jewel of a Past Master - he will
agree, and his brethren will unite in saying that there is no honor
which Freemasonry can give to any man that is greater than that which
lies in the simple words: <20>He is a true Master Mason.<2E>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VIII December, 1930 No.12
TELL THE WORLD
by: Unknown
<EFBFBD>Neither are you to suffer your zeal for the Institution to lead you
into an argument with those who, through ignorance, may ridicule it.<2E>
This cautionary sentence in the Charge to an Entered Apprentice
deserves more elaboration than it usually receives; he sits in a good
lodge, the Worshipful Master of which instructs both the new and the
older brethren in regard to many matters connected with the
Fraternity which are in no sense secret, yet which strike the profane
as peculiar, odd, sometimes even ridiculous.
Masonry needs no defense before the world, from her members or anyone
else. Yet what the individual may intend just as a criticism may
often require a reasonable answer. The Mason who understands his
Freemasonry, and so can make such a reasonable answer, is not
<EFBFBD>arguing with ignorance<63> but spreading light; if he really knows
whereof he speaks, he may speak without profit to himself and honor
to the Fraternity.
Perhaps nothing in the Fraternity has caused more criticism from the
outside world than the well-known disposition of Master Masons to
prefer Masons to non-Masons as objects of relief, as business
connections, as social comrades. The world says, in effect: <20>What
right has Masonry to say that Masons are more worthy of charity than
non-Masons; that business men who are Masons have a better right to
business from Masons than non-Masons; that the Fraternity can put any
stamp upon a man which makes him socially more desirable that the man
who is not initiated?<3F>
Especially do we hear from those whose doctrinal beliefs are stronger
than their knowledge of the New Testament:
<EFBFBD>Don<EFBFBD>t you Masons know that charity should be for all, and no
preference should be shown to one worthy object above another?<3F>
Usually such a criticism may be silenced by quoting St.Paul, the
Epistle to the Galatians, Chapter 6, verse 10:
<EFBFBD>As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men,
especially unto them who are of the household of faith.<2E>
Although a Mason is repeatedly abjured to make his charity universal,
he is also told, when bidden to relive the distressed, <20>more
especially a brother Mason.<2E> He has excellent precedent, since St.
Paul qualified his <20>good unto all men<65> with <20>especially unto them who
are of the household of faith<74> - that is, to those who are of his
church, his beliefs, were his friends and brethren.
Masons maintain Masonic Homes for the unfortunate among their
brethren, their widows and orphans - and often for their sisters,
daughters,sons, fathers and mothers! No Masonic teaching instructs
that a Mason should not contribute to other charities. The
continually insistent teaching of charity through all the degrees,
especially the entered Apprentice Degree; the continual reminder of
the importance of charity in opening and closing all lodges, do put
emphasis upon Masonic brethren, but exclude no one from Masonic
charity.
In the monitorial work about the <20>Bee Hive,<2C> in the Master Mason
Degree, we are taught of the advantages of dependence. Without
dependence; societies, nations, families and congregations could not
be formed or exist. But the very solidity of the group, predicated
upon mutual independence, also creates this idea of distinction in
relief or friendship or business as between those without and those
within the group. This feeling is universal. The church gives
gladly to all good works, but most happily to relieve those of its
own faith. Our government considers the welfare of its own nationals
before that of the nationals of other governments. The head of a
family will not deny his own children clothes to put a coat upon the
back of the naked child of his neighbor. Those we know best, those
closest, those united in the tightest bonds, come first with us the
world over and in every from of union.
Naturally then, a Mason is taught that while charity is in theory for
all, in practice it is for <20>more especially a brother Mason.<2E>
What is true of charity is true of business and of social
intercourse. It is false teaching that Masonry should bring business
to any man because he is a Mason. It is good Masonic instruction
that a Mason should give business to his brother. That a Mason who
thinks of the stranger who wears a Masonic pin, <20>What can he do for
me?<3F> is not a good Masons. He who sees the pin and thinks. <20>What may
I do for him?<3F> is a true brother. To give one<6E>s custom to a Mason is
to practice the tie of brotherhood; to ask for business from a Mason
because of their brotherhood is to belie it.
Other things being equal, a brother prefers to deal with a brother, a
son with a father and a father with his sons.
Other things being equal, a Mason prefers to deal with a Mason.
But if other things are not equal, no obligation predicates business
upon Masonry. It is wholly a matter of desire, of a wish to serve
the brother for whom the heart feels affection..
Some manners and customs peculiarly Masonic arouse the unthinking
laughter of those who understand them not. No need for argument
regarding them exists, but sometimes an honest question deserves an
honest answer.
The psychologist finds in the grandiloquent titles of officers in
some fraternal orders what he calls <20>an avenue of escape from
reality.<2E> His theory is that many a man whose success in the world
is but modest, finds a satisfaction in its eminence in being called
Most Exalted High Chief Sachem of the Purple Palace, which he never
obtains in the mundane world.
The non-Masonic student of psychology hearing of <20>Worshipful Master<65>
and <20>Most Worshipful Grand Master<65> often thinks Masonry has adopted
high-sounding titles for similar reasons.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The Wycliffe Bible (Matthew
xix 19) reads: <20>Worship thi fadir and thi modir.<2E> The authorized
Version translates <20>Worshipful to <20>honor<6F> - <20>honor thy father and thy
mother.<2E> In parts of England today one hears the Mayor spoken of as
<EFBFBD>Worshipful;<3B> the word is used in its ancient sense as meaning one
worthy, honorable, to be respected. <20>Worshipful<75> as applied to the
Master of a lodge, does not mean the we should bow down to him in
adoration, as does the word when used in its ecclesiastical sense.
We <20>Worship<69> God, but not men. Our Masters, in being called
<EFBFBD>Worshipful<EFBFBD> are not (as some ignorant critics have said) being put
by us in the same class with God, but are paid tribute of respect in
the language of two or more centuries ago.
Several distinct meanings attached to the word <20>grand.<2E>
The most common is (Funk and Wagnalls dictionary) <20>of imposing
character or aspect, magnificent in proportion, extent.<2E> In this way
we speak of the Capital at Washington as <20>grand;<3B> the nation as a
<EFBFBD>grand country,<2C> the coronation of the King of England as a <20>grand<6E>
ceremony.
But <20>grand<6E> has another meaning. The same dictionary specifies that
it connotes <20>preeminence of rank or order, of prime importance,
principal.<2E> In this sense we speak of a <20>grand<6E> parent, a <20>grand<6E>
jury, a <20>grand<6E> total. And it is in this sense that we have a Grand
Lodge - not that it is magnificent, beautiful, gorgeous, but <20>grand<6E>
in that it is first, primary, principal.
Hence the Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Grand Lodge means
simply <20>The Master, most worthy of respect of the lodge which is
preeminent in rank in Masonry.<2E> There is nothing in common with such
an expression, which has the respectability of a great antiquity
behind it, and <20>Ineffable Exalted High Cockalorum of the Enchanted
Palace of the Seventh Heaven<65> or any other similar collection of
meaningless words used to describe the titular head of some mushroom
fraternal order. He who considers our titles in this class is to be
pitied for his ignorance and may be enlightened at his request.
Masonic lodges are seen in public only on three occasions; when
conducting the funeral of a deceased brother, when attending Divine
services in a group, and when laying cornerstones of public
buildings.
Our public contacts with the profane world are thus infrequent. The
comparative unfamiliarity of the public with the proper dress of a
Mason must be at the root of the idea that white aprons are <20>funny<6E>
or <20>rather silly.<2E>
Undeniably, a white apron is not sartorially considered a decorative
addition to conventional dress! But neither is the surplice of an
Episcopalian minister, the head dress of an orthodox Jewish Rabbi, or
the silk hat of the formal opera goer a thing of beauty.
The badge of a Mason has the respectability and the symbolism of a
great antiquity. We may not go with some enthusiastic researchers
into Masonic lore as far as the Garden of Eden, and say that the
apron is the modern prototype of the fig leaves worn by our first
ancestors, but in the most ancient religions of Israel, Egypt,
Chaldea and the Orient; we discover that the apron, in one form or
another, was of symbolic significance. In the mysteries of Mithras,
in Persia, candidates were invested with a white apron. Old
carvings, venerable statues, the remnants of ancient writings
thousands of years old all show that the apron was a part of the
formal dress in many religions and initiations.
The apron was a practical matter to stone masons; it protected the
person of the wearer from chafing and injury; and, when equipped with
a pocket, provided the wearer with a convenient receptacle for the
chisel and common gavel.
When the ancient society changed from Operative to Speculative, the
tools of a Mason became symbols for moral instruction; the practical
dress of the hewer of stone, the honorable badge of a Freemason.
When this is made known to the profane, he no longer sees in our
clothing any reason for laughter.
It takes all kinds of people to make a world, and it would be a dull
one if we all thought and acted alike! Being human, Freemasonry has
all kinds of men in her ranks. Each takes from the Ancient Craft
according to his vision. his ability, his knowledge and his desire.
To some it is holy, sacred, a great and glorious opportunity; a real
and vital force; uplifting and ennobling. To others a lodge is just
a place to go, a group of good fellows to meet and know.
It is from these that we hear of the <20>Masonic Goat<61> and the supposed
<EFBFBD>terrors<EFBFBD> of the third degree. Also. so real are these supposed
features of our initiation that the <20>third degree<65> has become the
name for the physical and mental tortures practiced by the police to
extort information from unwilling suspects.
Let every interested Freemason lift up his voice when seriously
interrogated regarding the Masonic goat! He violates no <20>secret<65>
when he declares that Freemasonry is serious from the first to the
last; that it partakes in no way of the character of initiation of
college fraternities, or the Mystic Shrine, both of which, although
they have their serious moments, are devoted to making a candidate
unhappy for the pleasure of his brethren-to be.
Our third degree was not called the Sublime Degree of Master Mason
because it contained a butting goat! Masons think upon the pitiful
tragedy and the exalted lessons of the Master<65>s degree with
reverence. No good Mason suffers them to be soiled with the idea of
ribald fun, goats, mechanical tortures or other jokes supposedly
played upon candidates, if it is in his power to prevent it with a
quiet word of truth.
The Entered Apprentice is charged not to let zeal not lead to
argument, yet the last words of the charge are concerned with <20>the
honor, glory and reputation of the institution,<2C> by which the world
at large may be convinced of its good effects.<2E>
Argue not, but do not refuse the courteous answer to the legitimate
question as to the public contacts of Freemasonry with the world
which, seen in the light of the reasons behind them, are no longer
pegs on which to hang a garment of laughter, but beautiful symbols,
teaching rich lessons to those who understand.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX January, 1931 No.1
THE PAST MASTER
by: Unknown
Fortunate the lodge which has many; poor that body of Masonry in
which Past Masters have lost the interest with which they once
presided in the East!
The honorable station of Past Master is usually honored by the
brethren; generally it is considered as second in importance only to
that of the presiding Master. And he is a wise and good Master who
sees to it that the brethren of his lodge understand that <20>Past
Master<EFBFBD> is no empty title, but carries with it certain rights and
privileges, certain duties and responsibilities, all set forth in the
general body of Masonic Law, although differing in some respects in
different Jurisdictions; certain unwritten attributes which become
more or less important according to the character and abilities of
the individual Past Master.
It has been well settled in this country, as it is in England, that a
Past Master has no inherent, inviolable right of membership in the
Grand Lodge, such as is possessed by the Master of a lodge. But in
many American Jurisdictions, by action of the Grand Lodge, Past
Masters are members of the Grand Lodge (in Nevada, all Master Masons
are members of the Grand Lodge, but only the three principal officers
and one among all the Past Masters of a particular lodge are
considered voting members of Grand Lodge). In some Jurisdictions
they are full voting members; in others they have but a fraction of a
vote, all the Past Masters of a lodge having one vote between them on
any Grand Lodge question to be decided by a vote by lodges. Whether
full voting members of Grand Lodge, or members with but a fraction of
a votes, they are such by action of their own Grand Lodge, and not by
inherent right.
Before the formation of the Mother Grand Lodge in England in 1717,
when General Assemblies of Masons were held, Past Masters were as
much a part of that body as the members of the Craft. But the Old
Constitutions of the Mother Grand Lodge did not recognize Past
Masters as members of the Grand Lodge. Dermott<74>s <20>Ahiman Rezon<6F> of
1778, quoting Anderson<6F>s edition of the <20>Old and New Regulations<6E>
says: <20>Past Masters of Warranted Lodges on record are allowed this
privilege (membership in Grand Lodge) while they continue to be
members of any regular lodge.<2E> But his previous edition of this same
work does not contain this statement, and Preston refers to the Grand
Lodge, at the laying of the corner stone of Covent Garden Theater, in
London, by the Prince of Wales as Grand Master, in these words: <20>The
Grand Lodge was opened by Charles March, Esq., attended by the
Masters and Wardens of all the regular lodges;<3B> he does not mention
Past Masters as a part of the Grand Lodge.
These Past Masters, or course, have long since gone the way of all
flesh; Past Masters who are now members of Grand Lodges are made so
by the action of those Grand Lodges, and not by any inherent right.
But the very fact that a Past Master <20>May<61> receive such recognition
at the hands of his Grand Lodge, which ordinarily would not be given
to brethren not Past Masters (except Wardens), must be considered as
one of the rights and privileges of a Past Master.
Past Masters are said by Mackey to possess the right to preside over
their lodges, in the absence of the Master, and on the invitation of
the Senior Warden, or in his absence, the Junior Warden.
According to the ancient laws of Masonry, which gives a Master very
large powers, any Master Mason may be called to the Chair by a
Master. Here the question is as to who may be called to the Chair by
a warden, who has congregated the lodge in the absence of the Master.
The great Masonic jurist gives unqualified endorsement to the idea
that then only a Warden, or Past Master with the consent of the
presiding Warden can preside over a lodge, and counts this as among
the rights of a Past Master. However true this may be in this
specific case, the practice and the law in many Jurisdictions gives
to the Master the right to put any brother in the Chair for the time
being, remaining, of course, responsible for the acts of his
temporary appointee, and for the acts of his lodge during such
incumbency.
It may be considered a moot question as to just when a Master becomes
a Past Master. He is installed as Master <20>until your successor be
regularly elected and installed.<2E> From this point of view the Master
is Master until his successor has been made Master by installation;
in other words, the right to install his successor is inherent in the
office of Master, and not Past Master. Under the law of Masonry,
however, for this purpose Masters and Past Masters are identical; the
Master really becomes a Past Master when, after election he <20>passes
the Chair<69> in an emergent Lodge of Past Masters, or when, as a
virtual Past Master, made so in a Chapter, he is elected Master of
his lodge. In those few American Jurisdictions in which the elected
Master is not required to receive the Past Master<65>s Degree, prior to
installation, a Master does not become a Past Master until his
successor is installed.
The right to install his successor is inherent; the privilege of
delegating that duty to another is within the power of any Worshipful
Master (Courtesy would indicate that the desires of the Senior Warden
be considered for installing officer, as well as the date for the
installation). He should not delegate the installing power to any
brother who has not himself been installed, in order that the
succession of the Oriental Chair be unbroken, from regularly
installed Master to Master-Elect, regularly to be installed.
Therefore, in most Jurisdictions, the installation power which is the
right of the Master, may be considered also a privilege of Past
Masters.
A very important right of all Past Masters is that of being elected
to the office of Master, without again serving as Warden. Perhaps no
regulation is more jealously guarded by Grand Lodges than this, which
dates in print from 1722 (Old Charges), that no Mason may be elected,
or installed as Master who has not been regularly elected, installed
and served as Warden. There are exceptions; when a new lodge is
constituted, a brother who has not been regularly elected, installed
and served as a Warden may be elected and installed as Master (In
Nevada it is permissible for any Master Mason to be elected and
installed as Worshipful Master); when no Wardens in a lodge will
accept election to the East, a brother may be elected from the floor,
provided a dispensation is secured from the Grand Master. A Past
Master may be elected Master of a lodge (whether the lodge over which
he once presided or another is immaterial) without dispensation.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX February, 1931 No.2
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MASONRY?
by: Unknown
NOTE: With the permission of the Worshipful Master, this Bulletin
should be read as an examination of the Masonic knowledge possessed
by the brethren. Read a question, and ask the brethren to answer it.
If the answer is correct, pass to the next question; if the speaker
is incorrect, or not sufficiently clear in his explanation, read the
answer, prefacing it with the statement: <20>This Bulletin gives the
correct answer as . . . . .etc.<2E>
This Bulletin forms a <20>stunt<6E> for the amusement and edification of
the brethren. It can be made to cover an hour, or an hour and one-
half of entertainment, if the brethren are responsive and willing to
answer questions. If it is the Worshipful Master<65>s pleasure, the
questions may form a contest, each being asked of brother after
brother until one is found who can answer it, then asking him to take
a seat in the East. At the end of the contest, the brethren who know
the most about Masonry will crowd the East, and those who know the
least will remain upon the benches. A prize may be given to the
brother able to answer the most questions, and so on.
The brother reading this Bulletin should inform himself as to the
answers to the first ten questions (space is left to write the
answers), which differ in all Jurisdictions.
QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS JURISDICTION
Who is the Grand Master in this Jurisdiction?
____________________________________________
Who is the Grand Secretary in this
Jurisdiction?___________________________________________
When was this Grand Lodge formed?
___________________________________________________
Of how many Lodges was it formed?
____________________________________________________
Name the oldest Lodge in this Jurisdiction.
_______________________________________________
When was this Lodge Chartered?
_______________________________________________________
How many Master Masons in this Grand Jurisdictions?
_____________________________________
How many Lodges are in this Grand Jurisdiction?
_________________________________________
How many Masonic Districts in this Jurisdiction?
_________________________________________
Who is the District Deputy in this District?
______________________________________________
GENERAL MASONIC QUESTIONS
Q. When was the Mother Grand Lodge formed?
A. In 1717, in London, England
Q. Who was the first Grand Master of the Mother Grand Lodge?
A. Anthony Sabers, Gentleman.
Q. When were the Constitutions first printed?
A. In 1723
Q. How many Lodges formed the Mother Grand Lodge?
A. Four.
Q. What were there names?
A. They had no names in those days; they were simply <20>The Lodge
meeting at the Rummer and Grapes Tavern,<2C> <20>The Lodge meeting at
the Goose and Gridiron Tavern,<2C> etc.
Q. What Presidents have been Masters of Lodges?
A. George Washington, of Alexandria Lodge, Alexandria ,VA; James
Buchanan, of Lodge No.43, Lancaster, PA; and Harry S. Truman,
Grandview Lodge No.618 of Missouri.
Q. What Presidents have been a Grand Master?
A. Andrew Jackson. He was never a Master of a Lodge, but was
elected from the floor of the Grand Lodge to be Grand Master
of Tennessee; and Harry S. Truman, Missouri, 1940
Q. Who was William Morgan?
A. A renegade Mason who disappeared, and who was falsely said to
have been murdered by Masons because of his intention to publish an
expose` of Masonic Ritual.
Q. What famous German poet was a Freemason?
A. Goethe, the author of many poems, including one on Freemasonry,
the first verse of which runs:The Mason<6F>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 Gladness and sorrow;We press still
thorow Naught that abides in it Daunting us - onward.
Q. What famous English architect was a Freemason?
A. Sir Christopher Wren, who built, among many other famous
structures, the great St. Paul<75>s Cathedral, in London.
Q. Name three famous American Revolutionary Day patriots who were
Grand Masters?
A. Paul Revere; General Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill; and
Benjamin Franklin.
Q. Name the Presidents of the United States positively known to
have been Masons?
A. Washington, Monroe, Polk, Buchanan, A. Johnson, Garfield,
McKinley, T. Roosevelt, Taft, Harding, F.D. Roosevelt, Truman,
L.B. Johnson (and a few since then).
Q. Was Lincoln a Freemason?
A. In his heart, yes. He was never Raised in any lodge, so far as
the records go.
Q. Is there a General Grand Lodge of the United States?
A. There is not. One was proposed in the early days of
Freemasonry in this country, and George Washington was approached
as a possible General Grand Master, but refused.
Q. Will there ever be one?
A. Impossible to say what the future will bring forth, but the
sentiment of every Grand Lodge is unalterably opposed to it. The
Grand Masters Conference is on record against it. The Masonic
Service Association has written into its constitution a provision
against it.
Q. Would a uniform ritual in all Jurisdictions be desirable?
A. Had the ritual been uniform from the beginning it might have
been desirable. As all Jurisdictions have their own form of
the ancient ritual, any change now, looking toward uniformity,
would be deplorable. It would be resented by all who love the ritual
of their own Jurisdictions, and would inevitably lose many
historical allusions and connotations now preserved in the
various rituals. All the rituals teach the same lessons and impart
the same knowledge, only the wording being different. An attempt
at uniformity would gain little, and might lose much.
Q. What is the meaning of the <20>Profane<6E> as applied to a non-Mason?
A. Literally, <20>without the temple;<3B> uninstructed, uninformed,
ignorant of Masonry, not a member of the Order. In this
connection it does not describe the non-Mason as a blasphemes
person.
Q. What is the meaning of the word Abif?
A. Literally, <20>His Father,<2C> meaning one having authority, an
elder, a wise man looked up to. Hiram Abif thus means <20>Hiram, my
father,<2C> a man venerated for his wisdom and his
accomplishments.
Q. Why do we call Master <20>Worshipful?<3F>
A. From the old English word <20>worchyp,<2C> meaning <20>greatly
respected.<2E> In the Wycliffe Bible, <20>Honor thy Father and thy
Mother<EFBFBD> is written, <20>Worchyp thy fadir and thy modir.<2E>
<09>Worshipful Master,<2C> does not mean <20>Master to be Worshipped,<2C>
but <20>Master, greatly respected.<2E>
Q. Why do we have a Grand Master, a Grand Lodge, instead of a
Great Master, a Principal Lodge?
A. <09>Grand<6E> here means first, or primary. It is also so used in
grandfather, or grand total; the first or principal father of the
family; the principal total.
Q. Is a Worshipful Master obliged to wear a hat?
A. No. It is his privilege, and his alone, to remain covered in
the lodge. In ancient days the king or ruler remained covered,
his subjects removing their headgear as a sign of respect.
Brethren remove their headgear before entering a lodge as a
sign of respect; the Master remains covered to signify that his
position is that to which the greatest respect should be paid.
The hat is a symbol of his office. But he is not obliged to wear if
he does not desire to do so.
Q. Why do Masons salute the Worshipful Master on entering and/or
retiring from the lodge?
A. To avow before all the brethren that they remember their
obligations; a visible evidence that they recall what they
promised and under what penalties they are bound. In most
Jurisdictions a Mason salutes before casting his ballot, to
signify that he does so with memory of his obligations as a Mason,
and with the good of the Order and his lodge uppermost in his
mind. The Master answers the salute to signify not only recognition,
but that he stands upon the level with his brethren, bound by the
same tie which binds them.
Q. Has a would-be visitor to the lodge who requests a Committee a
right to ask to see the Charter of the lodge?
A. He has the same right to ascertain that the lodge he would
visit is <20>legally constituted,<2C> as the lodge has to ascertain, by
an examination of his knowledge and his credentials, that he is a
regular Mason.
Q. Has a would-be visitor the right to demand a committee?
A. All affiliated Masons have the right to visit other lodges,
provided that right is not in conflict with the prerogative of the
Master to exclude from the lodge any brother whose presence, in his
judgment, would interfere with the peace and harmony of the meeting;
or the right of any brother of the lodge to object to the
presence of a visitor with whom he cannot sit in peace and
harmony. A well-informed and courteous visitor will not demand, but
request a committee to examine him.
Q. How many members must compose such a committee?
A. Unless the Grand Lodge has ruled a certain number, the
committee may consist of as many as the Worshipful Master desires
to appoint. Two or three are customary; a committee of one is
not uncommon, although it is a courtesy to the visiting brother to
send out at least two.
Q. Has the visitor the right to demand that the committee take the
Tiler<EFBFBD>s Oath with him?
A. A well-informed committee will not wait to be asked. The
visitor has a perfect right to hear the brethren who are to
examine him on Masonry state under oath that they too are regularly
Initiated, Passed and Raised Masons.
Q. Can a Master sit in Lodge without an Apron?
A. He can. So can he keep his hat on in church. But he should
not, if aprons are available. A Mason is not properly clothed in
lodge without an apron. At a communication attended so largely
as to use all the aprons available, it would be unthinkable to
exclude late comers who would clothe themselves properly if
they could. Most Master Masons, if all the aprons are in use, will
use a pocket handkerchief as a substitute, merely as evidence to all
that they know how a Mason should be clothed.
Q. Should a lodge bury an Entered Apprentice or Fellowcraft with
Masonic honors?
A. Mackey states that the right of Masonic burial is one possessed
only by Master Masons. Preston, the author of the original
Masonic burial service, says in his <20>Illustrations of Masonry:<3A>
<EFBFBD>No Mason can be interred with the formalities of the Order unless it
be at his own request, communicated to the Master of the Lodge of
which he died a member; foreigners and sojourners excepted; nor
unless he has been advanced to the Third Degree of Masonry, from
which restriction there can be no exceptions. Fellowcrafts or
Apprentices are not entitled to the funeral obsequies.<2E>
Q. May a brother appeal from the decision of the Master of the
Lodge?
A. He may not. If he attempts such an appeal, a well-informed
Master will rule him out of order. Appeal from the Master<65>s acts
and decisions lies to his Grand Lodge or the Grand Master <20>ad
interim.<2E> The Master<65>s decisions on all that occurs in his lodge are
final, until reversed by the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge.
In some Jurisdictions appeal on some matters may be made to the
District Deputy, and his decision overrules that of the Master, but
he may in turn be overruled by the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge.
Q. Can a lodge adjourn?
A. No. A lodge must always be in one of three conditions: At
labor, at refreshment, or closed. Nor can a lodge dictate to the
Master when the lodge must be opened or closed. A Master cannot
legally open his lodge before the Stated time, but he can open it as
much later as he chooses; he has the sole power of calling special
communications, and can close any communication at any time.
Q. Is it permissible to offer a motion to lay on the table?
A. It is not. The Master has the complete control of debate. He
may initiate it, curtail it and close it at his pleasure. No
motion which curtails his power to control and limit debate should
ever be offered. If offered, the well-informed Master
will decline to put it.
Q. Where can information similar to that conveyed in these
questions and answers be readily obtained?
A. From the Code, by-laws and Constitutions of the Grand Lodge;
from the ritual and manual of the degrees; from hundreds of
fine Masonic books. The invaluable <20>Mackey<65>s Jurisprudence,<2C> the
<EFBFBD>Little Masonic Library,<2C> and a good Masonic encyclopedia are all
excellent sources.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX March, 1931 No.3
THE SUMMONS
by: Unknown
Every Master Mason understands that a summons is a command to attend
the Communication of the lodge for which the summons is issued, or
the occasion - funeral, trial, cornerstone laying; or other function
- to which he is bidden. Every Master Mason knows why he must <20>due
answer make,<2C> either by attendance, or submitting an acceptable
excuse, such as illness, absence beyond the length of his cable tow,
or other inability to be present.
The summons appears to be very old; older perhaps in civil law than
in Masonry, and it has there no considerable antiquity. Indeed,
while the word does not appear in the Old Testament, both Numbers and
Deuteronomy set forth instructions as to testimony of witnesses at
trials, and by implication, if not by detailed statement, indicate
that the presence of such witnesses was compulsory. Funk and
Wagnall<EFBFBD>s Standard Bible Dictionary states that the Israelites
<EFBFBD>summoned<EFBFBD> witnesses.
Civil summons was known in Rome, first by word of mouth, later by
written citation to appear. In Chaucer<65>s <20>Canterbury Tales<65> (written
about 1386) is a <20>sompour<75> or summoner to the ecclesiastical court.
The use of summons in English procedure goes back into the dim
distance where fact and mysticism meet. It was a part of the feudal
system of England and the clan organization of Scotland. When the
Baron in England or the Laird in Scotland summoned his fiefs and
retainers, they answered in person. Failure to do so meant death.
The safety of the Baron depended upon absolute fealty; the safety of
the realm depended upon prompt obedience of the Laird to the call of
the King. But importance of obedience to summons goes further back
than that.
When King Arthur founded his mystic, if not mythical, Knights of the
Round Table, one of the inflexible rules was that every knight must
appear on a fixed day in every year to report to the table his acts
and adventures of the past year. Only one excuse, other than death,
was acceptable; that the Knight was on a quest that so required his
attention as to render it impossible for him to appear. He was then
expected to send an excuse for his disobedience of the requirement.
In the Anderson Charges of 1772, we read:
<EFBFBD>In Ancient times no Master could be absent from the lodge,
especially when warned to appear at it, without incurring a severe
censure.<2E>
In the Constitutions of the Cooke MS., about 1490. we are told that
the Masters and Fellows were to be forewarned to come to the
congregations. All the old records, and the testimony of writers
since the revival, show that it was always the usage to summon the
members to attend the meetings of the General Assembly or the
particular lodges.
In the United States the use of the summons grows rarer with every
passing year, as applied to a whole membership. In certain
Jurisdictions the Master summons his lodge once a year, as much,
perhaps, to keep the idea of the summons alive, as to assemble the
whole lodge for any purpose. Occasionally lodges are summonsed
regularly twice a year, a custom which doubtless grew out of the
original once-a-year summons to come and pay dues, when such
particular lodges decided to receive dues every six months. In some
Jurisdictions the summons is used for the whole membership only upon
extraordinary occasions, as when its proposed to finance a temple, or
consider some extremely important question of policy such as giving
up the Charter. In many Jurisdictions a lodge can not legally give,
or surrender its Charter without the action being considered by the
whole membership at a summonsed meeting.
Most jurisdictions would commonly use the summons to command
witnesses at a Masonic trial. In some the master uses the summons to
get a sufficient number of brethren present for Masonic Funerals.
Unhappily, the press of modern life, the casual manner in which too
many regard their Masonry, the laxness of some Masters and the
<EFBFBD>laissez faire<72> policy of some Grand Lodge leaders, has allowed the
sanctity of the summons to be somewhat tarnished.
A Mason is Masonicaly bound to :due answer make<6B> to a summons.
Failure to answer a summons, then, is a Masonic offense, for which
the offender may be tried.
But few who are interested in their lodges desire to see Masonic
trials held, if they can by any possibility be avoided. Lodge trials
often produce lack of harmony and disunion among the membership. To
prefer charges and stage a trial for the apparent trivial offense of
failure to answer a summons is sometimes held to be unwise. Yet, not
always so. From a hundred instances one is chosen at random; the
Grand Master of Louisiana wrote a letter to the Master and Wardens of
a certain lodge, which read in part as follows:
<EFBFBD>Brother R, Norman Bauer, D.D.G.M., has reported to me that the
proceedings of your lodge in the matter of the trial of
Brother__________. My attention is especially called to the fact
that out of a membership of more than 200, only 75 brothers answered
the summons to be present at the trial. You are hereby directed to
require of the brethren who were absent, to give a proper explanation
of their failure to be present, and in the event satisfactory
explanation is not given, you are directed to have charges filed
against each of them who fails to provide you with a satisfactory
explanation. The charges are to be, <20>Un-Masonic Con-duct in failing
to obey the summons of the lodge, in accordance with their obligation
and in accordance with the requirements of Masonic Law.<2E>
Into the question as to when it is wise and right to prefer charges
for failure to answer a summons, and when the best interests of all
are served by a mere reprimand to the guilty absentees, this paper
cannot attempt to go. But it may be said that while failure to
answer a summons may be deemed trivial, violation of an obligation
cannot be so considered. Those who look at the matter from this
standpoint, say that some disciplinary action is the only wise course
to pursue.
It is not possible to blame modern conditions with all of our
troubles! It is only fair to say that sometimes disrespect for law
is caused either by the law or the law-giver. Grand Lodges
themselves have not always looked very far ahead in legislating upon
the summons.
The General Regulations of the Craft (1721) specifically state:
<EFBFBD>The Master of a particular Lodge has the right and authority of
congregating the members of his lodge in a Chapter at pleasure, upon
any emergency or occurrence, as well as to appoint the time and place
of their usual forming.<2E>
The Regulations also specifically say : <20>Every annual Grand Lodge has
the inherent power and authority to make new Regulations or to alter
these, for the real benefit of this ancient Fraternity, provided
always that the old landmarks be carefully preserved.<2E>
It is, then, perfectly within the power of a Grand Lodge to set up a
new regulation regarding summons, or <20>right to congregate the lodge.<2E>
In some Jurisdictions this has been done, and the right of summons
shared between the Master and the lodge; that is, the Master may
summons when he thinks it wise; and the lodge can issue summons when
it thinks wise.
But as has been proved often in the past and probably will again in
the future, the power to set up a regulation is one thing; to make it
right - or even legal - is another!
It is practically universal that a Master has complete charge of the
work of his lodge; he is responsible for what it does; he opens and
closes it at his pleasure; he says when degrees are to be conferred;
he controls absolutely the debate on any question and can close it,
curtail it, initiate it as he thinks wise, and can put, <20>or refuse to
put<EFBFBD> any motion which in his judgment is subversive of the peace and
harmony of the Craft.
A lodge can only act, as a lodge, as a result of a Master<65>s order, or
of its own order - that it, its vote. If a lodge would spend money,
a motion must put and voted upon. If it would receive a petition,
the motion to receive must be put and balloted upon. If it would
call off during a summer month, a motion to call off stated
communications is put and balloted upon. (This, of course, if the
Grand Lodge permits calling off.)
Hence, in a Jurisdiction in which the Grand Lodge has vested power to
issue summons in the lodge, as well in the Master, the lodge must
vote upon the question, which must be put. If a Master refused to
put the question up <20>Shall the lodge issue a summons<6E> the lodge could
not vote upon it. If then, some brother feeling aggrieved, should
appeal from this failure to put the question, to the Grand Master or
the Grand Lodge, that higher authority would have to rule upon the
right of a Master to control his work, if such an authority desired
to discipline the Master for failure to permit the Grand Lodge<67>s
other behest - the power of a lodge to summons - to be exercised!
Let nothing in these words be construed as a criticism of the Grand
Lodges which in their wisdom have altered the original General
Regulations and given to lodges as well as to their Masters the right
to summons. A Grand Lodge is supreme within its Jurisdiction. No
matter how inconsistent with laws, usages, customs, landmarks,
constitutions or immemorial practices of the Fraternity its
enactments may be, within its Jurisdiction what a Grand Lodge says is
law, and therefore right - or right, and therefore law!
In Jurisdictions where the Grand Lodge has ruled upon any matter,
that matter has been rightly decided for that Jurisdiction - aye,
even if the Grand Lodge has ruled that black is white!
In this connection it is interesting to read that actions of a Grand
Lodge which has decided this matter one way, and then the other!
In 1834 the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia decided that the
Master had not the exclusive right to summons the members.
In 1909 a proposed by-law of a constituent lodge was referred to the
Grand Lodge committee on By-Laws. The proposed by-law read:
<EFBFBD>Whenever the lodge is called upon to attend the funeral of a
deceased brother, the Worshipful Master shall summons a sufficient
number of the resident members of the lodge, naming them in regular
alphabetical order, and a brother so summoned shall be present or
furnish an acceptable substitute. No brother attending a funeral in
obedience to a summons shall again be called upon until his name is
reached in regular order.<2E>
The Committee on By-Laws reported that the lodge had no right to pass
this by-law, in spite of the ancient decision of 1834, on the ground
that while lodges have the right, subject to Grand Lodge approval, to
fix the time and place of their stated communications, they have
neither right nor power to legislate as to the time or place of
special meetings, which are wholly under the control of the Master.
In concluding its report, which was unanimously adopted by the Grand
Lodge and thus became the law in the District of Columbia,
superseding the decision of 1834, the committee said:
<EFBFBD>The Master has the sole authority to convene his lodge in special
communications; he may compel the attendance of the members by
summons; he alone can exercise this power and in its exercise he is
not subject to the will of the lodge because he is the judge of the
exigency or emergency that may require a special meeting. These
powers are inherent in the office of Master, and no by-law is needed
to validate their exercise and none is legal which attempts to
curtail, control or direct them. That their exercise has been
entrusted to the Master alone is doubtless due to the fact that the
Grand Lodge looks to him, and not to the lodge, to see that the
business of the lodge is properly conducted.<2E>
There is good Masonic authority for this decision, which, of course,
is law only in Jurisdictions which have so ruled. Mackey<65>s <20>Masonic
Jurisprudence<EFBFBD> states:
No motion to adjourn, or to close, or to call from labor to
refreshment can ever be admitted in a Masonic Lodge. Such a motion
would be an interference with the prerogative of the Master and could
not, therefore, be entertained. The Master has the right to convene
the lodge at any time and is the judge of any emergency that may
require a special meeting. Without his consent, except on the night
of the Stated or regular communications, the lodge cannot be
congregated and, therefore, any business transacted at a called or
special communication without his sanction or consent would be
illegal and void.<2E>
Simons (Principals of Masonic Jurisprudence) says:
<EFBFBD>It is an immemorial usage - and therefore a landmark - that none but
the Master (when he is present) can congregate the brethren. Under
this prerogative the Master may call or summon a meeting of his
lodge at any time he thinks proper. The summon can be issued by
authority of the Master only, while he remains in discharge of his
functions, and is a preemptory order which must be obeyed, under
penalty, unless the excuse of the defaulter be of the most undeniable
validity.<2E>
In one Jurisdiction where it is held that the lodge as well as the
Master may issue a summons, failure to answer a summons is treated
with first, a merciful, then an iron hand. The brother who is
summoned but does not answer is re-summoned to the next communication
of the lodge. If he does not then answer with a valid excuse he
shall be put to trial and if found guilty, may be reprimanded,
suspended, or expelled, in the judgment of the lodge.
Any intelligent student of Freemasonry must have noted that its
Jurisprudence is largely concerned with what may be done, rather than
what may not; with duties and responsibilities, rather than
prohibitions and penalties. The gentle way of Masonry is to set up
the right, and believe that every brother will adhere to it, rather
than the wrong, forbidden under penalty of some punishment.
The best way to recreate the old respect which Masons had for a
summons is not by trial and punishment, but by education and
persuasion.
The vast majority of men are honest. Most brethren want to do what
is right. Most Masons want to live up to their obligations, perform
their duties, give as much as they get. The exceptions stand out
more because they are exceptions than because of their number.
In a certain Jurisdiction in which it is customary to summons the
membership once a year, Masters have long been distressed because so
many members ignored the summons.
One Master believed that members ignored the summons from the
lack of understanding of its importance, and their own obligation to
answer it. His lodge has 191 members. He wrote 191 letters to go
with the yearly summons. The letters were short, but they were
cordial, personal, brotherly. They explained what the summons was,
why it was issued, the duty of the brother to <20>due answer make<6B> and
closed with the assurance of the Master<65>s certainty that there was no
question of its being answered, once it was understood.
One hundred and sixty-five members answered in person; twenty-one
replied by letter giving good reasons why they could not come!. In
large lodges a summons may be all but an impossibility. A lodge with
a thousand members could not crowd them into the usual lodge room if
all responded to a summons. Summons by such lodges presupposes a
special and sufficiently large place in which to meet. Lodges with
widely scattered members - as in small towns in large and sparsely
populated states - may make the summons a real hardship on members
who may have to travel long distances to answer. It is for such
reasons as these that the summons is used less and less merely
because it is not possible to use, and more and more, when it is
used, for only vital and essential matters.
Whether used once a year or oftener by Grand Lodge rule; or seldom,
and only by the discretion of the Worshipful Master, respect for the
summons may be inculcated by education, by talks in lodge, by letters
accompanying the summons, and by word of mouth communication from
member to member.
Enforcement, by Masonic trial and punishment, is essential when Grand
Lodge so orders; unless it is mandatory, the gentler way will usually
be found the wiser - and the more effective because it is more
Masonic!

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX April, 1931 No.4
THE WARDENS
by: Unknown
The office of Warden is very old; older, probably, than any reference
we will ever find in documents relating to the Craft. All through
our organization the influence of the Guilds of the middle ages may
be traced; occasionally with ease, more often by the methods of a
<EFBFBD>higher criticism<73> which reads analogies by inference and a logical
interpretation of the spirit of the document.
That Freemasonry derived its Wardens from the Guilds, however, needs
no very critical labor to suggest.
The Guilds of the Middle Ages acted under Royal Charters or Warrants,
or similar instruments given by more local authority. This legal
protection enabled them to work with more freedom, for the good of
all, and gave the chartering authority some semblance of control.
In the <20>libre Albus,<2C> or White Book of the City of London 1419, we
find the <20>Oath of the Masters and Wardens of the Mysteries,<2C> which
was applicable to any Guild - weavers, metal workers, Masons or
others. It Reads:
<EFBFBD>You shall swear, that well and lawful you shall overlook the art or
mystery of_____of which you are Masters and Wardens of the Mysteries,
for the year elected. And the good rules and ordinances of the same
mystery. approved here by the Court, you shall keep and cause to be
kept. And all the defaults that you shall find therein, done
contrary there to, you shall present to the Chamberlain of the City,
from time to time, sparing no one for favour, and aggrieving no one
for hate. Extortion or wrong unto no one, by colour of your office,
you shall do; nor unto anything that shall be against the estate and
Peace of the King, or of the City, you shall consent. But for the
time that you shall be in office, in all things pertaining unto the
said mystery, according to the good laws and franchises of the said
City, well and lawfully you shall behave yourself. So God you help,
and the Saints.<2E>
The Harleian manuscript, the probable date of which is 1660, states
that:
<EFBFBD>For the future the Sayd Society, Company and Fraternity of Free
Masons shall be regulated and governed by one Master and Assembly and
Wardens as the said Company shall think to choose, at every yearly
General Assembly.<2E>
It seems strange to modern ears, but it is a fact that the Wardens of
a lodge, prior to some date between 1723 and 1738 were always chosen
from the Fellows of the Craft.
In the first edition of <20>Anderson<6F>s Constitution,<2C> published in 1723,
under the <20>Manner of Constituting a New Lodge, as practiced by his
Grace the Duke of Wharton, the present Right Worshipful Grand Master,
according to the ancient usages of Masons,<2C> we read: <20>The new Master
and Wardens being yet among the Fellow-Craft.<2E> After the newly
elected Master is installed he calls forth <20>two Fellow-Craft,
presents them to the Grand Master for his approbation,<2C> and when that
is secured they are duly installed as Wardens.
At that early date a Deputy Grand Master could be chosen from the
ranks of the Fellows. The 17th Regulation states: <20>If the Deputy
Grand Master be sick, or necessarily absent, the Grand Master may
choose any Fellow-Craft he pleases to be his Deputy <20>pro tempre.<2E>
In 1738, when the Book of Constitutions was published, the Wardens,
Tiler, Assistant Treasurer and Secretary had to be Master Masons.
Perhaps no ancient usage and custom of the Fraternity is more
universal than the government of lodges by a Master and two Wardens.
Mackey lists this requirement as his Tenth Landmark, and whether they
have adopted Mackey<65>s twenty-five Landmarks or not, all Grand Lodges
recognize the Wardens as essential in the formation, opening and
governing of a lodge.
The three principal officers of a lodge are universally recognized in
the ritual as the essential elements of which a lodge must consist.
Only the uninstructed Mason regards the stations of the Senior and
Junior Wardens as but stepping stones to the East; necessary waiting
posts to which the ambitious must stand hitched for a year before
proceeding on his triumphal journey to the Oriental Chair!
Not only are the wardens essential to every Entered Apprentices<65>,
Fellow Crafts<74> or Master Masons<6E> Lodge, but they have certain
inherent powers, duties and responsibilities. Mackey sets these
forth substantially as follows:
<EFBFBD>While the Master may use others than the Wardens in conferring of
the degrees, he cannot deprive the Wardens of their offices, or
absolve them of the responsibilities.<2E>
The government of a Masonic lodge is essentially tripartite, although
lodges may be legally opened, set to labor and closed by the Master
in the absence of the installed Wardens, the chairs being filled by
temporary appointees. The Senior Warden presides in the absence of
the Master, and the Junior Warden in the absence of both the Master
and Senior Warden.
No other brethren in the lodge have this power, privilege or
responsibility. The Warden who presides in the absence of his
superior officer may, if he desires, call a Past Master to the Chair
to preside for him; but, no Past Master, in the absence of the
Master, may legally congregate the lodge. That must be done by the
Master, the Senior Warden in the Absence of the Master, or the Junior
Warden in the absence of both.
Mackey further states that while the Senior Warden takes the East by
right in the absence of the Master, the Junior Warden does not take
the West by right in the absence of the Senior Warden. Each officer
is installed with a ceremony which gives him certain duties; a Warden
in the East is still a Warden, not a Master. It is the Master<65>s
privilege to appoint brethren to stations temporarily unfilled. The
Master, whether elected and installed, or Senior Warden acting as
Master in the real Master<65>s absence, may appoint the Junior Warden to
fill an empty West. But the Junior Warden cannot assume the West
without such ap-pointment. On the contrary, in the absence of the
Master, the Senior Warden, when present, is the only brother who can
assume the East and congregate the lodge.
Thus runs the general law, usually adhered to. As has been noted in
other Bulletins, Grand Lodges may, and not infrequently do, make
local regulations contrary to the Old Constitutions, the Old Charges,
even the Landmarks - the fundamental laws of Masonry.
If a Grand Lodge rules that in the absence of the Master and both
Wardens, the oldest Past Master present may congregate, open and
close the lodge; then that law is correct for that Grand Lodge only;
but it not in consonance with general Masonic practice, nor with the
fundamental laws of the Fraternity.
The Wardens are found in all bodies of Masonry, in all Rites and in
all countries.
Both its derivations, and its translations give the meaning of the
word. It comes from the Saxon <20>weardian,<2C> to guard, to watch. In
France, the second and third officers are <20>Premier<65> and <20>Second
Surveillant;<3B> in Germany, <20>Erste<74> and <20>zwite Aufseher;<3B> in Spain,
<EFBFBD>primer<EFBFBD> and <20>segundo Vigilante;<3B> in Italy, <20>primo<6D> and <20>secondo
Sorvegliante,<2C> all the words meaning to overlook, to see, to watch,
to keep ward, to observe.
Whether the title came from the provision of the old rituals that the
Wardens sit beside the two columns in the porch of the Temple to
oversee or watch; the Senior Warden the Fellowcrafts and the Junior
Warden the Apprentices; or whether the old rituals were developed
from the custom of the middle ages Guilds having Wardens (watchers),
is a moot question.
In the French Rite and the Scottish Rite both Wardens sit in the
West, near the columns. In the Blue Lodge the symbolism is somewhat
impaired by the Junior Warden sitting in the South, but it is
strengthened by giving each Warden a replica of the column beneath
the shade of which he once sat. It is interesting to note that these
columns once went by another name. Oliver quotes an inventory of a
Lodge at Chester, in 1761, which includes <20>two truncheons for the
Wardens.<2E>
Truncheons or Columns, they are the Warden<65>s emblems of authority,
and their positions are of great interest. The column of the Senior
Warden is erect, that of the Junior Warden on its side when the lodge
it at labor. During refreshment, the Senior Warden<65>s column is laid
prostrate, while that of the Junior Warden is erected, so that the
craft may know, at all times, by a glance at either the South or the
West. whether the Lodge is at labor or refreshment.
The government of the Craft by a Master and two Wardens cannot be too
strongly emphasized to the initiate or too well observed by the
Craft. It is not only the right but the duty of the Senior Warden to
<EFBFBD>assist the Worshipful Master in opening and governing his lodge.<2E>
When he uses it to enforce orders, his setting mall or gavel is to be
respected; he has a <20>proper officer<65> to carry his messages to the
Junior Warden or elsewhere; under the Master, he is responsible for
the conduct of the Lodge while at labor.
The Junior Warden<65>s duties are less important; he observes the time,
and calls the lodge from labor to refreshment, and from refreshment
back to labor in due season, at the orders of the Master. It is his
duty to see that <20>none of the Craft convert the purposes of
refreshment into intemperance and excess<73> which doubtless has a
bibulous derivation, coming from days when <20>refreshment<6E> meant wine.
If we no longer drink wine at lodge, we still have reason for this
charge upon the Junior Warden, since it is his unpleasant duty,
because he supervises the conduct of the Craft at refreshment, to
prefer charges against those guilty of Masonic misconduct.
Only Wardens may succeed to the office of Master (not so in Nevada).
This requirement (which has certain exceptions, as in the formation
of a new lodge) is very old.
The fourth of the Old Charges reads:
<EFBFBD>No brother can be a Warden until he has passed the part of a
Fellowcraft; nor a Master, until he has acted as Warden; nor Grand
Warden, until he been Master of a Lodge, nor Grand Master, unless he
has been a Fellowcraft before his election.<2E>
There is wisdom in the old law; there is wit in the modern practice
of electing the Junior Warden to be Senior Warden. No man learns to
be Master of a lodge by sitting upon the benches and observing. No
brother<EFBFBD>s fitness to be Master can be observed by brethren unless he
is tested. Brethren learn, and are tested as to how they learn and
perform, by serving as Wardens, before they aspire to the Oriental
Chair.
A privilege equally high is that of the Wardens in most
Jurisdictions; representing the lodge with the Master at all
communications of the Grand Lodge. Certain Grand Lodges
disenfranchise the Wardens, the Grand Lodge consisting only of the
Master of constituent lodges and the officers and past officers of
Grand Lodge.
Prior to the formation of the M other Grand Lodge of England, in
1717, it was the prerogative of every Mason to be present at the
General Assembly and to have his voice in its affairs. When the
Grand Lodge was brought into being by the <20>four old lodges<65> of
London, the interests of all were entrusted to the Masters and
Wardens.
Preston states that <20>The Masters and Wardens of all regular
particular lodges upon record<72> form the Grand Lodge.
Of the action of Grand Lodges which deprive the Wardens of membership
in the Grand Lodge, Mackey states:
<EFBFBD>I cannot hesitate to say that this is not only a violation of the
ancient regulations, but an infraction of the inherent rights of the
Wardens and the lodges.<2E>
This appears to many as going too far. If the brethren of the old
General Assembly could give up their rights to a voice in its
deliberations, and entrust their interests to Masters and Wardens in
a Grand Lodge, it seems not unreasonable that these Masters and
Wardens, as a Grand Lodge, have a right to deprive themselves of
membership when the good of the whole requires it.
The Warden<65>s is a high and exalted office; his duties are many, his
responsibilities great; his powers are only exceeded by those of the
Master. He is a good Warden who so acts in his South or West as to
command for himself the respect of the brethren, rather than
demanding it because of law and custom.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX May,1931 No.5
FIVE POINTS
by: Unknown
The Five Points of Fellowship, as every Master Masons knows, contain
the essence of the doctrine of brotherhood. But many a new brother
asks, pertinently, <20>why are they called <20>Points?<3F>
In the Old Constitutions, as explained in the Hallowell or Regius
manuscript, are fifteen regulations, called <20>points.<2E> The old verse
runs:
<EFBFBD>Fifteen artyculus there they soughton And fifteen poyntys there
they wrogton.<2E>
Translated into easy English, this reads:
<EFBFBD>Fifteen articles there they sought And fifteen points there they
wrought.<2E>
Phillips <20>New World of Words,<2C> published in 1706, defines <20>point<6E> as
<EFBFBD>a head, or chief matter.<2E> Moreover, an operative Masons <20>points<74>
the seams of as wall by filling in the chinks left in laying bricks
or stone, thus completing the structure.
In older days of the Speculative Art there were <20>twelve original
points<EFBFBD> as we learn from the old English lectures, done away with by
the United Grand Lodge of England at the time of the reconciliation
of 1813. They were introduced by the following passage:
<EFBFBD>There are in Freemasonry twelve original points, which form the
basis of the system and comprehend the whole ceremony of initiation.
Without the existence of these points, no man ever was, or can be,
legally and essentially received into the Order. Every person who is
made a Mason must go through these twelve forms and ceremonies, not
only in the first degree, but in every subsequent one.<2E>
The twelve points were: Opening, Preparation, Report, Entrance,
Prayer, Circumambulation , Advancing. Obligation, Investure,
Northeast Corner and Closing; and each was symbolized by one of the
Twelve Tribes of Israel for ingenious reasons not necessary to set
forth here.
The twelve original points were never introduced into the United
States, and are now no longer used in England, although the
ceremonies which they typify, of course, are integral parts of all
Masonic rituals.
Our Five Points of Fellowship are not allied to these, except as they
are reflected in the word <20>points.<2E> We also find this relationship
in the Perfect Points of our Entrance, once called Principal Points.
Dr. Oliver, famous, learned and not always accurate Masonic student
and writer (1782-1867) sums up the Five Points in his <20>Landmarks,<2C> as
follows:
<EFBFBD>Assisting a brother in his distress, supporting him in his virtuous
undertakings, praying for his welfare, keeping inviolate his secrets
and vindicating his reputation as well in his absence as in his
presence.<2E>
by which it will be seen that in Oliver<65>s day the Five Points were
not exactly as they are with us now.
Strange though it seems, a change was made in the symbolism of the
Five Points as recently as 1842, at the Baltimore Masonic Convention.
Prior to that time, according to Cole, the Five Points were
symbolized by hand, foot, knee, breast and back. After 1842, the
hand was omitted, and the mouth and ear tacked on as the fifth.
Mackey believed that:
<EFBFBD>The omission of the first and the insertion of the last are
innovations and the enumeration given by Cole is the old and genuine
one which was originally taught in England by Preston and in his
country by Webb.<2E>
Some curiosities of ritual changes, though interesting, are more for
the antiquarian than the average lodge member. Most of us are more
concerned with a practical explanation of the Five Points as they
have been taught for nearly a hundred years.
For they have a practical explanation, which goes much more deeply
into fraternal and brotherly relations than the ritual indicates.
A man goes on foot a short distance by preference; for a longer
journey he boards a street car, rides in an automobile, engages
passage on a railroad or courses through the air in a plane. Service
to our brethren on foot does not imply any special virtue in that
means of transportation. The word expresses the willingness of him
who would serve our own pleasure and refuse to travel merely because
the means is not to our liking would hardly be Masonic.
We assist our brethren when we can; also we serve them.
The two terms are not interchangeable; we can not assist a brother
with out serving, but we may serve him without assisting him. For a
wholly negative action may be a service; suppose we have a just claim
against him and, because of our Fraternal relations, we postpone
pressing it. That is true service, but not active assistance, such
as we might give if we gave or loaned him money to satisfy some
other<EFBFBD>s claim.
How far should we go <20>on foot<6F> to render service?
Nothing is said in the ritual, but the cabletow is otherwise used as
a measure of length. That same Baltimore Masonic Convention defined
a cabletow<6F>s length as <20>the scope of a brothers reasonable ability.<2E>
Across town may be too far for one, and across a continent not too
far for another. In better words, our own conception of brotherhood
must say how far we travel to help our brother.
Mackey expressed thus:
<EFBFBD>Indolence should not cause our footsteps to halt, or wrath to turn
them aside; but with eager alacrity and swiftness of foot, we should
press forward in the exercise of charity and kindness to a distressed
fellow creature.<2E>
The petition at the Altar of the Great Architect of the Universe
before engaging in any great and important undertaking is sound
Masonic doctrine. To name the welfare of our brother in our
petitions is good - but not for the reasons which the good Dr. Mackey
set forth; the great Masonic student<6E>s pen slipped here, even as Jove
has been known to nod! He Said:
<EFBFBD>In our devotions to almighty God we should remember a brother<65>s
welfare as our own, for the prayers of a fervent and sincere heart
will find no less favor in the sight of heaven because the petition
for self intermingles with aspirations of benevolence for a friend.<2E>
Apparently we should pray for our friends because God will look with
favor on an unselfish action on our part - which is un Masonic and
selfish! Cole, writing years before Mackey (1817) said of his Third,
our Second Point:
<EFBFBD>When I offer up my ejaculations to Almighty God, a brother<65>s welfare
I will remember as my own, for as the voices of babes and sucklings
ascend to the Throne of Grace, so most assuredly will the breathings
of a fervent heart arise to the mansions of bliss, as out prayers are
certainly required of each other.<2E>
This seems to be interpretable as meaning that we should pray for our
brethren because we love them, and because, knowing our own need of
their prayers, we realize their need of ours.
Anciently, it was written <20>Laborare est orare,<2C> - to labor is to
pray. If indeed prayer is labor, then to pray for our brethren we
may labor for our brethren, which at once clarifies the Second Point
and makes it a practical, everyday, do-it-now admonition. To work
for our brother<65>s welfare is in the most brotherly manner to petition
the Most High for him.
We often associate with the idea of a <20>secret<65> something less than
proper; <20>He has a secret in his life,<2C> <20>He is secretive.<2E> <20>He says
one thing but in his secret heart he thinks another<65> are all
expressions which seem to connote some degree of guilt with what is
secret. We keep our brother<65>s secrets, guilty or innocent, but let
us not assume that every secret is of a guilty variety. He may have
a secret ambition, a secret joy, a secret hope - if he confides these
to us, is our teaching merely to refuse to tell them, or to keep them
in the fine old sense of that word - to hold, to guard. to preserve.
The Keeper of the Door stands watch and ward, not to keep it from
others, but to see that none use it improperly. Thus we are to keep
the secret joys and ambitions of our brethren, close in our hearts,
until he wants them known, but also by sympathy and understanding,
helping him to maintain them.
Even without this broad interpretation, the keeping of a brother<65>s
confidence has more to it than mere silence. If he confides to us a
guilty secret, since to betray him may not only make known that which
he wishes hidden, but places him in danger. To betray a trust is
never the act of a brother. In ordinary life an unsought trust does
not carry with it responsibility to preserve it; in Freemasonry it
does! No matter how we wish we did not share the secret, if it has
been given us by a brother, we can not suffer our tongues to betray
him, no matter what it costs us to remain silent, unless we forget
alike our obligation and the Third Point.
<EFBFBD>Do you stumble and fall, my brother? My hand is stretched out to
prevent it. Do you need aid? My hand is yours - use it. It is your
hand, for the time being. My strength is united to yours. You are
not alone in your struggle - I stand with you on the Fourth of the
Five Points, and as your need may be, so <20>Deo volente,<2C> will be my
strength for you.<2E>
So must we speak when the need comes. It makes no difference in what
way our brother stumbles; it may be mentally; it may be spiritually;
it may be materially; it may be morally. No exceptions are noted in
our teachings. We are not told to stretch forth the hand in aid
<EFBFBD>If,<2C> and <20>perhaps,<2C> and <20>but!<21> Not for us to judge, to condemn, to
admonish . . . for us only to put forth our strength unto our falling
brother at his need, without question and without stint.
For such is the Kingdom of Brotherhood.
More sins are committed in the name of the Fifth of the Five Points
than in the name of liberty! Too often we offer counsel when it is
not advice but help that is needed. Too often we admonish of motes
within our brother<65>s eye when our own vision is blinded by beams.
What said the Lord? (Amos VII, in the Fellowcraft<66>s Degree.)
<EFBFBD>Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I
will not again pass by them any more.<2E>
<EFBFBD>In the midst of my people Israel<65> - not in the far away land; not
across the river; not up on the mountain top, but in the midst of
them, an intimate personal individual plumb line!
So are we to judge our brethren; not by the plumb, the square or the
level that we are each taught to carry in our hearts, but by his
plumb, his square, his level.
If he build true by his own tools, we have no right to judge him by
ours. The friendly reminders we must whisper to him are of incorrect
building by his own plumb line. He may differ from us in opinion; he
may be Republican where we are Democrat, Methodist where we are
Baptist; Wet where we are Dry; Protectionist where we are Free trade;
League of Nations proponent where we are <20>biter enders<72> - we must not
judge him by the plumb line of our own beliefs.
Only when we see him building untrue to his own tools have we the
right to remind him of his faults. When we see a brave man
shrinking, a virtuous man abandoning himself to vice, a good man
acting as a criminal - then is his building faulty judged by his own
plumb line and we may heed the Fifth of the Five Points and counsel
and advise him to swing back, true to his own working tools.
And finally, we do well to remember Mackey<65>s interpretation of the
Fifth Point:
<EFBFBD>. . . we should never revile a brother<65>s character behind his back
but rather, when attacked by others, support and defend it.<2E>
<EFBFBD>Speak no ill of the dead, since they can not defend themselves<65>
might well have been written of the absent. In the Masonic sense no
brother is absent if his brother is present, since then he has always
a champion and defender, standing upon the Fifth Point as upon a
rock.
So considered - and this little paper is but a slender outline of how
much and how far the Five Points extend - these teachings of Masonry,
concerned wholly with the relations of brother to brother, become a
broad and beautiful band of blue - the blue of the Blue Lodge - the
True Blue of Brotherhood.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX June, 1931 No.6
THE MENAGERIE OF MASONRY
by: Unknown
Animals have played an important part in symbolism from its very
beginning; perhaps because man preferred to symbolize life by the
living; perhaps because he found such strong analogies between the
characteristics of, or the virtues he ascribed to animals, birds and
other forms of life and the truths he desired to express in symbols.
A lamb is actually no more <20>innocent<6E> than a lion or a dog.
<EFBFBD>Innocence<EFBFBD> is defined as the state of being free of evil, or from
that which corrupts or taints; purity. One animal is on par with
another in these respects; neither lion nor lamb, jackal nor wolf is
<EFBFBD>corrupted<EFBFBD> or <20>tainted.<2E>
But the quality of innocence is often associated in our minds with
ignorance; often it means a weakness to resist, as when we speak of
an <20>innocent child.<2E> The lamb is weak; the lamb is meek; the lamb is
white and white is spotless, without soil or blemish; the lamb
requires care and guardianship, as does the child or the young girl -
therefore it is the weak lamb, and not the strong, predatory,
courageous and snarling lion which <20>in all ages<65> has been the symbol
of innocence.
<EFBFBD>In all ages<65> is a pleasant figure of speech which makes up in
roundness what it lacks in definiteness. Throughout the Old
Testament are references to lambs, often in connection with
sacrifices, frequently used in a sense symbolic of innocence, purity,
gentleness and weakness. It is probably from both the Old and New
Testaments use of a lamb that <20>in all ages<65> it has been a symbol for
innocence, a matter aided by the color, which we unconsciously
associate with purity, probably because of the hue of snow. It is
not a universal association though; the Chinese, for instance, so
often diametrically opposite the Occidentals in their thinking,
associate white with death.
The lion is one of Freemasonry<72>s most powerful and potent symbols;
<EFBFBD>The Lion of the Tribe of Judah<61> is so prominent in the ritual as to
be most familiar and the Masonic world needs no instruction as to the
significance of the paw of the lion. Yet both are often less fully
comprehended than their importance warrants.
The Lion of the Tribe of Judah has had various interpretations, some
of them rather unfair in their attempt to prove a point. No well-
informed Freemason thinks that Freemasonry is a Christian
organization, any more than it is Jewish or Mohammedan; albeit there
are more Christian Masons than Jewish or Mohammedan Masons. To deny
that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah refers to Christ, that it means
<EFBFBD>only<EFBFBD> a probable redeemer who would spring from the Tribe of Judah;
to try to read into the expression <20>only<6C> a reference to King
Solomon, is to disregard the undoubted fact that in its early stages
in England, Freemasonry was not only Christian, but allied to the
Church.
The First of the Old Charges makes this very plain:
<EFBFBD>But though in Ancient Times Masons were charged in every Country to
be of the religion of that Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet
`tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that religion
in which all Men agree, leaving their particular opinions to
themselves; that it, to be good men and true, or Men of Honor and
Honesty by whatever Denominations or persuasions they may be
Distinguished; whereby Masonry becomes a Center of Union and the
Means of conciliating true friendship among persons that must have
remained at a perpetual distance.<2E>
Prior to this broad-minded inclusion of men of all religions in
Freemasonry, operative Masons were <20>of the religion of the country,
whatever it was.<2E> This was predominately Christian, in England,
France and Germany.
Judah was symbolized as a lion in his father<65>s death bed blessing.
The lion was upon the standard of the large and powerful tribe of
Judah. <20>Lion of the Tribe of Judah<61> was one of Solomon<6F>s titles.
But Christian interpretation of the phrase springs from Revelations
(V. 5(, <20>Behold, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David,
hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals
thereof.<2E>
The idea of a resurrection is curiously interwoven with the lion <20>in
all ages<65> to quote the familiar phrase. In the twelfth century one
Philip de Thaun states: <20>Know that the lioness, if she bring forth a
dead cub, she holds her cub and the lion arrives; he goes about and
cries, till it revives on the third day.<2E> The rest of the quotation
ascribes a wholly Christian interpretation to the ancient legend.
Another writer of the middle ages has it:
Thus the strong lion of Judah The gates of cruel death being
broken Arose on the third day At the loud sounding voice of the
father.
The lion was connected with resurrection long before the Man of
Galilee walked upon the earth. In ancient Egypt, as we learn from
the stone carvings on the ruins of Temples, a lion raised Osiris from
a dead level to a living perpendicular by a grip of his paw; the
carvings show a figure standing behind the Altar, observing the
raising of the dead, with its left arm raised, forming the angle of a
square.
The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, considered as signifying a coming
redeemer who would spring from the tribe, or meaning the King of
Israel who built the Temple, or symbolizing the Christ, must not be
confused with the mode of recognition so inextricably mingled with
the Sublime Degree, teaching of a resurrection and a future life.
A curious inversion of the idea of the lion<6F>s paw as a symbol of life
is found in I Samuel, XVII 34:37. David tells Saul of rescuing a
lamb from a lion and a bear, and slaying both. Then (37) <20>David said
moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion . . .
he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.<2E>
Unquestionably the Israelites absorbed much of Egyptian beliefs
during the captivity, which may account both for the Lion of the
Tribe of Judah, and our own use of the paw.
But read the symbolism how we will, or by whatever light we please,
the lion has a Masonic significance of tremendous importance and
hoary antiquity; one which bears deep study without revealing all its
secrets.
To the world at large the best known animal in the Masonic Menagerie
is the goat! Alas, that goat! What harm has he not done to our
gentle Fraternity! Could the brother who jokes to the prospective
initiate about the terrors of <20>riding the goat<61> and the severe
treatment he may expect when the aprochryphal animal is let loose
upon him, but learn how the idea originated, he would never more soil
the most magnificent symbol of the mightiest of man<61>s hopes with so
shocking and debasing an idea.
The great God Pan has been sung and storied since the birth of
mythology. Originally he was anything but terrifying; a gentle,
rather whimsical God with a sense of humor. He was that Arcadian God
of the shepherds, chief of the inferior deities, generally considered
to be the child of Mercury and Penelope. Pan possessed long ears and
horns; the lower half of his body was that of a goat. He invented
Pan<EFBFBD>s Pipes, or <20>syrinx.<2E> From him we have the word <20>panic,<2C> the
state into which the Gauls were thrown on invading ancient Greece and
seeing Pan!
Myths and legends undergo strange transformations.
When the early Christian drew upon mythology they modified and
changed it; gentle Pan became Satan! To the common mind, Satan, or
the devil, was a he-goat. Thus the devil came into possession of
horns and a tail, and the familiar cloven hoof. Later, in the Middle
Ages, the devil took a more dignified form, in keeping with his
supposed power. But the people would not wholly give up the goat,
therefore their devil was supposed to appear riding on a goat.
Witches were credited with performing fearful ceremonies in which
they raised the devil in order to do homage to him and his goat.
In the early days of Masonry in London, the enemies of the Fraternity
employed the weapon of ridicule; processions of Mock Masons, the
Gormogons and or other organizations made all manner of fun of the
secrecy and the ceremonies of Freemasonry. Some of this fun was a
bitter and venomous jest; jealousy and ill-will of the excluded
circulated stories that Freemasons and witchcraft were allied. that
Freemasons were accustomed to raise the devil in their lodges - and,
of course, he appeared riding on his goat!
Gradually in common minds the belief came into being that Freemasons
<EFBFBD>rode the goat.<2E> We still have the expression, though not the
belief. Yet the coarse-minded and the unthinking still torment the
petitioner with tales of riding and being butted by the goat. They
pretend - or perhaps the just pretend to pretend - that the
initiative ceremonies are terrifying.
Brethren who thus regularly - albeit often innocently - tell tales of
the Masonic goat to initiates or the profane, carry forward a
ridicule and enmity of the Order begun more than two hundred years
ago. In peopling our lodge rooms with goats they perpetuate am
ignorant superstition and slander the fair fame of the Institution by
indicating that its practices are anti-religious and blasphemous.
Let him who has the good of the order in his heart cast from his mind
and eliminate from his speech all references to a Masonic goat, which
came from ridicule, which descended from the idea of the devil, which
in its turn came from the frolicsome half-goat, half-man God Pan.
No Masonic Menagerie would be complete which did not include the
beasts of the field and the birds of the air; here the influence of
the Old Testament is strongly felt. In I Samuel (XVII 41) we read:
<EFBFBD>And the Philistine said unto David, Come to me and I will give thy
flesh to the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field.<2E>
<EFBFBD>Beasts of the field<6C> is an expression which denotes more than one
variety of animal. In the Old Testament the term beasts denotes any
brute, as distinguished from man; a quadruped as distinguished from
other living creatures; a wild animal as distinguished from a
domesticated one, and the apocalyptic symbol of brute force as the
opposite of Divine power.
Obviously it is not the domesticated cattle, the asses and goats and
the sheep, from the attacks of which human infant is unable to guard
himself, as in the phrases from the explanation of the Bee Hive.
Nor did the Philistine imagine, if he gave David<69>s flesh to cattle,
that they would eat it! His <20>Beasts of the Field<6C> are the wild
beasts - the beasts of Leviticus (XXVI 22): <20>I will also send wild
beasts among you,<2C> etc. These wild beasts are bears, wild bulls,
hyenas. jackals, leopards and wolves; all Old Testament animals. It
is these which must be visualized when Freemasons use the word, not
horses, cows, dogs, sheep and asses.
The vultures of the Old Testament are typified by those spoken of in
Isaiah XXXIV, in which the desolation of the enemies of God are
described. The land is to be burned and to lie waste and <20>none shall
pass through it for ever and ever.<2E> Thorns and nettles and brambles
are to grow upon it; the wild beasts shall inhabit it and (15) <20>There
shall the great owl make her nest and lay and hatch and gather under
her shadow; there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with
her mate.<2E>
It is unnecessary more than to mention the symbolism of the bees in
the hive. As an emblem of industry they are sufficiently explained
in the ritual; moreover, bees are hardly to be considered as parts of
a menagerie!
If small, the Masonic Menagerie is select and exclusive; its symbols
are plain for all to read; yet they have deeper and more spiritual
meanings for those who are willing to look below the surface and see
in lion and lamb - and even goat - as well as the beasts of the field
and birds of the air, a gentle teaching of man<61>s hope of immortality,
at once touching and comforting.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX July, 1931 No.7
THE GAVEL OF AUTHORITY
by: Unknown
<EFBFBD>The common gavel is an instrument used by operative Masons to break
off the corners of rough stones, the better to fit them for the
builder<EFBFBD>s use; but we as Free and Accepted Masons are taught to use
for the more noble and glorious purpose of divesting our hearts and
consciences of all the vices and superfluities of life, thereby
fitting our minds as living stones for that spiritual building, that
House Not Made With Hands, eternal in the Heavens.<2E>
Mackey, distinguished authority, states that the name comes from
<EFBFBD>Gabel<EFBFBD> because the form of the common gavel resembles that of the
gable of a house.
But the student will look in the ritual in vain for any allusion to
the gavel as an instrument of authority, although in some form it is
primarily the badge of power and authority of the Master, and, often
in another form and always in a lesser degree, of the Wardens.
In various Jurisdictions throughout the United States the interested
visitor will find in use in the East common gavels, stone Mason<6F>s
hammers made of both wood and metal, the ordinary mallet gavel of the
legislative halls, the auctioneer<65>s hammer, and a setting maul in all
shapes and sizes. All these various implements, in diverse forms and
materials, are used as the symbol of the authority of the Master.
Apparently it is not so important that he have a particular symbol;
that is, that he carry a <20>common gavel<65> or a <20>setting maul,<2C> but that
he have always in open Lodge, in his possession, some instrument with
which blows may be struck, as a symbol of his power, his authority,
his right to preside and to rule.
Many studious Freemasons contend with some show of reason that
inasmuch as the common gavel - the mason<6F>s hammer with one sharp edge
- is one of the working tools of a speculative Entered Apprentice
while the setting maul is not classified as a working tool, the
gavel, and not the maul, is more logically the Master<65>s symbol of
authority. Certainly unless Grand Lodge has ruled otherwise there is
no argument to be used against a Master presiding with common gavel,
whether real, of metal, or imitation, of rose or other valuable wood.
But those who find their only argument for the use of the common
gavel as the symbol of a Master<65>s authority in the undoubted fact
that it is one of the striking tools of the stone mason, as well as a
working tool of the Speculative Craft, hardly go far enough into
antiquity.
As a symbol of authority the hammer is as old as mythology. Thor,
the Scandinavian son of Odin and Freya, possessed a miraculous and
all-powerful hammer which he threw to do his will. When this was
accomplished - usually it was a slaying of enemies or a destruction
of something which the God did not like - his accommodating hammer
straightway returned to his hands!
Thor, like Jove, also controlled thunderbolts, and from this early
myth we associate lightning and thunder with the hammer. We also
invert the thought to develop the idea of the authority in a hammer
or gavel from its age long association with the power of lightening.
The connection is world wide, and by no means confined either to
Freemasonry or to Norse mythology. Thor and his hammer are at the
bottom of the old <20>hammer rite of possession.<2E> Thor, God of
lightening, by virtue of his control of fire was also the God of the
domestic hearth. In ancient days a bride, on taking possession of
her new home, received a hammer thrown in her lap as a symbol of
possession. When her husband purchased land, he took possession by
throwing a hammer over it.
The Indian God Parasu Rama, or Rama of the Battleax, obtained land
from the God of the sea by throwing his battleax over the earth, and
became possessed of all that it spanned. The South Sea Islanders use
a <20>celt<6C> or hammer, often of huge size, before the chief<65>s dwelling
as a symbol of authority. Mrs. H.G.M. Murray Aynsley (English
Authority on mythology), says <20>The Hammer has its uses in Freemasonry
as a symbol of authority - the auctioneer, too, used a hammer - here
we see possession implied by the falling or throwing down of a
hammer.
Thus, when the Master of a lodge first brings down the gavel to
convene the Lodge, he by that blow says in effect, <20>by this act I
take possession of this Lodge.<2E>
G.W. Speth, famous writer on Freemasonry, draws attention to the
curious articles drawn up by the stone masons of Torgau, in Saxony,
in 1462.
And every Mason shall keep his lodge free of all strife; yea, his
lodge shall be kept pure as the seat of justice. And no Mason shall
bear false witness in his lodge, neither shall he defile it in any
manner.
Therefore shall no Mason allow a harlot to enter his lodge, but if
any one have ought to commune with her he shall depart from the place
of labor so far as one may cast a gavel.
Grand Lodges are sovereign within their Jurisdictions.
Whatever their ukase, it immediately becomes right within that
Jurisdiction. We find anomalies in American Freemasonry as a result.
Thus, most Jurisdictions demand that a Master elect <20>pass the chairs<72>
or receive the Degree of Past Master in a Chapter of the Royal Arch
before he may be installed. But that is not true in all
Jurisdictions. Where it obtains the practice is both right and
ancient. Its absence is <20>right<68> when Grand Lodge has so ruled.
Since the formation of the Mother Grand Lodge in 1717, Masonic
jurists have conceded the right of a Grand Lodge to make Masons <20>at
sight<EFBFBD> as inherent; that is the right to convene an occasional or
emergent lodge, under dispensation, set it to work and disband it
when its work is done. Some American Grand Lodges have ruled to the
contrary. It is <20>right<68> in those Jurisdictions that a Grand Master
cannot make a Mason <20>at sight.<2E> In forty-three of our forty-nine
Grand Jurisdictions, two of the three Great Lights are the Square and
Compasses. In the remaining six, Compasses is incorrect, and
<EFBFBD>compass<EFBFBD> is right - aye, with every lexicographer, dictionary,
encyclopedia and Masonic author-ity to the contrary,. <20>compass<73> is
right in these Jurisdic-tions.
Under the doctrine that whatever a Grand Lodge declares to be right,
whether by actual words or by tact agreement, is the law and the
practice for that particular Jurisdiction, any for of striking
instrument which is customary is the correct form in that
Jurisdiction. The Grand Jurisdiction which sanctions setting mauls
in all three stations, uses the tool which is correct in that
Jurisdiction. If the Grand Lodge sets forth that the Master shall
use a <20>common gavel<65> and the Wardens setting mauls, that practice is
there correct. If nothing is said to imply that the Master must use
the <20>common gavel<65> as a symbol of authority, then the familiar form
of mallet or hammer - by far the commonest form of a presiding
officer<EFBFBD>s instrument - may be considered as correct as any other.
We are not very liberal minded in our Masonic symbolism. The Square
and the Compasses on our Altars are hardly large or strong enough to
play Operative parts in stone cutting and setting. The <20>working
tools<EFBFBD> we present to initiates are but miniatures of the real tools
they symbolize. The trowel which we tell a candidate is more
especially the essential tool of the Master Mason, is usually far too
small to spread real cement between real stones. Certainly no gavel
of wood, be its form what it may, can <20>break off the corners of rough
stones.<2E> So, while the beauty of the symbolism of the <20>common gavel<65>
as the presiding officer<65>s instrument of authority is obvious, usage
and custom and expedience in many lodges have metamorphosed it into a
little mallet of wood, just as the tiny square upon the Altar is an
expedient metamorphosis of the great metal tool of the Operative
Mason. Perhaps it is not so important that the wood of the gavel be
carved to imitate some particular striking tool of the Operative
Masons, as that the brethren understand the power and authority
inherent in it.
Whatever form of gavel is used, the Master should always retain
possession of the instrument and never have it beyond his reach. He
should carry it with him when he moves about the Lodge, whether in
process of conferring a degree, or when the Lodge in charge of the
Junior Warden at refreshment. This, be it noted, is not only because
it is his symbol of authority, but to remind him that, although his
position is the highest within the gift of the brethren, he is yet
but a brother among brethren. Holding the highest power in the
Lodge, he exercises it by virtue of the commonest of the working
tools.
All powerful, within certain limits, in the Lodge, the Master has
authority to temporarily transfer his power. He may honor a visitor
by presenting him with the gavel (and should always remove his hat
when the gavel passes). He may place another in the Oriental Chair
to confer a degree (in most Jurisdictions) at which time he hands
over the gavel of authority. Because he has the right to transfer
the authority, he should always be in position to exercise it;
another reason for always retaining possession of his gavel!
The authority by which the Master rules is not, of course, the mere
physical possession of a piece of wood or iron. The Master may be a
physical weakling. Some powerful two hundred-pounder may easily
wrest from him the emblem of authority, but such forcible possession
would not transfer the authority. The authority to use the gavel
comes first from election and installation, the powers of both of
which ceremonies rest on the authority of the Grand Lodge. Once
installed, a Master cannot be deprived of his gavel of authority
except by the Grand Lodge, or the Grand Master <20>ad interim<69> (or his
deputy acting in his stead). The brethren elect to the East, but
cannot <20>unelect<63> or take away the power they have once given. The
gavel of authority is not transferable save by the will of its lawful
possessor, except at the order of the Grand Lodge, or the Grand
Master (or his deputy acting for him). In most Jurisdictions such an
action by a Grand Master or Deputy, <20>ad interim<69> Grand Lodge. is
reviewable by the Grand Lodge at its next succeeding regular
communication.
The Master enforces the authority of which the gavel is the symbol -
first and usually last and all the time - by the good will and the
Masonic practices of his brethren. Few Lodges would tolerate
disobedience to the gavel by any brother. Occasionally a hot-headed
brother has attempted to defy its power. In such cases the Master
may ask the offender to leave the room. His failure to respond lays
him open to charges of un-Masonic conduct and a Masonic trial. The
Master may request the Marshall or Master of ceremonies to remove the
offender. Or the Master may - as sometimes has been done - us the
gavel to call from labor to refreshment, during which period there
will be plenty to admonish the offender of the enormity of his
offense against Masonic law. good manners and good taste!
The charges given a Mason at the close of all three Degrees are
generally held to have the binding force of all other Masonic
teachings and obligations. The brother who signs the by-laws as a
Master Mason agrees by so doing to abide not only by them but by all
the unwritten usages and customs of the Fraternity and all the
admonishments of the charges. Those who know their ritual will
recall that in the charge of the third degree it is said: <20>The
ancient Landmarks of the Order you are carefully to preserve and
never suffer them to be infringed, countenance a departure from the
ancient usages and customs of the Fraternity.<2E>
Obedience to the gavel is indeed an <20>ancient usage and custom<6F> of the
Fraternity. Rarely is it defied - never with impunity. But to reach
its fullest respect, the gavel must be wisely used.
<EFBFBD>It is fine to have a giant<6E>s strength<74> It is despicable to use it
like a giant!<21>
applies here. The Master <20>may<61> do what he will in his Lodge. He may
cut off discussion, rap a brother down, cause a brother to leave the
room, refuse to put a motion, declare the Lodge at recess, close at
his pleasure, control debate, arrange the work, refuse a bother
permission to speak - all with the gavel. But the wise Master uses
his great power sparingly and never arbitrarily. While the peace and
harmony of the Craft are maintained, he need not use it except as the
ritual or custom of presiding in the Lodge requires. If he so uses
it, it will be respected, its possessor will be venerated, and its
transfer to another hand will be considered by the brethren what it
actually is, a great and signal honor.
No Master may pay a higher tribute to any brother than to intrust him
with the gavel. He offers it to the Grand Master (or his Deputy
representing him), because it is the right of those dignitaries to
preside in all private Lodges. He offers it to another to preside
during the conferring of a degree, or to a distinguished visitor, as
a mark of the greatest respect and confidence.
A gavel is not a necessity. A Master and two brethren can open and
close a Lodge if they have the Great Lights and a Charter. Lesser
Lights, a gavel, Warden<65>s columns, Aprons, and Altar are not
essential. Without the Great Lights and a Charter (or dispensation)
a Lodge cannot be opened, though it has every other accessory. The
gavel, then, is the symbol of the authority, not the authority
itself. Like all great symbols, it takes upon itself in the minds of
the brethren something of the quality of the thing symbolized. As we
revere the cotton in stripes and stars which became the Flag of our
Country; as we revere the paper and ink which became the Great Light
in Masonry, so, also, do Freemasons revere the little hammer, mallet,
setting maul or common gavel which typifies and symbolizes the height
of Masonic power and authority - the majesty of power, the wisdom of
Light which rest in and shine forth from the Oriental Chair.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX August, 1931 No.8
POINT WITHIN A CIRCLE
by: Unknown
<EFBFBD>There is in every regular and well governed Lodge, a certain point
within a circle, embordered by two parallel perpendicular lines. . .
. <20>
Familiar to every Mason, this ancient symbol is too often considered
merely as one of many, instead of what it really is, among the most
illuminating of the entered Apprentice<63>s Degree.
It is particularly important not only for its antiquity, the many
meanings which have been and may be read from it by the student, but
because of the bond it makes between the old Operative Craft and the
modern Speculative Masonry we know.
No man may say when, where or how the symbol began.
From the earliest dawn of history a simple closed figure has been
man<EFBFBD>s symbol for deity - the circle for some peoples, the triangle
for others, and a circle or a triangle with a central point, for
still others. The closed figure, of course, represents the
conception of Him Who has neither beginning or ending; the triangle
adds to this the reading of a triune nature. It is to be noted that
the Lesser Lights form a triangle placed in our Lodges in that
orientation which expresses Wisdom, Strength and Beauty. In some
Jurisdictions a Lodge closes with the brethren forming a circle about
the Altar, which thus becomes the point, or focus of the Supreme
Blessing upon the brethren.
Nor must we consider that a reading which is wholly beyond the
monitorial explanation of the point within a circle is beyond Masonic
conception. A symbol may have many meanings, all of them right, so
long as they are not self-contradictory. As the point within a
circle has had so many different meanings to so many different
people, it is only to be expected that it have meanings for many
Masons.
We find it connected with sun worship, the most ancient of religions;
ruins of ancient temples devoted both to sun and fire worship are
circular in form, with a central altar, or <20>point<6E> which was the Holy
of Holies. The symbol is found in India, in which land of mystery
and mysticism its antiquity is beyond calculation. Of its presence
in many of the religions of the East, Wilford says (Asiatic
Researches):
<EFBFBD>It was believed in India that at the general deluge everything was
involved in the common destruction except the male and female
principles or organs of generation, which were destined to produce a
new race and to repeople the earth when the waters had subsided from
its surface. The female principle, symbolized by the moon, assumed
the form of a lunette, or crescent, while the male principle,
symbolized by the sun, assumed the form of the lingam (or phallus)
and placed himself erect in the center of the lunette, like the mast
of a ship. The two principles in this united form floated on the
surface of the waters during the period of their prevalence on the
earth, and thus became the progenitors of a new race of men.<2E>
This is the more curious and interesting when a second ancient
meaning of the symbol is considered - that the point represents the
sun and the circle the universe. Indeed, this meaning is both modern
and ancient, for a dot in a small circle is the astronomical symbol
for the sun, and the derivation of this astronomical symbol marks its
Masonic connection. The Indian interpretation makes the point the
male principle, the circle the female; the point became the sun and
the circle the solar system which ancient peoples thought was the
universe because the sun is vivifying, the life-giving principle, for
all the lives.
The two parallel lines, which modern Masonry states represents the
two Holy Sts. John, are as ancient as the rest of the symbol, and
originally had nothing to do with the <20>two eminent Christian Patrons
of Masonry.<2E> It is a pretty conception, but of course utterly
without foundation. The Holy Sts. John lived and taught many
hundreds of years before any Masonry existed which can truly be
called by that name. If this is distasteful to those good brethren
who like to believe that King Solomon was Grand Master of a Grand
Lodge, devised the system and perhaps wrote the ritual, one must
refute them with their own chronology, for both the Holy Sts. John
lived long <20>after<65> the wise King wrought his <20>famous fabric.<2E>
The two perpendicular parallel lines are sometimes thought to have
been added to the symbol of the point within a circle as a sort of
diagram or typification of a Lodge at its most solemn moment, the
point being the brother at the Altar, the circle the Holy of Holies,
and the two lines the brethren waiting to help bring the initiate to
light.
But it is obviously a mere play of fancy; the two lines against the
circle with the point date back to an era before Solomon. On early
Egyptian monuments may be found the Alpha and Omega, or symbol of
God, in the center of a circle embordered by two upright serpents,
representing the Power and the Wisdom of the Creator.
Mackey reads into the symbol an analogy to the Lodge by observing
that as the Master and Wardens represent the sun in three positions
in the Lodge, and as the Lodge is a symbol of the world (or universe)
the circle can be considered as representing the Lodge, the point the
sun at meridian, and the two lines, the Wardens or sun at rising and
at setting.
This also seems to many students to be a mere coincidental reading.
That derivation of the symbol which best satisfied the mind as to
logic and appropriateness, students found in the operative craft.
Here is more to encourage than in all the researches into ancient
religions and the symbolism of men long forgotten.
Fully to understand just how the point within a circle came into
Speculative Masonry by way of Operative Craftsmanship, it is
necessary to have some mental picture of the times in which the
Craftsmen of the early middle ages lived and wrought.
The vast majority of them had no education, as we understand the
word. They could neither read nor write - unimportant matters to
most, first because there were no books to read, second because there
was nothing which they needed to write! Skilled craftsmen they were,
through long apprenticeship and careful teaching in the art of
cutting and setting stone, but except for manual skill and cunning
artifice founded on generations of experience, they were without
learning.
This was not true of the leaders - or, as we would call them - the
Masters. The great Cathedrals of Europe were not planned and
overseen by ignorance. There, indeed, knowledge was power, as it is
now, and the architects, the overseer, the practical builders, those
who laid out the designs and planned the cutting and the placing of
the stones - these were learned in all that pertained to their craft.
Doubtless many of them had a knowledge of practical and perhaps of
theoretical mathematics.
Certain parts of this theoretical knowledge became diffused from the
Master Builders through the several grades of superintendents,
architects, overseer and foreman in charge of any section of the
work. With hundreds if not thousands of men working on a great
structure, some sort of organization must have been as essential then
as now. And equally essential would be the overseeing of the tools.
Good work cannot be done with faulty instruments. A square and
upright building cannot be erected with a faulty square, level or
plumb!
The tools used by the cathedral builders must have been very much
what ours are today; they had gavel, mallet, setting maul and hammer;
they had chisel and trowel as we have. And of course, they had
plumb, square, level and twenty-four inch gauge to <20>measure and lay
out their work.<2E>
The square, the level and the plumb were made of wood - wood, cord,
and weight for the plumb and level; wood alone for the square.
Wood wears when used against stone. Wood warps when exposed to water
or damp air. The metal used to fasten the two arms of the square
together would rust and perhaps bend or break. Naturally, the
squares would not indefinitely stay square. Squares had constantly
to be checked for the right-angledness. Some standard had to be
adopted by which a square could be compared, so that, when Operative
Masons<EFBFBD> squares were tried by it they would not <20>materially err.<2E>
The importance of the perfect right angle in the square by which
stones were shaped can hardly be over estimated. Operative Masonry
in the Cathedral building days was largely a matter of cut and try,
of individual workmen, or careful craftsmanship. Quality production,
micrometer measurement, interchangeabilty of parts were words which
had not yet been coined; ideas for which they stand had not even been
invented. All the more necessary, then, that the foundation on which
all the work was done should be as perfect as the Masters knew how to
make it. Cathedral builders erected their temples for all time - how
well they built, a hundred glorious structures in the Old World
testify. They built well because they knew how to check and try
their squares!
Today any school boy knows the simple <20>secret of the square<72> which
was then the closely guarded wisdom of the Masters alone; toady any
school boy can explain the steam engine which was a wonder two
hundred years ago, and make and use a wireless which was a miracle
scarce ten years gone by. Let us not wonder that our ancient
Operative brethren thought their secret of a square so valuable; let
us rather wonder that in time in which the vast majority of men were
ignorant of mathematics, so many must have known and appreciated this
simple, this marvelous, geometrical secret.
Lay out a circle - any size - on a piece of paper.
With a straight edge draw a line across through its center. Put a
dot on the circle, anywhere. Connect that dot with the line at both
points where it crosses the circle. Results - a perfect right
triangle.
Draw the circle of whatever size you will; place a dot on the
circumference where you will, it makes no difference. So be it. So
be it the lines from the dot meet the horizontal line crossing the
circle through its center and they will form a right angle.
This was the Operative Mason<6F>s secret - knowing how <20>to try his
square.<2E> It was by this means that he tested the working tools of
the Fellows of the Craft; he did so often enough, and it was
impossible either for their tools or their work <20>to materially err.<2E>
From this, also, comes the ritual used in the lodges of our English
brethren, where they <20>open on the center.<2E> Alas, we have dropped the
quaint old words they use, and American Lodges know the <20>center<65> only
as the point within a circle. The original line across the center
has been shifted to the side and became the <20>two perpendicular
parallel lines<65> of Egypt and India and our admonitions are no longer
what they must have once been; . . . <20>while a mason circumscribes
his <20>square<72> within these points, it is impossible that <20>it<69> should
materially err.<2E>
Today we only have our Speculative meaning; we circumscribe our
desires and our passions within the circle and the lines touching on
the Holy Scriptures. For Speculative Masons who use squares only in
the symbolic sense such an admonition is of far greater use than
would be the secret of the square as was known to our ancient
brethren.
But - how much greater becomes the meaning of the symbol when we see
it as a direct descent from an Operative practice! Our ancient
brethren used the point within a circle as a test for the rectitude
of the tools by which they squared their work and built their
temporal buildings. In the Speculative sense, we used it as a test
for the rectitude of our intentions and our conduct, by which we
square our actions with the square of virtue. They erected
Cathedrals - we build the <20>House Not Made With Hands.<2E> Their point
within a circle was Operative - our is Speculative!
But through the two - point in a circle on the ground by which an
Operative Master secretly tested the square of his fellows - point
within a circle as a symbol by which each of us may test, secretly,
the square of his virtue by which he erects an Inner Temple to the
Most High - both are Masonic, both are beautiful. The one we know is
far more lovely that it is a direct descendant of an Operative
practice the use of which produced the good work, true work, square
work of the Master Masons of the days that come not back.
Pass it not lightly. Regard it with the reverence it deserves, for
surely it is one of the greatest teachings of Masonry, concealed
within a symbol which is plain for any man to read, so be it he has
Masonry in his heart.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX September, 1931 No.9
ENLIGHTENING THE PROFANE
by: Unknown
Profane - from <20>pro,<2C> without <20>fanum,<2C> temple.
Literally one <20>before,<2C> or <20>outside the temple.<2E> In the Masonic
sense a <20>profane<6E> is one who has not been initiated.
<EFBFBD>No, I<>m not a Mason. I<>ve never been asked to join!<21>
How many times has this been said, usually with some indignation, in
answer to the question, <20>Are you a Mason?<3F>
It comes to some men with a shock of distinct surprise that
Freemasonry asks no man to join her ranks. In this refusal to
proselyte - nay, in the distant prohibition of any proselyting -
Freemasonry, curiously enough, joins hands with Brahminism, the
religion of much of the Orient, which has the distinction among
religions of attempting to make no converts. In its refusal to seek
membership, Freemasonry stand alone among organizations.
The reasons are dual: First, Freemasonry, greater than any man, no
matter how important he may be, confers honor upon her initiates.
She is never honored by any man seeking her mysteries. Second, it is
an essential part of Freemasonry that a man come of <20>his own free
will and accord.<2E> The Fraternity obligates a candidate for all time.
<EFBFBD>Once a Mason, always a Mason<6F> is a truth, no matter how little
interest the member may take, no matter if he demits, no matter if he
be dropped N.P.D. or even expelled; he cannot <20>un-make<6B> himself as a
Mason, nor can he avoid moral responsibility for the obligations he
has assumed.
Could any man say: <20>I joined under a misapprehension, I was over
persuaded, I was argued into membership,<2C> he might think himself
possessed of just such a cause and a reason for a failure to live up
to the obligations which no longer interest him. But no man does so
join. He must declare in his petition, and around a dozen times
during the course of his progress through the degrees, that his
application is voluntary. Were any persuasion used upon him before
he signed his petition, he could not truthfully state that his entry
was <20>of his own free will and accord.<2E>
This is pretty well grounded in most Freemasons. But sometimes it
has the untoward effect of making a Mason Chary of giving legitimate
information about the Fraternity, properly sought for a worthy
purpose. It is highly improper to say to one<6E>s friend <20>I wish you<6F>d
join my lodge, I<>d like to see you enjoy the advantages of
Freemasonry.<2E> It is wholly legitimate to answer a serious question
asked by some man who is considering making an application.
Some good brethren when asked questions about Masonry by the profane
are puzzled as to just how much they may tell. Knowing well certain
matters of which they must not speak, they are not always sure just
where these end, and where begins that which may not be told.
Much more is tellable than is secret. Literally thousands and
multiplied thousands of books have been written on and about the
Ancient Craft; the Aporetta, or secrets of Freemasonry, could they be
written at all, might be compressed within a few pages.
Let us suppose then, that we are asked by a sincere man: <20>Tell me
something of Freemasonry. I think I would like to be a Freemason,
but I know very little about it.<2E>
Such a query is the key which may legitimately unlock our lips about
those outward matters concerning the Fraternity which all the world
may know.
We may begin by assuring the questioner that Freemasonry brings as
many duties and responsibilities as it does pleasures and rewards.
The Freemason becomes a link in a chain; he must be as strong as the
next link or we want him not. He who looks to the Fraternity to
provides all, give all, and receive nothing, should apply to some
other organization.
It is legitimate to explain the structure of Freemasonry to a
seriously interested questioner. Freemasons gather together in
lodges; local organizations chartered by, and holding existence under
the Grand Lodge of the State in which they live and are. A lodge
comes into being when the Grand Master gives a dispensation to meet,
U.D. (Under Dispensation); it becomes a <20>regular<61> lodge when its
Charter is granted by the Grand Lodge.
It is no secret that a lodge has a Master, two Wardens, two Deacons,
a Secretary and a Treasurer, etc. It is not, perhaps, necessary to
go at length into the several duties of these officers, but it may be
wise to explain the essential difference between a Worshipful Master
of a Lodge, and the President or other presiding officer of secular
bodies. A Master, once installed, may not be removed by his
brethren, only by the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge. Within bounds
he is all powerful in his Lodge; not the servant of his brethren, as
is the presiding officer of a club, but literally the <20>Master,<2C> with
power to control and limit debate, put or not put motions, open and
close Lodge at his pleasure, call special meetings, and so on. All
such matters are set forth in printed books and usually in the code
or Ahiman Rezon of the Grand Lodge.
Lodges naturally and rightly attempt to guard their West Gates
against the entry of men who desire only to receive Masonic charity.
For this reason it is natural to look with especially careful eyes at
the petition of the elderly man. When a man of mature years inquires
regarding Freemasonry, we may well explain that while a Mason<6F>s
Charity is as boundless as his ability, Freemasonry. is not, per se,
an eleemosynary institution. It does not exist primarily for
charitable purposes, nor is charity its greatest work. In many
Jurisdictions are Masonic Homes, Hospitals, Schools, Charity
Foundations intended for unfortunate members of the Fraternity, their
widows and orphans - sometimes their mothers and sisters. They are
not designed for the relief of the poor who are not members of the
Fraternity, and those unconnected to members by blood ties.
Therefore the man who desires to become a Mason that he may take
advantage of its charity is turned back long before he reaches the
West Gate. The more an applicant appears as if he may in the future
need help, the more carefully does the investigating committee work
to discover the facts.
Totally misunderstanding the purpose and spirit of Freemasonry some
men seek it for business advantages. Freemasons naturally frown upon
such petitions. But scorn should not be meted out to an ignorant
profane seeking knowledge. A man may be a good citizen, a good
churchman, a good businessman and yet know nothing of Freemasonry.
If such a one, in the course of his inquiry regarding the Fraternity,
exhibits an interest in the business advantages which may inure to
him through membership in a lodge, it is legitimate to explain -
courteously but with emphasis - that Freemasonry is not a Board of
Trade, a Chamber of Commerce, a Luncheon or Commercial Club; and that
it makes no effort to aid its members in commercial relations. The
man who wants to become a Freemason because he thinks Freemasonry can
help him can never be a good Mason. He who desires Freemasonry
because he thinks he can help his fellows is already a Mason in his
heart.
Other things being equal, Masons usually prefer to have business
relations with their brethren, in the same way a man may prefer to
buy footwear from his blood brother who is in the shoe business. But
no one will pay his blood brother ten dollars a pair for shoes he can
buy for half price from a non-relative!
It is unquestionable true, and may be stated to the serious inquirer,
that Freemasonry does play a quiet and unostentatious part in the
business lives of its members. But it should be emphasized that this
is a by-product of mutual friendship and association, and the he who
seeks Freemasonry for this alone will be bitterly disappointed. We
all know of popular members of our lodge who win and keep the
business of their brethren because of their likability. But we also
know that this is not the result of any effort by the successful
brother to win that which is freely given him. The brother who
attempts to make his lodge association a feeder for his vocation is
invariably hit by the boomerang of an aroused antipathy which hurts
as much as he hoped to be helped.
All this may be explained to the inquirer. We may well quote a part
of the Charge to an Entered Apprentice, as it is printed in most
Jurisdictions: <20>If, in the circle of your acquaintance, you find a
person desirous of being initiated into Masonry, be particularly
attentive not to recommend him, unless you are convinced that he will
conform to our rules, the honor, glory and reputation of the
Fraternity may be firmly established, and the world at large
convinced of its good effects.<2E>
Often a Mason is asked by a profane: <20>What does Masonry stand for?
What does it do?<3F>
It is much more difficult to explain to one without the mystic circle
what Masonry <20>does,<2C> than what it is. What Masonry <20>stands for<6F>
should be easy for any Freemason to explain. We may inform the
inquirer that the Fraternity <20>stands for<6F> country, home and public
school; for law and order; and decency; for honor, morality and
religion; for brotherhood, relief and the inculcation of truth.
Parts of our ritual are printed in books and in monitors. There is
nothing secret about this; while we do not go about spouting non-
secret ritual upon all occasions; there is no reason why we should
not and many reasons why we should, to be able to point out by such
quotations some of the principles of Masonry.
The essential matter is to give a true picture of the Fraternity to
all who express a desire for it. Freemasonry is not a <20>secret
society<EFBFBD> - although it is often incorrectly so called - but a
<EFBFBD>society with secrets<74> which is quite another matter. In a <20>secret
society<EFBFBD> the membership, existence and whereabouts is a secret.
Freemasonry<EFBFBD>s membership, existence or whereabouts is no secret. Men
proudly wear the emblems on their coats and watch chains. Many Grand
Lodges publish lists of their members. Most Grand Lodges maintain
card systems of all Masons in their Jurisdictions, so that it is
possible to ascertain whether or not a certain John Smith is a Mason.
Our Temples are proud buildings, well built, handsome monuments for
all the world to see. Our printed Proceedings are to be had in every
library. Newspapers carry notices of lodge matters, A flourishing
Masonic Press carries news of the Craft far and wide. Obviously, we
are not <20>secret<65> although we possess jealously guarded <20>secrets.<2E>
Any profane has a natural right to know something about Masonry that
he may decide whether it is an organization with which he wishes to
associate. If we refrain from advertising our activities it is not
because they are secret, but because they are private; not because
they must not be told when there is a reason for telling them, but
because we do not wish to persuade any man to our doors. We want him
to come, if he comes at all, from an inherent desire, from having
conceived a regard for the Fraternity, from his belief that he has
something to offer Masonry and that Masonry has something to offer
him.
Such a man naturally asks questions of Freemasons.
Once he has made inquiry, the door is opened and we may tell him
much. Let us make sure that what we tell him is less, rather than
more than the truth. Let us never soil our gentle Craft with horrid
tales of goats and <20>buttings<67> of <20>backing down<77> and <20>third degree<65>
tortures. Let us speak up like men and Masons and say roundly that
there is nothing in Ancient Craft Masonry which is undignified,
humorous, funny or playful; let us assure him with solemnity that our
ceremonies are beautiful, impressive and instructive; and that behind
and beyond the outward form of the degrees is a spiritual truth, a
body of inner knowledge, an arena of wisdom which benefits any man
who receives it, and in direct proportion to his ability to see
behind the symbol to the reality.
Let us minimize the pleasures, and stress the duties when talking to
a profane who wishes to learn of our lodges and their work. True,
the <20>innocent mirth<74> of Freemasonry, to quote the <20>Old Charge,<2C> is of
interest and value to us all. Many a lodge is not only a center of
union but a center of social intercourse in its home town. Its
amusements and entertainments may be, and often are, of real value to
the community. But a lodge does not exist merely to entertain and to
amuse; in talking to the profane inquirer, let us lay less emphasis
on the by-products of play, and draw his attention more to the
serious and worthwhile sides of lodge life; charity, instruction,
fellowship, mutual trust and dependence; religion without bias or
doctrine - in other words, brotherhood.
So shall we give an intelligent and Masonic answer to an intelligent
and Masonic question, and, perhaps, lay the foundation on which the
bridge will be built over which a new initiate may walk from the
North of darkness into the East of Masonic Light!

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX October, 1931 No.10
FREEMASONRY<EFBFBD>S ANSWER TO JOB
by: Unknown
<EFBFBD>If a man die, shall he live again? (Job 14:14)
Freemasonry has been called a religion which can be all things to all
men.
Many dispute the statement that Freemasonry is a religion at all, on
the theory that a religion is a specified manner of worship, whereas
Freemasonry has neither creed nor dogma. Freemasonry is much more
properly religion than <20>a<EFBFBD> religion.
Freemasonry may, indeed, be all things religious to all men. Each
may take from it, each may read into it, any creed or dogma which
fits his personal religious belief - and find his faith fits with the
teachings of the gentle Craft.
For be a man<61>s faith what it may, it must be founded on the rock of a
belief in Deity and a faith in a future life. Here, indeed,
Freemasonry touches hands with religion and sees eye to eye with all
beliefs. The Master Mason<6F>s Degree, the Hiramic Legend, the Search
For That Which Was Lost and the Sprig of Acacia all answer the cry of
Job with comfort and assurance.
Pull the flower to pieces; remain the petals, a perfume, but no rose.
Play the symphony, isolate note by note; sound is heard, but no
music.
Every word Milton wrote is in the dictionary; but great poems may not
be found there,
So of any written account of this degree; we may write of its
symbols, analyze its legend, tell of its meaning, but we pronounce
but words without rhyme, make a flower of wax, a song muted. The
best we may do is to point out a path to the high mountain of
spiritual experience which is the Sublime Degree, that he who climbs
may see it with a new view - and clearer eyes.
To the universal and yearning hope of all mankind throughout all ages
Freemasonry answers; there <20>is<69> a hope of immortality; there <20>is<69> a
Great Architect by whose mercy we may live again, leaving to each
brother his choice of interpretation by which he may read the Great
Beyond.
The Third Degree teaches of the power- and the powerlessness - of
evil. For those who are happy to believe in the resurrection of the
physical body, the Sublime degree has comfort. For those whose hope
is in the raising only of that spiritual body of which Paul taught,
the degree assures of all the longing heart can wish.
When the greatest hope and the dearest wish of all mankind is made
manifest, the Sublime Degree turns to <20>this<69> life and <20>this<69>
brotherhood, and ties together the Hiramic Legend and daily living in
a manner which no thoughtful man may see and hear without a thrill; a
way at once awe inspiring and heartening; terrible and beautiful;
sternly uncompromising yet strangely comforting in that land of inner
life, that home of the spirit, where each man thinks the secret
thoughts he tells never - never.
In his quiet hours, first among those matters unspoken is the age old
question of Job. When he sees his children growing up and realizes
that he is getting older, older and some day to be really old, he
asks it. When he stands beside the coffin of his departed brother to
cast into the open grave the Sprig of Acacia he asks it again,
sometimes not knowing that the very act which gives rise to the
question is Freemasonry<72>s answer.
Acacia was a symbol of immortality before Freemasonry existed. It is
the shittim wood of the Old Testament, the erica or tamarisk at the
foot of which the body of the dead Osiris was cast ashore so that,
when found, it would rise again.
The Jews have always considered shittim a sacred wood; a symbol of
life. Logs used in houses sprouted long after the tree was destroyed
that the beam might be made from it. Shittim wood was used to
construct the table for the shew bread, the tabernacle, the Ark of
the Covenant, the sacred furniture of the Temple. Everyone was
familiar with the evergreen which does not seem to die in cold
weather, as do less hardy trees which shed their leaves and sleep
through the winter.
But if Freemasonry did not make Acacia a symbol, the Craft adopted it
as symbolic of our own special Rite and beliefs.
Acacia marked the spot where lay all that was mortal of the Widow<6F>s
Son. The Hiramic Legend is of an immortality which was made manifest
in the very shade of acacia; how should the plant <20>not<6F> stand for the
most blessed hope of man?
In the stately prayer in the Master<65>s degree we hear <20>for there is
hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again - .<2E>
Later we learn of man who <20>cometh forth as a flower and is cut down,<2C>
by the scythe of time which gathers him <20>to the land where his
fathers have gone before him.<2E>
<EFBFBD>Where is that land?<3F>
Uncounted millions have asked. Freemasonry<72>s reply is, that glorious
immortality symbolized by the acacia, its reality attested by every
hope of every man born of woman since the first infant cried its
birth cry.
The Sprig of acacia has another and equally beautiful implication
besides that of the certainty of spiritual survival. <20>Faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.<2E> The
Sprig of Acacia is not only the emblem of a future life, but of
faith.
It matters little what faith that is. It is the existence of <20>some<6D>
faith which is important; the certainty of <20>things not seen.<2E> The
Masons may be a Methodist, Baptist, Spiritualist, Evolutionist,
Unitarian. Trinitarian, Mohammedan or Brahmin. He may believe in an
orthodox heaven of Golden Streets and Milk and Honey; his faith may
send him to a whole realm of seven planets which he may visit in turn
with esoteric Buddist; he may believe in the succession of planes of
Spiritualism or the Nirvana of the Orient - the Sprig of Acacia is at
once a symbol of the immortality taught by his faith, and of the
faith itself.
One cannot <20>prove<76> immortality any more than one can prove God.
Proof is the result of logic , and logic is a process of the mind.
Faith is the product of a process of the heart. We cannot reason
ourselves into or of love; we cannot reason ourselves into or out of
faith.
The Sprig of Acacia proves nothing - nor does it try to. It means
everything to him who has the faith. It is Freemasonry<72>s attestation
to her children and to the world that brethren drop their tears on
the body of the deceased brother in full faith that - where nor how
we presume not to say, leaving it wholly to the eye which Sees the
Everlasting Arms which enfold - he, even as we, shall live again. He
knows past all forgetting because he has learned the lesson of the
Hiramic Legend.
Learned students have attempted to fix the date -as if dates
mattered! - when that story first made its appearance in Freemasonry.
Their conclusions are more negative than positive, and none have gone
behind the fact that in one form or another the Hiramic Legend is
among the oldest as it is among the dearest myths of the race. One
may agree that documentary evidence does not put the legend of the
martyred master workman into the third degree prior 1725, and still
see in it the recasting of the race-old drama of man<61>s hope for
immortality.
A dozen or more suggestions have been made by Masonic students as to
<EFBFBD>what it means.<2E> Some take the legend literally. Others believe it
is another way of telling the story of Isis and Osiris - itself a
legend which could hardly have been foisted full born from the brain
of some clever priest, but must have been a heritage from the Hyskos,
or even earlier inhabitants of Egypt. Some see it in a modern
version of the death of Abel at the hands of Cain, and of course
thousands visualize it as the death and resurrection of the Man of
Galilee.
With such speculations the average Master Mason need have no concern.
Nor need his heart be troubled as to whether the drama is <20>true<75> or
not.
Search the Great Light how we will, we find no account of the tragedy
of Hiram Abif. We learn of Hiram, or Huram. If we delve deeply
enough in Hebrew, we learn that modern scholarship translates Hiram
Abif as <20>Hiram, my father<65> meaning a Hiram looked up to, venerated,
given a title of honor, as the father of a tribe, the father of an
art, the father of the sacred vessels of the Temple. But of the
three, the tragedy, and the Lost Word, the Old Testament is silent.
Nor can we find in secular history any account of the drama of Hiram.
For its truth we must seek into the myths and legends and fairy
stories in which the race has half concealed, half revealed, those
truths which do not bear telling in plain words.
Is there a Santa Claus? For Six Years Old there is.
For his elders Santa Claus is a means of telling a beautiful truth in
terms which Six Years Old can understand. Is the legend <20>True?<3F>
What is meant by <20>True?<3F> Historically Santa Claus nor Hiram Abif
are <20>true.<2E> But if <20>true<75> means <20>containing a Great Truth<74> then both
the myth of the Yule Tide Saint and the legend of the Master Builder
are <20>true<75> in the most real sense.
Raised to the Sublime Degree, many men see the drama of the Master
only literally, a teaching of the virtues of fortitude and inflexible
fidelity. For those whose ears hear only the melody and are deaf to
harmonies, for those whose eyes are so blinded by the sunset as not
to see the colors, this is good enough.
Yet, any liberal interpretation of the legend and our ceremony which
exemplifies it misses its heart.
The Legend of Hiram Abif is at once the tragedy and the hope of man.
It is the story of the resurrection of that <20>which bears the nearest
affinity to that supreme intelligence which pervades all nature.<2E> It
is the answer to Job. It is at once the beginning of the sacred
legend of That Which Was Lost and the assurance that at long last he
who seeks shall find.
Any man who has belief in a Great Architect and a hope of immortality
may see in it the assurance that death is but a pause, not an end; a
gateway, not a wall.
How long is a rope? A silly question! It can be measured,
presumably, if one can find one end and measure it to the other.
Suppose the rope has only one end! Sillier and sillier! But if true
of a rope, it is true of space, time and eternity. If time has a
beginning, it has an ending. If space commences somewhere, there is
also will be its end to be found. <20>If eternity has a beginning it is
not eternal!<21>
Here is the shock, the surprise and the glory of the third degree.
It presents us with eternity in the midst of life. It pushes back
the confines of our little dimensions, our tiny measurements of time,
our small comprehension of space, and shows us that we enter eternity
at neither birth nor death. We have always been in eternity if we
are in it at all. Hiram Abif was gathered to his fathers when the
selfishness and sin of misguided men struck him down. But they were
powerless against the Paw of the Lion and the Power of Freemasonry.
Each of us is born, lives his little life, and, wearing his little
white apron, is laid where our forefathers have gone before us. The
drama of the third degree assures us that the life from birth to
death, and including both, is but an episode, a single note in the
great symphony.
The Hiramic Legend is the glory of Freemasonry; the search for That
Which Was Lost in the glory of life.
We gaze through the microscope and telescope; and catch no sight of
its shadow. We travel in many lands and far and find it not. We
listen to all the words of all the tongues which all men have ever
spoken and will speak - the Lost Word is not heard. Were it but a
Word, how easy to invent another! But it is not a word, but <20>The
Word<EFBFBD>, The great secret, the unknowability which the Great Architect
sets before his children, a will o<> the wisp to follow, a pot of gold
at the end of the rainbow. Never here is it to be found, but the
search for it is the reason for life.
The Sublime Degree teaches that, in another life, it may be found.
<EFBFBD>That is why it is the sublime degree!<21>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX November, 1931 No.11
FREE AND ACCEPTED
by: Unknown
The origin of these terms, descriptive of Speculative Freemasons,
goes back into the very beginnings of the history of the Order;
indeed, behind the history of the building Craft in Europe.
But it is only in keeping with the antiquity of the teachings of
Freemasonry. Many of our symbols and their meanings go back to the
very childhood of the race. Through these a direct relationship may
be traced in mind, heart and ideal; if not in written document, to
such diverse ages and places as China four thousand years ago, the
priesthood of ancient Egypt and the Jews of the Captivity. For
purposes of understanding the genesis of the word <20>Free<65> as coupled
with Mason, it will suffice to begin with the Roman <20>Collegia<69>,
orders or associations of men engaged in similar pursuits. Doubtless
their formation was caused partly by the universal desire for
fellowship and association, particularly strong in Rome, in which the
individual was so largely submerged for the good of the Empire, and
partly by economic necessity, just as labor unions are formed today.
These <20>Collegia<69> speedily became so prominent and powerful that Roman
Emperors attempted to abolish the right of free association. In
spite of edicts and persecutions, however, the <20>Collegia<69> continued
to exist.
The Colleges of Architects, however, for a time were sanctioned even
after others were forbidden. They were too valuable to the State to
be abolished, or made to work and meet in secret. They were not at
this time <20>called<65> Freemasons, but they were <20>free<65> - and it is the
fact and not the name which is here important. Without architects
and builders, Rome could not expand, so the colleges of Architects
were permitted to regulate their own affairs and work under their own
constitutions, free of restrictions which attempted to destroy the
<EFBFBD>collegia.<2E>
Then, as now, <20>three<65> were necessary to form a College (no Masonic
lodge can meet with less than three); the College had a <20>Magister<65> or
Master, and two Wardens. There were three orders or degrees in the
College which to a large extent used emblems which are a part of
Freemasonry. Roman sarcophagi show carvings of square, compasses,
plumb. level and sometimes columns.
Of the ceremonies of the <20>Collegia<69> we know little or nothing. Of
their work we know much, and of their history enough to trace their
decline and fall. The Emperor Diocletian attempted to destroy the
new religion, Christianity, which threatened so much which seemed to
the Romans to make Rome, Rome. Many members of the Colleges of
Architects were Christians - a very natural result, since these
associations had taught and believed in brotherhood because of a
common Father, the members of the College or Architects took for
their own his doctrine, so strangely familiar.
Persecution, vengeance, cruelty followed; this is not the place to go
deeply into the story of the four Masons and the Apprentice who were
tortured to death, only to become the Four Crowned Martyrs and Patron
Saints of later builders and the Masons of the Middle Ages. Suffice
it that the College of Architects were broken up and fled from Rome.
Comes a gap which is not yet bridged. Between the downfall of Rome
and the rise of Gothic architecture in Europe we know little of what
happened to the builders<72> <20>Collegia.<2E> It is here that we come to the
fascinating theory of the Comancines - that some of the expelled
builders found refuge on the Island of Comacina in Lake Como, and,
through generation after generation, kept alive the traditions and
secrets of the art until such time as the world was again ready for
the Master Builders. All this is fascinatingly set forth in several
books, best known of which is Leader Scott<74>s <20>Cathedral Builders, the
Story of a Great Masonic Guild.<2E> The author says that the Comancine
Masters <20>were the link between the classic <20>Collegia<69> and all other
art and trade guilds of the middle ages. They were Freemasons
because they were builders of a privileged class, absolved from taxes
and servitude, and free to travel about in times of feudal bondage.
During the Middle Ages and the rise of Gothic Architecture, we find
two distinct classes of Masons; the Guild Masons who, like the Guild
Carpenters, Weavers or Merchants were local in character and strictly
regulated by law, and the Freemasons, who traveled about from city to
city as their services were needed to design and erect those
marvelous churches and cathedrals which stand today inimitable in
beauty.
It may not be affirmed as a proved fact that the Freemasons of the
Middle Ages were the direct descendants through the Comacine Masters
of the Colleges of Architects of Rome, but there is too much evidence
of a similar structure, ideal and purpose and too many similarities
of symbol, tool and custom to dismiss the idea merely because we
have no written record covering the period between the expulsion from
Rome and the beginning of the Cathedral building age.
However this may be, the operative builders and designers of the
Cathedrals of Europe were an older order than the Guild Masons; it is
from these Freemasons - free of the Guild and free of the local laws
- that the Masonry of today has come. Incidentally, it may be noted
that the historian Findel finds the name Freemason as early as 1212
and the name occurs in 1375 in the history of the Company of Masons
of the City of London.
The history of the Freemasons through the Cathedral Building Ages up
to the Reformation and the gradual decline of the building arts,
needs volumes where here are but pages. But it must be emphasized
that the Freemasons were far more than architects and builders; they
were the artists, the leaders, the teachers, the mathematicians and
the poets of their time.
In their lodges Speculative Masonry grew side by side with their
operative art. They were jealous of their Order and strict in their
acceptance of Apprentices; strict too, in admitting Apprenticed to be
Fellows of the Craft, requiring seven years of labor before an
Apprentice might make his Mater<65>s Piece<63> to submit to the Master and
Wardens of his lodge, when happily, he might become a Fellow and
receive <20>the Mason Word.<2E>
No fools built the great Cathedrals of Europe.
Mathematics. architecture, strength of materials, the principle of
the arch, proportion, unity, beauty - all had to practiced by experts
to produce these tremendous structures, on which the most modern
science and art cannot improve.
It was only natural then, that the Masters desired a high quality of
Craftsmanship. Only Apprentices of character and willingness to
learn were accepted. Only those who could make a perfect Master<65>s
Piece were accepted as Fellows. Doubtless only the most expert and
learned of the Fellows could ever hope to be Masters.
Then, as now, to secure fine workmen they began early and trained
them long. As a workman who was immoral, a drunkard, a gambler, a
loose liver could not hope to learn to do good work, or to be trusted
with the operative secrets; it was essential that moral precepts and
philosophical lessons be incorporated into operative lodge life.
Unquestionably the building crafts from the earliest ages - ate, even
back of the Roman Collegia - incorporated speculative teachings with
operative instructions given to Apprentices. This practice grew and
expanded during what may be termed the formative period of the
Fraternity. The Cathedral Builders of the Middle Ages must have been
a little world unto themselves in the towns in which they worked.
They would employ the local Guild Masons for the rough work, but
strictly excluded them from their lodge when meetings were held.
Doubtless these meetings were frequent, perhaps nightly, to discuss
the great work being done.
Young Apprentices, like young men the world over, would skylark and
want to have a good time. Their elders would reprove and read them a
lesson in a simple parable of the building art. The square, the
compasses, the trowel, the chisel, the mallet, the gavel and the
setting maul would all be brought into such lessons.
And so, through year after year and age after age, the teachings of
Speculative Masonry grew. And as is invariably the case the thing
which was used as an example to teach, gradually came to symbolize
the lesson taught. To be <20>square<72> was at first but an essential of a
tool and an ashlar. Universally now, a <20>square man<61> is an honest
one. Trowel and gavel took upon themselves significancies far beyond
their operative use. Master after Master would add from his store of
learning; lesson after lesson would be incorporated with an operative
practice, until the Speculative Art and the Operative Craft were,
apparently, dependent upon each other.
It is world history that knowledge cannot be kept from those who seek
it. By hook or crook, in one way or another, the student will find
that which he seeks.
In an age when learning was difficult to get, and association with
the educated was hardly to be had outside the church, it was but
natural that thoughtful and scholarly men should desire membership
among Freemasons.
Other men, thoughtful but not scholarly, would see in the Speculative
teachings of the Masons that road to knowledge which was otherwise
hard to find. Neither, however, would want to practice operative
Masonry, serve seven years apprenticeship or make a Master<65>s Piece.
Just how such men accomplished their desire and became <20>accepted<65>
members of the Order we do not know. Doubtless they had something to
bring to, as well as something to get from their operative brethren.
But we do know the fact; a place was made for such seekers after the
light. Distinguished by the title <20>accepted<65> that they might not be
confused with <20>free<65> Masons, these non-building members encouraged
and expanded the speculative side of Masonry.
It is not possible to say when this practice began.
The Regius Poem, the oldest document of Freemasonry (1390) speaks of
Prince Edward (twentieth century) as:
<EFBFBD>Of Speculatyfe he was a Master.<2E>
Ecclesiasts, desiring to become architects and builders, joined the
Order. Lovers of liberty were naturally attracted to a fellowship in
which members enjoyed unusual freedom among their fellows.
Gradually the <20>accepted<65> or Speculative Freemasons equaled, then
outnumbered the operative craftsmen and slowly but surely the Craft
came to be what it is today, and has been for more than two
centuries, wholly Speculative in character.
Through the years, particularly those which saw the decline of great
building and coming of the Reformation, more and more became the
Accepted Masons and less and less the operative building Freemasons.
Of forty-nine names on the roll of the Lodge of Aberdeen in the year
1670, thirty-nine were those of Accepted Masons.
Hence our title - Free and Accepted Masons - abbreviated F & A.M.
United States Grand Lodges style themselves under several different
abbreviations: F.& A.M., F. and A.; A.F. & A.M.; and other variations
using the Ampersand (&) in place of the word <20>and.<2E> The District of
Columbia still uses F.A.A.M., meaning Free and Accepted Masons, in
spite of the possible confusion as to whether the first <20>A<EFBFBD> stands
for <20>and<6E> or <20>ancient.<2E> The variations are accounted for both by
difference on origins, some Grand Lodges coming into being with
lodges held under the <20>Ancie-nts<74> and some from the <20>Moderns<6E> and by
variations due to the errors which are seemingly ineradicable in
<EFBFBD>mouth to ear<61> instruction.
But of all of us, regardless of what order we choose for <20>Ancient,<2C>
<EFBFBD>Accepted,<2C> <20>Free<65> and <20>Masons,<2C> all are <20>Free and Accepted.<2E>
It is one of the glories of the Craft that her historians can trace
such derivations into such a long gone past. That Mason is dead of
soul, indeed, who cannot thrill to the thought that as a Free and
accepted Mason he is kin not only to those ancient brethren of Old
England who first began the practice of <20>accepting<6E> good men because
they <20>were<72> good men, not because they were builders, but also to the
builders of ancient Rome and all the generations which sprang from
them, who were <20>Free<65> of the bonds which bound less skillful and
esteemed workmen.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX December, 1931 No.12
THE THREE SCRIPTURE READINGS
by: Unknown
In almost all of the Jurisdictions of the United States the Volume of
the Scared Law is open at the 133rd Psalm in the First Degree, at the
Seventh Chapter of Amos in the second degree and at the Twelfth
Chapter of Ecclesiastes in the third degree.
British Freemasons open their Bible in the first degree at Ruth iv:7:
<EFBFBD>Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning
redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man
plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor; and this was the
testimony in Israel.<2E>
In the second degree, the English use Judges xii:6:
<EFBFBD>Then said they unto him, Say Now Shibboleth; and he said Sibboleth;
for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him,
and slew him at the passages of Jordan; and there fell at that time
of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.<2E>
In the third degree the Masons of the British Jurisdiction open the
Bible at I Kings vii:13-14:
And King Solomon sent forth and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. He was a
Widow<EFBFBD>s son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of
Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was filled with wisdom, and
understanding, and came to King Solomon, and wrought all his work.<2E>
Various other passages have been used at different times; the account
of Abraham<61>s intended sacrifice of Isaac in the first degree; I Kings
vi:8, and again at II Chronicles iii:17 in the second degree; and
Amos v:25,26 and II Chronicles vi:14,15 (the prayer of King Solomon
at the dedication of the Temple) during the third degree.
Whether any of these passage are more appropriate than those almost
universally in use in this country is a matter of opinion. Ours have
to us the sanctity of long use, the sacredness of the familiar, and
he would be a bold man indeed, who would try to change them. Alas,
many who would fight vigorously for their retention understand them
not; the grasshopper and the almond tree, the plumb line of the Lord
and dew of Herman are still sealed mysteries to many Masons, although
their interpretation is as beautiful as it is simple.
The 133rd Psalm used in an Entered Apprentice<63>s lodge reads as
follows:
<EFBFBD>Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran
down upon the beard, even Aaron<6F>s beard; that went down to the skirts
of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended
upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord Commanded the
Blessing, even life for evermore.<2E>
Unity is an essential in a Masonic Lodge; unity of thought, of
intention and of execution. It is but another word for harmony,
which Freemasons are taught <20>is the strength and support of all well
regulated institutions, especially this of ours.<2E> Dew is nature<72>s
blessing where rain is little in quantity, and the dew of Hermon is
proverbially heavy. Israel poured precious ointments on the heads of
those people honored; that which <20>went down to skirts of his
garments<EFBFBD> was evidently great in quantity, significant of the honor
paid to Aaron, personification of the high priesthood, representative
of the solidity of his group. The whole passage is a glorification
of the beauty of brotherly love, which is why it is a part of the
entered Apprentice<63>s Degree, in which the initiate is first
introduced to that principle tenet of the Fraternity.
<EFBFBD>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<6F> And I said, a Plumbline. Then said the
Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people
Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.<2E> (Amos vii:7,8)
The vital and important part is that the Lord set a plumbline <20>in the
midst of his people Israel.<2E> He did not propose to judge them by a
plumbline afar off, in another land, in high Heaven, but here - here
<EFBFBD>in the midst<73> of them.
This is of intense interest to the Fellowcraft Mason, since it
teaches him how he should judge his own work - and, more important,
how he should judge the work of others.
Presumably plumblines hang alike. Presumably, all Plumbs, like all
Squares and all Levels, are equally accurate. Yet a man may use a
tool, thinking it accurate, which to another is not true. If the
tools of building and the tools of judging be not alike, either the
judgment must inaccurate, or the judgment should take into
consideration the tool by which the work was done.
By the touch system a blind man may learn to write upon a typewriter.
If a loosened type drops from the type bar when the blind man strikes
the letter <20>e<EFBFBD> he will make but a little black smudge upon the paper.
It would not be reasonable to criticize the blind man for imperfect
work as he has no means of knowing that his tool was faulty. If the
smudges which stand for the letter <20>e<EFBFBD> are all in the right places,
then it is obvious that in spite of his handicap the blind man has
perfectly operated his machine. This is a judgment by a plumbline
<EFBFBD>in the midst<73> of the man and his work. If, however, the paper with
the smudged letters <20>e<EFBFBD> was examined by one who knew nothing of the
workman<EFBFBD>s blindness or nothing of his typewriter, doubtless he would
judge it as imperfect.
The builders of the Washington Monument and the Eiffel Tower in Paris
both used plumblines accurate to the level of the latitude on which
these structures stand. Both are at right angles with sea level.
Yet, to some observer on the moon, equipped with a strong telescope,
these towers would not appear parallel. As they are in different
latitudes they rise from the surface of the earth at an angle to each
other.
Doubtless he who engineered the Monument would protest that the
Memorial to Washington was right and the French Engineer<65>s Tower
wrong. Knowing his plumbline was accurate, the Frenchman would
believe the monument crooked. But the Great Architect, we may hope,
would think both right, knowing each was perfect by the plumb by
which it was erected. Thus the lesson from Amos is that we are to
judge our work by our own plumblines, not by another<65>s; if we erect
that which is good work, true work, square work by our own working
tools - in other words, by our own standard - we will do well. Only
when a Fellowcraft is false to his own conscience is he building
other than fair and straight.
Of all the quotations, allusions, facts and names from the Great
Light which are a part of the Masonic ritual, none has a more secure
place in the hearts of the brethren than the first seven verses from
Ecclesiastes xii.
Of the two favorite interpretations of Biblical commentators, one
makes this dramatic passage a description of old age and senile
decay; the other a reference to the seldom experienced and much
feared thunder storm in Palestine.
The physical interpretation may be most easily considered verse by
verse:
1. <09>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<65>.
2. <09>While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not
darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:<3A>
The darkening of light and luminaries refer to coming blindness
or extreme near-sightedness, and the clouds which return after
the rain to a continuation of poor sight, even after much
weeping.
3. <09>In the days when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and
the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease
because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be
darkened.<2E>
The keepers of the house are the hands which tremble with palsy
in old age. The strong men are the legs which become bowed with
the years. The grinders which cease because they are few are
the teeth, and those that look out of the windows is a poetic
expression for sight.
4. <09>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 musick shall be brought low;<3B>
The doors are the ears which grow deaf in age and can no longer
hear the sound of the grinding of grain in the little stone
mills which the women use. To rise up at the voice of a bird
may signify the light sleep of age easily interrupted by any
slight sound, or nervousness which is so extreme in some old men
that they start at any little noise. The daughters of music are
the vocal cords which lose their timber in age, resulting in the
cracked voice of senility.
5. <09>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
streets:<3A>
The old man fears any height, knowing his brittle bones will
stand no fall. He is timid, and he has no strength with which
to defend himself. The almond tree blossoms white, like an old
man<EFBFBD>s hair. Any little weight, even a grasshopper, is too much
a burden for extreme age to carry. The old have no desires.
The long home is the grave, in preparation for which the
mourners go about the streets.
6. <09>Or ever the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl be
broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain or the wheel
broken at the cistern.<2E>
The silver cord is the spinal cord. The golden bowl is he
brain, the pitcher broken at the fountain a failing heart, and
the wheel broken at the cistern the kidneys, bladder and
prostate gland, all of which give trouble to an old man.
7. <09>Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the
spirit shall return unto God who gave it.<2E>
Whether or not the writer possessed a sufficient knowledge of
anatomy to symbolize parts of the body as the <20>silver cord<72> the
<EFBFBD>golden bowl<77> the <20>pitcher<65>, the <20>wheel broken at the cistern<72>
is so problematical that much skepticism of this interpretation
has been expressed. The people of Israel were nomads, tillers
of the soil, vinyardists, tenders of flocks. Their wisdom was
of the spiritual rather than the material. That they had
dissected dead bodies enough to gather the relationship between
its parts is not impossible as animal sacrifices were so common.
But the imagery seems to be rooted in too high a degree of
scientific knowledge to be wholly credible.
The storm interpretation is not open to this objection, and
certainly it is far more in keeping with the magnificent poetry
of the words.
Think of a windy day, with clouds and rain; towards evening it
begins to clear, and the heavens turn black again as the <20>clouds
return after the rain.<2E> This was a signal for caution if not
for terror in Palestine. Men and women and children feared the
thunder storm, probably because it came so seldom. Doors were
shut in the streets. The strong guards who stood before the
houses of the wealthy were afraid, and trembled, for they might
not leave their places. The little mills with which the women
ground grain eventide ceased; few would remain at their tasks in
the face of the storm. Women in upper rooms drew back into the
dark. Those outdoors became nervous; no one sang; the black
thunderheads flourished their white tops like the almond tree;
everyone feared the lightening and the thunder which was on
high; even a little weight which kept a man from running to
shelter was a burden.
Here the admonition is to remember the Creator before the terror
of death, which is worse than the terror of the storm. The rich
man with his golden water bowl hung on a silver chain must fear
it. The poor man with his earthen pitcher who must send his
women to the well for water is in terror. Even the man strong
and rough as the crude wooden wheel which drew the skin bucket
to the top of the well shook with fear. Death is the same for
all, and feared alike by all.
Such an interpretation almost equals the poetry of expression.
But read it how we will, the majestic awe-inspiring poetry rings
home the solemn warning with a shake of the head and a shiver up
the spine. . . Remember <20>now<6F> thy Creator - <20>now,<2C> before the
fearsome storms of life. or the decay of old age are upon you;
wait not until <20>fears are in the way<61> to cry for help to the
Almighty. Delay not until toothless, sightless, white haired
age asks for help from on high because there is no help left on
earth! Remember <20>now<6F> thy Creator, while limbs are strong and
desire ardent, while life pulses readily and the world is all
before -.
Such is the intention of these ringing sentences, and such do
they mean to Freemasonry. Every Master Mason learns so that he
can never forget, when he who had received the benefit of lodge
prayer had now to pray for himself. He who had been taught to
fear not while in the hands of his brethren, stands at last, in
allegory, in danger and alone.
No man thinks of his Master Mason<6F>s degree but hears again in his
heart at least the beginning and ending of this sermon in poetry.
<EFBFBD>Remember now thy Creator, in the days of thy youth - then shall the
dust return to the earth as it was, the spirit shall return unto God
who gave it.<2E> The solemn strokes on the bell which is Ecclesiastes
and the soul-gripping drama of the legend of Hiram Abif are never to
be known apart by him who met them together.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - January, 1932 No.1
THE WINDING STAIRS
by: unknown
<EFBFBD>And they went up the winding stairs into the middle chamber.<2E> (I
Kings 6:8)
Freemasonry<EFBFBD>s Middle Chamber is wholly symbolic.
Solomon the Wise would not have permitted any practice do uneconomic
as sending multiplied thousands of workmen up a flight of stairs to a
small Middle Chamber, to receive corn, wine and oil which had to be
brought up in advance, only to be carried down in small lots by each
workman as he received his wages.
There actually was a winding stair in Solomon<6F>s Temple, but of the
three, five and seven steps the scriptures are silent. Only in this
country have the Winding Stairs but fifteen steps. In older days the
stairs had but five, sometimes seven steps. Preston had thirty-six
steps in his Winding Stairs; in series of one, three, five, seven,
nine and eleven. The English system later eliminated the number
eleven from Preston<6F>s thirty-six, making but twenty-five in all.
The Stairs as a whole are a representation of life; not the physical
life of eating, drinking, sleeping and working, but the mental and
spiritual life, of both the lodge and the world without; of learning,
studying, enlarging mental horizons and increasing the spiritual
outlook.
The first three steps represent the three principal officers of a
lodge, and - though not stated in the ritual - must always refer to
Deity, of which <20>three,<2C> the triangle, is the most ancient symbol.
They assure the Fellowcraft just starting his ascent that he does not
climb alone. The Worshipful Master, Senior and Junior Wardens are
themselves symbolic of the lodge, and thus (as a lodge is a symbol of
the world) of the Masonic World - the Fraternity. The Fellowcraft is
surrounded by the Craft. The brethren are present to help him climb.
In his search for truth, in quest of his wages in the Middle Chamber,
the Fellowcraft receives the support and assistance of all in the
Mystic Circle; surely an impressive symbol.
Five is peculiarly the number of the Fellowcraft<66>s degree; it
represents the central of the three groups which form the stairs; it
refers to the five orders of architecture; five are required to hold
a Fellowcraft<66>s lodge; there are five human senses; geometry is the
fifth science, and so on. In the first degree the Blazing Star is
Five Pointed and in the Sublime Degree are the Five Points of
Fellowship.
In the Winding Stairs the number five represents the five orders of
architecture. Here the neophyte is taught of architecture as a
science; its beginnings are laid before him; he is shown how the
Greeks commenced and Romans added to the kinds of architecture; he
learns of the <20>beautiful, perfect and complete whole<6C> which is a
well-designed, well-constructed building.
Temples are built stone by stone, a little at a time.
Each stone must be hewn from the solid rock of the quarry. Then it
must be laid out and chipped with the gavel until it becomes a
Perfect Ashlar. Finally it must be set in place with the tempered
mortar which will bind. But before any stone may be placed, a plan
must come into existence; the architect must play his part.
So must the Fellowcraft, studying the orders of architecture by which
he will erect his spiritual Temple, design his structure before he
commences to build.
There are <20>five<76> orders of architecture; not one.
There are many plans on which a man may build his life, not one only.
Freemasonry does not attempt to distinguish as between Doric, Ionic,
and Corinthian as to beauty or desirability. She does suggest that
the Tuscan, plainer than the Doric, and the Composite, more
ornamental though not more beautiful than the Corinthian, are less
reverenced than the ancient and original orders. Freemasonry makes
no attempt to influence the Fellowcraft as to which order of life
building he shall choose. He may elect the physical, the mental, the
spiritual. Or he may choose the sacrificial - <20>plainer than Doric,<2C>
or the ornamental life, which is <20>not more beautiful than the
Corinthian.<2E> Freemasonry is concerned less with what order of
spiritual architecture a Fellowcraft chooses by which to build, than
that he does choose one; that he build not aimlessly.
Architecture is the most expressive of all the arts.
Painting and sculpture, noble though they are, lack the utility of
architecture, and strive to interpret nature rather than to
originate. Architecture is not hampered by the necessity of
reproducing something already in existence. It may raise its spires
untrammeled by any natural model; it may fling its arches gloriously
across a nave and a transept with no similitude in nature to hamper
by suggestion. The architect may - if his genius be great enough -
tell in his structure truths which may not be put into words, inspire
by glories not sung in the divinest harmonies.
So may the builder of his own House Not Made With Hands, if he
chooses aright his plan of life and hews to the line of his plan.
So, indeed, have done all those great men who have led the world; the
Prophets of old, Pythagoras, Confucius, Buddha, Shakespeare, Milton,
Goethe, Washington, Lincoln -.
If the Fellowcraft, climbing his three, five and seven steps to the
Middle Chamber of unknown proportions, containing an unknown Wage, is
overweighed with the emphasis put upon the spiritual side of life, he
may here be comforted.
Freemasonry is not an ascetic organization. It recognizes that the
physical is as much a part of normal life as the mental and spiritual
upon which so much emphasis is put.
The Fellowcraft<66>s degree is a glorification of education, the gaining
of knowledge, the study of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences and
all that they connote. Therefore it is wholly logical that the
degree should make special references to the five means by which man
has acquired all his knowledge; aye, by which he will ever acquire
any knowledge.
Take away his five senses and a man is no more a man; perhaps his
mind is no more a mind. With no contact whatever with the material
world he can learn nothing of it. As man reaches up through the
material to the spiritual, he can learn nothing of the ethical side
of life without a means of contact with the physical.
If there are limits beyond which human investigations and
explorations into the unknown may not go, it is because of the
limitations of the five senses. Not even the extension of those
senses by the marvelously sensitive instruments of science may
overcome, in the last analysis, the limits of the five senses.
Except for one factor! Brute beasts hear, see, feel, smell and
taste, as we do. But they garner no facts of science, win no truths.
formulate no laws of nature through these senses. More than the five
senses are necessary to perceive the relation between thing and
thing, and life and life. That factor is the perception, the mind,
the soul or spirit, if you will, which differentiates man from all
other living beings.
The Fellowcraft<66>s five steps glorify the five senses of human nature
because Freemasonry is a well-rounded scheme of living which
recognizes the physical as well as the mental life of men, and knows
that only through the physical do we perceive the spiritual. It is
in this sense, not as a simple lesson in physiology, that we are to
receive the teachings of the five steps by which we rise above the
ground floor of the Temple to that last flight of seven steps which
are typical of knowledge.
Most potent of numbers in the ancient religions, the number seven has
deep significance. The Pythagoreans called it the perfect number
because it is made up of three and four, the two perfect figures,
triangle and square. It was the virgin number because it cannot by
multiplication produce any numbers within ten, as can two and two,
two and three, two and four, or three and three. Nor can it be
produced by the multiplication of any whole number.
Our ancient ancestors knew seven planets. seven Pleiades, seven
Hyades, seven lights burned before the Altar of Mithras, the Goths
had seven Deities; Sun, Moon, Tuisco, Woden, Thor, Friga and Seatur
or Saturn, from which we derive the names of the seven days of our
week. In the Gothic mysteries the candidate met with seven
obstructions; the ancient Jews swore by seven, because seven
witnesses were used to confirm, and seven sacrifices offered to
attest truth. The Sabbath is the seventh day; Noah had seven day<61>s
notice of the flood; God created the heaven and earth in six days and
rested on the seventh day; the walls of Jericho were encompassed
seven times by seven priests bearing seven rams<6D> horns; the Temple
was seven years in building, the seven branched candlestick burned in
the Tabernacle and so on through a thousand references.
It is only necessary to refer to the seven required to open an
Entered Apprentice lodge, the seven original officers of a lodge
(some now have nine or ten, or even more) and the seven steps which
complete the Winding Stairs to show that seven is an important number
in the Fraternity.
The seventeenth century conception of a liberal education was
compromised in the study of Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic; called the
<EFBFBD>tritium.<2E> and Arithmetic, Geometry, Music and Astronomy, called the
<EFBFBD>quadrivium. William Preston endeavored to compress into his Middle
Chamber Lecture enough of these to make at least an outline available
to men who might otherwise know nothing of them.
In our day and times grammar and rhetoric are considered of
importance, but in a secondary way; logic is more or less swallowed
up as study in the reasoning appropriate to any particular subject;
arithmetic, of course, continues its primary importance, but from the
standpoint of science, geometry and its off-shoots are still the
vital sciences of measurement. Music is no longer a necessary part
of a liberal education; it is now one of the arts, not the sciences,
and astronomy is so interrelated with physics that it is hard to say
where one leaves off and the other begins. As for electricity,
chemistry, biology, civics, government and the various physical
sciences, they were barely dreamed of in Preston<6F>s day.
So it is not actually but symbolically that we are to climb the seven
steps. As a Masonic author put it:
<EFBFBD>William Preston, who put so practical an interpretation upon these
steps, lived in an age when these did, indeed, represent all
knowledge. But we must not refuse to grow because the ritual has not
grown with modern discovery. When we rise by Grammar an Rhetoric, we
must consider that they mean not only language, but all methods of
communication. The step of Logic means a knowledge not only of a
method of reasoning which logicians have accomplished. When we
ascend by Arithmetic and Geometry we must visualize all science;
since science is but measurement, in the true mathematical sense, it
requires no great stretch of the imagination to read into these two
steps all that science may teach. The step denominated Music means
not only sweet and harmonious sounds, but all beauty, poetry, art,
nature and loveliness of whatever kind. Not to be familiar with the
beauty which nature provides is to be, by so much, less a man; to
stunt, by so much, a striving soul. As for the seventh step of
Astronomy, surely it means not only a study of the solar system and
the stars as it did in William Preston<6F>s day, but also a study of all
that is beyond the earth; of spirit and the world of spirit, of
ethics, philosophy, the abstract - of Deity. Preston builded better
than he knew; his seven steps are both logical in arrangement and
suggestive in their order. The true Fellowcraft will see in them a
guide to the making of a man rich in mind and spirit, by which riches
only can the truest brotherhood be practiced.<2E>
Finally, consider the implication of the <20>winding<6E> stairs as opposed
to those which are straight.
The one virtue which most distinguishes man is courage.
It requires more courage to face the unknown than the known. A
straight stair, a ladder, hides neither secret nor mystery at its
top. But the stairs which wind hide each step from the climber; what
is just around the corner is unknown. The Winding Stairs of life
lead us to we know not what; for some of us, a Middle Chamber of fame
and fortune, for others, of pain and frustration. The Angle of Death
may stand with drawn sword on the very next step for any of us.
Yet, man climbs!
Man has always climbed; he climbed from a cave man savagery to the
dawn of civilization; Lowell<6C>s:
***brute despair of trampled centuries
Leapt up with one hoarse yell and snapped its hands,
Groped for its right with horny, callous hands,
And stared around for God with bloodshot eyes.
was a climbing from slavery to independence, from the brute to the
spiritual. Through ignorance, darkness, misery, cruelty, wrong,
oppression, danger and despair; man has climbed his own Winding
Stairs through much the same experi-ence as that of the race.
Aye, man climbs because he has courage; because he has faith, because
he is a man. So must the Freemason climb. The Winding Stairs do
lead somewhere. There is a Middle Chamber. There are wages of the
Fellowcraft to be earned.
So believing, so unafraid, climbing, the Fellowcraft may hope at the
top of his Winding Stairs to reach a Middle Chamber, and see a new
sign in the East - - -.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.X February, 1932 No.2
FACTS FOR SPEAKERS, ABOUT GEORGE WASHINGTON,
MASTER MASON
by: Unknown
<EFBFBD>A short compilation of facts of the Masonic history of the First
President, for the use of speakers who will prepare and deliver
addresses on the Father of His Country, on the two hundredth
anniversary of his birth.
In Fredricksburg Lodge (now No.4), Fredricksburg, Virginia,
Washington was:
Initiated November 4, 1752
Passed March 3, 1753
Raised August 4, 1753
Remained a member until the time of his death.
Alexandria-Washington Lodge No.22, Alexandria, Virginia was:
First Chartered as Alexandria Lodge No.39, under the Grand Lodge of
Pennsylvania.
Became Alexandria Lodge No.22, under the Grand Lodge of Virginia in
1788.
After Washington<6F>s death, it was named Alexandria-Washington Lodge
No.22 in 1805.
Washington was first made an Honorary Member of this Lodge, June 24,
1784.
Became Charter Worshipful Master of this Lodge when the Charter was
issued to it by the Grand Lodge if Virginia, April 28,1788.
Holland Lodge No.8, New York City, New York, Elected Washington an
Honorary Member, 1789.
_______________
1753 - September 1, Washington visited his Lodge at Fredricksburg
shortly before his leaving for the Western Country.
1755 - January 4. Again visited his Lodge.
1777 - June 23. Proposed as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of
Virginia.
1778 - December 28. Marched in procession in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania at the Masonic celebration in Honor of St. John the
Evangelist.
1779 - June 24. Celebrated with American Union (Military) Lodge, the
festival of St. John the
Baptist, at West Point, New York.
1779 - October 6. Washington (Military) Lodge was instituted by the
Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.
Washington visited this Lodge.
1779 - December 15. Proposed by American Union (Military) Lodge at
Morristown, New Jersey, as
General Grand Master of the united States.
1779 - December 20. Proposed by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania as
General Grand Master of the United States.
1779 - December 27. Celebrated with American Union (Military) Lodge,
the Festival of St. John the
Evangelist, at Morristown, New Jersey.
1780 - January 13. Again proposed by the Grand Lodge of
Pennsylvania as General Grand Master of the United States.
1781 October. Said to have visited Lafayette Lodge No. 9 at
Yorktown, Virginia after the surrender of Cornwallis there.
1782 - Presented with a Masonic Apron, and other Masonic Regalia by
Brothers Watson and Cassoul, of Nantes, France. Acknowledged the
August, 1782.
1782 - June 24. Celebrated with American Union (Military) Lodge the
Festival of St. John the
Baptist , at West Point, New York.
1782 - December 27. Solomon<6F>s Lodge No.1, Poughkeepsie, New York,
records: Visitors, Bro. George Washington, Comdr in Chief.<2E>
Celebrated with them on this date the Festival of St. John The
Evangelist.
1784 - June 24. Celebrated with Alexandria Lodge, Alexandria,
Virginia, the Festival of St. John the
Baptist.
1784 - August. Was presented by General Lafayette with a Masonic
Apron made by Madame Lafayette.
1785 - February 12. Walked in the Masonic procession at the funeral
of Brother William Rams, at
Alexandria, Virginia.
1789 - April 30. Inaugurated as President of the United States, and
took the oath of office on the Bible belonging to St. John<68>s Lodge
No. 1, New York City, New York.
1791 - April 15. Visited Newbern, North Carolina, and was welcomed
by the Freemasons of St. John<68>s Lodge No. 2, <20>with the mystic
numbers,<2C> and attended a ball in the evening.
1791 - Mat. While on a visit to Charleston, South Carolina, was
greeted by General Mordecai Gist.
Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of South Carolina, who extended the
greetings of that Grand Lodge.
1793 - September 18. Acting as Grand Master <20>pro tem,<2C> laid the
Cornerstone of the United States Capital, at Washington, D.C.
1794 - Late in this year Alexandria Lodge received and accepted the
Masonic Portrait of Washington, painted by Williams of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, on order of the Lodge, and for which Washington
sat while in the city some time in the latter part of 1793, or early
part of 1794.
1797 - March 28. Received a delegation from Alexandria Lodge and
accepted an invitation to be present in Alexandria, April 1st.
1797 - April 1. Attended Alexandria Lodge, and, at the banquet,
proposed the toast, <20>The Lodge of Alexandria and all Masons
throughout the World.<2E>
Buried Masonically, at Mt. Vernon, December 18, 1799, Alexandria
Lodge, No.22.
(The above facts taken from Brother William L. Boyden<65>s <20>Masonic
Presidents, Vice-Presidents and signers).
Librarian of the A.A.S.R. Southern Jurisdiction.
Minutes of: <20>The Lodge of Fredricksburg<72> (now Fredricksburg Lodge
No.4):
4th Novbr Charles Lewis George Washington
3rd March George Washington pass<73>d fellow Craft
4th August 5753 Which Day the Lodge being Assembled - Present:
R. Wpl. Daniel Campbell Transactions of
I. Neilson, S.W. Evening Are:
Rot. Haslkerson, J.W. George Washington
(sic) rais<69>d
James Strakan Master Mason
Alex<EFBFBD>r Wodrow, Secretary pro Temp.
Thoms. Robertson Thomas James
William McWilliam, Treasr. Entd an Apprentice
RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR FREDRICKSBURG LODGE (Adopted 1769)
1. That the meetings in course be the first Friday of every month,
from March to September at 6 o<>clock in the evening; and from
September to March at 5 o<>clock in the afternoon.
2. Every member of the Lodge shall pay three Shillings
Quarterly for expenses thereof. Visit. at last day, Midsummer,
Michaelmas and Christmas - extra Expenses to be defrayed by such
members as present on these occasion.
3. Every new made Brother shall pay the Fee of three Pistoles for
being admitted to the First degree. The fee of one Pistole for
being Passed to the Second and the same sum on being Raised to the
Third. These Fees must be received the night of his admission,
passing, or raising, or the Brothers who recommend to be
responsible for them.
4. Any Brother not made in this Lodge, Petitioning to become a member
thereof, shall upon his being received as such (after due
examination) pay the Fee of one Pistole. But Brethren made here
may become members without further Fee than that of their
admission.
5. No Visiting Brother is to be admitted without due Examination,
unless vouched for by a Brother present; nor more than once
without paying One Shilling and Three Pence.
6. No person to be admitted to become a Mason in this Lodge under the
age of twenty-one years on any account whatever, being Contrary to
the Constitutions of Masonry, nor without the unanimous Consent of
the Lodge by Ballot.
7. All Fees and Quarterages to be paid to the Treasurer for the time
being. His Acc<63>t to be Annually examined and Balanced on the
Night his office expires,
THE CHARTER GIVEN TO ALEXANDRIA LODGE BY THE GRAND LODGE OF
VIRGINIA, DATED APRIL 28, 1788. Edm. Randolph: G.G.
TO ALL AND EVERY to whose knowledge these presents shall come.
Greetings:
WHEREAS, It has been duly represented to us, that in the County of
Fairfax, and Borough of Alexandria, in the Commonwealth of
Virginia, there reside a number of Brethren of the Society of
Freemasons, who have assembled as a Lodge agreeably to the
Regulations of Masonry by the Title of the Alexandria Lodge, and
it appearing to be for the good and increase of the Fraternity
that the said Brethren should be encouraged to proceed and work,
as heretofore they have done in a Regular Lodge.
KNOW YET, That we, EDMUND RANDOLPH, ESQ. Governor of the
Commonwealth aforesaid, and Grand Master of the Most Ancient and
Honorable Society of Freemasons, within the same, by and with the
consent of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, do hereby Constitute and
Appoint our Illustrious and Well-beloved Brother, GEORGE
WASHINGTON, ESQ, late General and Commander-in-Chief of the
forces of the United States of America, and our worthy brethren,
Robert McCrea, William Hunter, Jr., and John Allison, Esq.,
together with all such other brethren as may be admitted to
associate with them, to be a just, true and regular Lodge of
Freemasons, by the name, title and designation of the Alexandria
Lodge, No.22.
And further do hereby appoint and ordain, all regular Lodges to
hold and acknowledge, and respect them, as such; hereby granting
and committing to them, and their successors full power and
authority to assemble and convene as a regular Lodge, to enter and
receive Apprentices, pass Fellow-Crafts, and raise Master Masons,
according to the known and established customs of ancient Craft
Masonry, and No otherwise, and also to elect and choose Masters,
Wardens, and other officers, annually, at such time or times as to
them shall seem meet and convenient; and to exact from their
members such compensation as they shall judge necessary for the
support of their Lodge , the relief of their brethren in distress,
and contribution towards the Grand Charity, and agreeably to the
Book of constitutions and the laws of the Grand Lodge of Virginia,
and recommending to the brethren aforesaid, to receive and obey
their Superiors in all things lawful and honest as becomes the
honor and harmony of Masons, and to record in their books this
present Charter with their own regulations and by-laws, and their
whole acts and proceedings, from time to time, as they occur, and
by no means desert their said Lodge hereby constituted, or form
themselves into separate meetings, without the consent and
approbation of their Master and Wardens for the time being. All
which, by acceptance hereof, they are holden and engaged to
observe; and the brethren aforesaid are to acknowledge and
recognize the Grand Master and the Grand Lodge as their Superiors,
and shall pay due regard and obedience to all such instructions
as they have received or hereafter shall receive from thence.
And, lastly, they are requested to correspond with the Grand
Lodge, and to attend the meetings thereof, by their Master and
Wardens, or their proxies being Master Masons and members of their
said Lodge.
GIVEN under the Seal of the Grand Lodge at Richmond, in the State
of Virginia, the 28th day of April, A.L. 5788, A.D. 1788.
By the Grand Master<65>s Command
William Waddell
Grand Secretary
______________
COLUMBIAN MIRROR AND ALEXANDRIA GAZETTE OF SEPTEMBER 23, 1793
Georgetown, September 21, 1793
On Wednesday, one of the Grandest Masonic processions took place for
the purpose of laying the corner-stone of the Capitol of the United
States, which perhaps, was ever exhibited on the like important
occasion. About ten o<>clock, Lodge No.9 was visited by that
congregation so graceful to the Craft, Lodge No.22 of Virginia, with
all their officers and regalia; and directly afterwards appeared on
the southern banks of the grand river Potomac, one of the finest
companies of Volunteer Artillery that has been lately seen, parading
to receive the President of the united States, who shortly came in
sight with his suite, to whom the artillery paid their Military
Honors, and his Excellency and suite crossed the rive and was
received in Maryland by the officers and brethren of No.22 Virginia
and No.9, Maryland, whom the President headed, proceeded by a band of
music; the rear brought up by the Alexandria Volunteer Artillery,
with Grand Solemnity of March, proceeded to the President<6E>s Square,
in the city of Washington, where they were met and saluted by No.15,
of the City of Washington, in all their elegant badges and clothing,
headed by Brother Joseph Clarke, Rt. Wor. G.M. p.t. and conducted to
a large lodge prepared for the purpose of their reception. After a
short space of time, by the vigilance of Brother Clotworthy
Stephenson, Grand Marshal, p.t., the brotherhood and other bodies
were disposed in a second order of procession, which took place
amidst a brilliant crowd of spectators of both sexes, according to
the following arrangement, viz.:
The Surveying Department of the City of Washington
Mayor and Corporation of Georgetown, Virginia Artillery.
Commissioners of the City of Washington.
Stone-Cutters - Mechanics.
Masons of the first Degree.
Bible, etc. on Grand Cushions.
Deacons, with staffs of Office.
Masons of the Second Degree.
Stewards, with wands.
Masons of the Third Degree.
Wardens, with truncheons.
Secretaries, with tools of office..
Past Masters, with their Regalia.
Treasurers, with their Jewels.
Band of Music.
Lodge No.22, Virginia, disposed in their own order.
Corn, Wine, and Oil.
Grand Master, pro tem. Brother George Washington. and Worshipful
Master of No.22, of Virginia. Grand Sword Bearer.
The procession marched two abreast, in the greatest solemn dignity,
with music playing, drums beating, colors flying, and spectators
rejoicing from the President<6E>s Square to the Capitol, in the City of
Washington, where the Grand Marshal ordered a halt, and directed each
file in the procession to incline two steps, one to the right and one
to the left, and face each other, which formed a hollow oblong
square, through which the Grand Sword Bearer led the van; followed by
the Grand Master pro tem, on the left, the President of the united
States in the center, and the worshipful Master on No.22, Virginia,
on the right; all the other orders that composed the procession
advanced in the reverse of their order of march from the President<6E>s
Square to the southeast corner of the Capitol, and the Artillery
filed out to a destined ground to display maneuvers and discharge
their cannon. The President of the United States, the Grand Master
pro tem, and the Worshipful Master of No.22, taking their stand to
the east of the large stone, and all the Craft forming a circle
westward, stood a short time in solemn order.
The Artillery discharged a volley. The Grand Marshal delivered the
commissioner a large silver plate, with an inscription thereon, which
the Commissioners ordered to be read, and was, as follows:
<EFBFBD>This southeast Corner-Stone of the Capitol of the United States of
America in the City of
Washington, was laid on the 18th day of September, 1793, in the
thirteenth year of American
Independence, in the first year of the second term of the Presidency
of George Washington, whose
virtues in the civil administration of his country have been as
conspicuous and beneficial as his
military valor and prudence have been useful in establishing her
liberties, and in the year of
Masonry 5793, by the President of the United States, in concert with
the Grand Lodge of
Maryland, several Lodges under its Jurisdiction, and lodge No.22 from
Alexandria, Virginia. Thomas Johnson, David Steuart and Daniel
Carroll, Commissioners, Joseph Clark, R.W.G.M. pro tem,., James
Hobam and Stephen Hallate, Architects.<2E>
Collin Williamson, Master Mason.
The Artillery discharged a volley. The Plate was then delivered to
the President, who, attended by the Grand Master pro tem., and three
Most worshipful Masters, descended to the cavazion trench and
deposited the plate, and laid it on the corner-stone of the Capitol
of the United States if America, on which were deposited corn, wine,
and oil, when the whole congregation joined in reverential prayer,
which was succeeded by Masonic chanting honors, and a volley from the
Artillery.
The President of the United States, and his attendant brethren,
ascended from the carazion to the East of the corner-stone, and there
the Grand Master pro tem., elevated on a triple rostrum, delivered an
oration fitting the occasion, which was received with brotherly love
and commendation. At intervals during the delivery of the oration
several volleys were discharged by the Artillery. The ceremony ended
in prayer, Masonic chanting honors, and a 15-volley from the
Artillery.
The whole company retired to an extensive booth, where an ox of five-
hundred pounds weight was barbecued, of which the company generally
partook with every abundance of other recreation. The festival
concluded with fifteen successive volleys from the Artillery, whose
military discipline and maneuvers merit every commendation. Before
dark the whole company departed with joyful hopes of the production
of their labor.
_______________
SOME QUOTATIONS FROM WASHINGTON<4F>S MASONIC LETTERS.
December 28, 1783, to Alexandria Lodge No. 39:
I shall always feel pleasure when it may be in my power to render
service to Lodge No.39, and in every act of Brotherly kindness to the
Members of it.
June 19, 1784, to the same:
With pleasure I received the invitation of the Master and Members of
Lodge No.39, to dine with them on the approaching anniversary of St.
John the Baptist.
If nothing unforseen at present interferes, I shall have the honor
of doing it.
August 22, 1700, to King David<69>s Lodge, Newport, Rhode Island:
Being persuaded that a just application of the principles, on which
the Masonic Fraternity is founded,
must be promotive of private virtue and public prosperity, I shall
always be happy to advance the
interests of the Society, and to be considered by them as a deserving
brother.
1791, to St. John<68>s Lodge, Newbern, N.C.
My best ambition having ever aimed at the unbiased approbation of my
fellow citizens, it is peculiarly pleasing to find my conduct so
affectionately approved by a Fraternity whose association is founded
on justice and benevolence.
1791. To Prince George<67>s Lodge No.16, Georgetown, South Carolina.
I am much obliged by your good wishes and reciprocating them with
sincerity, assuring the Fraternity of my esteem, I request them to
believe that I shall always be ambitious of being considered a
deserving Brother.
Response to an address of Charleston, South Carolina, Masons.
The fabric of our freedom is placed on the enduring basis of public
virtue, and will, I fondly hope, long continue to protect the
prosperity of the architect who raised it. I shall be happy on every
occasion, to evince my regard for the Fraternity.
1792. To the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.
At the same time, I request that you will be assured of my best
wishes and earnest prayers for your happiness while you remain in
this terrestrial Mansion, and that we may thereafter meet as brethren
in the Eternal Temple of the Supreme Architect.
Response to the dedication in the constitution Book of the Grand
Lodge of Massachusetts:
It is most fervently to be wished, that the conduct of every member
of the Fraternity, as well as the publications that discover the
principles which actuate them, may tend to convince mankind that the
great object of Masonry is to promote the happiness of the human
race.
MASONIC DEDICATIONS TO WASHINGTON The Pennsylvania Ahiman Rezon of
1783:
To His Excellency. GEORGE WASHINGTON, Esq,. General and Commander in
Chief of the Armies of the United States of America; In <20>Testimony,<2C>
as well as his exalted Services to his Country, as of that noble
Philanthropy which distinguishes Him among Masons, the following
Constitutions of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of <20>Free
and Accepted Masons,<2C> by order and in behalf of
the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, &c. is dedicated, By his
Excellency<EFBFBD>s Most humble servant and faithful Brother,
William Smith, G. Secretary.
The Constitutions of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of
Free and Accepted Masons in the State of New York; Collected
and digested by Order of the Grand Lodge of said State (printed
in 1789).
To His Excellency, GEORGE WASHINGTON, Esq. In testimony, as well as
o his exalted Services to his Country, as of his distinguished
Character as a Mason, the following book of constitutions of the most
antient and honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons, by
order and in behalf of the GRAND LODGE of the State of New York, is
dedicated, By His Most Humble Servant,
JAMES GILES, G. Secretary, A.L. 5785Virginia New Ahiman Rezon of
1791:
To George Washington, Esq., President of the United States of
America. The Following Work is Most Respectfully Dedicated by His
Obedient. and Devoted Servant, THE EDITOR.
The Massachusetts <20>Book of Constitutions,<2C> (printed in 1792 and
1798):
In Testimony of His Exalted Merit, And of Our inalienable Regard,
THIS WORK IS Inscribed and Dedicated to our Illustrious BROTHER
GEORGE WASHINGTON;
The Friend of Masonry, Of His Country, and Of Man.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.X March, 1932 No.3
THE MASONIC WORLD
by: Unknown
All of us live in a plurality of worlds. Each of us inhabits his
world of the home, his world of business or profession, his world of
pleasure which may be anything from books to baseball. Freemasons
live also in the Masonic world, but, curiously enough and rather
pitifully, not one in a hundred adventures far into that land. For
the majority of Masons the Masonic world begins and ends at the doors
of their lodges.
The average Mason reads his lodge circular or Trestleboard, hears
occasionally of lodge charities, now and then attends a lodge
funeral. More rarely he may be attracted to some interlodge
gathering, as when a District Deputy pays a visit to two or more
lodges meeting under one roof, or an educational meeting in which
several lodges participate.
But unless he is an officer, and a very interested official, or a
Freemason with both curiosity and determination, he knows little of
the many <20>foreign countries<65> of the Masonic world, its broad
highways, its numerous bypaths, its beautiful vistas, its lovely
landscapes. Like him to whom <20>a primrose by the rivers brim, was
just a simple primrose - and nothing more,<2C> many a Mason believes
the Masonic world to be an occasional evening at the lodge - and
nothing more.
Yet what a world it really is, and how far it reaches, curiously
intertwined with the social and civic worlds, avoiding or meeting
them at will. The Masonic world is usually non-existent to the
general public, except as the profane occasionally catches sight of
it in public ceremonies or newspaper notice of a meeting of Grand
Lodge. Which is as it should be since Freemasonry devotes herself to
her purposes silently, if not secretly, without ostentation or
advertising.
In Jurisdictions where Masters and Wardens Associations function in
Masonic Districts, the officers have an opportunity to envisage a
larger horizon of their Masonic world than in states where each lodge
is a little world unto itself, touching other little lodge worlds
only at Grand Lodge. Masters and Wardens Associations bring together
the principal officers of all lodges in a given area, affording an
opportunity for the exchange of ideas, the solution of puzzling
problems and often foster visits by lodge to lodge which makes for
broader horizons to all who take part.
The same may be said for those Jurisdictions which have Schools of
Instruction, either stationary in one place, traveling from District
to District, or held occasionally or periodically at prearranged
points which differ from year to year.
Cities afford the opportunity to belong to a Masonic Club, which
small towns do not. Masonic Clubs, in which Masons from many lodges,
governed by a common purpose, or occupation, meet in fraternal
intercourse, have grown by leaps and bounds during the last few
years. The employees of one great business may form a Masonic Club;
Physicians who are lodge members may form their club; clubs exist in
many cities which draw members almost wholly from a given trade. The
majority of such Masonic Clubs, which hold a national convention once
a year at which unified plans are discussed and furthered. Just now
Masonic Club emphasis is put upon education, in which field a noble
work has been and is being done.
Some Jurisdictions have looked with some disapproval on Masonic
Clubs, fearing that <20>the tail may try to wag the dog,<2C> but in general
Masonic Clubs have been guided by the spirit of the League and have
been cooperative in worthy Masonic movements and avoided any conflict
with Grand Lodges, in which of course, they must inevitably lose.
The very hearts of the Masonic world are the Grand Lodge, and he
loses much who does not inform himself of the deliberations of these
august bodies. A Grand Secretary would be bewildered, and probably
greatly perturbed, if even one Mason in every ten should ask for a
copy of the <20>Proceedings<67> of the Grand Lodge, yet what a marvelous
out pouring of Masonic spirit might result if one Mason in ten did
read the annual <20>Proceedings.<2E> For here is set forth the Alpha and
Omega of the Jurisdiction; the acts, the problems, the hopes and the
troubles of the Fraternity. Annually, in most states, quarterly in
two, here meet the Master and Wardens (in some States only the
Masters) sometimes the Past Masters, to legislate for the coming
year, discuss problems, appropriate funds for the Home or other Grand
Lodge Charity, admonish the lax lodge and praise the leaders, and in
general check up and take stock, plan and go forward for another
year.
It would be most interesting to learn how many Masons know whether
their Grand Lodge has a Masonic Library? How many know whether they
help support a Masonic home, and if so, where it is? How many know
whether their Grand Lodge engages in a program of Masonic education,
and if so, how many have made use of it? Yet these activities of
Grand Lodge touch every Mason, in his pocketbook if nowhere else.
It may be stated without fear of successful contradiction that no
matter how large the State, or how far from the Masonic Home a
brother lives, after visiting that Home he will agree that his time
and money were well spent. Yet of the multiplied thousands of Masons
who give cheerfully to the support of a Home where live the guests of
the Fraternity who can no longer fight their own battles; where the
orphans of Master Masons are brought up to be self-supporting, happy
and successful citizens, not one in hundred ever sees this inspiring
and ennobling sight - truly the Grand Canyon and the Yellowstone Park
of the Masonic world!
Now and then a Grand Lodge lays a Corner Stone or dedicates a Masonic
Temple; in some Jurisdictions the Grand Master empowers particular
lodges to perform these functions. As in funerals, the Masonic world
here touches the profane world, and as many non-Masons as Masons may
observe the ceremonies. But the informed Mason knows of an inner
meaning of the deposit of corn and the pouring of the wine and oil,
which makes these observances of peculiar significance. Not to have
seen them is to have missed one of the views of the Masonic world
which is both beautiful and informative.
Every Grand Lodge has a committee on Foreign Correspondence. The
reviews of the Masonic worlds by the devoted brother known as the
Fraternal Correspondent are published yearly, usually as part of the
annual <20>Proceedings,<2C> occasionally in a separate volume. The theory
of the Report of the Fraternal Correspondent is simple; it is
supposed that Grand Masters and other officers of the Grand Lodge are
too busy to read <20>Proceedings<67> which are published once each year in
each of the forty-nine Jurisdictions of continental United States,
and from ten to twenty-five <20>Proceedings<67> of foreign Jurisdictions.
The Fraternal Correspondent reads and digest them, then comments upon
the work of these Grand Lodges, giving a summary of their labors and
their accomplishments, noting that which is peculiar, new, different,
odd, interesting, that all who run may read.
Alas, these informative reports are read by far lass brethren than
would be interested, did they only know what they pass by! But
should that mythical one brother in every ten - aye, even one in
every hundred! - write to ask any Fraternal Correspondent for his
report, it is feared that he might suffer an attack of heart failure.
Yet no brother can really know his Masonic world who does not read
this yearly guide book to the <20>foreign countries<65> of other Grand
Lodges.
Some seventy-five journals in this country are devoted exclusively to
the Masonic world. Some are excellent reading for Masons anywhere;
some are local to one Jurisdiction, even to one city. Not to
subscribe to at least one is to miss much that is interesting and
informative. The Masonic world is very large; the brethren in one
Jurisdiction do and experience that which is unknown to the brethren
of another. The Masonic journal is the monthly record of that which
is worth knowing in the Masonic world and should be a part of the
equipment of every interested Freemason.
Several publishing houses are devoted entirely to the production of
Masonic books. The reading Mason knows a side of his Fraternal world
which the non-reader has never even heard of! Many splendid books
have been written of various facets of the jewel which is
Freemasonry; her history, her jurisprudence, her symbolism - hundreds
on this subject - her charities, her labors for mankind. Not dry,
difficult-to-read volumes, but books filled with real Masonic light,
to read which is a joy and an education. They are the glasses with
which the near-sighted can see the far horizons of freemasonry. Any
of these publishing houses will be happy to send literature about
these books to the interested. In many lodges <20>book clubs<62> are
formed, in which each of ten to twenty-five brethren buys a book, and
then passes it on to the next brother in the club. receiving his in
return. For the price of one book, the reading brother may thus dip
into as many volumes as there brethren in the club.
The Lodge of Research is just becoming well known in this country.
Three American Lodges of Research now function, and while they all
are new, much is expected of them. In England and Canada are Lodges
of Research which are well known, especially the great Quatuar
Coronati, No. 2076 (The Four Crowned Martyrs) of London, which has
nearly a century behind it.
The Lodge of Research is a regular constituted and Chartered Lodge,
but works no degrees, raises no brethren. It is devoted entirely to
research into Freemasonry, and the publication and dissemination of
papers and reports. A full set of the forty-one bound volumes of the
great London Lodge - Ars Quatuar Coronatorum, familiarly known to
Librarians as <20>A.Q.C.<2E> - are all but priceless, comprising as they do
the result of the work of historians, antiquarians and Masonic
educators for many years. Any freemason may subscribe to the
publication, become a member of the Correspondence Circle of the
Lodge and receive the quarterly reports. He who either buys or
borrows volumes of the past will find therein a ticket to a new
frontier of Freemasonry, and travel in by-ways of the Masonic world
which without such a guide book are sealed mysteries.
The Masonic world includes several national movements.
All who attend Grand Lodge know of the great George Washington
Masonic National Memorial, erected by the Freemasons of the United
States at a cost of more than three million dollars. It is to be
dedicated on May 12th of this year. The Association meets yearly,
and from its labors has resulted this enormous structure which will
stand forever - it is built only of granite, marble and concrete; no
structural steel being used - as a monument at once to Washington,
Freemason, and to the Fraternity which honors itself in honoring him.
Coincident with the annual meeting of this Association, the
Conference of the Grand Masters meets in Washington, D.C., there to
discuss for a day the mutual problems which are common to all Grand
Lodges. The reports of these annual meetings are of intense
interest. Containing the deliberations of the premier leaders of the
Craft, they should be read by every interested Freemason.
The Grand Secretaries also hold a conference, for the discussion of
their peculiar problems, as do Masonic Librarians and Educators.
While more special than the reports of the Grand Masters Conference,
the wanderer in the Masonic world will find in them much of
informative interest.
This short sketch of the extent of the Masonic world, like any other
sketch, is intended only to be suggestive. The Masonic world has
hundreds of other ramifications too numerous even to catalog. But
perhaps enough has been said to give an idea of its size and variety.
He who will inform himself as here suggested will have no difficulty
in following these unnamed pathways into the quiet pastures, the
woods and streams of the world of Masonry, where are still waters and
cool shade, interest and inspiration, for all who will take the time
to travel therein.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.X April, 1932 No.4
THE STUPID ATHEIST
by: Unknown
The first of the Old Charges, <20>Concerning God and Religion<6F> begins:
<EFBFBD>A Mason is obliged, by his tenure, to obey the moral law; and, if he
rightly understands the art, will never be a stupid atheist***.<2E>
That all petitioners for the degrees express a belief in Deity is a
fundamental requirement.
That all elected candidates who receive the entered Apprentice degree
publicly express a belief in deity is a fundamental requirement.
No lodge would accept the petition of any man unwilling to profess
his faith in Deity.
We are taught tat no atheist can be made a Mason, and the reason
usually assigned is that, lacking a belief in Deity, no obligation
can be considered binding.
The real reasons for the non-acceptance of atheists into the
Fraternity goes much deeper. We are not entirely accurate when we
say that no obligation can be binding without taking an oath. Our
courts of law permit a Quaker to <20>affirm<72> instead of taking an oath
to tell the truth, inasmuch as a Quaker<65>s religious belief does not
permit him to swear. Yet a Quaker who tells an untruth after his
affirmation is as subject to the penalty for perjury as the devout
believer in God who first swears to tell the truth, and then fails to
do so. The law holds a man truthful who affirms, as well as one who
swears to tell the truth.
No atheist can be made a Mason, far less from lack of binding power
of the obligation taken by such a disbeliever, than from
Freemasonry<EFBFBD>s knowledge that an atheist can never be a Mason <20>in his
heart.<2E> Our whole symbolism is founded on the erection of a Temple
to the Most High. Our teachings are of the Fatherhood of God, the
brotherhood of man founded on that fatherhood, and the immortality of
the soul in a life to come. A disbeliever in all these could by no
possible chance be happy or contented in our organization.
What is an atheist?
The question has plagued many a Masonic scholar and thousands of men
less wise. It is still a matter of perplexity to many a man who
fears that the friend who has asked him to sign his petition is an
atheist.
It is possible to spin long-winded theories about the word, draw fine
distinctions, quote learned encyclopedias and produce a fog of
uncertainty as to the meaning of <20>atheist<73> as hopeless as it is
stupid, From Freemasonry<72>s standpoint an atheist is a man who does
not believe in Deity.
Which immediately brings out the far more perplexing question: <20>What
is this Deity in which a man must believe?<3F>
Here is where all the trouble and the worry comes on the scene.
Man<EFBFBD>s idea of God differs with the man, his education, his early
religious training. To some, the mental picture of God is that of a
commanding, venerable figure with flowing white hair and beard - the
great artist Dore so pictured God in his marvelous illustrated Bible.
Such a conception fits naturally in a heaven of golden streets,
flowing with milk and honey. White clothed angels make heavenly
music on golden harps, the while Deity judges between the good and
the evil.
Such an anthropomorphic God, derived from descriptive passages in the
Bible, added to by the drawings of artists and crystallized in an age
of simple faith, have given such a conception to many who find it
adequate.
Others conceive of Deity as a Bright Spirit, who moves through the
universe with the speed of light, who is <20>without form<72> because
without body, yet who is all love, intelligence, mercy and
understanding.
The man who believes in the anthropomorphic God describes his
conception, then asks the brother who believes in a Bright Spirit:
<EFBFBD>Do you believe in my God?<3F> If the answer is in the negative, the
questioner may honestly believe him who answers to be an atheist.
The Deity of a scientist, a mathematician, a student of the cosmos
via the telescope and the testimony of geology, may be neither
anthropomorphic nor Bright Spirit, but a universally pervading power
which some call Nature; others Great First Cause; still others Cosmic
Urge.
Such a man believes not in the anthropomorphic God, not in God as a
Bright Spirit. Shall he call his brethren who do so believe,
atheists? Have they the right so to denominate him?
To the geologist, the very handwriting of God is in the rocks and
earth. To the fundamentalist, the only handwriting of God is in the
Bible. Inasmuch as the geologist does not believe in the chronology
of the life of the earth as set forth in the Bible, the
fundamentalist may call the geologist an atheist. Per contra, the
geologist, certain that God has written the story of the earth in the
rocks, not in the Book, may call the fundamentalist an atheist
because he denies the plain testimony of science.
One is a right, and each is as wrong, as the other! Neither is an
atheist, <20>because each believes in the God which satisfies him!<21>
You shall search Freemasonry from Regius Poem, our oldest document,
to the most recent pronouncement of the youngest Grand Lodge; you
shall read every decision, every law, every edict of every Grand
Master who ever occupied the Exalted East, and nowhere find an ukase
that any brother must believe in the God of some other man.
Nowhere in Freemasonry in England, its Provinces, or the United
States and its dependent Jurisdictions, will you find any God
described, cataloged, limited in which a petitioner must express a
belief before his petition may be accepted.
For Masonry is very wise, she is old, old and wisdom comes with age!
She knows, as few religions and no other Fraternity has ever known,
of the power of the bond which lies in the conception of an unlimited
God.
A witty Frenchman was asked once: <20>Do you believe in God?<3F>
He answered: <20>What do you mean by God? Nay, do not answer. For if
you answer, you define God. A God defined is a God limited, and a
limited God is no God!<21>
From Freemasonry<72>s gentle standpoint, a God defined and limited is
not the Great Architect of the Universe. Only God unlimited by
definition; God without meets and bounds;
God under any name, by any conception, is the fundamental concept of
the Fraternity, and to believe in Whom is the fundamental requirement
for membership.
In her Fellowcraft Degree Freemasonry teaches of the importance of
Logic. It is perfectly logical to say that the finite cannot
comprehend the infinite; a truism as exact as to say that light and
darkness cannot exist in the same place at the same time, or that
sound and silence cannot be experienced at the same moment. A mind
which can comprehend infinity is not finite. That which can be
comprehended by a finite mind is not infinite.
Therefore it is logical to say that no man can comprehend God, since
the only mind he has is finite.
But if a man cannot comprehend the God in Whom he must express a
belief in order to be a Freemason, it is obviously the very height of
folly to judge his belief by any finite comprehension of Deity.
Which is the best of reasons why Freemasonry makes no attempt at
definition. She does not say: <20>Thus and such and this and that is
my conception of God, do you believe in HIM? She says nothing,
allowing each petitioner to think of Him as finitely or as infinitely
as he will.
The agnostic frankly says: <20>I do not know in what God I believe, or
how he may be formed or exist. I only know that I believe in
something.<2E>
Freemasonry does not ask him to describe his <20>something.<2E> If it is
to him that which may be named God, no matter how utterly different
from the God of the man who hands him the petition, Freemasonry asks
nothing more. He must <20>believe.<2E> How he names his God, how he
defines or limits Him, what powers he gives Him - Freemasonry cares
not.
It is probable that the majority of those who profess atheism are
mistaken in their reading of their own thoughts. An atheist may be
an honest man, a good husband and father, a law abiding, charitable,
upstanding citizen. If so, his whole life contradicts what his lips
say. In the words of the poet:
<EFBFBD>He lives by the faith his lips deny, God knoweth why!<21>
Many a man has reasoned about faith, heaven, infinity and God until
his brain reeled at the impossibility of comprehending the infinite
with the finite, and ended by saying in despair: <20>I cannot believe
in God!<21> Then he has taken his wife or his child in his arms and
there found happiness, completely oblivious to the most profound, as
the most simple fact of all faiths and all religions; where love is,
there is also God!
But Freemasonry does not go behind the spoken or written word. With
a full understanding that many a man who defiantly denies the
existence of God is actually not an atheist <20>in his heart<72> our Order
nevertheless insists upon a plain declaration of belief. There is no
compromise in Freemasonry; her requirement are neither many nor
difficult, but they are strict.
Having accepted the declaration, however, Freemasonry asks no
qualifying phrases
<EFBFBD>Nor should any of us question a declaration.<2E>
It is not for us to let our hearts be troubled, because a
petitioner<EFBFBD>s conception of Deity is not ours. It is not for us to
worry because he thinks of his God in a way which would not satisfy
us. Freemasonry asks only for a belief in a Deity unqualified,
unlimited, undefined. Her sons cannot, Fraternally, do less.
When the great schism in Freemasonry ended in 1813, and the two rival
Grand Lodges, the moderns (who were the older) and the Ancients (who
were the younger, Schismatic body) came together on St. John<68>s Day to
form the United Grand Lodge, they laid down a firm foundation on this
point for all time to come. It was later declared to all by this,
the primary, Mother Grand Lodge of all the Masonic World:
<EFBFBD>Lets any man<61>s religion or mode of worship be what it may, he is not
excluded from the Order, provided he believes in the glorious
Architect of Heaven and Earth, and practices the sacred duties of
morality.<2E>
What a Mason thinks about the glorious Architect, by what name he
calls Him. how he defines or conceives of Him, so far as Freemasonry
is concerned may be a secret between Deity and brother, kept forever,
<EFBFBD>in his heart!<21>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.X May, 1932 No.5
DEDICATING THE WASHINGTON MASONIC MEMORIAL
by: Unknown
Freemasonry is the only Fraternal Order for which the United States
George Washington Bicentennial Commission has set aside a whole week
for participation in the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary
of the birth of the First President.
The week of May 7th to 14th inclusive will go down in Masonic history
as the most impressive of all periods of Masonic celebration. The
peak of the National Observance will be reached on May 12th, when the
great George Washington National Memorial in Alexandria will be
dedicated to Masonic use buy the Grand Lodge of Virginia.
Every Freemason in the country is concerned, as every Grand
Jurisdiction has contributed to the erection of this, the mightiest
memorial ever erected by any man, by any order, people or nation.
Begun twenty years ago with the simple idea of providing a fireproof
repository for the priceless relics of Washington, the Freemason, in
the possession of Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22, before long the
plans changed, and the project was for a monument to George
Washington the Mason, as well as for a fireproof structure to keep
safe forever those objects which Mason and profane like hold in
veneration. As time passed on and interest grew, the plans were
again enlarged, so that the huge building which now towers four
hundred feet above the surrounding country might be not only a
Memorial to the man and the Mason, but a monument to Freemasonry.
To this great undertaking the Grand Lodges of the United States
pledged the Craft. As their representatives in the Memorial
Association brought home reports of the progress of the work and the
enlargement of the plans, the Craft enthusiastically backed up these
pledges.
The great structure is now much more than either monument or
memorial. It is the living embodiment of the faith and patriotism
and practice of Freemasonry; it is a demonstration both to the world
at large and the world of the Craft, that fifty Grand Jurisdictions
can labor unitedly to a common end. East, and West, North and South,
have engaged in friendly rivalry to see which would soonest complete
its per capita contributions.
Written into the constitution of the association is the proviso that
no contract for any work may be made until money to pay for it is
actually in the treasury - hence this imposing pile of imperishable
granite, its decorations, its lighting, its heating, the thirty-six
acres of land on which it stands and its landscaping, are all paid
for. Not a dollar of mortgage or indebtedness of any kind stands
against this shrine of the ancient Craft.
The exterior of the building is completed; the beacon light on top
shines every night; the permanent roadway from King Street is
finished; heating, ventilating, electrical wiring, lobbies and
adjacent stairways and the auditorium are finished. But, much
remains to be done inside and furnishings have yet to be bought and
placed. It is not a complete and perfect whole which will be
dedicated and consecrated to Masonic use on May 12th; the task is not
yet finished. But the end is in sight. The last dollar of the four
million required will be speedily raised, following the demonstration
to the two hundred thousand Masons expected at the dedicatory
exercises, of the magnificence of the structure and the sacredness of
the trust to finish it immediately and completely,
The influence of this monument cannot be estimated.
Unlike many memorials, this will serve many practical purposes as
well as those altruistic and patriotic. Lodges will meet in it.
Ceremonial of all proper Masonic character will be held in it - have
been held in it. Masonic bodies will travel long distances to
perform some ritualistic observance within its portals. The nucleus
of a magnificent Masonic Library is already in hand. Masonic leaders
with vision of the future see the Memorial as a great center of
Masonic learning; they envision it as a central source of Masonic
light and knowledge, as well as shrine, a meeting place, a monument
and a Memorial.
It belongs to American Freemasonry; to every Craftsman of every
lodge. On page 11 is a table showing (as of December, 1931), the
contributions of the forty-nine Jurisdictions, and the relative
standing of the several States. These figures are taken from the
Masonic Reviews of J. Edward Allen, noted Masonic statistician, and
Fraternal Correspondent of North Carolina.
Plans for the dedication program contemplate a parade which will
being at 9:30 o<>clock on the morning of May 12th, the ceremony of
dedication to follow immediately after the parade has been dismissed.
The dedication program will include an invocation by Bishop W.
Betrand Stevens, of Los Angeles, a short address by the President of
the Memorial Association, Past Grand Master Louis A. Watres, (Penn.)
a special ceremony prepared for the occasion by the Grand Lodge of
Virginia, an address by Past Grand Master Melvin M. Johnson, of
Massachusetts, the principal speaker, and a benediction by Reverend
Brother William J. Morton of Alexandria, Chaplain of the association.
Two Masonic Glee Clubs will sing.
The President of the United States will arrive at one o<>clock for the
dedication exercises. He will be saluted with twenty-one guns from
an Army Battery, and as the first gun is fired, the salute will be
taken up by five Naval Vessels which will at that time in the harbor
off Alexandria.
The Secretary of the Navy has ordered the Frigate Constitution, <20>Old
Ironsides,<2C> to Alexandria for all of <20>Masonic Week.<2E>
An unusually complete outfit of loud speakers is being installed, so
that, no matter how great the assemblage before the platform on which
the dedication exercises take place, all may hear in comfort. The
ceremonies will be broadcast over both the great national hook-ups.
The parade will be both large and colorful. Many large delegations
from Grand Lodges from all over the country will participate, and
uniformed bodies of the Templars, Shrine and Grotto will take part.
Many Masonic bands and the Army, Navy and Marine Bands will be in
line, and forty-nine Grand Masters will first lead, then review the
procession.
The dedicatory exercises will be conducted by the Grand Lodge of
Virginia, but all the Grand Masters will participate. The special
ceremony arranged for this occasion includes individual responses
from the Grand Masters of the thirteen original States of the Union,
and the District of Columbia, and group responses from other Grand
Masters.
The gavel used at the laying of the corner stone of the United States
Capitol will be in the hands of the Most worshipful Grand Master of
Virginia. The Bible from Fredricksburg Lodge, on which Washington
was obligated as an Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master
Masons, will be present on this historic occasion, as will the Bible
from St. John<68>s Lodge, of New York City, on which Washington took the
oath of office when he became the first President of the united
States. The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts will bring to the
dedication its famous urn, in which is a lock of Washington<6F>s hair.
This urn, the handiwork of M.W. Paul Revere, is the most precious
possession of the Grand Lodge of the Bay State, and is handed from
Grand Master to Grand Master at the St. John<68>s Day Communication.
The center of <20>Masonic Week,<2C> the very climax to the nation-wide
celebration of the Bicentennial, this dedication of the Memorial
carries in its train many other Masonic observances of noteworthy
importance. These are, in brief:
May 7 Saturday, (7:30 P.M.) - Special Communication, Harmony Lodge,
No. 17, F.A.A.M. Lodge Room No. 1, Masonic Temple, 13th and New York,
Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. Entered Apprentice Degree.
May 8 Sunday, (9:30 A.M.) - Religious services, Kallipolis Grotto,
M.O.V.P.E.R., Sylvan Theatre, Monument Grounds, Washington.
May 9 Monday, (10 A.M.) - Annual meeting of the Masonic Service
Association of the united States, Raleigh Hotel, Washington.
May 9 Monday, (3 P.M.) - Special Communication of the Grand Lodge of
Texas, in the Memorial at Alexandria, Va.
May 9 Monday, (6 P.M.) - Annual Conference of the Grand Secretaries
of the United States, Raleigh Hotel, Washington.
May 9 Monday, (7 P.M.) - Annual conclave of the Grand Commandry of
Knights Templar of the District of Columbia, Masonic Temple,
Washington.
May 10 Tuesday, (9:30) A.M.) - Annual Conference of Grand
Masters of the United States, Willard Hotel, Washington, Dinner in
the Evening.
May 10 Tuesday, (8 P.M.) - Thirty-Second Degree, A.A.S.R.
Scottish Rite Cathedral, 433 Third Street, N.W. Washington.
May 11 Wednesday, (9 A.M.) - Annual Convention of the George
Washington Masonic National Memorial Association, in Memorial at
Alexandria.
May 11 Wednesday, (1 P.M.) - Special Communication of King
Solomon<EFBFBD>s Lodge, No. 31, F.A.A.M., Masonic Temple, Washington, Master
Mason Degree.
May 11 Wednesday, (7:30 P.M.) - Special Communication of the
Grand Lodge of Missouri, in the Memorial at Alexandria.
May 11 Wednesday, (7 P.M.) - Semi-Annual Communication of the
Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, Masonic Temple, Washington.
May 12 Thursday, (9:30 A.M.) - Dedication of the George
Washington Masonic National Memorial at Alexandria. Parade -
Dedication immediately following parade.
May 12 Thursday, (7:30 P.M.) Stated Communication of Alexandria-
Washington Lodge, No.22, in the Memorial at Alexandria.
May 12 Thursday, (8 P.<.) - Stated Communication of Temple-Noyes
Lodge, No.32, F.A.A.M., Masonic Temple, Washington, Fellowcraft
Degree.
May 12 Thursday, (9 P.M.) - Reception and Ball, Willard Hotel,
under Auspices of Circle Club, Washington.
May 13 Friday, - Annual Conclave of the Grand Commandery Knights
Templar of Virginia, in the Memorial at Alexandria.
May 13 Friday, (10 A.M.) - Meeting of the Masonic Librarians and
Students of the United States, in the Memorial at Alexandria.
May 13 Friday, (8 P.M.) - Grand Chapter O.E.S., District of
Columbia, Pageant, <20>Washington<6F>s Vision of a Triumphant Nation,<2C>
Auditorium, Washington.
May 13 Friday, (7:30 P.M.) - Banquet, National League of Masonic
Clubs, Willard Hotel, Washington.
May 11-14 - Annual Meeting of the National League of Masonic Clubs,
in Washington. Saturday morning session in Memorial at Alexandria.
May 14 Saturday, (all day) - Special Convocation of Mt. Vernon
Chapter, No.3, R.A.M., of Washington, in Memorial at Alexandria,
Royal Arch Degree.
While Commanderies, Royal Arch Chapters, Eastern Star Chapters,
Masonic Clubs, Librarians and Students, etc., all have a part in this
week of Masonic celebration, the dedication of the Memorial is
strictly and exclusively an Ancient Craft observance, except for the
participation in the parade by allied Masonic Bodies. Planning for
this celebration last year, the Memorial Association decided that
while certain assistance from allied Masonic bodies would be gladly
welcomed, the ceremonies should be wholly in the hands of the
Freemasons of the United States who have erected the building, just
as the dedication should be wholly in the hands of the Grand Lodge of
Virginia, in which Jurisdiction the mighty Memorial is erected.
Alexandria is but six miles by road or rail from the Nation<6F>s
Capital. Alexandria is a small city, and will be taxed to its
capacity during this week. The majority of delegates and visitors
will live in Washington during that week; some will use their
railroad cars as sleeping quarters.
Transportation between the two cities is by bus, automobile, railroad
and boat. The United States Government has just completed and opened
to traffic the magnificent Memorial Highway, passing through
Alexandria. The Washington end of this boulevard begins at the
Memorial Bridge, due West of the Lincoln Memorial.
Because of the enormous number of visitors expected, automobiles and
buses will be barred from Alexandria after 9 o<>clock in the morning
of May 12th. Twenty-five to fifty thousand automobiles, all trying
to reach Alexandria at the same time, would jam even the new Memorial
Boulevard, and there is no place in Alexandria to park so many cars,
even if they could all arrive safely at the same time. Visitors to
Alexandria on May 12th should plan to go from Washington by
railroad; steam trains will leave all day long at five minute
intervals. The railroad authorities promise ample accommodations, no
matter how large the crowd.
The dedication of the greatest Memorial ever erected to mortal man
will write important Masonic history. All Masons who can make the
trip will be present; for those who cannot participate in the flesh,
the radio offers an opportunity to hear, and, thus. to be present in
spirit while the ancient Craft, with solemn ceremony and joyful
hearts, consecrates its wonderous Memorial to Washington the Mason,
and to Freemasonry.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.X June, 1932 No.6
THE APRON
by: Unknown
<EFBFBD>An emblem of innocence and the badge of a mason; more ancient than
the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, more honorable that the Star and
Garter, or any other order that can be conferred upon you at this or
any future period, by any King, Prince, Potentate, or any other
person, except he be a Mason.<2E>
In these few words Freemasonry expresses the honor she pays to this
symbol of the Ancient Craft.
The Order of the Golden Fleece was founded by Philip, Duke of
Burgundy, in 1429.
The Roman Eagle was Rome<6D>s symbol and ensign of power and might a
hundred years before Christ.
The Order of the Star was created by John II of France in the middle
of the Fourteenth Century.
The Order of the Garter was founded by Edward III of England in 1349
for himself and twenty-five Knights of the Garter.
That the Masonic Apron is more ancient than these is a provable fact.
In averring that it is more honorable, the premise <20>when worthily
worn<EFBFBD> is understood. The Apron is <20>more honorable than the Star and
Garter<EFBFBD> when all that it teaches is exemplified in the life of the
wearer.
Essentially the Masonic Apron is the badge of honorable labor. The
right to wear it is given only to tried and tested men. Much has
been written on these meanings of the symbol, but more has been
devoted to trying to read into its modern shape and size - wholly
fortuitous and an accident of convenience - a so-called <20>higher
symbolism<EFBFBD> which no matter how beautiful it may be, has no real
connection with its <20>Masonic<69> significance.
So many well-intentioned brethren read into the Masonic Apron
meanings invented out of whole cloth, that any attempt to put in a
few words the essential facts about this familiar symbol of the
Fraternity, either by what is said or left unsaid, is certain to meet
with some opposition!
It is not possible to <20>prove<76> that George Washington did <20>not<6F> throw
a silver coin across the Rappahannock, or that he did <20>not <20> cut down
a cherry tree with his little hatchet. Yet historians believe both
stories apocryphal.
It is not possible to <20>prove<76> that no intentional symbolism was
intended when the present square or oblong shape of the Masonic Apron
was adopted (within the last hundred and fifty years), nor that the
conventionalized triangular flap in <20>not<6F> an allusion to the Forty-
seventh Problem and the earliest symbol of Deity (triangle), nor that
the combination of the four and three corners does not refer to the
Pythagorean <20>perfect number<65> seven. But hard-headed historians, who
accept nothing without evidence and think more of evidence than of
inspirational discourses, do not believe our ancient brethren had in
mind any such symbolism as many scientific writers have stated.
The view-point of the Masonic student is that enough real and ancient
symbolism is in the apron, enough sanctity in its age, enough mystery
in its descent, to make unnecessary any recourse to geometrical
astronomical, astrological or other explanations for shape and angles
which old gravings and documents plainly show to be a wholly modern
conventionalizing of what in the builder<65>s art was a wholly
utilitarian garget.
As Freemasons use it the apron is more than a mere descendant of a
protecting garment of other clothing, just as Freemasons are more
than descendants of the builders of the late Middle Ages. If we
accept the Comancine theory (and no one has disproved it) we have a
right to consider ourselves at least collaterally descended from the
<EFBFBD>Collegia<EFBFBD> of ancient Rome. If we accept the evidence of sign and
symbol, truth and doctrine, arcane and hidden mystery; Freemasonry is
the modern repository of a hundred remains of as many ancient
mysteries, religions and philosophies.
As the apron of all sorts, sizes and colors was an article of sacred
investure in many of these, so is it in ours. What is truly
important is the apron itself; what is less important is its size and
shape, its method of wearing. Material and color are symbolic, but a
Freemasons may be - and has been many - <20>properly clothed<65> with a
handkerchief tucked about his middle, and it is common practice to
make presentation aprons, most elaborately designed and embellished,
without using leather at all, let alone lambskin.
Mackey believed color and material to be of paramount importance, and
inveighed as vigorously as his gentle spirit would permit against
decorations, tassels, paintings, embroideries, etc. Most Grand
Lodges follow the great authority as far as the Craft is concerned,
but relax strict requirements as to size, shape, color and material
for lodge officers and Grand Lodge officers. Even so meticulous a
Grand Lodge as New Jersey, for instance, which prescribe size and
shape and absence of decoration, does admit the deep purple edge for
Grand Lodge officers.
It is a far cry from the <20>lambskin or white leather apron<6F> of the
Entered Apprentice, to such an eye-filling garget as is worn by the
grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts - an apron so heavily
encrusted with gold leaf, gold lace, gold thread, etc., that the
garment must be worn on a belt, carried flat in a case, weighs about
ten pounds, and can be made successfully only by one firm and that
abroad!
At least as many particular lodges cloth their officers in
embroidered and decorated aprons, as those which do not. The Past
Master<EFBFBD>s apron bearing a pair of compasses on the arc of a quadrant,
may be found at all prices in any Masonic regalia catalogue. So if,
as Mackey contended, only the plain white leather apron is truly
correct, those who go contrary to his dictum have at least the
respectability of numbers and long custom.
Universal Masonic experience proves the apron to be among the most
important of those symbols which teach the Masonic doctrine. The
Apprentice receives it through the Rite of Investure during his
first degree, when he is taught to wear it in a special manner. The
brother appearing for his Fellowcraft Degree is clothed with it worn
as an Apprentice; later he learns a new way to wear it. Finally, as
a Master Mason, he learns how such Craftsmen should wear the <20>badge
of a Mason.<2E>
That various Jurisdictions are at odds on what is here correct is
less important than it seems. Many teach that the Master Mason
should wear his apron with corner tucked up, as a symbol that he is
the <20>Master,<2C> and does not need to use the tools of a Fellowcraft,
but instead, directs the work. As many more teach that the
Fellowcraft wears his apron with corner up, as a symbol that he is
not yet a <20>Master,<2C> and therefore does not have a right to wear the
apron full spread, as a Master Mason should! Into what is <20>really<6C>
correct this paper cannot go; Jeremy Cross, in earlier editions of
his <20>True Masonic Chart<72> shows a picture of a Master Mason wearing
his apron with the corner tucked up.
What is universal, and important, is that all three - Entered
Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason - do wear their aprons in
different ways. All are Masons, hence wear the badge of a Mason; one
has progressed further than another, and therefore wears his apron
differently as a sign that he has learned more.
Incidentally, it may be noted that aprons seldom are, but always
should be, worn on the outside of the coat, not hidden beneath it.
Alas, comfort and convenience - and, in urban lodges, the evening
dress of officers and some members - have led to the careless habit
of wearing the apron not in full view, as a badge of honor and of
service, but concealed, as if it were a matter of small moment.
The use of the apron is very old - far older than as a garment to
protect the clothing of the operative craftsmen, or to provide him
with a convenient receptacle in which to keep his tools.
Girdles. or aprons, were part of the clothing of the Priests of
Israel. Candidates for the mysteries of Mithras in Persia were
invested with aprons. The ancient Japanese used aprons in religious
worship. Oliver, noted Masonic scholar of the last century, no
longer followed as a historian but venerated for his research and his
Masonic industry, says of the apron:
<EFBFBD>The apron appears to have been, in ancient times, an honorary badge
of distinction. In the Jewish economy, none but the superior orders
of the priesthood were permitted to adorn themselves with ornamented
girdles, which were made of blue, purple and crimson; decorated with
gold upon a ground of fine white linen; while the inferior priests
wore only white. The Indian, the Persian, the Jewish, the Ethiopian
and the Egyptian aprons, though equally superb, all bore a character
distinct from each other. Some were plain white, others striped with
blue, purple and crimson; some were of wrought gold, others adorned
and decorated with superb tassels and fringes.
<EFBFBD>In a word, though the <20>principal honor<6F> of the apron may consist in
its reference to innocence of conduct and purity of heart, yet it
certainly appears through all ages to have been a most exalted badge
of distinction. In primitive times it was rather an ecclesiastical
than a civil decoration, although in some cases the pron was elevated
to great superiority as a national trophy. The Royal Standard of
Persia was originally <20>an apron<6F> in form and dimensions. At this
day, it is connected with ecclesiastical honors; for the chief
dignitaries of the Christian church, wherever a legitimate
establishment, with the necessary degrees of rank and subordination,
is formed, are invested with aprons as a peculiar badge of
distinction; which is a collateral proof of the fact that Freemasonry
was originally incorporated with the various systems of Divine
Worship used by every people in the ancient world. Freemasonry
retains the symbol or shadow; it cannot have renounced the reality or
substance.<2E>
Mackey<EFBFBD>s dictum about the color and the material of the Masonic
apron, if as often honored in the breach as in the observance, bears
rereading. The great Masonic scholar said:
The color of a Freemason<6F>s apron should be pure unspotted white.
This color has, in all ages and countries, been esteemed an emblem of
innocence and purity. It was with this reference that a portion of
the vestments of the Jewish priesthood was directed to be white. In
the Ancient Mysteries the candidate was always clothed in white.
<EFBFBD>The priests of the Romans,<2C> says Festus, <20>were accustomed to wear
white garments when they sacrificed.<2E> In the Scandinavian Rites it
has been seen that the shield presented to the candidate was white.
The Druids changed the color of the garment presented to their
initiates with each degree; white, however, was the color appropriate
to the last, or degree of perfection. And it was, according to their
ritual, intended to teach the aspirant that none were admitted to the
honor but such as were cleansed from all impurities both of body and
mind.
<EFBFBD>In the early ages of the Christian church a white garment was always
placed upon the catechumen who had been newly baptized, to denote
that he had been cleansed from his former sins, and was henceforth to
lead a life of purity. Hence, it was presented to him with
this solemn charge:
<EFBFBD>Receive the white and undefiled garment, and produce it unspotted
before the tribunal of
our Lord, Jesus Christ,that you may obtain eternal life.<2E>
<EFBFBD>From these instances we learn that white apparel was anciently used
as an emblem of purity, and for this reason the color has been
preserved in the apron of the Freemason.
<EFBFBD>A Freemason<6F>s apron must be made of Lambskin. No other substance,
such as linen, silk or satin could be substituted without entirely
destroying the emblematical character of the apron, for the material
of the Freemason<6F>s apron constitutes one of the most important
symbols of his profession. The lamb has always been considered as an
appropriate emblem of innocence. Hence, we are taught, in the ritual
of the First Degree, that <20>by the lambskin, the Mason is reminded of
the purity of life and rectitude of conduct which is so essentially
necessary to his gaining admission into the Celestial Lodge above,
where the Supreme Architect of the Universe forever presides.<2E>
Words grow and change in meaning with the years; a familiar example
is the word <20>profane<6E> which Masons use in its ancient sense, meaning
<EFBFBD>one not initiated<65> or <20>one outside the Temple.<2E> In common usage,
profane means blasphemous. So has the word <20>innocence<63> changed in
meaning. Originally it connoted <20>to do no hurt.<2E> Now it means lack
of knowledge of evil - as an innocent child; the presence of
virginity - as an innocent girl; also, the state of being free from
guilt of any act contrary to law, human or Divine.
<EFBFBD>An Emblem of Innocence<63> is not, Masonically, <20>an emblem of
ignorance.<2E> Rather do we use the original meaning of the word, and
make of the apron an emblem of one who does no injury to others.
This symbolism is carried out both by the color and material; white
has always been the color of purity, and the lamb has always been a
symbol of harmlessness and gentleness. Haywood says:
<EFBFBD>The innocence of a Mason is his gentleness, chivalrous determination
to do no moral evil to any person, man or woman, or babe; his patient
forbearance of the crudeness and ignorance of men, his charitable
forgiveness of his brethren when they willfully or unconsciously do
him evil; his dedication to a spiritual knighthood in behalf of the
value and virtues of humanity by which alone man rises above the
brutes and the world is carried forward on the upward way.<2E>
The lambskin apron presented to the initiate during his entered
Apprentice Degree should be for all his life a very precious
possession; the outward and visible symbol of an inward and spiritual
tie. Many, perhaps most, Masons leave their original aprons safely
at home, and wear the cotton drill substitutes provided by many
lodges for their members. But here again the outward and evident
drill apron is but the symbol of the presentation lambskin symbol;
the symbol kept safely against the day when, at long last, the
members of a lodge can do no more for their brother but lay him away
under its protecting and comforting folds.
Truly he has been a real Mason, in the best sense of that great word,
who has worn his lambskin apron during his manhood <20>with pleasure to
himself, and honor to the Fraternity.<2E>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.X July, 1932 No.7
TRESTLE-BOARD AND TRACING-BOARD
by: Unknown
Often confused, the trestle-board and the tracing-board are actually
alike only in the similarity of their names.
In the Master Mason<6F>s Degree we hear, <20>The three steps usually
delineated upon the Master<65>s Carpet, are, etc.<2E> <20>What is this
Master<EFBFBD>s Carpet?<3F> is often asked by the newly-raised Mason. He is
in a good Lodge the Master of which can give him an intelligent
answer!
Among our movable jewels the trestle-board is mentioned and described
last, and with elaboration, but the Entered Apprentice looks long,
and often in vain, for a piece of furniture which bears any
resemblance to the trestle-board shown on the screen, or pointed out
on the chart by the Deacon<6F>s rod.
We learn that Hiram Abif entered the Sanctum Sanctorum at high twelve
to offer his devotions to Deity, and to draw his designs upon the
<EFBFBD>trestle-board.<2E> On that day when he was found missing there was a
holiday in the half-finished Temple, because there were no designs on
the trestle-board by which the workmen could proceed. But except in
the ritual of the Entered Apprentice Degree, no explanation is given
in the Lodge as to what a trestle-board may be.
Therefore it is somewhat confusing to find that the Lodge notice of
meetings is sometimes called a Trestle-board and still more so when
some Masonic speaker refers to the Great Lights as <20>The Trestle-
board.<2E>
The tracing-board is a child on the Master<65>s carpet, which is a
descendant of operative designs drawn upon the ground, or on the
floors of the buildings used by operative builders for meeting
purposes, and during construction hours as what we would term an
architect<EFBFBD>s office.
Early operative builders plans, drawn upon floor or earth, were
erased and destroyed as soon as used. When Lodges changed from
operative to Speculative, the custom of drawing designs upon the
Lodge floor was continued; the <20>designs<6E> for the Speculative Lodge,
of course, were the emblems and symbols for the construction of the
Speculative Temple of Character.
From their position such plans became known as Carpets
the Master<65>s Carpet, of course was the design made upon the Lodge
room floor during the Master<65>s Degree.
Such carpets were drawn with chalk or charcoal. It was the duty of
the youngest Entered Apprentice to erase this Carpet after the
meeting, using a mop and pail for the purpose. Doubtless this use of
chalk and charcoal first suggested to our ritualistic fathers the
availability of these materials as symbols. Incidentally, how did it
<EFBFBD>not<EFBFBD> occur to some good brother of the olden days to make a symbol
of that mop and pail!
Later it became evident that as no real Masonic secrets were drawn on
the Carpet, the essentials of the institution were not disclosed by
leaving them where the profane might see them. For convenience, the
several symbols of the degrees were then painted on cloth and laid
upon the floor; true Carpets now. Still later these Carpets were
held erect on easels; in America the chart - in England the Tracing-
board - is still a commonplace of Lodge furniture, although the more
convenient and beautiful lantern slide is often used in this country
where finances and electric light permit.
Old Tracing-boards (charts) are already objects of interest to
Masonic antiquarians, and those early ones which follow almost
exactly the illustrations in Jeremy Cross<73> <20>True Masonic Chart<72>
(1820) are increasingly valuable as the years go by. Charts or
Tracing-boards have performed a most valuable service; together with
the printed monitors or manuals, they have kept a reasonable
uniformity in the exoteric part of American work, thus making for a
unity which is sometimes difficult for the newly made Mason to
discover when he compares the esoteric work of one Jurisdiction with
that of another.
The trestle-board is so entirely different from the tracing-board
that it is difficult to understand how so earnest a student as Oliver
confounded them. Such mistakes made the most prolific of Masonic
writers somewhat doubted as an authority.
<EFBFBD>Trestle<EFBFBD> comes from an old Scotch word, <20>trest,<2C> meaning a
supporting framework. Carpenters use trestles, or <20>saw horses,<2C> to
support boards to be sawed or planed. A board across two trestles
provided a natural and easy way to display plans. Hence the name
trestle-board; a board supported by trestles, on which plans were
shown or made.
Mackey observes: <20>The trestle-board is at least two hundred years
old; it is found in Pritchard<72>s <20>Masonry Dissected,<2C> earliest of the
exposes of Masonic Ritual. Here it is called <20>trestle-board,<2C> but
the object is he same, although the spelling of its name is
different.
Symbols differ in relative importance according to the truths they
conceal. Eagle and flag are both symbols of American ideals, but the
flag is far the greater symbol of the two. The eagle is the American
symbol of liberty - the flag, not only of liberty, but also of
government of, for and by the people; of equality of opportunity; of
free thought; of the nation as a whole. If one disagrees with Mackey
and considers the tracing-board a symbol, it is, at most, one of
teaching and learning; the trestle-board, on the contrary, has a
symbolic content comparable in Freemasonry to that of the flag of the
nation.
From the meanest hut to the mightiest Cathedral, never a building was
not first an idea in some man<61>s mind. Never a pile of masonry of any
pretensions but first a series of drawings, designs, plans. From Mt.
St. Albans, newest of the glorious Cathedrals erected to the Most
High, to Strassburg, Rheims, Canterbury, Cologne and Notre Dame, all
were first drawn upon the trestle-board. Every bridge, every
battleship, every engineering work, every dam, tunnel, monument,
canal, tower erected by man must first be drawn upon paper with
pencil and rule; with square and compasses.
The ancient builders erected Cathedrals by following the designs upon
the Master<65>s trestle-board. Where he indicated stone, stone was
laid. Where he drew a flying buttress, stone took wings. Where he
showed a tower, a spire pointed to the vault. Where he indicated
carvings, stone lace appeared.
Speculative Freemasons build not of stone, but with character. We
erect not Cathedrals, but the <20>House Not Made With Hands.<2E> Our
trestle-board, <20>spiritual, Moral and Masonic<69> as the ritual has it,
is as important in character building as the plans and designs laid
down by the Master on the trestle-board by which the operative
workman builds his temporal building.
The trestle-board of the Speculative Mason, so we are told by the
ritual, is to be found in <20>the great books of nature and revelation.<2E>
Mackey considers that the Volume of the Sacred Law as the real
trestle-board of Speculative Freemasonry. He Says:
<EFBFBD>The trestle-board is then the symbol of the natural and moral law.
Like every other symbol of the Order, it is universal and tolerant in
its application; and while, as Christian Masons, we cling with
unfaltering integrity to the explanation which makes the scriptures
of both dispensations our trestle-board, we permit Jewish and
Mohammedan brethren to content themselves with the books of the Old
Testament or Koran. Masonry does not interfere with the peculiar
form or development of any one<6E>s religious faith. All that it asks
is that the interpretation of the symbol shall be in accordance to
what each one supposes to be the revealed will of the Creator. But
so rigidly is it that the symbol shall be preserved and, in some
rational way, interpreted, that it peremptorily excludes the atheist
from its communion, because, believing in no Supreme Being - no
Divine Architect - he must necessarily be without a spiritual
trestle-board on which the designs of that Being may be inscribed for
his direction.<2E>
Modern scholars amplify Mackey<65>s dictum rather than quarrel with it.
The ritual speaks of the great books of nature and revelation, and by
<EFBFBD>revelation<EFBFBD> the Speculative Freemason understands the Volume of
Sacred Law. But the great book of nature must not be forgotten when
considering just what is and what is not the trestle-board of
Freemasonry.
For Nature is the source of all knowledge. Without the <20>The great
Book of Nature<72> to read, man could not learn, no matter what his
power of reasoning and insight might be. All science comes from
observation of nature. In the last analysis, all knowledge is
science, therefore all knowledge comes from observation of nature.
This is true of the abstract as of the concrete. Philosophy, ethics,
standards of conduct and the like, are not products of natural
evolution, but created by men<65>s minds. They are the flowers of
natural philosophy. Few blossoms spring directly from the earth; the
flowers grow upon the stalk which come from the ground. Indirectly,
all that is beautiful in orchid, rose and violet came from the earth
in which the roots of the plant find sustenance. So flowers of the
mind are traceable back to observations of nature; had there been no
nature to contemplate, man could not have imagined a philosophy to
account for it.
Therefore modern Masonic scholarship thinks of the Speculative
trestle-board as <20>both<74> nature - and by inference, all knowledge. all
philosophy, all wisdom and learning; wherever dispersed and however
made available - and the Volume of Sacred Law, the <20>revelation<6F> of
the ritual.
All great symbols have more than one meaning. Consider again the
Flag of our country, which means no one essential part- liberty or
equality or freedom to worship as we wish - but all these and many
more besides. The trestle-board is a symbol with more than one
meaning - aye, more meanings than <20>nature and revelation.<2E>
As each ancient builder had his own trestle-board, on which he drew
the designs from which the workman produced in stone the dream in his
mind, so each Mason has his own private trestle board, on which he
draws the design by which he erects his House No Made With Hands. He
may draw it of any one of many designs - he may choose a spiritual
Doric, Ionic or Corinthian. He may make his edifice beautiful,
useful or merely ornamental. But draw <20>some<6D> design he must, else he
cannot build. And the Freemason who builds not, what kind of a
Freemason is he?
Within the Master<65>s reach in every Lodge is some table, stand,
pedestal or other structure on which he may lay his papers. Often
this is considered the trestle-board because upon it the Master draws
the design for the meeting. Any brother has a right to read into any
symbol his own interpretation; for those to whom this conception is
sufficient, it is good enough. But it seems rather a reduction of
the great level of the little. A light house is, indeed, a house
with a light, but he who sees but the house and the light, but fails
to visualize those lost ones who by it find their way; who cannot see
the ships kept in safety by its ceaseless admonition that this way
lies danger; who cannot behold it as a symbol as well as a structure,
misses its beauty. Those who see only the pedestal which supports
the Master<65>s plans as a Speculative Trestle-board miss the higher
meaning of the symbol.
Lodge notices are not infrequently called trestle-boards, since on
them the Master draws the design for the coming work, and sends them
out to the Craftsmen. This too, seems belittling of the symbol,
unless the brethren are led to see that so denominating the monthly
notice is but a play on words, and not a teaching.
A Freemason<6F>s trestle-board, his own combination of what he may learn
from man and nature, from the Book of Revelation on the Altar, and
the designs in his own heart, is a great and pregnant symbol. It is
worthy of many hours of pondering; a Masonic teaching to be loved and
lived. Who makes of it less misses something that is beautiful in
Freemasonry

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.X August, 1932 No.8
TRUTH
by: Unknown
It is an odd fact that Freemasonry<72>s direct teaching in regard to
Truth is less important than her indirect teaching.
In the entered Apprentice<63>s Lecture we learn of Truth as <20>the
foundation of every virtue. To be good Men and True is the first
lesson.<2E> etc. But these teachings regarding the third Principal
Tenet are of Truth in its narrower and more restricted sense - that
use of the word as a synonym for sincerity, right dealing, absence of
deceit, straight forwardness.
Philosophers distinguish several verities of Truth - logical truth,
the conformity of reasoning to premises; ontological, metaphysical or
transcendental truth - the doctrine that the existence of Deity is
proved by the very idea of his existence; absolute truth - the
reality behind the appearance or idea.
These conceptions of Truth have led to the more common use of the
word, as that which is believed to be so, as distinct from that which
is known to be opposite of the fact. The witness who swears to tell
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth indicates no
more than his intention to state that which is known to him, believed
by him; that he will not intentionally deceive. A witness may
testify to something which is not a fact and be unperjured, provided
it is a fact to <20>him.<2E> A man, ignorant of astronomy may truthfully
testify that the sun moves from east to west between morning and
night. His testimony is the truth as he knows it. That actually the
earth moves beneath the sun, while the sun stands still, does not
make him untruthful.
The truth is not always easy to define. Some questions have several
answers, all correct. Other questions cannot be answered, <20>as
asked,<2C> correctly. For instance, <20>how many feet in a mile?<3F> has
only one true answer: 5,280. But <20>what two whole numbers added
together make 5,280<38> has 2640, answers, <20>all<6C> correct! <20>What are the
<EFBFBD>only<EFBFBD> two numbers, added together, that result in 5,280<38> cannot be
answered correctly, <20>in the terms in which it is asked,<2C> because
there are not <20>only two<77> numbers, the addition of which so result.
In mathematics are many conceptions which have no actual truth behind
them. By the very laws of mathematics, we cannot imagine a square
root of <20>minus one.<2E> A root, multiplied by itself, must give the
number of which it is a root. No number, plus or minus, multiplied
by itself produces a minus quantity. Yet this very conception of the
square root of minus one is constantly in use in mathematics, though
it has no objective existence and no mathematical answer.
The entered Apprentice Lecture teaches of truth as opposed to deceit,
truth as a foundation of character, truth in the moral sense. In
this sense Truth really is the foundation of every virtue. There is
no justice without truth; there is no philanthropy without truth;
there can be no self-sacrifice, no bravery, no rectitude - no virtue
of any kind - without a foundation in that which is sincere and
honest, as opposed to that which is lying and deceitful.
This aspect of truth is only part of the Third Principal Tenet. It
is vitally important, it must be learned, pondered and observed, but
it compares with the absolute Masonic Truth as compares the moon to
the sun.
To grasp the idea of Absolute Truth is not given to many, All
abstract ideas require real mental labor to formulate. The thought of
fundamental, unchangeable, inescapable verities behind the form,
substance and phenomena of life, is not easy. Yet difficulty but
makes the idea the more precious when it does become a part of a
Freemason<EFBFBD>s mental concepts.
A manufacturer is to make a table. Before he puts pencil to paper he
forms an idea of what a table looks like. He reduces this idea to a
drawing and specification; it then becomes an idea made manifest, so
that others can understand it. But it is not yet a table. When the
wood-worker constructs the table from materials, cutting and fitting
them from the plans, the idea becomes embodied. The table is now all
three - idea, idea manifest, and idea embodied. To the observer it
is possessed of form and substance. is hard, varnished, throws a
shadow, and can support other objects - in fact, a table.
The Absolute Truth of the table is probably quite different. For all
its seeming solidity and weight, we know that it is far more space
than matter. We know that its atoms are composed of electrons,
whirling at inconceivable speeds about a central proton, and that if
we could see it as it <20>really<6C> is, not as it appears to the human
senses, it would be a collection of bounding, moving, swinging,
revolving particles of electricity, the force of which, if all were
suddenly let loose, would be sufficient to wreck a city.
But not a single scientist can yet even imagine what an electron
<EFBFBD>really<EFBFBD> is - the Absolute Truth of it escapes the laboratory.
Freemasonry is not all concerned with proving the verity of Deity.
She accepts a Great Architect as Truth. But as we have seen, Truth
has more than one classification. The Absolute Truth of Deity can no
more be known to man on earth than the Absolute Reality of the table
can be realized by those who use it. Our perception of the world and
life is sense bound. From seeing, hearing , touching, tasting and
smelling; we reason, think and believe. Many aspects of physical
things do not touch our five senses - for instance, the speed of the
electron, the size of the atom. And unimaginable aspects of Deity
cannot enter our minds, because a finite mind can never comprehend
that which is infinite.
Freemasonry teaches that the True Word was lost. She offers a
substitute. To search for That Which Was Lost is the reason for
Masonic life. While we know that the search must be as fruitless as
it must be endless, we find joy and usefulness in the effort, not in
the results. Important to the Freemason is not the comprehension of
the idea of the Absolute, but that he seeks it in his conception of
the Most High.
The great Freemason, Lessing, said: <20>Pure Truth is for God alone<6E> -
phrasing in six words both the impossibility of mortals ever finding
it, and the reason we should seek it! Cicero, too, knew why we must
seek. When he said; <20>our minds possess by nature an insatiable
desire to know the truth<74> he uttered a truism, no matter what aspect
of Truth is considered. Chesterfield capped them both with his
famous <20>Every man seeks for truth - God, only, knows who finds it.<2E>
<EFBFBD>Our ancient friend and brother, the great Pythagoras<61> was poet,
philosopher and scientist when he stated <20>Truth is so great a
perfection that if God would render himself visible to man, he would
choose light for him body and truth for his soul.<2E>
Few men are able to tell others of the eternal verities, even if, at
long last, they win them. To <20>Tell The Truth,<2C> meaning to state the
fact or belief as known, is easy. But to tell the Truth unto men is
like singing music to the tone deaf, teaching differential calculus
to six year old child, speaking in a language the hearer does not
understand. He who even thinks he knows the Lost word may never tell
it - no syllables formed by mortal tongue may speak it. Listen to
John Ruskin, sage of sages: <20>Childhood often holds a truth with its
feeble fingers which the grasp of manhood cannot retain - which it is
the pride of utmost age to recover.<2E> the very young and the very old
know that which they cannot tell to us of the middle years. As
Freemasons, we know a Truth we cannot tell even to the initiate, who
must find it for himself in the midst of our symbols and our
teachings.
The great light holds a thousands truths - and one great Truth.
Alas, that some are so blinded to the latter that, finding an
apparent failure of conformity between page and page, they see not
the Truth behind. Such men cannot sea the water for the waves, or
find the forest because there are too many trees! A collection of
books, the Bible has been translated and retranslated. Our Bible has
come down to us through the hands of thousands of willing, devout
workers, each with the faults and frailties of mankind. Some copied
well, some copied ill; some historians were accurate, others allowed
play to their imaginations. <20>Of course<73> in this mighty literature
are self contradictions; <20>of course<73> different prophets, historians,
singers and inspired leaders saw different aspects of the truths they
taught, and so taught differently. Recall the story of the two
knights of old who fought to exhaustion over the color of a shield,
one saying it was black, the other white. When the contest was over
they examined the shield together and found one side white and the
other black. So with these different manners of teaching in the
Great Light - each teaches the Truth as its writer saw it. The
<EFBFBD>real<EFBFBD> truth, the <20>whole<6C> truth - the <20>Absolute Truth,<2C> is to be
found in no verse, chapter or book, but in the Book of Books as a
whole!
From the beginning of time man has attempted to visualize that which
he cannot imagine! He would put into words, write upon paper, limn
on canvas, shout to the housetops, that which he cannot conceive.
What is the conventional idea of heaven? Place of Golden Streets,
flowing with Milk and Honey! Why? Because gold is precious and
beautiful, and milk and honey good; and hard for the lowly and poor
to get. Injustice oppressed man for centuries; justice became a
hope. A just judge, no matter how severe, was far better than an
unjust judge. Hence we have an early conception of God as a strict,
stern, implacable judge. Later on - much later - came the idea of a
merciful judge, a loving, kindly, compassionate father.
As man has grown and learned, so has his conception of Truth of the
Great Architect of the Universe grown more beautiful. Will any
contend that man is perfect? Nay, man humble or exalted, man learned
or ignorant, man wise or foolish, can not conceive the unthinkable
majesty and beauty, the stupendous power and glory, the unphraseable
marvel, which must be the Absolute Truth of the Great Architect.
The dearest hope of all mankind since the first man cried the birth
cry, was agonized down the centuries by Job: <20>If a man die, shall he
live again?<3F> And the centuries have given a hundred answers.
Immortality in men<65>s minds is as different as the men! To some it is
rest; to others opportunity to do all that life denied them; to some
it is pleasure; to others it is knowledge; to yet others it is
formless, ageless, boundless contemplation, the Nirvana of the
Buddhist. But no thinking man believes that his most glorious
conception of immortality can compare to whatever may be the Absolute
Truth of that Magnificent belief.
Concrete truths are all relative; Absolute Truth is unchanging. We
think of men as good or bad, moral or unethical, wise or ignorant
only as compared to others. Absolute goodness, morality and wisdom
we cannot know here; we cannot know the Absolute Truth of anything.
<EFBFBD>But we may search for it.<2E> We may so order our lives, so read the
Great Light, so follow the teachings of the ancient Craft that our
quest of <20>That Which Was Lost<73> brings us one step nearer to the
barrier which forever separates mortal eyes from Immortal Truth.
That he who quests earnestly and seeks sincerely will, at long last,
pass that barrier and with his own eyes see that the Absolute is the
magnificent Truth of Freemasonry.
<EFBFBD>SO MOTE IT BE!<21>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.X September, 1932 No.9
GOETHE, FREEMASON
by: Unknown
Germany celebrates this year the Centennial of the death of her
greatest man of letters, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, as the United
States celebrates the bicentennial of the birth of George Washington,
her greatest General, Statesman and President.
Both were Freemasons!
It is a continual puzzle to Masons, why Washington<6F>s biographers so
seldom - almost never - mention either his Masonic correspondence,
membership and Mastership; or the tremendous, if quiet, influence
which Freemasonry had upon his life, character and activities.
The same puzzle exists about the biographers of the great Germany
Poet. To an interested and understanding Freemason, his works are
replete with Masonic allusions; some of them obviously inspired by
Masonic teachings. To the Profane, this influence may be non-
existent; perhaps it is because so few of the passionate admirers of
the great German - who have sung the ever-increasing chorus of praise
for his life and labors - have been Masons, and therefore the
majority have no background of Craft understanding.
Many of his biographers put great stress upon his stay in Strassburg
and his studies of Gothic Architecture, particularly under the
tutelage of the great thinker,, Herder, who is credited with
inspiring Goethe with his love - even his veneration - for Gothic
buildings. Freemasons will see in his stay in Strassburg, where the
great Gothic minister dominated his thought with its beauty, the
progenitor of that desire to know more of the Craft which had built
it - a desire to be gratified when he was thirty-one years of age.
He was initiated in Lodge Amalia, at Weimar (where he lived most of
his life and where he died) on the eve of the Feast of St. John the
Baptist, in 1780.
Just how or why he became a Mason we do not know; neither can we know
much of what impression his initiation made upon him. For it must
not be supposed that the Masonry practiced then by the Lodge Amalia
was the Masonry we know; although doubtless it held some of our
essentials.
The Lodge at Weimar was then under the <20>Rite of Strict Observance,<2C>
that curious compound of politics, religion and Knights Templarism.
Of this Rite, Mackey says:
<EFBFBD>The Rite of Strict Observance<63> was a modification of Freemasonry,
based on the Order of Knights Templar, and introduced into Germany in
1754 by its founder, the Baron von Hund. It was divided into the
following seven degrees: 1. Apprentice; 2. Fellow Craft; 3.
Master; 4. Scottish Master; 5. Novice; 6. Templar, and 7.
Professed Knight. According to the system of the founder of this
Rite, upon the death of Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the
Templars, Pierre d<> Aumont, the Provincial Grand Master of Auvergne,
with two Commanders and five Knights retired for purposes of safety
into Scotland, which place they reached disguised as Operative
Masons, and there finding the Grand Commander, George Harris, and
several Knights, they determined to continue the Order. Aumont was
nominated Grand Master at a Chapter held on St. John<68>s Day 1313. To
avoid persecution the Knights became Freemasons. In 1361, the Grand
Master of the Temple removed his seat to Old Aberdeen, and from that
time the Order under the veil of Freemasonry, spread rapidly through
France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and elsewhere. These events
constituted the principal subject of many of the Degrees of the Rite
of Strict Observance. The others were connected with alchemy, magic,
and other superstitious practices. The great doctrine contended for
by the followers of this Rite was, that every true Mason is a Knight
Templar.<2E>
The seeds of death were sown in the Strict Observance by its very
fundamental - that the <20>Unknown Superiors<72> supposed to be at its
head, would communicate valued esoteric, not to say occult, secrets
to its initiates. Obviously, no such secrets were ever communicated,
and on the truth of history vanquishing the fiction that Strict
Observance was really connected with the Order of Chivalry, the Rite
died.
Luckily for Goethe<68>s feeling for the Ancient Craft (?) had the
advantage of a great admiration for Lessing - indeed, for all we know
to the contrary, it may have been Lessing<6E>s love for Freemasonry
which first led Goethe to seek the light. Goethe was far too broad-
minded a man, and much too deep a thinker, to condemn all that he
found good in the Lodge at Weimar, merely because it dropped from
under his feet almost as he secured a foothold!
Two years after Goethe<68>s initiation, the Rite of Observance received
its death blow, and Frederich Ludwig Schroeder, one of Germany<6E>s
greatest actors and an ardent Freemason, brought his influence to
bear upon German Freemasonry. Dissatisfied then (as thousands of
devoted Freemasons are dissatisfied today when any one attempts to
<EFBFBD>improve<EFBFBD> upon ritual or doctrine) Schroeder, as Master of Lodge
Emanuel at Hamburg, resolved to attempt to complete reformation of
Masonry in Germany; to rid it of all its corruptions, <20>advanced<65>
degrees, spurious Rites and fantastic <20>side orders,<2C> founded on
alchemy, Rosicrucianism, Hermetic philosophy; even upon magic and
mysticism.
His theory was that, despite the traditions of the Steinmetzen,
Freemasonry had begun in Gothic England and spread to the continent.
According to his belief, the English Book of Constitutions and the
English Ritual held the only pure Freemasonry. Securing a copy of
<EFBFBD>Jachin and Boaz,<2C> Shroeder translated it and made it the foundation
of that which speedily became known as Shroeder<65>s Rite or Shroeder<65>s
System. It was adopted by the Provincial Grand Lodge in 1801 and,
later, by many other German Lodges. The Hamburg Grand Lodge, under
which Lodge Amalia now holds, still works according to this system.
(How the <20>Gentlemen belonging to the Jeruselam lodge<67> who wrote the
pamphlet, would have turned in his grave had he known how his famous
expose was to be used!)
Otto Caspari, historian, Goethe admirer and Masonic enthusiast,
couples Goethe and Schroeder in the change of the working of Lodge
Amalia. He says:
<EFBFBD>Frederich Ludwig Schroeder was the man who, meantime, made his
appearance as the reformer of Freemasonry. He also went to Weimar
and succeeded in persuading Goethe and the Duke Carl Augustus to take
an interest in his system. Amalia Lodge accepted Schroeder<65>s system
and in 1808 opened its Temple again.<2E>
<EFBFBD>Jachin and Boaz<61> may be found in any good Masonic Library. The
modern Freemason will miss much that he knows in its pages, and find
much that he does not know as Masonry; but he will see that many
essential Masonic principles are therein set forth.
Goethe remained a member of Amalia Lodge to the day of his death.
What was to him the <20>new system<65> must have made a far greater appeal
than the Rite of Strict Observance. Shortened, abbreviated, scanty
as is the Masonry set forth in <20>Jachin and Boaz,<2C> to us who are heir
of the rich ritual and symbolism of Preston, Oliver, Desaugliers et
al; it is yet Masonic, which the Strict Observance can hardly be
considered to be in the light by which we moderns see. At any rate,
Goethe embraced the Schroeder system as the real and Ancient
Freemasonry, and it was this which influenced both his life and his
writings.
Because Goethe was a follower of Spinoza, ignorant fanatics have
falsely accused him of atheism; a charge as ridiculous as it is
unfounded. No one today finds Spinoza atheistic; no one ever read
Goethe to find anything but a humble man marveling at the greatness
of a nature he could not comprehend. Goethe stands awestruck before
creation; his characters are often blinded by the magnificence of the
cosmos. Goethe revered the Bible; merely because he could not accept
the narrow definition of God and heaven which were the professions of
his time, he has been thought by the ignorant to have denied the God
all his works praise by their spirit of reverence for nature and its
miracles.
Throughout the works of this greatest of German poets - a genius so
stupendous that he is not infrequently bracketed with Shakespeare -
are countless Masonic thoughts, ideas, references and allusions.
Some of these, like those found in Kipling, are evidently conscious
and intentional. Others - and these the Masonic student of Goethe
loves best - are as evidently without intent; they are but the
breathing into poem or drama of those ideas of life, death.
hereafter, moral principles and ethical doctrine, which, inculcated
by Freemasonry, were a part of Goethe<68>s life.
To English speaking Masons Goethe<68>s best known Masonic work is the
short poem <20>Masonic Lodge.<2E> It can be found in any collection of
Goethe<EFBFBD>s works, and in Volume Twenty of the Little Masonic Library.
It is given in full here, not only for purposes of short discussion,
but because, by some unaccountable and distressing error, the first
five lines, which are the keynote of the whole poem, are omitted in
the (1929) Clegg edition of Mackey<65>s Encyclopedia.
The Masons<6E>s ways are A Type of Existence
And his persistence Is as the days are
Of men in this world. The future hides it
Gladness and Sorrow, We press still thorow,
Naught that abides in it Daunting us - onward.
And Solemn before us Veiled, the dark portal,
Goal of all mortal; Stars are silent o<>er us
Graves under us silent. While earnest thou gazest
Comes boding of terror, Comes phantasm and error
Perplexes the bravest With doubt and misgiving.
But heard are the voices - Heard are the Sages,
The Worlds and the Ages; <20>Choose well; your choice is
<EFBFBD>Brief and yet endless; <20>Here eyes do regard you
<EFBFBD>In eternity<74>s stillness; <20>Here is all fullness,
<EFBFBD>Ye have to reward you, <20>Work, and despair not.<2E>
The word <20>thorow (first stanza) is an obsolete variant of thorough
meaning <20>through<67>, <20>forward,<2C> <20>ahead,<2C> or <20>onward.<2E>
No short poem could more beautifully express the Masonic legend and
doctrine; of continuity from <20>time immemorial;<3B> of hope so great that
though we ascend the Winding Stair of life without knowing whether
gladness or sorrow are hidden in the future, still we climb, pressing
ever onward, undaunted; of the terror and fear of the <20>grim tyrant,<2C>
the voiceless grave, the unrevealed mystery; of the comfort and hope
of the immortal voices from sage, experience, history and nature; of
those <20>eyes<65> which <20>regard you<6F> from beyond - does not Freemasonry
teach of an All Seeing Eye? - of that <20>all fullness<73> of the future
which is ours if we <20>choose well<6C> - choice brief as a moment, result
endless as eternity! And finally, that courageous, inspiring closing
admonition - <20>work<72> - and despair not!<21>
It is impossible to compress the mighty allegorical drama of Faust
into a paragraph as to do the same for Hamlet. Goethe did not invent
the character of Faust, nor did the legend of his <20>selling himself to
the devil.<2E> Faust was an actual historical character, a <20>scoundrelly
magician and astrologer<65> about whom many legends clustered. In 1587,
Faust appears as the hero of a popular book in the pride of his
strength and knowledge. He sells his soul to the devil in return for
a life of pleasure, luxury and gratification of desire on earth.
Goethe added to the old legend a tender and tragic love story and
wove into it a philosophic content entirely foreign to the material
which began as an old wives tale, expanded into a plot for puppet
shows, and finally became a popular book. He makes of Faust a
student and a thinker, but also a man, with all of man<61>s desires.
Mephistopheles is the wile and specious tempter; Margaret is part of
the bait. Throughout the tragedy the struggle for ascendancy between
good and evil is made manifest, just as in the Masonic drama. It is
here that the keen student of Freemasonry and the lover of Goethe
finds so many contacts between mind of the poet and teachings of
Freemasonry. As in the Legend of Hiram Abif, Faust at last finds
that evil may not forever strive successfully with good; his final
and greatest satisfaction is not in selfish pleasure, which means
death for the soul, but in work for humanity.
Difference of language, of Rite, and of age; make Masonic parallels
in Goethe<68>s works and the story and ritual we know, anything but
literal. Such a study of an author is not for the literal minded.
To read Goethe literally is on a par with scanning Hamlet<65>s soliloquy
for knowledge of the physical phenomena of sleep! To discuss the
Legend of Hiram Abif from a literal standpoint is wholly to miss its
significance and its beauty. Goethe makes of his great character an
allegory; allegorically, Faust and Hiram are not unalike. Though
one first resists while the other first yields to severe temptation,
in the end the same lesson is taught by both - that truth overcomes
error and evil, and that the divine is always within humanity do we
but seek far enough.
However, it is not only in Faust, the greatest of his works, that the
interested Freemason will find the influence of the gentle Craft upon
the great German poet. Wilhelm Meister<65>s progress is through what
may be called a series of Apprenticeships (at least they are periods
of learning) to a stage of <20>further light<68> in which he learns that
only by reverence for God, man and self can a firm character
foundation be builded. Werther, Edmont and Gotz von Berlichingen,
are all exemplars of thee poet<65>s concern for inner spiritual freedom.
Iphigenia denies the traditional barriers of race and religion, just
as does Freemasonry today (and has ever since the Mother Grand Lodge
of 1717). Both poet and Fraternity contend for the right of the
individual to erect his own spiritual plumb line, as told by Amos of
the Jehovah of old who said, <20>I will set a plumb line in the midst of
my people Israel, I will not again pass by them any more.<2E> In Tasso.
the hero is seriously threatened with political and social powers but
overcomes them by faith in the God-given powers within him.
It may be argued that as these themes of poets and playwrights of all
ages, there is no more reason for ascribing a Masonic origin for them
in Goethe<68>s works, than to reason that Shakespeare must have been a
Mason because in many of his plays truth overcomes error, wrong is
supine against right and virtue triumphant over evil.
The difference is that we know Goethe to have been an interested,
thoughtful and zealous Freemason; Lodge Amalia celebrated the
fiftieth anniversary of his initiation with the aged but still
vigorous poet taking part in the celebration. Of this important
event in Goethe<68>s life, Brother Otto Caspari has beautifully written:
<EFBFBD>On to old age he remained the intellectual center of Amalia Lodge.
It was a sacred and hollowed day when Goethe celebrated his fiftieth
anniversary in the Temple Weimar. There he stood, the great and
venerable poet, who had lived to see so much - the symbol of true and
pure human love, no hypocrite, openly confessing his human
weaknesses, but relying on his noble, good and imperishable heart, or
which it has been said Goethe<68>s heart, which but few people knew, was
as great as his intellect, which everybody knows.
<EFBFBD>It must have been an impressive moment, when the grand old Mason,
after receiving numerous ovations, responded by citing that
Masonic poem which shows us clearly how he, an aged man, had
retained eternal youth and love in his heart. He praised
Freemasonry as the sublime and everlasting union of humanity.<2E>
The greatest of men have to die; Goethe was called to the Celestial
Lodge above on March 22, 1832.
Pathetically, yet most beautifully, his last words were Masonic -
Masonic in the language of the Craft of all Freemasons of all lands
and all Rites know. Perhaps this cry was but a physical craving for
increased illumination as his eyes failed him. But thinking of his
life, and the stupendous gifts he made to mankind, the urge to learn,
to know, to reach out into the unknown for the solution of all
mystery, which breathes through many of his poems and dramas, it is
difficult to think of them except as symbolic of the man, his works,
his Freemasonry and his character.
With his last breath, Goethe cried the immortal phrase
<EFBFBD>More Light!<21>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.X October, 1932 No.10
FROM WHENCE CAME WE?
by: Unknown
By common consent, the Missouri river flows into the Mississippi
river. Yet, had geographers named them otherwise, the upper
Mississippi might have flowed into the Missouri!
Stand near the mouth of the mighty river which drains a continent and
none will dispute you when you say <20>This is the Mississippi!<21> No man
may pick up a cup of its water and say <20>this is the Missouri River
water, yonder is a drop or two of the Ohio; beyond flows some of the
Arkansas river.<2E> We know that the Mississippi river is made up that
tiny stream which rises in Lake Iraska in northern Minnesota, joined
by the Missouri, the Ohio, the Arkansas, the Red river, the
Minnesota, the Des Moines, the Illinois, the Yazoo. Each of these
has a hundred tributaries; each of these tributaries is formed by
thousands of creeks, springs, runs, brooks - all combined flow into
the Gulf of Mexico as the mighty Mississippi.
It is a commonplace of primary education that the first colonies on
this continent began in Massachusetts, New York and Virginia.
Thirteen states formed the United States. An Empire was won by war
with the Indians, purchases from other nations and conquest of the
West. Into this land of opportunity have poured people from all
other nations. Negroes were imported from the savage African wilds a
few hundred years ago. Irish, French, Germans, Russians, Polanders,
East Indians, Swedes and Norwegians; all came, settled, married,
intermarried - the melting pot melted, and from the poured metal came
the race of Americans.
But - <20>from whence came the United States? Where does the
Mississippi really rise?<3F>
No man may answer because the truth is so complex and has so many
ramifications. Only when we lump them all in one phrase and say <20>The
United States originated in the world<6C> and <20>the Mississippi comes
from all over the continent<6E> do we phrase the truth and then, while
truthful, it is not an answer!
Much the same is true of Freemasonry. <20>From whence came we?<3F> is as
unanswerable in a sentence, a paragraph, a page - aye, in a book - as
in a query as to the origin of the nation, or its mightiest river.
The United States is a product of time and all peoples; the
Mississippi is a product of a thousand streams; Freemasonry is the
product of a hundred cults, religions, organizations, crafts, guilds,
beliefs ideas and associations.
Masonic historians are generally agreed on its course for a hundred
years back, at least. The most cautious critic will not deny that
the Mississippi is the Mississippi, and not some other river or
combination of rivers, at least from the Gulf to Cairo, where the
Ohio empties - or it is the Mississippi which empties into the Ohio?
Documentary evidence sufficient for any court of law carries the
Masonic stream back at least two hundred and fifteen years, to the
formation of the Mother Grand Lodge in London, in 1717.
The vast majority of Masonic historians go confidently much further.
Comparatively few dispute that Freemasonry as we know it
(Speculative) is an outgrowth of an older Operative Masonry, composed
of builders, architects, stone cutters and setters. But before them
- what?
Our earliest document (Regius Poem) is dated with considerable
confidence about A.D. 1390 But it is obviously a copy of an older
document or documents, and speaks of a Craft evidently full grown,
working and organized. From whence came it?
A chorus answers <20>From York, England, in the year 926!<21>
And before it can be interrupted, it speaks of the Regius Poem, the
Cooke Manuscript, the labors of Hughan, Mackey and others, as
evidence that the General assembly of Masons actually was held in the
old city at the date set forth.
Without prejudice let us agree for the moment - but then, from whence
came those ancient York Masons?
This time the answering chorus is deafening! A very learned student
(A.E. Waite) offers the mystical theory - that Freemasonry is the
modern repository of the <20>Secret Doctrine<6E> supposed to have been
preserved in many religions, in many lands, in all ages. Leader
Scott and W. Ravenscroft (to mention only two) argue convincingly
that the Collegia, driven from Rome, took refuge on the island of
Comancina in Lake Como, there to preserve for centuries the arts and
knowledge of the masons of Rome, until the world was again ready for
the Master Builders. The theories that Freemasonry originated among
the Kaballists, the Hermetists, the Rosicrucians, the Essenes or the
Drues have many devout believers. Le Plongeon, the explorer, found
evidence which satisfied him that Freemasonry in a certain form
existed among the Mayas nearly twelve thousand years ago!
Agree for a moment on one of these theories - consider that modern
Freemasonry is, indeed, a lineal descendant from the Roman Collegia,
<EFBFBD>Via<EFBFBD> the Comacine Masters. Again we come to the question - from
whence came the Roman Collegia?
Answers are not lacking! <20>From the Dionysian Articifers, from the
Eleusinian Mysteries, from the religion of ancient Egypt<70> - the
choice is wide and the field free. But always the searcher for truth
ends with a question; no matter how far back he carries his stream of
investigation; no matter how well satisfied he is that it is the
Missouri which flows into the Mississippi; that Americans are direct
descendants from Anglo-Saxons; always the question remains - From
whence? From whence comes the first river? From whence came those
who founded the nation? From whence came those who began the
Eleusinian Mysteries; the progenitors of the Dionysian Articifers;
where did the priests of Egypt obtain the legend of Isis and Osiris?
The average brother in Lodge is apt to retort <20>Oh Well, these are all
side issues! There must be have been some one main stem of
Freemasonry. Perhaps all these other sources had something to do
with it, just as water from the Red River does get into the
Mississippi. But there must be some one parent, some backbone of the
system, just as there is one stream which flows north and south, and
which is the Mississippi, and into which all others flow.<2E>
Alas, <20>There must have been<65> is not an argument! It is merely a
supposition, based on everyday analogies; the tree has a trunk, and
many branches; the flower has a stem, and many leaves. Therefore,
Freemasonry must have had trunk, and many branches; therefore, our
Order must have descended from this, or the other previous
association.
It would be an intense satisfaction to many if <20>there must have been
a main stem of Freemasonry<72> could be proved to be true. So far the
<EFBFBD>proof<EFBFBD> is of so many <20>main stems<6D> that the logical minded cannot
admit any one to the exclusion of the others.
No one can read Ravenscroft and Leader Scott - even the Comacine
article in the modern edition of Mackey<65>s encyclopedia - and not be
convinced that there is <20>something in it.<2E> But if the Comacine
theory is the real truth, we must cast aside a number of other
theories, each of which has excellent arguments and some evidence to
attest its verity.
Questions as to origins are the more difficult of answer, because the
line of reasoning which satisfies one man leaves another critically
unbelieving. One historian demands documents, written evidence,
something he can hold in his hand and read with his eye. Another is
content to reason by similarities of practice. Thus,
circumambulation is a descendant, through many religions, rites and
secret associations, from nature worship in general and fire worship
in particular. Therefore, says this believer, the real origin of
Freemasonry must be looked for among the fire worshippers! A third
man is led (or misled) by similarities of symbols. The Chinese used
the square as a moral symbol at least four thousand years ago; the
<EFBFBD>principle of acting on the square<72> was enunciated in the Far East
long before our Golden Rule was phrased. But few, if any, contend
for ancient China as the cradle of modern Freemasonry. As well
believe that because we trace the point within a circle to the most
ancient religion of India, therefore among the Parsees or the
Brahmins are the beginnings of Freemasonry to be found.
Man<EFBFBD>s early culture in all lands had certain similarities, which seem
to have been inevitable. The bow and shaft was a means of making
fire in many primitive tribes. No one race can claim the discovery
of weaving; indeed. primitive looms in lands as widely separated as
South America and Ireland show similarities of spreader and heddle,
which seem impossible, except as separate inventions of the same
thing by different people because of similar needs.
It is reasonable to suppose that square, point and circle, triangle,
circumabulation, pillars, altar, compasses, gavel (to mention only a
few of the older symbols) were not the inventions or discoveries of
any one people, religion, association, priesthood or Craft; but the
product of needs as far flung as the ancient peoples of the earth.
If, indeed, there was <20>one point of origin<69> on the earth<74>s surface,
at which the first man came into being and from whose tribe all other
peoples are descended; and, if it could be proved that this one tribe
had a religion in which these symbols were associated with moral
teachings; then, indeed, we might with confidence answer the question
<EFBFBD>From Whence Came We?<3F>
Needless to say, there is no such point, tribe, religion or symbol
known!
It will be obvious that this paper does not attempt to answer the
question which is its title, with any hard and fast dogma. Even the
orthodox school does not attempt a dogma. Perhaps the most generally
accepted (orthodox) belief as to the beginning of Freemasonry may be
phrased somewhat as follows: the Craft is a descendant of Operative
Masons. There Operatives inherited from unknown beginnings, of which
there may have been several and probably many, practices and some
form of ritual. Speculative Masonry, reaching back through Operative
Masonry, touches hands with those who followed unknown religions in
which, however, many of the Speculative principles must have been
taught by the use of symbols as old as mankind and therefore
universal, and not the product of any one people or time.
This phrasing may draw criticism from those who are convinced of the
sufficiency of our knowledge of these <20>unknown beginnings.<2E> The
proponent of the Comacine theory will point to his Comacine knots,
and defy the orthodox to disprove the decent of modern Freemasonry
from the Roman Guilds. He who believes that the legend of Hiram Abif
is the heart and center of Freemasonry in all ages, will demand
disproof of his belief that Isis and Osiris were its father and
mother!
But the burden of proof rests with those who propose a theory!
Freemasonry had no one origin, at any one city, in any one nation.
It was not formed by any one set of men, any one guild or
association, at any one building.
Here a root descends to a religion; there a branch waves in the air
of an old mystery. Yonder is a path to a guild of craftsmen; here a
devotee lays a symbol on its altar. From primitive magic, from
ancient religions, from mysticism, symbolry, the occult,
architecture, history, Pagan rite and Christian observance; come each
with some influence. The Jews had a part in it. <20>The Greeks had a
word for it.<2E> Savages contributed; servants influenced it;
Kings made laws about it; humble men followed it. Ages of time,
millions of men, thousands of cults, hundreds of localities, beliefs
as many as men who subscribed to them, all were drops which ran over
sands and rocks, the hills and the valleys of history, to unite in
this stream, that brook, this spring, that creek, this rivulet, that
water fall; which, running each into each, uniting one at a time,
gradually formed the river which we call Freemasonry.
So consider, <20>all<6C> the hypotheses may be correct. No other theory
can reconcile the evidence and the arguments, nor is any other
viewpoint sufficiently elevated to get a true perspective of what we
know of this mighty torrent which we call the Ancient Craft.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.X November, 1932 No.11
SPRIG OF ACACIA
by: Unknown
Any discussion of the Acacia, important to Freemasonry as one of is
fundamental and most beautiful symbols, should begin with clearing
away a little of the <20>rubbish of the Temple<6C> which results from the
careless writing of unlearned men. So much has been published about
the Acacia which simply is not so that it is no wonder that
Freemasons are frequently confused as to what the plant really is,
how it came to be a symbol of immortality, and what its true place in
religious history may be.
We cannot accurately denote a particular plant or tree as <20>the Acacia
plant<EFBFBD> or <20>the Acacia tree<65> for the same reason that we cannot
accurately specify <20>the Rose bush<73> or <20>the pine tree.<2E> There are too
many varieties of roses, too many kinds of pine trees to distinguish
one from the other merely by the definite article.
As botanists know more than four hundred and fifty varieties of
Acacia, <20>the acacia can be only the most general of terms, meaning
them all.<2E> So perhaps it is not to be wondered at that we find one
Masonic writer speaking of the <20>spreading leaves of the Acacia tree<65>
and another talking of <20>the low thorny shrub which is the Acacia.<2E>
We have no certainty that the trees and shrubs now growing in
Palestine are the same as those which flowered in Solomon<6F>s era. So
that it is not impossible that <20>Acacia totilis (in Arabic, Es-sant)<29>
and <20>Acacia Seyal (In Arabic Sayal)<29> grew to greater size three
thousand years ago than they do now. But authorities doubt that the
Acacia which grows low, as a bush, and which in all probability must
have been the plant which one of the three plucked from the ground as
the <20>Sprig of Acacia,<2C> ever grew large enough to supply boards three
feet wide. Wynn Westcott says: <20>The Acacia is the only tree of any
size which grows in the deserts of Palestine, but it has been doubted
that even it ever grew large enough to provide planks one and one-
half cubits in width.<2E>
Scholars are united in saying the <20>Shittah Tree<65> of the Old Testament
is an Acacia; and that <20>Shittim<69>, the plural, refers to Acacia. In
Joel (3-18), one of the poetic and beautiful prophecies of the Old
Testament, we read:
<EFBFBD>And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop
down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers
of Judah shall flow with waters, a fountain shall come forth of the
house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.<2E>
Commentators place the <20>valley of Shittim<69> as possibly the Kidron of
Exekiel; but certainly as some dry, thirsty valley where the Acacia,
which flourished where other plants perished from lack of water, was
known to grow; another reason for thinking the original Acacia which
Freemasons revere was the smaller shrub, rather than the large tree.
Inasmuch as Akakia<69> in Greek signifies <20>Innocence,<2C> it was wholly
natural for Hutcheson (Spriti of Masonry, 1795) to connect the
Masonic plant with the Greek definition. He said:
<EFBFBD>We Masons, describing the deplorable state of religion under the
Jewish Law, speak in figures; <20>Her Tomb was in the rubbish and filth
cast forth of the Temple, and Acacia wove its branches over her
monument;<3B> <20>akakia<69> being the Greek word for innocence, or being free
from sin, implying that the sins and corruptions of the old law and
devotees of the Jewish altar had hid religion from those who sought
her, and she was only to be found where innocence survived under the
banner of the Divine Lamb; and as to ourselves, professing that we
were to be distinguished by our <20>Acacy,<2C> or as true <20>Acacians,<2C> in
our religious faith and tenets.<2E>
It is now well understood that Hutcheson, great as is the debt we owe
him, was too anxious to read a Christian interpretation into
everything Masonic to be considered as infallible. While the
coincidence of the Greek word our name for the Shittah-Tree is
suggestive, it hardly seems sufficient to read <20>innocence<63> into the
symbol when it already has so sublime a significance.
Mackey considers the acacia also as a symbol of initiation, because
sacred plants were symbolical of initiation in many of the Ancient
Mysteries, from which Freemasonry derived so much. The modern
Masonic scholar is rather apt to pass over this meaning, he is also
thinking that a symbol already so rich needs no further meanings to
make it important and beautiful.
Apparently the beginning of the association of the acacia with
immortality is in the legend of Isis and Osiris, one of the oldest
myths of mankind, traced back into Egypt many thousands of years
before the Christian era. Its beginnings, like those of all legends
which have endured, are shrouded in the mist which draws a veil
between us and the days before history.
According to the legend, Osiris, who was at once both King and God of
the Egyptians, and was tricked by his brother Typhon (who was very
jealous of Osiris), during the King<6E>s absence on a beneficent mission
to his people. Later, at a feast provided for the King-God<6F>s
pleasure, Typhon brought a large chest, beautiful in workmanship,
valuable in the extreme, and offered it as a gift to whoever
possessed a body which best fitted the chest. When Osiris entered
the box, Typhon caused the lid to shut and fastened; after which the
whole was thrown into the Nile.
Currents carried it to Byblos, Phoenicia, and cast it ashore at the
foot of an acacia tree. The tree grew rapidly and soon encased the
chest holding the body of Osiris.
When Isis, faithful queen, learned of the fate of her husband she set
out in search of the body. Meanwhile the King of the Land where the
acacia concealed the body, admiring the tree<65>s beauty, cut it down
and made of its trunk, a column. Learning this, Isis became nurse to
the King<6E>s children and received the column as her pay. In the tree
trunk, preserved, was the body of Osiris.
During their long captivity at the hands of the Egyptians; what more
natural than that the Israelites should take for their own a symbol
already old, and make of the <20>Shittah-Tree<65> a symbol of immortality,
just as had been done in Egypt?
It is perhaps to much to say that Israelites were the first to plant
a sprig of acacia at the had of a grave as a symbol of immortality.
But that they did so in ancient times is stated by many historians.
Dalcho assigns a novel reason for this practice; that as the Codens,
or Priests, were forbidden to step upon or over a grave, it was
necessary that spots of internment be marked, and, the acacia being
common, it was elected for the purpose.
Mackey disagrees with Dalcho as to these reasons for marking a grave
with a living plant. Perhaps the origin of the custom is not
important; certain it is that all peoples in almost all ages have
planted or laid flowers on the graves of those they love, as a symbol
of the resurrection and a future life. The lily of the modern
church, the rosemary which is for remembrance, the sprig of acacia of
the ancient Israelites and the modern Mason, have all the same
meaning upon a grave - the visual expression of the dearest hope of
all mankind.
It is both curious and interesting to learn that many trees, in many
climes, have been symbols of immortality. India gave to Egypt the
lotus, long a sacred plant; the Greeks thought the myrtle the tree of
immortal life, and the mistletoe, which survives in our lives merely
as a pleasant diversion at Christmas, was held by the Scandavavians
and the Druids as sacred as we consider the acacia.
Association of a plant and immortality is emphasized in the New
Testament - see John 12:24:
<EFBFBD>Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit.<2E>
Also familiar passages from St. Paul (First Corinthians 15:36,37)
used so much in funeral services:
<EFBFBD>Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die;
and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be,
but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain . . .<2E>
Finally we find in our own stately prayer in the Master<65>s Degree,
such a coupling up of a tree and life immortal; <20>For there is hope of
a tree if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the
tender branches thereof will not cease.<2E> - which of course, is taken
from Job 14:7.
Thus there is ample historical recognition of the connection between
that which grows and dies and grows again, and the idea of
immortality; we do not have to consider the undoubted fact that
<EFBFBD>shittah-trees<65> cut to form beams of house, often sprouted branches
even when they had no roots, nor our own thought of almost any
variety of pine as <20>the evergreen, or ever living<6E> tree, to see that
there is much background behind the symbol.
It is one of the glories of Freemasonry that so much has been made of
the symbol, so dear and deep a meaning vested in it, that it has
almost equaled the square as Freemasonry<72>s nearest and dearest.
All that was mortal on Tyrian lay murdered in a grave <20>dug six feet
due east and west.<2E> The genius of the Temple was no more. No more
designs upon the trestleboard; no more glorious architecture to come
from that mighty brain; no more holding of meetings with Solomon and
Hiram in the Sanctum Sanctorum - the Widow<6F>s Son was dead!
Of those who search one finds a sprig of acacia. Oh, immortal story;
thrice immortal ritual makers, who coupled together a resurrection
and a sprig of green! True, he whose mother was of the Tribe of
Naphtali was destroyed, but his genius lived, his spirit marched on,
his virtues were recorded in stone and in the hearts of those who
built on Mt. Moriah<61>s heights.
For at least two hundred years and probably much longer the sprig of
acacia has held Freemasonry<72>s premier teaching. The grave is not the
end. Bodies die and decay, but something <20>which bears the nearest
affinity to that which pervades all nature and which never, never,
dies,<2C> rises from the grave to become one of that vast throng which
has preceded us. Error can slay, as can evil and selfish greed, but
not permanently. That which is true and fair and fine cannot be
destroyed. Its body may be murdered, its disappearance may be
effected, the rubbish of the Temple and a temporary grave may conceal
it for a time, but where is interred that which is mortal, there
grows an evergreen or ever living sprig of acacia - acacia none the
less that it may be a spiritual sprig, a plant not of the earth,
earthly.
When he who was weary, plucked at a sprig of acacia, he had <20>evidence
of things not seen.<2E> When we toss the little sprig of evergreen
which is our usual cemetery <20>sprig of acacia<69> into the open grave of
one of our brethren who has stepped ahead upon the path we all must
tread, we give evidence of belief in a <20>thing not seen.<2E>
For never a man has seen the spirit of one who has gone, or visioned
the land where no shadows are. If we see it in our dreams, we see by
faith, not eyes. But we can see the acacia - we can look back
through the dragging years to the legend of Osiris and think that
even as the acacia grew about his body to protect it until Isis might
find it, so does the acacia of Freemasonry bloom above the casket
from which, in the solemn words of Ecclesiastes <20>the spirit shall
return unto God who gave it.<2E>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.X December, 1932 No.12
THE ALL-SEEING EYE
by: Unknown
In the modern Masonic ritual the All-Seeing Eye is combined with the
Sword, pointed at a Naked Heart; which latter emblem apparently came
to American Freemasonry through Webb. The quotation from his Monitor
(1797) is as follows:
<EFBFBD>The Sword pointing to a Naked Heart demonstrates that justice will
sooner or later overtake us, and although our thoughts, words and
actions may be hidden from the yes of man, yet the All Seeing Eye,
whom the Sun, Moon and Stars obey, and under whose watchful care even
comets perform their stupendous revolutions, pervades the whole, and
will reward us according to our merits.<2E>
The Sword and Naked Heart were probably adopted by Preston from early
initiation ceremonies of the Continent, probably French, in which
even today we find some degrees of some rites dressed with swords
which are pointed at the candidate. But the essential part of this
symbol, the All-Seeing eye, is hoary with antiquity, and, in one form
or another, has been identified with early religions and mysteries
from their beginnings.
It seems natural for men to personify his members in order to
symbolize a virtue. The foot is universally a symbol of swiftness;
the arm, of strength; the hand, of fidelity. The hand we extend to
clasp that of a friend must be open, showing it contains no weapon;
the knight of old removed his mailed gauntlet before offering his
hand, to indicate that he greeted a friend from whom he feared no
attack. From this we get our modern concept that it is good manners
to remove a glove before shaking hands.
The eye was adopted early as a symbol of watchfulness, for reasons
too obvious to set forth. By a natural transition, the watchful eye
never slept, and which thus saw everything, speedily became the
symbol of Deity.
Hear the Psalmist (XXXIV): <20>The eyes of the Lord are upon the
righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.<2E>
Again (CXXI), <20>He that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.<2E>
A Proverb reads: <20>The yes of the Lord are in every place, beholding
the evil and the good.<2E>
Egypt symbolized her God and King, Osiris, by a open eye; it was in
all the Temples, and is frequently found sculptured in stone together
with a throne and a square, symbolic of Osiris<69> power and rectitude.
One of the great curiosities of the world is the similarity, often
identity, of ideas, inventions, discoveries, conceptions of peoples
far removed, the one from the other, both in time and geographical
location. The primitive loom, for instance, is strikingly similar in
Egypt, India, South America, Africa and among the Esquimaux. The
Swastika (symbol made of four joined squares), often termed the
oldest of symbols, is to be found literally all over the world. So
is the point within a circle, and the square as an emblem is found in
early Egypt, Rome and China, to mention only three.
It is not surprising, therefore, to find so obvious a symbol as a
watchful eye typifying Deity in the uttermost ends of the earth.
That it was called the <20>All-Seeing Eye<79> in Vedic hymns a thousand
years older than Christianity, and in a land as far as India from
that we are wont to consider the cradle of Masonry, is a fact to make
any student think.
Forty years ago the Reverend J.P. Oliver Minos drew Masonic attention
to one of the Ric-Veda Hymns especially addressed to <20>Surya,<2C> or the
Sun:
<EFBFBD>Behold, the rays of dawn, like heralds, lead on high.
The Sun, that men may see the great all knowing God.
The Stars slink off like thieves, in company with Night,
Before the All-Seeing Eye, whose beams reveal his presence,
Gleaming like brilliant flames, to nation after nation.<2E>
In the religions of India the eye is of high importance and
prominence. Suva; one of the most important of the Gods of India, is
pictured with three eyes, one more brilliant than the other two.
Drawings are for sale in the market places of Benares and other
Indian cities which visiting Masons often think are Masonic, merely
because they portray the All-Seeing Eye. Indian religious devotees
consider the peacock a sacred bird because of the resemblance of the
feathers to an eye.
As a symbol of Deity the eye is a natural hieroglyph.
The connotation of sleeplessness, vision, knowledge is easily grasped
by even a child-like intellect. But it is also, and for the same
reason, a symbol of the sun; indeed, sun worship antedated almost
all, if not all, other forms of worship.
The sun was worshipped by too many peoples in too many lands and ages
to attempt to catalog here. Shamash was sun God to Assyrians,
Merodach to the Chaldees, Ormuzd to the Persians, Ra to the
Egyptians, Tezzatlipoca to the Mexicans, Helios to the Greeks and Sol
to the Romans to mention only a few.
The sun is the source of a hundred myths; familiar is that of Helios,
who drove his chariot daily across the sky. The Scandinavian God
Sunna was in constant dread of being devoured by the wolf Fenris
(symbol of the eclipse); Phaeton was the son of Phoebus, the sun, and
stole his fathers chariot to drive across the heavens. Unable to
control the fiery steeds, he came to near the earth and parched Libya
into a land of barren sands, blackening the inhabitants of Africa and
so heating that continent that it never recovered normal temperature!
Had not Zeus transfixed him with a thunderbolt, he would have
destroyed the world.
Modern poets and ancient have sung of the sun as thee eye of day; we
recall:
<EFBFBD>The night has a thousand eyes And the day but one
But the light of the whole world dies When the day is done.<2E>
Diogenes Laeritus thought of the sun as an incorruptible heavenly
being when he wrote:
<EFBFBD>The sun, too shines into cesspools and is not polluted.<2E>
Dryden translated Ovid to read:
<EFBFBD>The glorious lamp of heaven, The radiant sun, Is nature<72>s eye.<2E>
Hear Milton:
<EFBFBD>Thou sun! Of this great world both eye and soul!<21>
Freemasonry does not make of the eye a symbol of the sun. Her All-
Seeing Eye is one emblem, her sun another, each with a distinct
meaning. One of the Lesser Lights represents the sun; the sun shines
out from between the legs of the compasses, open sixty degrees on a
quadrant, in the Past Master<65>s Jewel, all symbolic of the Masonic
light which must come from the East from which comes all truth.
It has been written: <20>The sun is the symbol of sovereignty, the
hieroglyphic of royalty, it doth signify absolute authority,: By
analogy, if the lodge is the symbol of the world, then the Master,
who controls the time of opening and closing, may well have one of
the Lesser Lights as his symbol. Mackey goes further to say that the
Master is <20>himself<6C> a symbol of the rising sun , the Junior Warden of
the sun at meridian, and the Senior Warden of the setting sun, just
as the Mysteries of India the three chief priests symbolize Bramha,
the rising sun, Siva, the meridian, and Vishnu the setting sun.
In the Orphic mysteries the sun was thought to generate, as from an
egg, and come forth with power to triplicate himself; triple power
(such as is found in a Lodge under a Master, Senior and Junior
Warden) is an idea as old as mythology, as may be seen in the trident
of Neptune, the three-forked lightning of Jove, the three-headed
Cerebus of Pluto.
See how fitly the sun, as a symbol of authority, the sun, as man<61>s
earliest deity, and the sun, as origin of the eye as a symbol of God,
can be united. In his <20>Symbolic Language<67> Wemyss wrote:
<EFBFBD>The sun may be considered to be an emblem of Divine truth because
the sun, or the light of which it is the source, is not only manifest
in itself, but makes other things manifest; so one truth detects,
reveals and manifests another, as all truths are dependent on and
connected with each other, more or less.<2E>
So does the Master make Masonic truth manifest to the brethren; so
does the Great Architect manifest His Divine truth to all men.
If it is further necessary to show a connection between eye and sun,
sun and God, and thus eye and God; refer again to the passage from
Webb, which couples the All-Seeing Eye with the sun, moon and stars.
Sufficient has been said to make it evident that the All-Seeing Eye
is not a modern symbol, or one lightly to be regarded or passed over
in silence, merely because modern ritual makes comparatively little
of it. Alas, many brethren are so ill-instructed in the ancient
Craft that it is a matter of some wonder to them why officer<65>s
aprons, when decorated with emblems so often have the All-Seeing Eye
upon the flap; why that pregnant symbol is so frequently engraved
upon working tools, or the square and compasses which lie upon the
Altar.
Throughout the Craft emphasis is put upon the number three; three
Light (greater and lesser); three steps on the Master<65>s carpet; three
steps at the beginning of the Winding Stairs; three principal
officers; three degrees; three due guards; etc. ,etc. The number
three is but another way of expressing the idea of a triangle, one of
man<EFBFBD>s earliest, if not the earliest symbol for Deity, inasmuch as it
is the simplest closed figure (signifying endlessness) which can be
formed with straight lines.
The emphasis upon three, then, is Freemasonry<72>s symbol of omneity of
Deity - His being without beginning or ending.
The letter <20>G<EFBFBD> as a symbol of Deity particularly speaks of the
reverence we owe to the supreme architect; His omniglory.
Lodges are opened and closed with prayer, symbol of the loving
omnipresence of the Great Architect; Freemasons believe that where
two or three are gathered together in His name. there His is also, in
the midst of them.
On our Altar lies His Holy Book, rule and guide of our faith, symbol
of His Omnipotence, since in it are the prophecies and histories of
the powers of the Most High.
The All-Seeing Eye is significant of His Omniscience; that the
Supreme Architect sees all and knows all, even the hidden secrets of
the human heart.
Here, indeed. is the kernel of the nut, the inner meaning of the
symbol which has come down to us from so many diverse ages, so many
religions, which has been interwoven with sun and pagan gods and
myths, nature religion and many kinds of worship, which was old when
Egypt was young and ancient when India was new.
The All-Seeing Eye is to Freemasons the cherished symbol not only of
the power but of the mercy of God - since, as has been beautifully
said to comfort us who cannot always do as we know we should, or even
as we want - <20>to see all is to know all; to know all is to understand
all; to understand all is to forgive all.<2E>
Therefore the thinking Freemason has reverence for this symbol. He
treats it not as one of many; rather as among those to be held in
tenderest thought and most precious memory. The Sword pointing to
the Naked Heart may thunder of justice, but the All-Seeing Eye
whispers of justice tempered with complete understanding, which is
man<EFBFBD>s most lovely conception of Him who judges erring men.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XI January, 1933 No.1
MOTHER LODGE
by: Unknown
The tenderest of Masonic affections cling around this phrase; men
away from home have a longing for their Mother Lodge, indefinable in
words, as etherial as a flower-scent, as actual as the good standing
cards they carry in their pockets.
But what is this that men call Mother Lodge? Ritual-istically, a
Lodge is a legal number of brethren, assembled with a Charter, or
Warrant of Constitution, and the Three Great Knights of Masonry
properly arranged. Legally, it is all the brethren whose names are
carried on the rolls, formed into an organization by recognition from
the Grand Lodge which gave them -or those they succeeded - life as a
part of the Grand Lodge family of Lodges. Physically, a Lodge seems,
to the brethren who compose it, to be the room in the Temple in which
they meet. Yet none of these definitions satisfy the thoughtful as
complete.
While a Charter, or Warrant of Constitution, and the Three Great
Lights are necessary for holding a Lodge, the destruction of the
Charter, the loss of the Three Great Lights does not destroy the
Lodge. Duplicate Charters may be issued; new Great Lights may be
obtained . . . Read the words of Brother J.C. Stewart, Cannongate
Kilwinning Lodge No.2, Edinburg, Scotland:
Time<EFBFBD>s ravages does Time repair,
Time<EFBFBD>s deepest wounds are healed by Time;
The Master passes from the chair,
The Warden to the Chair doth climb.
Master and Warden soon are gone,
The Lodge lives on, The Lodge lives on!
The torch of light is handed down
The ages that so swiftly flee;
Out of our frailty comes renown
And life from our mortality;
The pomps of yesteryear are gone,
The Lodge lives on, the Lodge lives on!`
The Lodge cannot be <20>only<6C> the brethren who compose it, as these
continually change. A brother may be removed from the vicinity in
which his Mother Lodge meets, remain away fifty years, and return to
find every brother he knew when he first saw Masonic Light, gone to
the Grand Lodge Above. Yet, his Mother Lodge remains.
The Lodge cannot be <20>only<6C> the room in which meetings are held.
Temples are temporary, Lodges move from room to room, sometimes from
town to town, or even State to State. California Lodge No. 13,
District of Columbia, moved to California in 1849, and became
California Lodge No.1 in the Grand Lodge of that State; many Army
Lodges have traveled far. Yet these are still Mother Lodges to those
brethren who are their sons.
The difficulty of defining just what we so love as our Mother Lodge
is increased by the word <20>Lodge<67> having more than one meaning. The
Church is an organized body of worshippers who meet in a church; burn
the edifice, the Church remains. Used in this sense the Lodge is
that indefinable organization that meets in the lodge room. The word
has come down to us from operative days, when workmen erecting a
Cathedral built a hut, or lodge, in which to keep the plans, meet and
talk over the work, use as a recreation hall in bad weather, even to
sleep in. <20>Lodge<67> is a legitimate descendent of the good old Anglo-
Saxon word <20>logian<61> meaning <20>to dwell.<2E> Spelled <20>logge<67> it is
mentioned in our oldest document, the Regius Poem, 1390.
When the word means an organized body of Freemasons, it is in
contradiction to a <20>Chapter<65> of Royal Arch Masons, a <20>Council<69> of
Cryptic Masons, a <20>Consistory<72> of Scottish Rite Masons, a
<EFBFBD>Commandery<EFBFBD> of Knights Templar.
Occasionally the Lodge is a piece of furniture. In the beautiful
ceremonies of consecration, Dedication and Constitution of a new
Lodge, the symbolic corn, wine and oil are sprinkled upon an actual
object, representing the Lodge. Usually it is an oblong box, covered
with white cloth. This use of an object called <20>The Lodge,<2C> to
visualize the formation of the new organization, is very old; Preston
speaks of it in his <20>Illustrations of Masonry,<2C> first edition. 1772,
as follows:
<EFBFBD>The Grand Master, attended by his Officers, and some dignified
Clergymen, form themselves in order around the Lodge, in the center;
and, all devoutly kneeling, the preparatory prayer is rehearsed. The
Chaplain produces his authority, and being properly assisted proceeds
to consecrate. Solemn music strikes up, and the necessary
preparations are made. The first clause of the consecration prayer
is rehearsed, all devoutly kneeling; and the response is made, Glory
to God on High. Incense is scattered over the Lodge and the Grand
Honors of Masonry are given.<2E>
The Mother Lodges of all men now living are Lodges of Master Masons.
They may, indeed, be <20>open on the First Degree<65> or <20>called off to the
Second Degree<65> but, according to Mackey, in these modern times no
<EFBFBD>Lodge of Entered Apprentices<65> or a <20>Lodge of Fellowcrafts<74> can
exist.
A Charter or Warrant which empowers them to work as a Lodge is given
to a certain number of <20>Master Masons.<2E> No Lodge can work without a
Master or Wardens. A Master and his Wardens <20>must<73> be Master Masons.
All Lodges, then, are Lodges of Master Masons. The phrase often
written in lodge minutes: <20>The Lodge of Master Masons was closed and
a Lodge of Entered Apprentices opened<65> cannot be a statement of fact.
When a Lodge of Master Masons is <20>closed,<2C> there is an end to the
work of the evening. As a matter of fact the Lodge is <20>not closed<65>
when <20>work<72> is to be done on either of the first two degrees; it is
reopened <20>on the Entered Apprentice (or Fellowcraft) degree<65> either
by actual ceremony, or <20>calling off to<74> or <20>calling on to<74> the
appropriate degree.
Many modern Masonic jurists dispute this, and reference is made in
more than one Book of Constitutions and Code to <20>opening a Lodge of
Entered Apprentices,<2C> as for a corner stone laying. The general
practice of Grand Lodges, however, regardless of how their laws are
worded, is to open first on the Master Mason<6F>s Degree, and then
either re-open, or <20>dispense with labor on the Master Mason<6F>s Degree
to call to labor on the entered Apprentice<63>s Degree.<2E>
In Operative days, Lodges were composed of Fellows of the Craft.
Attached were a certain number of Apprentices who became <20>Entered<65>
when they passed the novate and were enrolled on the books of the
Lodge. At the heads of such Lodges were Master Masons - architects
and planners of great buildings. These received and judged the
<EFBFBD>Master<EFBFBD>s Piece<63> made by Entered Apprentices who had served their
seven years and who desired to become Fellows.
At the revival of Masonry in its Speculative form in the first Grand
Lodge (1717) Lodges worked only the Entered Apprentice<63>s Degree. The
Fellowcraft Degree and the <20>Master<65>s Part<72> were conferred only in
Grand Lodge. At that time all Lodges could truly be called Lodges of
Entered Apprentices,<2C> from which date our custom of laying corner-
stones while open in the First Degree. Shortly after the formation
of the Mother Grand Lodge, the degrees were written into their
present forms by Anderson and Desaugliers and, later, Preston. All
Lodges were then given the right to confer all three degrees. Since
that time - which also saw the beginning the practice of issuing
Warrants, - all Masonic Lodges have been made up of Master Masons.
Lodges are created by Grand Lodge. Seven or more brethren who desire
to form a new Lodge petition the Grand Master; if he so desires he
issues a Dispensation to hold a Lodge. A Lodge U.D. can make Masons,
but do little else, and its Dispensation lasts only until Grand Lodge
meets, when it may or may not grant a Warrant to the U.D. Lodge to be
a regular Lodge. Even after the granting of the Charter, or Warrant
of Constitution, the Lodge is not :duly constituted<65> and does not
become so until the Grand Master (or a brother he deputizes for the
purpose) and Grand Officers (or their representatives) perform the
ceremonies of Consecration, Dedication and constitution.
This ancient ceremony differs as to ritual in the several
Jurisdictions, but the intent is the same in all, and the general
form very similar. Proceedings are opened with a prayer. The
Dedication is accomplished when the Grand Officers pour upon the
piece of furniture representing <20>The Lodge,<2C> the <20>corn of
nourishment, the wine of refreshment and the oil of joy.<2E>
Consecration is accomplished by a prayer to the Great Architect, and
Constitution by pronouncement from the Grand Master. Comparatively
few brethren have an opportunity to see this ceremony; all should
read it in the Code, Ahiman Rezon or Book of Constitutions of the
Grand Lodge.
The Entered Apprentice is informed that the form of the lodge is that
of an <20>oblong square.<2E> The apparently contradictory words come from
an antiquity to which the memory of man runneth not. The <20>oblong
square<EFBFBD> is the shape which our ancient progenitors imagined the world
to be, probably because the swing of the sun across the sky was
longer from east to west than its movement from north to south
between winter and summer. Masonically, the words are not
contradictory, since the <20>oblong<6E> is formed of four squares, no less
so that one leg of each is longer than the other. The Pythagorean
Problem (forty seventh problem of Euclid) is usually, and always more
beautifully demonstrated with a square which has one leg longer than
the other, than with the familiar Master<65>s square with legs of equal
length.
To us the Lodge is a symbol of the world, just as the <20>oblong square<72>
symbolized the shape of the world to our ancient brethren.
Ritualistically, a Lodge has the <20>vast proportions<6E> of extending
indefinitely <20>from East to West<73> stretching <20>from earth to heaven,<2C>
encompassing both center and circumference. It is universal; not
located necessarily in one spot, confined to one room, one Temple,
one city. In San Francisco a New York brother is still a member of
his Mother Lodge; in China the visitor to Peking Lodge (Massachusetts
dispensation) is still a member of his Boston Lodge. Precious the
thought to many a wanderer that, wherever he is, there also is a bit
of his Mother Lodge.
Extending the idea of the universality of the Lodge is its covering,
the clouded canopy. Our ancient brethren, holding their meetings on
high hills and low vales, knew no other roof. Jacob envisioned his
ladder from earth to heaven, the rungs of which we name with the most
precious teachings which come from the Lodge - faith, hope and
charity. Truly, the brother in a far city who thinks loving-ly of
his Mother Lodge has reason to carry her sacredly in his heart, since
size and extent, covering and lessons, are so great.
Nor need for any sojourning brother, even if he be where there is no
Lodge for him to visit, to be without those appurtenances of every
Lodge - the furniture, the lights and the jewels. Great Lights are
to be found the world over - in every hotel room is a Gideon Bible.
Square and Compasses hang from millions of watch chains, are on
countless rings, and their images are in the minds of every
Freemason. He may keep three Lesser Lights burning in his heart,
though years may pass before he sees them around the Altar of his
Mother Lodge; and as for Ashlars, the Trestlboard, Square, Level and
Plumb; he is a poor Freemason indeed who does not keep them in his
memory, for use in everyday life.
<EFBFBD>My Mother Lodge! What tenderest associations cling about the
phrase; with what veneration do loving Freemasons speak of <20>Old
Number 17<31> or <20>The Old Lodge<67> with <20>old<6C> as a term of endearment.
With what pride do we think of the achievements of our Mother Lodge;
the brethren who went forth from her to war, the money she has given
to the Masonic Home, the square work she has done, the good men and
true she has selected to be her sons, the good times she has supplied
in innocent gaiety for her children, her tender care of the sick,
feeble and helpless; her comforting in grief those who have loved and
lost.<2E>
(<28>Foreign Countries<65>)
Tenderest of sentiments, loveliest of memories, dearest of
associations cling about the Mother Lodge. While men cherish so much
on the intangibles of the hidden land of the spirit, earthy, none
need fear that Freemasonry will pass away!

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XI February, 1933 No.2
A MASTER<45>S WAGES
by: Unknown
<EFBFBD>. . . travel in foreign countries and receive Master<65>s Wages.<2E>
Our Operative brethren received their Master<65>s Wages in coin of the
realm.
Speculatives content themselves with intangible wages - and
occasionally some are hard pressed to explain to the wondering
initiate just what, in this practical age, a Master<65>s Wages really
are.
The wages of a Master may be classified under two heads; first, those
inalienable rights which every Freemason enjoys as a result of fees,
initiation and the payment of annual dues to his Lodge; second, those
more precious privileges which are his if he will but stretch out his
hand to take.
The first right of which any initiate is conscious is that of passing
the Tiler and attending his Lodge, instead of being conducted through
the West gate as a preliminary step to initiation. For a time this
right of mingling with his new brethren is so engrossing that he
looks no further for his Master<65>s Wages. Later he learns that he
also has the right of visitation in other Lodges, even though it is a
<EFBFBD>right<EFBFBD> hedged about with restrictions. He must be in good standing
to exercise it. It will be denied him should any brother object to
his visit. If he is unaffiliated, in most Jurisdictions, he can
exercise it but once in any one Lodge. If private business (such as
election of officers or a lodge trial, etc.) is scheduled, the Master
of the Lodge he would visit may refuse him entrance. But in general
this right of visiting other Lodges is a very real part of what may
be termed his concrete Master<65>s Wages, and many are the Freemasons
who find in it a sure cure for loneliness in strange places; who
think of the opportunity to find welcome and friends where otherwise
they would be alone, as wages of substantial character.
The opportunities to see and hear the beautiful ceremonies of
Freemasonry, to take from them again an again a new thought, are
wages not to be lightly received. For him with the open ears and the
inquiring mind, the degrees lead to a new world, since familiarity
with ritual provides the key by which he may read an endless stream
of books about Freemasonry.
The Craft has a glorious history; a symbolism the study of which is
endless; a curious legal structure of which law-minded men never
tire<EFBFBD> is so interwoven with the story of the nation as to make the
thoughtful thrill; joins hands with religion in the secret places of
the heart in a manner both tender and touching. These <20>foreign
countries<EFBFBD> have neither gate nor guard at the frontier . . . the
Master Mason may cross and enter at his will, sure of wages wherever
he wanders within their borders.
Master<EFBFBD>s Wages are paid in acquaintances. Unless a newly-made Master
Mason is so shy and retiring that he seeks the farthest corner of his
Lodge Room, there to sit and shrink into himself, inevitably he will
become acquainted with many men of many minds, always an interesting
addition to the joy of life. What he does with his acquaintances is
another story, but at least the wages are there, waiting for him.
No honest man insures his house thinking it will burn, but the
insurance policy in the safe is a great comfort, well worth all that
it costs. It speaks of help should fire destroy his home; it assures
that all its owner has saved in material wealth will not be lost
should carelessness or accident start a conflagration.
No honest man becomes a Freemason thinking to ask the Craft for
relief. Yet the consciousness that poor is the Lodge and sodden the
hearts of the brethren thereof from which relief will not be
forthcoming if the need is bitter, is wages from which comfort may be
taken.
Freemasonry is not, <20>re se,<2C> a relief organization. It does not
exist merely for the purpose of dispensing charity. Nor has it great
funds with which to work its gentle ministrations to the poor. Fees
are modest; dues are often too small rather than too large. Yet, for
the brother down and out, who has no coal for the fire, no food for
his hungry child, whom sudden disaster threatens, the strong arm of
the Fraternity stretches forth to push back the danger. The cold are
warmed, the hungry fed, the naked clothed, the jobless given work,
the discouraged heartened.
Master<EFBFBD>s Wages, surely far greater than the effort put forth to earn
them.
Relief is not limited to a brother<65>s own Lodge. In most
Jurisdictions there is a Masonic Home, in which, at long last, a
brothers weary body may rest, his tired feet cease their wandering.
No Freemason who has visited any Masonic Home and there seen old
brethren and their widows eased down the last long hill in peace and
comfort; the children of Masons under friendly influences which
insure safe launching of little ships on the sea of life; comes away
thankful that there is such a haven for him, should he need it, even
if he hopes never to ask for its aid.
Stranded in a strange place, no Freemason worries about getting aid.
In all large centers is a Board of Masonic Relief to hear his story,
investigate his credentials and start the machinery by which his
Lodge may help him. In smaller places is almost invariably a Lodge
with brethren glad to give a sympathetic hearing to his troubles. To
the brother in difficulty in what to him is a <20>foreign country,<2C>
ability to prove himself a Freemason is Master<65>s Wages, indeed.
Freemasonry is strong in defense of the helpless. The Widow and the
orphan need ask but once to receive bounty. All brethren hope to
support their own, provide for their loved ones, but misfortune comes
to the just and unjust alike. To be one of a world wide brotherhood
on which widow and child may call is of untold comfort, Master<65>s
Wages more precious than the coin of gold.
Finally is the right of Masonic burial. At home or abroad no
Freemason, know to desire it, but is followed to his last home by
sorrowing brethren who lay him away under the apron of the Craft and
the Sprig of Acacia of immortal hope. This, too, is Wages of a
Master.
<EFBFBD>Pay the Craft their Wages, if any be due . . .<2E>
To some the practical wages briefly mentioned above are the important
payments for a Freemason<6F>s work. To others, the more intangible but
none the less beloved opportunities to give, rather than get, are the
Master<EFBFBD>s Wages which count them.
Great among these is the Craft<66>s opportunity for service. The world
is full of chances to do for others, and no man need apply to a
Masonic Lodge only because he wants a chance to <20>do unto others as he
would others do unto him.<2E> But Freemasonry offer peculiar
opportunities to unusual talents which are not always easily found in
the profane world.
There is always something to do in a Lodge. There are always
committees to be served - and committee work is usually thankless
work. He who cannot find his payment in his satisfaction of a task
well done will receive no Master<65>s Wages for his labors on Lodge
committees.
There are brethren to be taught. Learning all the <20>work<72> is a man<61>s
task, not to be accomplished in a hurry. Yet it is worth the doing,
and in instructing officers and candidates many a Mason has found a
quiet joy which is Master<65>s Wages pressed down and running over.
Service leads to the possibility of appointment or election to the
line of officers. There is little to speak of the Master<65>s Wages
this opportunity pays, because only those who have occupied the
Oriental Chair know what they are. The outer evidence of the
experience may be told, but the inner spiritual experience is
untellable because the words have not been invented.
But Past Masters know! To them is issued a special coinage of
Master<EFBFBD>s Wages which only a Worshipful Master may earn. Ask any of
them if they do not pay well for the labor.
If practical Master<65>s Wages are acquaintances in Lodge, the enjoyment
of fellowship, merged into friendship, is the same payment in larger
form. Difficult to describe, the sense of being one of a group, the
solidarity of the circle which is the Lodge, provides a satisfaction
and pleasure impossible to describe as it is clearly to be felt. It
is interesting to meet many men of many walks of life; it is heart-
warming continually to meet the same group, always with the same
feeling of equality. High and low, rich and poor, merchant and
money-changer, banker and broom-maker, doctor and ditch-digger all
meet on the level, and find it happy - Master<65>s Wages, value
untranslatable into money.
Ethereal as a flower scent, dainty as a butterfly<6C>s wing, yet to some
as strong as any strand of the Mystic Tie all Freemasons know and
none describe, is that feeling of being a part of the historic past.
To have knelt at the same Altar before which George Washington
prayed; to have taken the same obligation which bound our brethren of
the Mother Grand Lodge of 1717; to be spiritually kin with Elias
Ashmole; to feel friendly with Oliver, Preston, Krause, Goethe, Sir
Christopher Wren, Marshall, Anthony Sayer to mention only a few; to
be a brother of Craftsmen who formed the Boston Tea Party; to stand
at Bunker Hill with Warren and ride with brother Paul Revere; to be
an apprentice at the building of St. Paul<75>s; to learn the Knot from a
Comacine Master; to follow the Magister in a Roman <20>Collegium,<2C> aye,
even to stand awed before those mysteries of ancient peoples, and
perhaps see a priest raise the dead body of Osiris from a dead level
to a living perpendicular - these are mental experiences not to be
forgotten when counting up Master<65>s Wages.
Finally - and best - is the making of many friends.
Thousands of brethren count their nearest and their dearest friends
on the rolls of the Lodge they love and serve. The Mystic Tie makes
for friendship It attracts man to man and often draws together
<EFBFBD>those who might otherwise have remained at a perpetual distance.<2E>
The teachings of broth-erly love, relief and truth; of temperance,
fortitude, prudence and justice; the inculcation of patriotism and
love of country, are everyday experiences in a Masonic Lodge. When
men speak freely those thoughts which, in the world without, they
keep silent, friendships are formed.
Count gain for work well done in what coin seems most valuable; the
dearest of the intangibles which come to any Master Mason are those
Masonic friendships than which there <20>are<72> no greater Master<65>s Wages.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XI April, 1933 No.4
THE RITE OF DISCALCEATION
by: Unknown
A candidate for initiation into a Masonic Lodge often finds odd those
requirements which he must fulfill in order to do as have all good
brothers and fellows who have gone this way before. Indeed, that
preparation often remains a puzzle to him, since the ritualistic
explanation is only partial. Not only does the newly made brother,
bewildered by the new world into which he is thrust, investigate
further to ascertain if all was told him which might have been; to
learn a still further meaning to the ceremony and symbol which the
passage in Ruth purports to make plain.
Those who read the fourth chapter of the immortal Book of Ruth will
note especially the seventh and eight verses:
<EFBFBD>Now this was the manner in former times in Israel concerning
redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man
plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor; and this was a
testimony in Israel.
<EFBFBD>Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for Thee. So he drew
off his shoe.<2E>
<EFBFBD>Redeeming<EFBFBD> here means the taking back or recovery of land or
property pledged for a debt;
<EFBFBD>changing<EFBFBD> refers to the transfer of ownership. As both were then,
as now, matters of importance, it is evident that the plucking off of
the shoe, as a pledge of honor and fair dealing, was of equal
importance, comparable with our swearing to our signatures to
documents before a Notary Public,
Note that <20>to confirm all things a man plucked off his shoe. . .<2E> not
his <20>Shoes.<2E>
Taking off one and handing it to him with whom a covenant was made
was a symbol of sincerity.Removing <20>both<74> shoes signified quite
another thought.
These are separate and distinct symbols - in Freemasonry both are
used - and it is wise to distinguish between the two, not to miss the
beautiful implications of entering that place which is holy with both
feet bare.
The Rite of Discalceation - from the Latin, <20>discalceatus,<2C> meaning
<EFBFBD>unshod<EFBFBD> - is world wide. Freemasonry<72>s ritual of the entered
Apprentice Degree refers to the passage in Ruth. In the Master<65>s
Degree the reference is not verbal but an act which differs in
meaning from that in the first degree.
In all probability Freemasonry takes this symbol from other sources
than the Old Testament; obviously any system of teaching which is the
result of the coming together of a thousand faiths, philosophies,
rites, religions, guilds and associations, must have received so
common a symbol from more than one source, although the Great Light
does contain it. In the Old Testament are several passages which
make removal of shoes quite a different gesture than that described
in the passage from Ruth.
Exodus (III:5) states: <20>Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes off
thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.<2E>
In Joshua (V:15) we find: <20>And the Captain of the Lord<72>s Host said
unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon
thou standest is holy.<2E>
Ecclesiastes (V:1) reads: <20>Keep thy foot when thou goest to the
house of God.<2E>
The association of the removal of footwear when treading holy ground
is a fairly obvious symbol. Sandals or other footgear were used to
protect, not the ground, but the feet, both from injury and from
filth. To wear such protections in holy places, by inference stated
that the holy place was harmful to feet, or was dirty! It is similar
in thought-content to the world wide custom of men removing the hat
in church. The Knight removed his helmet in the presence of those he
did not fear. He was safe in church; the removal of his protection
against a blow was his acknowledgment that in a sanctuary not even an
enemy would assail him.
We know the custom was wide spread, not confined to Israel; from many
sources. Thus, Pythagoras instructed his disciples to <20>offer
sacrifices with thy shoes off.<2E> In all the eastern religious
edifices the worshipper removes his shoes in order not to defile the
temple with that which touches the profane earth. Maimonides,
expounder of ancient Jewish law, says: <20>It was not lawful for a man
to come into the mountain of God<6F>s home with his shoes on his feet,
or with his staff, or in his working garments, or with dust on his
feet.<2E> The custom was found in Ethiopia, ancient Peru, the England
of the Druids. Adam Clark thought the custom so general in the
nations of antiquity that he quoted it as one of the thirteen proofs
that the whole human race descended from one family.
The Rite of discalceation becomes the more beautiful as we progress
through the degrees. At first it is only a voluntary testimony of
sincere and truthful intentions; later it is an act of humility,
signifying that he who removes his shoes knows that he enters that
which must not be defiled by anything unworthy.
The word <20>humility<74> must be strictly construed that it be not
confused with its derivative, <20>humiliation.<2E>
He who is <20>humble<6C> but acknowledges supremacy in another, or the
greatness of a power or principle; he who is <20>humiliated<65> is made to
feel unworthy, not in reverence to that which is greater than he, but
for the personal aggrandizement of the humiliator. A man removes his
hat upon entering a home, in the presence of women, or in a church,
not as a symbol of humility, but of reverence. The worshipper
removes his shoes on entering a holy place for the same reason.. He
who walks <20>neither barefoot nor shod<6F> offers mute testimony - even
though, as yet uninstructed, he knows it not - that he is sincere.
Who walks with both feet bare, signifies that he treads upon that
which is hallowed.
Freemasonry does not stress in words this meaning of the Rite of
Discalceation for very good reasons; throughout our system the
explanation of our rites concerns always the simplest aspect. The
fathers of our ritual were far too wise in the ways of the hearts of
men to teach the abstruse first, and go then to the east. Rather did
they begin with that which is elementary; then, very often , our
ritual leaves the initiate to search further for himself, if he will.
It is Freemasonry<72>s recognition that man values most that for which
he has to labor.
But it is the less stressed meaning of the Rite which is of the
greater importance. He is the better Freemason and the happier who
digs for himself in the <20>rubbish of the Temple<6C> to uncover that which
is gloriously buried there.
Is proof necessary, that behind the tiled door of any open Lodge is a
holy place? here it is!
Freemasons teach that the Great Light is <20>dedicated to God, as the
inestimable gift of God to men for the rule and guide of his faith .
. .<2E>
In the Great Light we read (Matthew XVIII:20) <20>For where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.<2E>
Every Masonic Lodge is opened and closed in the name of God.
According to his promise, therefore, no Lodge meets without the Great
Architect being <20>in the midst of them.<2E>
Consequently, the Lodge is Holy Ground.
This being so, it may well be asked why all Freemasons do to remove
their shoes when entering Lodge?
<EFBFBD>Once a Freemason, always a Freemason.<2E> No Lodge member is required
to repeat the obligations he once assumed, on every occasion at which
he is present when a degree is being conferred. But it is well
understood that the obligation is binding upon him for life. Every
time he follows the old, old words in his mind, he re-obligates
himself. Whenever he sees a candidate initiated, consciously or
unconsciously he himself is again initiated. Having once been taught
that a candidate is prepared in a certain way because of a certain
meaning in that preparation, it is unnecessary to inconvenience him
every time he comes to Lodge. If he is again so prepared, in his
heart, he fulfills all the outward requirements.
While the promise and the fulfillment <20>makes<65> the Lodge holy ground,
it is <20>kept<70> holy only if those who form it and conduct it, so revere
it. Stone Masons erect a Temple to God, ministers dedicate it and
worshippers consecrate it; but a desecrating hand, as in war, may
unroof it, use it as a stables, or make of it a shambles.
Mackey beautifully put the thought of the consecration holiness of a
lodge:
<EFBFBD>The Rite of Discalceation is a symbol of reverence. It signifies,
in the language of symbolism, that the spot which is about to be
approached in this humble and reverential manner is consecrated to
some holy purpose. Of all the degrees of Freemasonry, the third
degree is the most important and sublime. The solemn lessons which
it teaches, the sacred scene which it represents, and the impressive
ceremonies with which it is conducted, are all calculated to inspire
the mind with feelings of awe and reverence.
Into the holy of holies of the Temple, when the Ark of the Covenant
had been deposited in its appropriate place, and the Shekinah was
hovering over it, the high priest alone, and on only one day in the
whole year, was permitted, after the most careful purification, to
enter with bare feet and to pronounce, with fearful veneration, the
tetragammaton or omnific word.
<EFBFBD>And into the Master Mason<6F>s Lodge - this holy of holies of the
Masonic Temple, where the solemn truths of death and immortality are
inculcated - the aspirant on entering should purify his heart from
every contamination, and remember, with a due sense of their symbolic
application, those words that once broke upon the astonished ears of
the old patriarch: <20>Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the
place whereon thou standest is holy ground.<2E><>
Holiness is not a thing, but an idea. So far as we know, the beasts
of the field reverence no place as holy, for they have no
consciousness of God. The sacred words of the Great Light are holy
to us for what they teach and mean; because of whence they came. The
paper, the leather and the ink which form a Bible are no more holy
than the same materials formed into a telephone directory. The
stones of which a church is built, the wood from which the pulpit is
carved, the metal from which the cross is made are only the familiar
stones, trees and minerals used by men for a thousand purposes. The
cotton and the dye which form the Star and Stripes are but the fruit
of plants.
Book, Temple and Flag are holy to us because of our reverence for the
ideas for which they stand. They are holy to us because we make them
holy, keep them holy, think of them as holy and cherish them as holy.
So must it be with our Lodges. What is a Lodge? A certain number of
brethren; a charter or warrant; the Three Great Lights - and an
underlying idea, a faith, a belief, a Mystic Tie never seen of men
but the stronger for its intangibility. To many the Lodge is the
room in the Temple in which brethren meet; walls of stone or wood or
plaster; floor of carpet or linoleum; some seats; an Altar . . .and
yet, by common consent of all who believe in the power of the spirit
which consecrates when the Lodge is formed, holy because of what it
means.
The worshipper in eastern lands removes his shoes before he enters
his temple as a symbol that he knows his flesh needs no protection
from that which it will there touch; a symbol that he brings not
within its precincts any filth which might defile it.
The Master Mason, symbolically removing his shoes before entering his
Lodge, knows that here he will find that holiness which is in the
promise of God unto David, the holiness of the Book on the Altar, the
very presence of the Great Architect, through whom the Lodge receives
the greatest of His Blessing to man - friendship. But also does he
symbolically remove his shoes that he may carry nothing <20>of mineral
or metallic nature<72> (earth is mineral) into the Lodge to defile it,
Men can - and some do - defile their Lodges. He who brings within
evil or contentious thoughts of his brethren, defiles it. In more
than one Jurisdiction in the world the brethren are asked at every
meeting if there be any not at peace with their brethren. If such
there are, they are required to retire and return not, until their
differences are reconciled, literally carrying out the instructions:
<EFBFBD>Therefore if thou brings thy gift to the Altar, and there
rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
<EFBFBD>Leave there thy gift before the Altar, and go thy way; first be
reconciled to thy brother, and then come offer thy gift.: (Matthew
V:23-24)
The Mason who comes to Lodge to get something from it, rather than to
give something to it, may defile it by that selfish attitude. Men
get from Freemasonry by giving.
He who brings pride of place and power to his Lodge, and serves only
for the empty honor of title or jewel, defiles that which is holy as
surely as did those money changers whom the Great Teacher drove from
the Temple.
He who assumes to work in his Lodge, but labors carelessly, in a
slovenly manner, to the desecration of ceremonies ancient when his
ancestors were not yet born, defiles his Lodge by his tacit
assumptions that his convenience is of greater importance than the
teachings of Freemasonry.
Alas, that so many symbolically wear shoes in the holy place, by the
simple process of thinking little of it, attending it seldom,
regarding it but as a club or association of men who meet together to
pass the time away! Such brethren may indeed have been entered,
passed and raised; but, uninspired, uninterested and unhelped, they
leave, seldom or never to return. To such as these the Lodge cannot
be holy; therefore charitable thought would argue that their failures
cannot defile.
Luckily for us all, the majority of Freemasons who are constant
attendants at Lodge - the brethren who do the work, carry the load,
attend to the charity, form the committees, put on the degrees, go on
foot and out of their way to help, aid and assist - the brethren, in
other words, who work for and are content with a Master<65>s Wages -
these <20>do<64> keep the Lodge holy; these <20>do<64> think of the Three Great
Lights upon the Altar as the Sanctum Sanctorum; these <20>do,<2C> indeed,
put off their shoes from off their feet, in humble and thankful
knowledge that the place in which they stand in holy ground.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XI May, 1933 No.5
THY NEIGHBOR<4F>S LANDMARK
by: Unknown
<EFBFBD>Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor<6F>s landmark, which they of old
have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land
the Lord thy God hath given thee (Deuteronomy XIX:14).
The Masons <20>of old time set thine inheritance<63> (Masonry) certain
fundamental principles which are named as <20>Landmarks<6B> as early as the
Constitutions of 1723.
Men have quarreled about the stone markers set up as boundaries for
land ever since sections of the earth were claimed as property; in
like manner have Masons differed about what are and what are not
Landmarks of the Order. In this country particularly, with forty-
nine Jurisdictions, each sovereign within its own territory,
arguments about Landmarks are never ending.
This Bulletin attempts not to settle any of these numerous
controversies, but only to bring before the average Lodge Member some
of the reasons why his neighbor<6F>s Masonic Landmarks may differ from
those his own Grand Lodge may have set up for him to follow.
In 1858 Albert Gallatin Mackey, the great Masonic jurist and
authority, listed twenty-five fundamental principles as the true
Landmarks of Freemasonry. Although critical scholarship has since
riddled the list as to accuracy, Mackey<65>s ideas of what constitute
the essential qualities of a Landmark - antiquity, universality and
irrevocability - are still respected. This definition excludes from
the classification of Landmarks any principle which is any two of
these but no the third, It is by his own standards that many critics
have measured Mackey<65>s Landmarks and found them wanting.
As an example of what is meant; it is <20>ancient,<2C> in the sense that it
was recognized in the <20>Constitutions<6E> of the Grand Lodge in 1723,
that a Grand Master appoints own Deputy Grand Master. But the
practice is by no means universal. Lodges are now universally
governed by Grand Lodges, but the practice has antiquity of only two
hundred and sixteen years. According to Mackey<65>s dicta, neither the
manner of creating a Deputy Grand Master not the fundamental
governing body of the Craft can be considered as Landmarks.
A few principles are so universally recognized that they are freely
admitted to be essentials, even in Jurisdictions which have no
pronouncements as to the Landmarks. Belief in a Supreme Being, the
Volume of sacred Law as a necessary part of the furniture of the
Lodge, that a Masons must be a man are essentials all over the world,
though not necessarily listed in all Jurisdictions.
On the validity of certain principles all authorities agree, but
differ as to their antiquity, universality and irrevocability. A
substantial minority of American Grand Jurisdictions have Officially
adopted Mackey<65>s twenty-five Ancient Landmarks, but a majority either
follow other compilations, use other Old Charges, or decline to
specify what are and what are not the Landmarks of the Craft.
The right and power of any Grand Lodge to determine for itself just
what is and what is not <20>law<61> in its Jurisdiction is unquestioned.
Therefore, when a Jurisdiction sets forth any list of Landmarks in
its Code, they have all the force of Ancient Landmarks in that
Jurisdiction, whether they are actually so or not.
<EFBFBD>Actually so<73> refers to inherent nature; that which cannot be altered
by law, no matter what the lawmaking authority. The National
Legislature has the undoubted <20>right<68> to enact a law that unsupported
objects must fall. <20>Per contra,<2C> it then has the right to repeal the
law of gravity, and forbid things to fall when no longer supported.
But it has not the <20>power<65> to enforce, change or suspend the law of
gravity! A Grand Lodge which says <20>Thus and such is an Ancient
Landmark <20>in that Jurisdiction,<2C> give that pronouncement the full
force and effect of an Ancient Landmark <20>in that Jurisdiction, but
its edict does not <20>actually<6C> make it such.
One Jurisdiction follows Lockwood<6F>s list of nineteen landmarks, of
which number 8 reads: <20>That every Lodge has an inherent right to be
represented in Grand Lodge by its first three officers, or their
proxies.<2E>
This is good Masonic law in most Jurisdictions, but not all; the
Mason from this Jurisdiction (Washington, D.C.) who moves to New York
or Texas and there affiliates finds that this is not a Landmark in
either of these Jurisdictions, since neither New York not Texas admit
Wardens to Grand Lodge.
In the General Assemblies of Ancient times each Mason, Craftsman or
Entered Apprentice, represented himself. In Grand Lodges Masons are
represented by their officers. Evidently a change has been made in
the manner of governing the Craft. As a Landmark is not subject to
change, this particular principle of law does not conform to Mackey<65>s
definition of a Landmark.
No wonder his neighbor<6F>s landmark is a matter of confusion to
brethren from neighboring but differing Jurisdictions!
Mackey<EFBFBD>s fourteenth Landmark asserts that every Mary Mason has the
right of visitation. Just what is a <20>right?<3F> Until that word is
defined this so-called Landmark cannot be discussed intelligently.
If it here means <20>power superior to all other powers,<2C> then it is
merely nonsense. If it here means <20>privileged until a higher
privilege overcomes it,<2C> how may it be considered to conform to the
requirements of a Landmark?
Even so, how can the word <20>right<68> be translated <20>privilege?<3F> A
privilege may be withdrawn; an inherent right cannot! as many
Jurisdictions rule on the <20>right of visit<69> in different ways - even
those which have adopted Mackey<65>s list - it can hardly be considered
a true Landmark, <20>if<69> we judge by Mackey<65>s own pronouncement on what
constitutes a Landmark and <20>if<69> the word <20>right<68> means what it says.
In some jurisdictions a Mason cannot visit without a good standing
card; in others any member may object to any visitor and the Master
must exclude; in still others, some Masters close the doors of their
lodges to all visitors on election nights, and so on.
Occasionally there is a conflict between ritual and Landmarks as
adopted. A certain Jurisdiction lists fifty-four Landmarks, of which
Number 18 reads: <20>Every Lodge, Grand or Subordinate, when lawfully
congregated, must be regularly clothed, tyled and opened before it
can proceed to work.<2E> Many other Jurisdictions agree that it is a
Landmark that a Lodge must be <20>duly tiled.<2E>
Our ancient brethren met on high hills and low vales to observe the
approach of cowans and eavesdroppers. Did they <20>truly tile?<3F>
California Lodge No. 1 of the District of Columbia was chartered to
go to California during the gold rush of 1849. Had that Lodge (now
California No.1 on the register of the Grand Lodge of California)
been wrecked going around the horn; had only the members of the
Lodge, with their charter, been saved upon an otherwise uninhabited
island; if they then held meetings with no tiler - since there were
no cowans or eavesdroppers against whom to tile - would they have
violated the so-called Landmark?
Many rituals give <20>three<65> as the irreducible minimum for a Master
Mason<EFBFBD>s Lodge; a Lodge must have a Master and two Wardens. If under
some strange circumstances, three and only three met as a Lodge, what
becomes of the so-called Landmark which requires a Tiler?
Secrecy undoubtedly conforms to the classification of the three
essentials of a Landmark; but about <20>the means<6E> of securing secrecy
is at least room for argument.
Other Masonic laws, good where in force but not necessarily
Landmarks, are Mackey<65>s 8th: <20>The prerogative of the Grand Master to
make Masons at sight<68> and the 11th Landmark of a Western Grand Lodge
which reads: <20>Every person, to be made a Mason must be a man of
lawful age, free born and; hale and sound, as a man ought to be.<2E>
Several Grand Jurisdictions have enacted legislation preventing a
Grand Master from convening an Emergent Lodge for the purpose of
Making a Mason <20>at sight.<2E> Others consider that it is an inherent
right of Grand Masters to convene Emergent Lodges (that is, give a
certain number of brethren a dispensation to hold a Lodge) and that
no law can take this right from him.
If a Landmark cannot be changed, and this <20>has been<65> changed, is it
truly a Landmark, or merely a matter of common law?
All will agree that no woman can be made a Mason. But what becomes
of the <20>lawful age<67> provision in the face of the fact that Washington
- and many another man - was made a Mason before he was twenty-one?
He would be a daring debater who argued that the Father of His
Country was not regularly and legitimately initiated. The <20>hale and
sound<EFBFBD> provision is by no means universal; many Jurisdictions stick
to the strict letter of the <20>doctrine of the perfect youth<74> while
others admit the lame and the halt under a Grand Master<65>s
dispensation, Worshipful Master<65>s judgment or even Grand Lodge law
relaxing restrictions in favor of men of the Army or Navy who had
arms or legs shot off in the war!
A number of Grand Jurisdictions have never adopted any list or
classification of Landmarks. The thought back of such absence of
legislation may be understood from the following, from R.W. Charles
C. Hunt, Grand Secretary and Grand Librarian of the Grand Lodge of
Iowa.
<EFBFBD>We hold that the power of the Grand Lodge of Iowa in the
Jurisdiction of Iowa is limited only by the Ancient Landmarks. We do
not attempt to make a list of the Landmarks.
<EFBFBD>We believe it as unnecessary to adopt an official list of scientific
laws, such as the law of gravitation. The Landmarks. like scientific
laws, are valid only in so far as they are true and their adoption by
any so-called body has no effect whatever on their validity.
Individual scientists may list what they conceive to be the laws of
nature, but no scientific society would undertake officially to adopt
these laws as the official laws of the science in which they are
interested.
<EFBFBD>The very definition of a Landmark is a fundamental law or principle
of Masonry which no body of men or Masons can change or modify.
Anything that can be adopted can be repealed. If a Grand Lodge has
the power to adopt, it has the power to modify or repeal. It is the
very fact that they unalterable that makes them similar to scientific
laws which cannot be changed or altered by any man or body of men.<2E>
Some authorities have attempted to formulate lists of Ancient
Landmarks which no Mason would question. For instance, one very old
Jurisdiction states that the Landmarks are:
a. Monotheism, the sole dogma of Freemasonry.
b. Belief in immortality.
c. The Volume of Sacred Law, an indispensable part of the furniture
of a Lodge.
d. The legend of the Third Degree.
e. Secrecy.
f. The symbolism of the operative art.
g. A Mason must be a freeborn male adult.<2E>
But then adds <20>The above list of Landmarks is not declared to be
exclusive.<2E>
Dr. Joseph Fort Newton suggests five fundamentals on which all Masons
can agree: <20>The Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, the moral
law, the Golden Rule and the hope of a life everlasting.<2E> Those who
question these as Landmarks usually qualify by agreeing that they are
teachings of the Order, but are in doubt as to just how old all of
them may be, as such.
Dean Roscoe Pound, whose <20>Masonic Jurisprudence<63> is generally
considered to be among the most profound analyses of Landmarks,
thinks seven are unquestionable: (1) Belief in God; (2) Belief in
the persistence of personality; (3) a Book of the Law as an
indispensable part of the furniture of every Lodge; (4) The legend of
the Third Degree; (5) Secrecy; (6) The symbolism of the operative
art; and, (7) That a Mason must be a man free born and of age.<2E>
Of thirty-nine Jurisdictions of our forty-nine, eighteen either have
adopted, recognized or follow Mackey<65>s list of twenty-five Landmarks;
two use the Old charges, or Old Charges and General Regulations as
Landmarks; eight have adopted, recognized or follow lists of
Landmarks of their own, and eleven either have not adopted, do not
recognize, or do not follow any special compilation of Landmarks,
preferring to leave the question untouched.
Reduced to a percentage basis, Mackey is followed in 46.1% plus of
these thirty-nine Jurisdictions; Old charges and Regulations in 5.1%;
own Landmarks in 20.5% plus and no special list in 28.2% plus.
Obviously there is no universality of opinion as to what is and what
is not a Landmark, and yet all Jurisdictions agree there <20>are<72>
Landmarks.
Many <20>Laws of Nature<72> recognized in former times are believed in no
longer; knowledge of science and of nature is in a state of flux.
What appears to be the truth today may be the error of tomorrow.
Possibly this is true also of our conception of the ancient
Landmarks, and that no list of all those fundamentals of the Craft
which are <20>actually<6C> Landmarks is possible.
Both that statement and this bulletin are without prejudice to the
undoubted fact that in those Jurisdictions which have adopted any
list of Landmarks, whether all inclusive or not, the principles there
denominated as Landmarks have the force of Landmarks within the
borders of those Jurisdictions.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XI June, 1933 No.6
THE LETTER <20>G<EFBFBD>
by: Unknown
The Short Talk Bulletin of July, 1927, bears the title <20>G<EFBFBD>. This
popular exposition of the meaning and symbolism of the letter so
precious to Freemasons is long out of print, although preserved in
many sets of bound volumes and in libraries. This present paper is
intended to be supplementary to, and not a recapitulation of, that
printed as Number 7, of Volume V of these Bulletins.
<EFBFBD>It is merely an accident of the English language that God and
Geometry begin with the same letter; no matter what the language or
he ritual, the initial of the Ineffable Name and that of the first
and noblest of sciences are Masonicaly the same.
<EFBFBD>But that is a secret! cries some newly made brother who has examined
his printed monitor and finds that the ritual concerning the further
significance of the letter <20>G<EFBFBD> is represented only by stars. Aye,
the <20>ritual<61> is secret, but the <20>fact,<2C> is the most gloriously public
that Freemasonry may herald to the world. One can no more keep
secret the idea that God is the very warp and woof of Freemasonry
than that he is the essence of all life. Take God out of
Freemasonry, and there is, literally, nothing left; it is a pricked
balloon, an empty vessel, a bubble which has burst.<2E> (Introduction
to Freemasonry.)
That the Letter <20>G<EFBFBD> is not a secret symbol is attested by hundreds of
Masonic writers, each of whom has written of it from a different
standpoint. Mackey has much to say of it - too much to quote at
length, but space may be found for an extract:
<EFBFBD>G. The seventh letter of the English, Latin and Romanic alphabets.
In the Greek and many other alphabets it is in third place; in the
Russian, Wallachian, and some others, it is in fourth; in the Arabic
the fifth, and in the Ethiopian the twentieth. In Hebrew it is
called Gheemel, is of the numerical value of three, and its
significance is <20>camel.<2E> It is associated with the third sacred name
of God, in Hebrew, Ghadol, or in Latin, Magnus, the Mighty. In
Freemasonry it is given as the initial of the word God.<2E>
Hutchinson, in his Spirit of Masonry<72> (1776), says of the sacred
letter:
<EFBFBD>It is now incumbent on me to demonstrate to you the great
significance of the letter <20>G<EFBFBD>, wherewith Lodges and the medals of
Masons are ornamented. To apply its significance to the name of God
only is depriving it of part of its Masonic import; although I have
already shown that the symbols used in the Lodges are expressive of
the Divinity<74>s being the great object of Masonry, as Architect of the
World. This significant letter denotes Geometry, which, to
artificers, is the science by which all their labours are calculated
and formed; and to Masons, contains the determination, definition and
proof of the order, beauty and wonderful wisdom of the power of God
in His Creation.<2E>
Dr. Frederick Dalcho wrote (1801) as follows:
<EFBFBD>The Letter <20>G,<2C> which ornaments the Mason<6F>s Lodge, is not only
expressive of the name of the Grand Architect of the Universe, but
also denotes the science of Geometry, so necessary to artists. But
the adoption of it by Masons implies no more than their respect for
those inventions which demonstrate to the world the power, the wisdom
and the beneficence of the Almighty Builder in the works of
creation.<2E>
Various attempts have been made to place the date when the Letter <20>G<EFBFBD>
first came into the ritual of Speculative Freemasonry. Pichard<72>s
expose, originally published in 1730, does not contain any reference
to it. Later editions do include a curious doggerel which is worth
repeating here. It is in the usual Question and Answer, or Examiner
and Response, form so popular in all ritualistic work in the early
days.:
Resp. In the midst of Solomon<6F>s Temple there stands a <20>G,<2C> A letter
for all to read and see; but few there be that understand what means
the Letter <20>G.<2E>
Exam. My Friend, if you pretend to be of this Fraternity, you can
forthwith and rightly tell, what means that Letter <20>G.<2E>
Resp. By sciences are brought to light, bodies of various kinds.
Which do appear to perfect sight; but none but males shall know my
mind.
Exam. The Right shall.
Resp. If Worshipful.
Exam. Both Right and Worshipful I am, to hail you I have command,
that you forthwith let me know, as I you may understand.
Resp. By letters four and science five, this <20>G<EFBFBD> aright doth stand,
in due Art and Proportion; you have your answer friend.<2E>
While authorities differ as to just when the letter <20>G<EFBFBD> came into the
ritual, all are agreed that the date is not later than 1768; very
probably it was earlier.
Authorities are, however, by no means at one on the origin of the
symbol then adopted into Speculative Masonry. The choice is wide and
the fancy free; if we are willing to admit presumptive testimony,
even if it will not satisfy a legal mind as evidence, then the
introduction of the symbol into our system is as old as Speculative
Masonry - however old that may be!
The Letter <20>G<EFBFBD> as we know it, the Roman <20>G<EFBFBD>, is not a geometrical
figure. It is part circle, part oval, part horizontal and vertical
lines. It bears internal evidence of being a conventionalizing of a
much more severe design.
In the Greek, Gamma, or <20>G<EFBFBD>, the third letter, is a square standing
on end with the horizontal arm extending to the right, like a plain
block letter <20>T,<2C> with the left extension of the cross piece omitted.
In Hebrew the <20>G<EFBFBD> is a square with the right side omitted; two right
angles joined, the horizontal arms extending to the right.
Refer to the doggerel again;
<EFBFBD>By letter four and science five, this <20>G<EFBFBD> aright doth stand.<2E>
<EFBFBD>Letters four<75> properly refers to J H V H, the tetragrammaton or
four-letter word, the Hebrew designation of deity, which we call
Jehovah, for want of a more likely rendition of the vowels (omitted
in early Hebrew writing).
<EFBFBD>Science Five,<2C> of course, is Geometry.
The Pythagoreans reverenced numbers as sacred; geometry was to them
the sacred science. It initial letter, Gamma, a square, was
especially revered. The Gamma looks like a square used by builders;
it was the symbol of the actual, four-sided, or geometrical square,
the first whole number square, and therefore, the representative of
deity, the four-letter word, the tetragrammaton.
Symbols are easily converted the one into the other and back again.
If the Gamma, which appeared like a workman<61>s square, was a symbol of
the geometrical square, which in turn was a symbol of Deity, then, by
a simple reconversion looked like Gamma, which in one position looked
like the square of the workman, soon came to symbolize the
tetragrammaton or four-letter word.
The Greek Gamma was rounded into the Latin <20>C.<2E> For a while it stood
for both the sounds of <20>g<EFBFBD> and <20>k.<2E> Later (third century B.C.), a
slight change was made in the Latin <20>c<EFBFBD> which stood for the soft, or
<EFBFBD>j<EFBFBD> sound - and behold, our modern Roman <20>G.<2E> Hence, by a path
straight to any but mind demanding documentary proof, we place the
origin of our <20>G,<2C> as representing both God and Geometry, as far back
as the Pyrhogoreans (sixth century, B.C.).
Another interesting hypothesis - it is hardly more - calls attention
to the fact that three geometrical forms appear in the Greek
alphabet, as we have seen; Gamma (G) is a square standing on end, the
horizontal arm extended to the right. Omicron (O) is a circle, Delta
(D) is a triangle.
Writing one letter on top of another to form a monogram is very old.
The three Greek letters, Gamma, Omicron and Delta may be combined in
a monogram to form a very fair conventionalizing of our letter <20>G<EFBFBD>
inside a triangle which looks not unlike our modern square and
compasses!
Here is further testimony that the letter <20>G<EFBFBD> and the ancient square,
the Greek Gamma, or the Greek monogram of Gamma, Omicron, and Delta,
which make a conventional Roman <20>G<EFBFBD> inside a triangle, were connected
in ancient Masonic minds. This is credited in the <20>Bulletin<69> of the
Grand Lodge of Iowa (September, 1932) to Brother John A. Cockburn,
noted Masonic writer.
<EFBFBD>If further proof of the former identity of the letter <20>G<EFBFBD> and the
square were needed, it is to be found in the text of a ritual no
longer in use among us. Therein it is recorded that in an attack on
our Master a second blow was struck with a square across his breast,
<EFBFBD>and that on an exhumation a faint resemblance to the letter <20>G<EFBFBD>
marked on his left breast was discovered.<2E> (Italics ours - Ed.)
The combination of square and circle, or cross and circle (a cross
forms two right angles, or squares) appears in a hundred guises in as
many religious rites. The interested may recall the <20>hot cross bun<75>
and the association of the egg, marked with crosses, with Easter; in
Yorkshire, the brides cake at weddings was formerly cut into small
squares and passed through a wedding ring, as a form of prayer for
fertility; circle and square are combined in the wearing of a wedding
ring on the fourth finger; the very number <20>4<EFBFBD> itself was originally
a circle, being changed to the present conventionalized square and
upright after the fifteenth century; children still play the ancient
game of noughts and crosses, or <20>tit-tat-toe,<2C> a combination of
circles and squares.
That Freemasonry has in her letter <20>G<EFBFBD> and its connotations a
relationship with this ancient association of <20>letters four and
science five -<2D> that is, of Deity and science or knowledge - is not
remarkable - rather it would extraordinary if she had not. In all
ages and all religions, man has interwoven together his thought of
spirit and matter, his ideas of relative and absolute. Freemasonry<72>s
<EFBFBD>G<EFBFBD> is but another of these conceptions, expressed in a symbol. If
the symbol now used - a Roman <20>G<EFBFBD> - is less fitting for an art
concerned especially with squares than was the original Gamma, it at
least should receive the reverence due a respectable age. Even those
whose ideas of the fitness of things would be better satisfied if our
<EFBFBD>G<EFBFBD> were Gamma, would hardly subscribe to an effort to change now.
Mackey, the great Masonic authority, regretted that the Roman <20>g<EFBFBD>
ever found its way into our symbolism, and read the <20>G<EFBFBD> as a
substitute for the Hebrew Yod, which in turn is a symbol of the
tetragrammaton, or four-letter word. Unquestionably the <20>Lost Word,<2C>
the very heart of the Masonic system, is represented by the Yod, but
it is a far cry to include also Geometry in that representation. The
Greek Gamma, (of which our roman <20>G<EFBFBD> is a substitute) however, did
represent both the ineffable Name and the greatest of the sciences.
Three Greek letters which spell our name for Deity can be monogrammed
to make a modern Roman <20>G<EFBFBD> inside a square and compasses. However
corrupt the geometrical form of the Roman <20>G<EFBFBD>, and however much more
illuminating it might have been had we continued to use the Greek
Gamma of Pythagoras, what we have adopted and made so integral a part
of our Masonry that it is in every English speaking Lodge in the
world, is far to sacred and familiar ever to change.
Of course Mackey is not lightly to be set aside, yet modern
scholarship so differs with the great authority on this point that
even those who revere him most, agree that here his genius led him
astray.
Sufficient has been said to indicate that the Letter <20>G<EFBFBD> is far more
than a mere letter. A symbol of Deity and His Own science, Geometry,
it carries us back to the childhood of knowledge; it combines and
associates other symbols from which it sprang and the ideas for which
they stand. As a symbol <20>G<EFBFBD> is particularly Freemasonry<72>s own. To
the inquiring mind it calls insistently, if always softly, for better
understanding and appreciation from Craftsmen.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XI July, 1933 No.7
OUR MASONIC PRESIDENTS
by: Unknown
William L. Boyden, P.M., Librarian of the Supreme Council, A.A.S.R.,
S.J., a Masonic historian of tireless energy and scholarly ability,
was author of that classic of the Craft, <20>Masonic Presidents, Vice
Presidents, and signers of the Declaration of Independence<63> on which
this Bulletin has drawn heavily.
Fifteen Presidents were members of the Fraternity:
Buchanan, Ford, Garfield, Harding, Jackson, Andrew Johnson, Lyndon B.
Johnson (A.E. only), McKinley, Monroe, Polk, Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Theodore Roosevelt, Taft, Truman, and Washington. Jefferson and
Madison have often been claimed as Masons, but there is no acceptable
evidence to prove that either was ever a Mason.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
George Washington, 1st President (1789-1797), has a Masonic history
so rich a Short Talk Bulletin (Vol.10, No.2, February 1932) was
necessary for a bare outline. Washington was initiated, passed and
raised in <20>The Lodge at Fredricksburg, Va.,<2C> (now No.4 on the
Virginia Register) on November 4, 1752, March 3, and August 4, 1753.
He was made an honorary member of Alexandria Lodge No.39, June 24,
1784. When his Lodge gave up its Charter under the Provincial Grand
Lodge of Pennsylvania to accept one from the Grand Lodge of Virginia
and become No.22, April 28, 1788, Washington was named as Charter
Worshipful Master, and was re-elected Master December 20, 1788.
He was made and Honorary Member of Holland Lodge No. 8, New York,
1789.
His Masonic activities and visits were many; his letters to and about
Lodges and Masons fills a volume. He was the only President ever to
be Master of his Lodge during his incumbency.
The cornerstone of the United States Capital was laid by Washington,
with Masonic ceremonies, on September 18, 1793, at the request of
Maryland<EFBFBD>s Grand Master pro tem.
He died December 14, 1799, and was buried with full Masonic honors by
Alexandria Lodge No.22, on December 18th. The Lodge later changed
its name to Alexandria Washington Lodge No.22.
To his memory and fame the Masons of the United States are erecting
the mightiest stone monument ever raised to honor any man. Built
without metal, to endure a long as granite shall last; this memorial
stands on Shooter<65>s Hill, just outside the city of Alexandria, Va.
JAMES MONROE
James Monroe, 5th President (1817-1824), was born in Westmoreland
County, Virginia April 28, 1752.
The original records of Williamsburg Lodge No.6, Williamsburg, Va.,
show (November 6,1775) that he was <20>recommended as a fit person to be
admitted a member of this lodge and the motion recorded. On November
9, 1775, he was <20>preferred, received and balloted for; passed and
accepted and entered an apprentice.: The curious reader will note
that he was not quite seventeen years and six months old at this
time!
His dues were paid through October 1780, but no record shows as to
when he was raised. Tradition states that he received the Master<65>s
Degree in a Military Lodge during the revolution, and also credits
him membership in Kilwinning Cross Lodge No.2, Port Royal, Va.
Little is known of his Masonic life. He visited Cumberland Lodge
No.8, at a meeting especially called to receive him in Nashville,
Tennessee, June 8, 1819. He died in New York, July 4, 1831.
ANDREW JACKSON
Andrew Jackson, 7th President (1829-1836), born at Waxhaw Settlement,
N.C., March 15, 1767, was unquestionably a Mason, but when and where
he was raised is not certain.
At the first meeting of Tennessee Lodge No.2 (originally No.41, N.C.)
March 24, 1800, in Love<76>s Tavern, Knoxville, Tennessee, Jackson was
present as a member of Harmony Lodge No.1, Nashville, Tennessee
(originally No. 29, N.C.).
Past Grand Master Comstock of Tennessee, noted historian, believes
Jackson was made a Mason in Harmony Lodge No.1.
Federal Lodge No.1, Washington , D.C., elected him an Honorary Member
January 4, 1839; Jackson Lodge No.1, Tallahassee, Florida, Elected
him an Honorary Member sat some unknown date; the Grand Lodge of
Florida elected him an Honorary Member January 15, 1833.
His chief claim to Masonic fame is that he is the only Grand Master
to become President. He was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge
of Tennessee and served from October 7, 1822, to October 4, 1823. In
the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge (1822) he is credited with being a
Past Master but no records substantiate the statement.
Past Grand Master Comstock also believes that Jackson was a Royal
Arch Mason, receiving these degrees, as was the custom in early days,
under the authority of the Blue Lodge Warrant. He served the Grand
Chapter of Tennessee as Deputy General Grand High Priest at its
institution, April 3, 1826, but no record exists of his affiliation
with any Chapter.
He acted as Senior Warden at the first meeting of Greenville Lodge
No.3 (formerly No.43, N.C.), September 5, 1801; contributed thirty-
five dollars in 1818 to the erection of a Masonic Temple in
Nashville; requested two Lodges to perform funeral services;
introduced Lafayette to the Grand Lodge of Tennessee in 1825; while
President, assisted Washington<6F>s Mother Lodge to lay the cornerstone
of a monument to Washington<6F>s Mother at Fredricksburg, Va. (May
6,1833); assisted in the Masonic laying of the cornerstone of Jackson
City (across the river from Washington, D.C.) January 11, 1836;
attended the Grand Lodge of Tennessee in 1839, and the same year
visited Cumberland Chapter No.1 of Nashville, to assist in
installation of officers. He died at <20>The Hermitage<67> near Nashville,
Tennessee, June 8, 1845.
JAMES KNOX POLK
James Knox Polk, 11th President (1845-1849), was born in Mecklenburg
County, N.C. November, 1795. He was initiated in Columbia Lodge No.
31, Columbia, Tennessee, June 5, Passed August 7, and raised
September 4, 1820. In October he was he was elected Junior Deacon,
and Junior Warden December 3, 1821, but there is no record of his
having been Master. In 1825 he received the Royal Arch Degree in
Lafayette Chapter No. 4, Columbia, Tennessee. June 24, 1840, he
attended the feast of St. John the Baptist celebrated by Columbia
Lodge No.8 and Hiram Lodge No.7 at Nashville, and marched with them
in procession to a church for Divine Services. May 1,1847, he
assisted in the Masonic laying of the cornerstone of the Smithsonian
Institute, Washington, D.C. He died at Nashville, Tennessee, June
15, 1849.
JAMES BUCHANAN
James Buchanan, 15th President (1857-1861), was born near
Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, April 23, 1791. When twenty-three years
of age he petitioned Lodge No.43 (the lodge had no name) of
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and was elected and initiated December 11,
1816, and both passed and raised on January 24, 1817.
He was elected Junior Warden December 13, 1920; Master December 23,
1822, and was installed March 12, 1823. He was appointed First
District Deputy Grand Master for Lancaster, Lebonon and York
Counties, December 27, 1823.
May 20, 1826, he was exalted in Royal Arch Chapter No.43 (also no
name) of Lancaster. Thirty-two years later he was made a Life Member
by his Lodge. He delivered the address in the Masonic dedication of
the statue of Washington, Washington Circle, Washington, D.C.,
February 22, 1860. He died June 1, 1868, and was buried Masonically
by his Lodge.
ANDREW JOHNSON
Andrew Johnson, 17th President (1865-1868), was born at Raleigh,
N.C., December 29, 1808. He received the degrees in Greenville Lodge
No.119 at Greenville, Tennessee in 1851; is supposed to have been a
Chapter Mason but the name of the Chapter and date of exaltation are
unknown; was Knighted in Nashville Commandery No.1, Nashville,
Tennessee, July 26, 1859, and, the First President to become a
Scottish Rite Mason, received those degrees in the White House June
20, 1867, from Benjamin B. French, 33 Deg. and A.T.C. Pierson, 33
Deg., both active members of the Supreme Council, S.J.
He participated in five cornerstone layings; the monument to Bro.
Stephen a Douglas, Chicago, Illinois, September 6, 1866; Masonic
Temple, Baltimore, Maryland, November 20, 1866; Masonic Temple
Boston, Massachusetts, June 24, 1867; National Cemetery, Antietam,
Maryland, October 17, 1867; and Masonic Temple, Washington, D.C., May
20, 1868. To attend this ceremony he gave leave to all Masons in
government service, and President Johnson marched on foot in the
parade as a Master Mason.
At the cornerstone laying of the Baltimore Temple some one suggested
that a chair be brought to the reviewing platform for him. Brother
Johnson refused it, saying: <20>We all meet on the level.<2E>
He died July 31, 1875, and was buried with full Masonic Honors by
Greenville Lodge No.119, R.W.G. C. Connor, Deputy Grand Master of
Tennessee conducting the services in the presence of four Lodges and
Coeur de Lion Commandery No.9 of Knoxville, which performed the
Templar service.
JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD
James Abram Garfield, 20th President (1881), was born in Orange,
Ohio, November 19, 1831. He was initiated November 19, 1861, in
Magnolia Lodge No.20, Columbus, Ohio. Passed two weeks later, he
waited almost three years (due to military service) for his raising,
November 22, 1864, in Columbus Lodge No.30, Columbus, Ohio, by
request of his mother Lodge.
He dimitted August 1, 1865, and joined Garrettsville Lodge No.246,
Garrettsville, Ohio, October 10, 1866, serving as Chaplain in 1868
and 69. On May 4, 1869, he became a Charter Member of Pentalpha
Lodge No.23, D.C.. In Washington he was exalted in Columbia Chapter
No.1, April 18, 1866; received the Templar degrees, May 18, 1866, in
Columbia Commandery No.2, and the 14th degree, Scottish Rite, January
2, 1872. The degrees from the 6th to the 13th were communicated to
him by Albert Pike, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Rite for the
Southern Jurisdiction.
Hanselmann Commandery No.16, Cincinnati, Ohio, made him an Honorary
Member July 19, 1881; after he was assassinated on July 2. He died
September 19, 1881. Columbia Commandery No.2, D.C., escorted his
remains to Cleveland, where he was buried in the presence of a large
number of Cementers and other Masonic Bodies.
WILLIAM McKINLEY
William McKinley, t President (1897-1901), was born at Niles, Ohio,
January 29, 1843. He was made a Mason in Hiram Lodge No.21, of
Winchester, Virginia. Prior to being elected and initiated May 1st,
passed May 2nd, and raised May 3 rd, 1865; as a Lieutenant he was
making a round in a hospital for Confederate wounded. Noticing that
the regimental surgeon distributed gifts of tobacco and money to
certain patients, he was told that these particular wounded
Southerners were brother Masons. McKinley then expressed his desire
to become a member of the Fraternity that promoted such sentiments
between opposing armies.
He dimitted the same day he was raised, affiliating with Canton Lodge
No.60, of Canton, Ohio, August 21, 1867, Only to become a Charter
member on June 2, 1869, of Eagle Lodge No.431, of the same city,
which afterwards changed its name to William McKinley Lodge No.431.
He received the Royal Arch Degree in Canton Chapter No.84, December
28, 1883; was made a Knight Templar in Canton Commandery No.38,
December 23, 1884; elected a Life Member of Washington Comandry No.1,
D.C. December 23, 1896, and became an Honorary Member of the Illinois
Masonic Veteran Association, October 26, 1898.
His Masonic activities include reviewing a parade of Knights Templar
from the White House, May 6, 1897; a visit to his Mother Lodge in
Winchester, Virginia, May 19, 1899; participation in the Masonic
centennial observance of the death of George Washington, December 14,
1899; again reviewing a Knights Templar parade from the White House,
October 11, 1900, and attending a reception of California Commandery
No.1, in San Francisco, May 22, 1901. He dies in Buffalo, N.Y.
September 14, 1901, following his assassination September 6,1901.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President (1901-1909), was born in New York
City, October 27, 1858. He was initiated January 2nd, passed March
27th and raised April 24, 1901, in Matinecock Lodge No.806, Oyster
Bay, New York. Pentalpha Lodge No. 23, D.C., made him an Honorary
Member April 4, 1904, as did the Illinois Masonic Veterans
Association in 1903.
Roosevelt<EFBFBD>s interest in the Fraternity was often expressed and his
visits to Lodges were not only in this country, also abroad.
November 5, 1902, he attended the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania
celebration of Washington<6F>s initiation in Philadelphia; in
Washington, D.C., February 21, 1903, he honored the Masonic
ceremonies of laying the cornerstone of the army War College with his
presence; May 26, 1903, he broke ground for a Masonic Temple at
Spokane, Washington; April 14, 1906, he attended the Masonic
cornerstone laying of the House of Representative<76>s Building in
Washington, D.C., where he delivered the address, presenting a bound
copy of it to the Grand Master, inscribed:
<EFBFBD>To Walter A. Brown, Esq., Grand Master of Masons, from Brother
Theodore Roosevelt,<2C> and June 8, 1907, he wore Masonic Regalia and
delivered an address at the laying of the cornerstone of the New
Masonic Temple, Washington, D.C. He died in Oyster Bay New York,
January 6, 1919.
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT
William Howard Taft, 27th President (1909-1913), was born in
Cincinnati, Ohio, September 15,1857. Unique among Masonic
Presidents, he was made a Mason <20>at sight,<2C> at Cincinnati, Ohio,
February 18, 1909, in an Emergent Lodge called together for the
purpose. At five O<>clock in the afternoon Grand Mast Charles S
Hoskinson personally administered the obligations and esoteric
instructions. That evening Taft witnessed the Master<65>s degree
conferred by Kilwinning Lodge No.356, of Cincinnati, which elected
him to membership April 14, 1909.
Crescent Lodge No.25, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, elected him an Honorary
Member June 5, 1918. On April 22, 1909, he visited Temple-Noyes
Lodge No.32, at Washington, D.C., of which his close friend and aide,
Major Archie Butt, was a member and for whom, after the Titanic
disaster, Temple-Noyes Lodge held an elaborate Memorial Service which
Brother Taft attended as one of the Chief Mourners. He visited the
famous American Union Lodge No.1, at Marietta, Ohio, June 15, 1910;
Alexan-dria Washington Lodge No.22, on Washington<6F>s birthday, 1911;
May 9th of the same year he posed for a picture in Washington<6F>s
Masonic regalia at the White House; May 13th he visited St John<68>s
Lodge No.1, Newark, N.J., to help celebrate its 150th anniversary; on
December 27, 1914, he addressed the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and
on June 5, 1918, he spoke to Crescent Lodge No.25 of Cedar Rapids,
Iowa. He dies March 8, 1930.
WARREN GAMALIEL HARDING
Warren Gamaliel Harding, 29th President (1921--1923), was born in
Morrow County, Ohio, November 2, 1865. His interest in the Order was
of his mature years. He was initiated in Marion Lodge No.70, Marion,
Ohio, June 28,1901, when thirty-six years of age, but was not passed
until August 13, 1920, nineteen years later. He was raised August
27, 1920.
His three years as a Master Mason were short but crowded. Albert
Pike Lodge No.36, Washington, D.C., made him an Honorary Member and
presented him with a Gold Membership Card at the White House May 4,
1921; Marion Chapter No.62, Marion, Ohio, exalted him January 13,
1921; Marion Council No.22, elected him to the Cryptic Rite but he
died before receiving it; March 1, 1921, Marion Commandery No.36,
conferred upon him the Red Cross, Malta and Temple Degrees;
January 5, 1921, he received the Scottish Rite Degrees from the 4th
through 32nd in Columbus, Ohio. The Supreme Council of the Northern
Jurisdiction elected him to receive the 33 deg. September 22, 1921.
The degree was to be given him a year later, but he could not attend
on account of Mrs. Harding<6E>s illness. He died before the session of
1923. Aladdin Temple of the Shrine, Columbus, Ohio, created him a
Noble (the first President to receive the Red Fez) January 7, 1921;
Almas Temple, Washington, D.C. elected him an Honorary Member March
21, 1921; the Imperial Council of the Shrine elected him an Honorary
Member June 1923; Kallipolis Grotto, Washington, D.C. made him a
Prophet at the White House May 11,1921, presenting him with a Gold
Life Membership Card;
Evergreen Forest No.49, Milford, Delaware, made him a Tall Cedar,
June 9, 1923, and Washington Chapter No. 3, National Sojourners,
presented him with a Gold Badge of Membership at the White House, May
28, 1923.
By letters and personal conversations, he evidenced much interest in
his new relationships. He had agreed to review the Ascension Day
Parade of Knights Templar in Washington, D.C. in 1921, but weather
prevented it. May 9,1921, he reviewed a parade of Shriners and in
the evening made an address at a ceremonial of Almas Temple,
Washington, D.C. In 1923 he visited the Scottish Rite Bodies in St.
Augustine, Florida; June 5, of the same year he delivered an address
before the Imperial Council of the Shrine, Washington, D.C.; later,
wearing his Fez, he reviewed the parade, declaring it:<3A> <20>The
greatest spectacle I ever witnessed.: In July, 1923, he officiated
at the laying of the cornerstone for the Masonic Temple of Ketchikan
Lodge No. 159, Alaska.
He died in San Francisco, California, August 2, 1923; and after
laying in state in the National Capital, was buried in Marion, Ohio,
August 10th.
FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President (1933-1945, was born at
Hyde Park, New York, January 30, 1882. He was initiated in Holland
Lodge No.8, New York City, October 10th, passed November 14th and
raised November 28, 1911. He received the Scottish Rite degrees in
Albany, New York, February 28, 1929. He was a member of the Grotto
(Poughkeepsie, New York) and Tall Cedars (Warwick, New York. He was
<EFBFBD>Right Worshipful<75> having been accredited the representative of the
Grand Lodge of Georgia near the Grand Lodge of New York September 22,
1930.
Stansbury Lodge No.24, Washington, D.C. made him an Honorary Member
November 21, 1919, when he officiated at the Masonic laying of the
cornerstone of its Temple.
He attended Architect Lodge No.519, of New York City, February
17,1933, where he raised his son Elliott to the Sublime Degree and
made an address in which he stressed the importance of Masonic
principles to this Nation, and his faith in the Americanism of the
Ancient Craft,
He died at Warm Spring, Georgia, April 12, 1945, and was buried at
Hyde Park, New York.
HARRY S. TRUMAN
Harry S. Truman, 33rd President (1945-1953). For the second time in
the 169 year history of the United States of America, a Past Grand
Master of Masons was elevated to the office of President. Harry S.
Truman became the 33rd Chief Executive, Thursday, April 12, 1945,
when he was sworn in by Chief Justice Harlan Stone, two and a half
hours after the untimely death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
He was born May 8, 1884, a LaMar, Barton County, Missouri.
He was made a Mason in Belton Lodge No.450, of Missouri, March 9,
1909, and served as Junior Warden in 1910. In 1911, he organized
Grandview Lodge No.618 and served as its first Worshipful Master.
Later, he was its Secretary, and again, in 1917, its Master.
From 1925 to 1930, he served the Grand Lodge as District Deputy Grand
Master and District Deputy Grand Lecturer, and in 1930 was appointed
Grand Pursuivant, and progressed regularly until his elevation as
Grand Master in 1940.
On November 15, 1919, he was exalted in Orient Chapter No.102, Kansas
City, Missouri; greeted in Shekinah Council No.24, Kansas City,
Missouri, December 8, 1919; Knighted by Palestine Commandery No.17,
of Independence, Missouri, June 15,1923, receiving the 32 deg in
Western Missouri Consistery, Kansas City, Missouri. On November 21,
1941, he received from Grand Commander Melvin M. Johnson, 33 deg, of
the Northern Supreme Council, the Gourgas Medal for distinguished
service to Masonry. Humanity and Country.
In 1945, he was crowned a 33 deg by the Supreme Council, Southern
Jurisdiction.
LYNDON B. JOHNSON
Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President, was born on August 27, 1908, on a
farm near Stonewall, Texas. He was sworn in as the Chief Executive
on November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated
in Dallas, Texas. A year later, running against the Republican
nominee, Senator and Brother Barry Goldwater of Arizona, he won a
landslide victory, to serve as President for the four-year term,
January, 1965; January ,1969. He declined to run for re-election in
1968.
On October 30, 1937, he was initiated an Entered Apprentice in
Johnson City, Texas. He never advanced. A week after his initiation
he won an election for Representative in Congress and began a very
busy political career in Washington which lasted until his retirement
from the Presidency in January of 1969.
The opinion among Masons is divided as to whether he should be
regarded as a Masonic President, since he never achieved the status
of Master Mason. Masonic law in Texas declares that <20>Entered
Apprentices and Fellowcrafts are Masons,<2C> although denied certain
rights and privileges, Lyndon B. Johnson was accepted and initiated
in a Masonic Lodge, and at that time was addressed as <20>Brother.<2E>
GERALD RUDOLPH FORD, JR.
Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr., 38th President, was born in Omaha,
Nebraska, on July 14, 1913, but has lived most of his life in Grand
Rapids, Michigan. He represented the 5th Michigan district in
Congress from 1948 till 1973, when he was appointed Vice President by
President Richard M. Nixon. When Nixon was forced to resign, Brother
Ford became President on August 9, 1974.
With three brothers, he was initiated into Masonry in Malta Lodge
No.465, Grand Rapids, Michigan, on September 30, 1949. Columbia
Lodge No.3 of the District of Columbia conferred the Fellowcraft and
Master Mason degrees as a courtesy to Malta Lodge No.465. He became
a Master Mason on May 18, 1951. He became a member of the Scottish
Rite in the Valley of Grand Rapids, A.A.S.R., Northern Jurisdiction,
in 1957, and was coronetted an Honorary 33 deg S.G.I.G. in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 26, 1962. He is also a
Shriner, Saladin Temple, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and an Honorary
Member of DeMolay Legion of Honor.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XI August, 1933 No.8
ROUGH AND PERFECT
by: Unknown
The rough Ashlar and the Trestleboard seem to have been symbols in
Ancient Craft Masonry at least from the beginning of the Grand Lodge
period (1717). They are illustrated on the earliest of the old
tracing-boards which have come down to us.
Just when or how the Perfect Ashlar came into our symbolism is
another matter, and not as simple as it appears.
In 1731 one Samuel Prichard, who denominated himself as a <20>Life
Member of a Constituted Lodge<67> wrote and published <20>Masonry
Dissected,<2C> the first of a long series of exposes of Freemasonry.
In it is this curious dialogue, purporting to be held between the
Entered Apprentice during his initiation, and some initiating
officer:
Q. <09>Have you any Jewels in your Lodge?<3F>
A. <09>Yes.<2E>
Q. <09>How Many?<3F>
A. <09>Six, three movable and three immovable.<2E>
Q. <09>What are the movable Jewels?<3F>
A. <09>Square, Level and Plumb Rule.<2E>
Q. <09>What are their uses?<3F>
A. <09>Square, to down true and right lines; Level, to try all
Horizontals; and Plumb Rule, to try all Uprights.<2E>
Q. <09>What are the immovable Jewels?<3F>
A. <09>Tarsel Board, Rough Ashlar and Broached Thurnel.<2E>
Q. <09>What are their uses?<3F>
A. <09>A Tarsel Board for the Master to draw his designs upon, Rough
Ashlar for the Fellow-Craft to try their Jewels upon, and the
Broached Thurnel for the entered Apprentice to learn to work
upon.<2E>
The learned Dr. Oliver, most prolific of the early writers on
Freemasonry, to whose industry if not to whose accuracy Freemasonry
owes a great debt, unwittingly muddied the waters of antiquity in
which this Broached Thurnel was apparently immersed! He confused it
with the Rough Ashlar, stating that the two were the same.
Old tracing-Boards of the entered Apprentice Degree disclose what we
readily recognize as the Trestle-Board, although in those days it was
known as <20>Tarsel!<21> Adjacent to it is what is plainly a Rough Ashlar.
Immediately next is a drawing of a cube, surmounted by a pyramid - a
cubical stone with a pyramidal apex.
Early French tracing-boards display the <20>pierre-cubique,<2C> of cubical
stone.
Modern tracing-boards show the Perfect Ashlar (not the rough Ashlar,
as Oliver had it) in place of the Broached Thurnel, or cubical stone
with pyramid atop.
Mackey quotes Parker<65>s <20>Glossary of Terms in Architecture<72> as
follows:
<EFBFBD>Broach or broche is an old English term for spire, still in use in
Leicestershire, where it is said to denote a spire springing from the
tower without any intervening parapet. Thurnel is from the old
French, <20>tournelle,<2C> a turret or little tower. The Broached Thurnel,
then, was the Spired Turret. It was a model on which Apprentices
might learn the principles of their art because it presented to them,
in its various outlines, the forms of the square and the triangle,
the cube and the pyramid.<2E>
Modern authorities dispute this. G.W. Speth finds that Broach, in
Scotland means to rough-hew. Thurnel, he states, is a chisel with
which to rough-hew, rather than a model of a spired turret on which
an Apprentice might learn to work. But, he inquires, what then
becomes of the pyramid on the cube, displayed on the old tracing-
boards? Moreover, the Scotch use <20>boast<73> as an alternate word for
<EFBFBD>broach,<2C> and <20>boasted ashlar<61> can be found in modern dictionaries,
meaning chiseled with an irregular surface.
As a matter of fact, no one really <20>knows<77> just what our ancient
brethren meant by Broached Thurnel; what we do know is that somewhere
in the early formative period of the modern ritual, Broached Thurnel
gave way to Perfect Ashlar.
But it did not necessarily do so because of the presence on the
tracing-board of a Rough Ashlar. No less an authority than R.W.
Charles C. Hunt, Librarian and Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of
Iowa, presents the <20>Perpend Ashlar<61> as its probable progenitor. A
Perpend Ashlar - the word has many variations, such as parpen,
parpend, parpent, parpine, parpin, parping - is a dressed stone which
passes completely through a wall from one side to the other, having
two smooth, vertical faces. This perpenstone. or bonder, or
bondstone, is the same as the Parping Ashlar of Glocestershire - a
stone which passes through a wall and shows a fair face on either
side.
In the <20>True Masonic Chart<72> published by R.W. Jeremy L. Cross in
1820, appear pictures of the Rough and Perfect Ashlars, showing them
substantially as we know them today. It is noteworthy that the
stones illustrated are more than twice as long as wide and high,
which seems to bear out the idea that the Perfect Ashlar, at least,
was once the Perpend Ashlar.
Before examining the symbolism of the Ashlars it is illuminating to
read at least one passage from the Great Light:
<EFBFBD>And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, and costly
stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house.
<EFBFBD>And Solomon<6F>s builders and Hiram<61>s builders did hew them, and the
stonesquarers; so they prepared timber and stones to build the
house.<2E> (I Kings, V 16-17)
There is a distinction between builders and stone squarers - while
those who cut and squared the stone and those who built, both hewed,
yet they were distinct in functions. It is also interesting to
observe the classification <20>great<61>, <20>costly<6C> and <20>hewed.<2E>
<EFBFBD>Great<EFBFBD> of course refers to size. The larger the stone, the harder
it was to cut from the quarry, the more difficult to transport, and
therefore, the more expensive. But <20>costly<6C> may also refer to the
expense of hewing. Then, as now, the more truly and carefully a
stone was hewed and smoothed, squared and polished, the more time was
required and therefore, the more <20>costly<6C> the stone became.
Few symbols seem more obvious, at least in their simpler aspects.
Rough Ashlar, man in his untutored state;
Perfect Ashler, man educated, refined, with mind filled light. It is
this symbolism which Brother J.W. Lawrence evidently had in mind when
he wrote:
<EFBFBD>The Perfect Ashlar, as a symbol, is the summum bonum of Freemasonry.
That is to say, everything else in Masonry leads up to it. The V. of
S.L. describes it, the checkered pavement illustrates it, the Great
Architect no less than the Grand Geometrian desire it, and are
satisfied with nothing less. When the craft has fashioned the
Perfect Ashlar, it has nothing else to do.<2E>
With part of which all can agree; if some think that there yet
remains building to be done, after the Ashlars are hewn to
perfection, we may still make our own the thought that the Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge Above wants only perfection in the
spiritual stones for the <20>House Not Made With Hands.<2E>
But the symbolism can be carried further. In this subject
<EFBFBD>Introduction to Freemasonry<72> reads:
<EFBFBD>The common Gavel, which breaks off the corners of rough stones, the
better to fit them for the builders use, joins the Rough and Perfect
Ashlars in a hidden symbol of the Order at once beautiful and tender.
The famous sculptor and ardent Freemason, Gutzon Borglum, when asked
how he carved stone into beautiful statues, once said: <20>it is very
simple. I merely knock away with a hammer and chisel the stone I do
not need, and the statue is there - It Was There All of the Time.<2E><>
<EFBFBD>In the Great Light We read: <20>The Kingdom of Heaven is Within You.<2E>
We are also there taught that man is made in the image of God. As
Brother Borglum has so beautifully said, images are made by a process
of taking away. The perfection is already within. All that is
required is to remove the roughness and excrescences, <20>Divesting our
Hearts and Consciences of the Vices and Superfluities of life<66> to
show forth the perfect man and Mason within.<2E>
Albert Pike, always original, thought the interpretation of the Rough
and Perfect Ashlars, as given in our Ancient craft monitors and
ritualistic instruction, to be superficial. He found another
meaning:
<EFBFBD>The Rough Ashlar is the people, as a mass, rude and unorganized.
The Perfect Ashlar, cubical stone, symbol of perfection, is the
State, the rulers deriving their powers from the consent of the
governed; the constitution and laws speaking the will of the people;
the government, harmonious, symmetrical, efficient - its powers
properly distributed and duly adjusted in equilibrium.<2E>
Any brother is privileged to extend symbolism in new directions as
far as he wishes; if his reading of a symbol is to him satisfactory
teaching of a truth, it is a good reading. But the rough and Perfect
Ashlars are sufficiently inclusive of the many truths-within the
grasp of the average individual, without extending the interpretation
to such vast conceptions as the people and the state. Even Pike,
great interpreter of symbols though he was, never contended that the
original symbolism of the Ashlars, as developed from operative
practice by the early Speculatives, was of a political nature.
Hunt<EFBFBD>s reading of the Perfect Ashlar, as the successor to the Perpend
Ashlar, is most beautiful. In <20>Some Thoughts on Masonic Symbolism<73> he
suggests:
<EFBFBD>We call it the Perfect Ashlar, but we must remember that it is
perfected only because it is completely adapted to the purpose for
which it was made, namely; to exactly fit into its place in the
building, and act as a binder for other stones..
<EFBFBD>In order that it may do this, it must possess certain attributes and
through these attributes we are reminded <20>of that state of perfection
at which we hope to arrive by a virtuous education, our own endeavors
and the blessing of god.<2E> It has two faces to be exposed, and both
must be absolutely upright. It does not have one standard for the
world and another for the home; the same face, square and true, is
presented both to the world and the Lodge, and it teaches that we
should not have one code of morals for one place and another for
another, but that right is the same wherever we are and under
whatever circumstance we may be placed.<2E>
The making of a Perfect Ashlar from a Rough Ashlar requires skill,
tools and a plan. Without any of the three the Ashlar cannot be made
perfect.
Skills to use the tools means education to wield Chisel and Mallet -
education to use the talents God gave us in whatever walk of life we
may be called.
Tools must the workman have, for empty hands cannot chip away hard
stone; tools must the Speculative Craftsman have. for an empty mind
cannot wear away the resistance of our complicated life. Speculative
tools are honor and probity, energy and resource, courage and common
sense and the like virtues, the generation of which forms character.
Most especially must the operative workman have a plan to which to
hew. His mind must see both dimension and form, otherwise his tools
will cut aimlessly, and his Ashlar will be askew, not square, fit
only for the waste pile or the curiosity shop. So must the
Speculative workman have a plan to which to fit his Perfect Ashlar of
character . . . an ambition, a goal for which to strive, some hope in
the future towards which he can stretch eager hands, bending every
energy to accomplish.
Considered thus, the Rough and Perfect Ashlars become symbols of
greater interest than appear on only a casual inspection. One
interpretation is, perhaps, as satisfactory as another - it is one of
the great beauties of symbolism that interpretations can differ
widely and yet all be true, and all fit with each other. As one
writer puts it:
<EFBFBD>Most symbols have many interpretations. These do not contradict but
amplify each other. Thus, the square is a symbol of perfection, of
honor, and honestly, of good work. These are all different, and yet
allied. The square is not a symbol of wrong, or evil, or meanness,
or disease. Ten different men may read ten different meanings into a
square and yet each meaning fits with, and belongs to, the other
meanings . . . all these meanings are right. When all men know all
the meanings, the need for Freemasonry will have passed away.<2E>
(<28>Foreign Countries<65>)
Read the symbolism of the Ashlars as we choose, from the simplest
conception to the most profound, the though remains; even as the
cornerstone of a temple must be a perfect ashlar, so are these
symbols cornerstones of our Speculative Science, the more beautiful
and important that learned men have found in them so many and such
beautiful lessons.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XI September, 1933 No.9
TWENTY-FOUR INCH GAUGE
by: Unknown
In the early editions of his Monitor (1797 and on) Thomas Smith Webb
wrote:
<EFBFBD>The twenty-four inch gauge is an instrument made us of my operative
Masons, to measure and lay out their work; but Free and Accepted
Masons are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious
purpose of dividing their time; it being divided into twenty-four
equal parts, is emblematical of the twenty-four hours of the day,
which they are taught to divide into three equal parts; whereby are
found eight hours for the service of God and a distressed worthy
brother; eight hours for their usual avocations; and eight for
refreshment and sleep.<2E>
Time and the often witless tinkering of well-meaning but uninformed
brethren have altered here a word and there a phrase; in some
Jurisdictions it is now <20>Vocations,<2C> in others it is <20>we<77> instead of
<EFBFBD>they<EFBFBD> and so on.
But in essentials most American Jurisdictions use the paragraph as
the great ritualist phrased it for us a century and a third ago.
Unfortunately, he did not go deeply into the symbolism of the gauge,
leaving it to us to dig out for ourselves its concealed meanings, and
learn from it, as we are able to learn; thinking through it, as we
are able to think.
Like most Masonic symbols, it conceals far more than it reveals.
Like many, the Monitorial explanation deals only with the obvious
meaning, leaving the inner symbolism for the delver in the rubbish of
the Temple<6C>s verbiage who seeks the hidden truths Freemasonry
discloses to all who look.
Among the oldest of man<61>s beginnings of civilization, measures seem
to have originated among all peoples with parts of the human body -
the foot, the hand, the palm, the digit, the cubit (elbow to tip of
the middle finger) etc. The word inch comes (as does ounce) from the
Latin <20>unciae,<2C> a unit divided into twelve parts. Some contend that
origin of an inch was in the thumb joint. Both foot and Roman
<EFBFBD>unciae<EFBFBD> are very old and our ancient brethren of the Gothic
Cathedral building age must surely have known both. But what is
important is not the name of the measure but the division of the
gauge into units than its total, and their applicability to time.
The relation of twenty-four inches to twenty-four hours is plain
enough, but when we examine just what it is that is divided into
twenty-four parts, the explanation becomes difficult.
What is time? To most of us it is the duration between two noons;
the elapsed interval between any two events; the passage of a certain
fraction of life. To the philosopher, time is an unknown quantity.
Like space, it appears to be a conception of the mind, without
objective existence. Modern mathematicians contend that time and
space are but two faces of the same idea, like the two sides of a
shield. While we can comprehend one without reference to the other,
we cannot <20>use<73> one without the other. Every material thing occupies
space for a certain time; every material thing existing for a
specified time, occupies space.
We pass through space in three directions - up and down, right and
left, forward and back. We pass through time, apparently,
continuously in one direction from birth to death.
We cannot go back for even the smallest fraction of an instant. Omar
wrote:
<EFBFBD>The moving finger writes; and having writ, Moves on; nor all Piety
nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your tears
wash out a Word of it.<2E>
The operative workman measures his stone with his gauge; if the
ashlar is too long, he shortens it. If it is to broad, he narrows
it. If it too crooked to make square, he casts it on the rubbish
heap and begins anew with a rough ashlar.
But the Speculative Mason, measuring his time with the twenty-four
inch gauge, has no such latitude. The ruined minute is forever away;
the crooked hour can never be made straight. The day unfit for the
Building Not Made With Hands can never be set in the Eternal Wall,
nor can the workman find in any quarry a new day to mould.
Thinking of it thus, could any symbol cry a more clarion call for
accuracy of labor? For skill with which to work? For care and pains
in building?
<EFBFBD>Eight hours for the service of God and a worthy distressed brother,
eight hours for their usual avocation, and eight for refreshment and
sleep.<2E>
There is no time to waste. There is not time to be lost. There is
no time for idleness. Thomas Smith Webb builded better than he knew
when with so sparing a hand he laid out the Speculative Mason<6F>s time
for the lighter side of life. In his conception, all such must be
taken from the eight hours allotted to refreshment and sleep. He who
would <20>pass the time away<61> - he who would indulge in <20>pastimes,<2C>
must, according to the Monitor, take these hours from bed!
To divide our twenty-four hours into three equal parts is a very
practical, everyday admonition. Here is no erudite philosophy such
as <20>laborer est orare<72> - tov labor is to pray. Nor is there any
suggestion that even refreshment may be in the <20>service of God.<2E>
Again, the old ritualist knew his audience. His instructions are
simple; their profundity is only for those who wish to look beneath
the surface.
For these, indeed, the whole twenty-four hours may be literally <20>in
the service of God<6F> since labor and sleep are necessary for life as
we have to live it, and it is a poor theology which does not teach
the common lot to be the Will of God.
In 1784 Sir William Jones wrote:
<EFBFBD>Seven hours to law, to soothing slumber seven, Ten to the world
allot, and all to heaven.<2E>
Webb does not so put it, but if the eight hours for labor us also to
be <20>in the service of God,<2C> it must be labor which results in good
work, true work, square work. Refreshment of mind and body which is
an offering to heaven must be clean and wholesome, if on the morrow
the laborer is to be wholesome and clean for new labor, and prayer
and service.
The Mason interested in a further interpretation of the three-fold
division of twenty-four hours need look no further than the Great
Light upon his Altar - indeed, he need only turn back from
Ecclesiastes XII to Ecclesiastes III to find the inspiration of this
Monitorial admonition that there is a time for everything. We read:
<EFBFBD>To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under
heaven; a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a
time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill and a time to
heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep,
and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to
cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and
a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time
to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love,
and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.<2E>
But nowhere in the wise counsel of prophet or patriot, preacher or
teacher, is there set forth a time to waste time.
Time is the very substance of life, its golden minutes the only
stones we have with which to build. Every accomplishment of man, be
it Temple of marble or Temple of character, act of selfishness or
selfless giving to others, building a nation or building a house,
must be accomplished with <20>Time.<2E> Without time nothing is ever done.
Hence he who wastes either his time or another<65>s, squanders that
which he cannot replace; which comes from we know not whither, to go
we know not whence, which once gone, is gone forever.
About us are many varieties of men with as many ideas of how time
should be spent. Every human being has the same number of minutes in
an hour, of hours in a day, of days in a year. Some have little or
nothing to show for their thirty, forty, or fifty years. Others have
great accomplishments to exhibit as the product of their time.
Lincoln used all the time he did not need to devote to his usual
avocation to mastering geometry, learning politics, understanding the
question of slavery. Albert Pike made himself a learned scholar by
constant use of spare time. These men knew what the twenty-four inch
gauge really meant, how profound a symbol it is - aye, Lincoln knew,
though he was a Freemason only <20>in his heart<72> and not a member of any
Lodge.
It provokes sober thought to apply the Masonic rule to a
determination of how long we really have. Our days are allotted as
three score and ten. We rarely start on our life work before we are
twenty. Of the fifty years of actual time for labor, we are
admonished to spend a third of in the service of God and a distressed
worthy brother, a third in refreshment and sleep, and but a third in
labor - not quite seventeen years in which to accomplish all we have
to do! No wonder so few of us leave behind a monument which will
stand long enough to be seen by the coming generation, still less one
which will last through the ages.
<EFBFBD>But the harder the task, the greater the joy of accomplishment!<21>
Much has been made of the amount of time spent in the <20>service of God
and a distressed worthy brother<65> by enemies of the Craft, who have
tried to read into this admonition the thought that the other sixteen
hours are to be used without service to God, and that only a
distressed <20>brother<65> is to share in our labors.
This, of course , is pure casuistry. If we instruct a workman to
build a wall, we mean that he is to carry the brick, make the mortar,
lay the courses, level the whole, leave an opening for the gate,
point up the joints - do the whole job!
<EFBFBD>Service to God,<2C> then, does not mean merely spending time upon ones
knees in prayer, but living life acceptable to the Great Architect.
By <20>worthy distressed brother<65> we have no reason to assume that
Masonry means only <20>brother of the Mystic Tie.<2E> Masons are
repeatedly bidden to turn to the Great Light as the rule and guide of
faith and practice. Here we find <20>inasmuch as ye do it into the
least of these . . . <20> And all men who own to a common Father are
brothers.
The attentive Freemason quickly notes how frequently are the Masonic
allusions to work, and how few to refreshment. Our twenty-four inch
gauge gives us - almost grudgingly, it seems - eight hours for two
occupations of which we know one needs the greater part - eight hours
for refreshment and sleep. The other sixteen are for labor, work,
effort, doing.
To him who finds labor irksome, the twenty-four inch gauge must be a
painful symbol. Alas, all symbols are painful for the idle! But for
those who have learned life<66>s greatest lesson, that the most lasting
joy comes from accomplishment, the symbol is beautiful.
Fortunate is the man who is happy at his daily task; discontented he
who has not found his work. For him who likes his job, sixteen hours
a day are scarce enough. Find the carpenter who carves wood in his
spare hours, the bookkeeper who spends his evenings doing
mathematics, the doctor whose leisure is spent teaching his healing
art, and you hear men singing at their labors; men who curse the
clocks which go too fast!
Find the Mason interested in the Ancient Craft, prompt to offer his
services for visiting the sick, doing committee work, helping the
tiler, laboring on Fellowcraft or Degree Team, and you see one happy
in his lodge.
Such men have no time to waste - all have some division of their
gauge of time which makes every minute count with <20>sixty seconds
worth of distance run.<2E>
Time - substance of life! Time - gift of the Great Architect! Time
- building stone for the spiritual temple! Time - man<61>s greatest
mystery, bitterest enemy, truest friend! Its care, conservation,
employment, is the secret of the twenty-four inch gauge - its waste
and aimless spending is the sin against which this symbolic working
tool unalterably aligns the Ancient Craft.
The Scythe, emblem of Time, wins in the end. We can race with Father
Time for but a little while.
<EFBFBD>But we can win while we are permitted to race.<2E>
And at the end, the great ruler of our lives is merciful! As you
think of the twenty-four inch gauge and its three divisions, think
also of these tender and beautiful words written of the mighty
servant, mightier master, Time:
I bring you woe and scalding tears and all life holds of sadness,
Because I am remorseless, your heart in torture pays
In bitter coin of memories of times when time was madness,
<EFBFBD>I am the passing hours; I amyour march of days.<2E>
Enemy and best of friends am I to those who sorrow;
Pitiless in passing, yet Oh, so slow, so slow. . .
I hurry to the sleeping the greyness of tomorrow;
Sluggard in my sun-down, I never seem to go . . .
Little bit by even less, all pain I can diminish,
Slowly win the smile to eyes that now know but to weep.
I began your race with life, and I shall see its finish;
My arms, and none but mine, shall in the end give sleep.
I linger not for anyone, yet I may not be hastened;
You must bear your agony until I bid it cease . . .
But when your head is in the dust, and all your pride is
chastened,
<EFBFBD>At long last, I promise you, I bring the gift of peace.<2E>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XI October, 1933 No.10
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, FREEMASON
by: unknown
The genius of Franklin was so overwhelming, and manifested in so many
different directions, that no short paper can even list his
achievements; the American Philosophical Society requires twenty
large book pages merely to catalog his inventions, discoveries,
accomplishments and the events in which he was intimately concerned.
Printer, author, editor, inventor, scientist, diplomat; founder of
schools, postal systems, government; ambassador, wit, speaker;
philosopher, politician and Freemason, he was not only the amazing
intellect, the Voltaire of Colonial America, but one of the most
complex and gifted men of all times. He was the Francis Bacon of his
age, far ahead of the years in which he lived, and as such, the
subject of criticism from those who did not understand him.
Certain facts of his Masonic career stand out; particularly it is to
be noted that Franklin was not merely a lodge member content with
that and nothing more, but a Freemason intensely interested in his
Craft, willing to give his enormous powers for its welfare, and
leaving an indelible impress on its history in this country. His
activities were so great and his Masonry so influential in his life,
there seems little reason for historians to quarrel about matters of
dates and <20>firsts<74> in connection with his revered name.
We do not know exactly when Franklin was initiated; it was in 1731
and probably at the February meeting of St. John<68>s Lodge in
Philadelphia. Nor do we know when St. Johns<6E>s Lodge was born. From
an old and extraordinarily interesting account book, the famous
<EFBFBD>Liber B,<2C> we know the Lodge was in existence as early as December
1730. Whether it was a <20>duly constituted Lodge<67> or a lodge meeting
only under the authority of Ancient Custom, cannot here be stated.
Many lodges in the early days so met; the Lodge at Fredricksburg, for
instance, in which Washington was initiated, had no charter until
after he became a member, although oral tradition says it met under
authority of Massachusetts.
Prior to his initiation, Franklin had poked a little fun at the
Freemasons in his <20>Pennsylvania Gazette.<2E> Some historians think this
was to <20>advertise<73> himself to St. John<68>s Lodge so that when he
applied he would not be regarded as a stranger. Others see it merely
as the witty writing of a man who knew little of the Fraternity.
Whatever the reason, Franklin<69>s membership changed his style of
writing in the Gazette. He published story after story about
Freemasonry in America in general and Pennsylvania and Philadelphia
in particular; these have become foundation stones on which is
erected the early history of Freemasonry in this nation.
That Franklin should immediately raise his head above the generality
of the members of St John<68>s Lodge was inevitable. His whole life of
public service, his boundless courage, which led him to express
himself roundly on the non-popular side of many questions, his
tremendous ability, would naturally bring him to the fore. It is not
surprising then that he was very soon (1735) elected Secretary, an
office he held until 1738. What is surprising, supposing our early
brethren were as conservative as are we, is to find him a member of a
committee to draft by-laws of his lodge in 1732; to this happening we
are indebted for certain pages in <20>Liber B<> in the handwriting of the
great patriot.
Still more amazing in these days of lengthy years of service before a
brother receives any recognition in Grand Lodge, is his appointment
as Junior Warden of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania on St. John the
Baptist<EFBFBD>s Day, June 24, 1732. No attempt will here be made to go
into those matters of Masonic historical controversy at issue between
brethren in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. No opinion is here
expressed as to whether that Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania was or was
not a <20>duly constituted body.<2E> Here the title is used as it was by
Franklin. Even those who believe that this Grand Lodge was not
<EFBFBD>really<EFBFBD> a Grand Lodge but only St John<68>s Lodge working as a Grand
Lodge, are glad to know that Franklin became its Grand Master in
1734.
The first or Mother Grand Lodge was formed in London in 1717. Six
years after <20>Anderson<6F>s Constitutions<6E> was first published. The
second edition did not appear until 1738, and by 1734, the edition of
1723 was long exhausted. This was an opportunity - who better might
print the <20>Constitutions<6E> for American Masons than the Grand Master?
The <20>Pennsylvania Gazette, from May 9 to 16, 1734, carried the
following advertisement:
<EFBFBD>THE CONSTITUTIONS OF THE FREEMASON; Containing the History,
Charges, Regulations, etc., of that most ancient and Right Worshipful
Fraternity, London Printed, Reprinted, by B. Franklin, in the year of
Masonry 5734. Price Stitch<63>d 2s6, bound 4s.<2E>
The book was delayed; perhaps even Franklin<69>s press was subject to
the slowness which modern authors sometimes find in printing houses!
It was not until August that the <20>Masons<6E> Book<6F> was ready; then
seventy copies were sent to Boston, others to Charleston, and still
later, more to Boston. Some fifteen copies of the Masonic rarity are
still cherished in Masonic Libraries.
On November 28, 1734, he wrote twice to Massachusetts.
One letter was to Henry Price, <20>Right Worshipful Grand Master<65> and
the Grand Lodge in Massachusetts. The other was to <20>Dear Brother
Price.<2E> With one other, these are the only known letters Franklin
wrote about Freemasonry. They are important enough to quote:
<EFBFBD>Right Worshipful Grand Master and Most Worthy and Dear Brethren:
<EFBFBD>We acknowledge your favor of the 23rd of October past, and rejoice
that the Grand Master (whom God Bless) hath so happily recovered from
his late indisposition; and we now, glass in hand, drink to the
establishment of his health, and the prosperity of your whole Lodge.
<EFBFBD>We have seen in the Boston prints an article of news from London,
importing that a Grand Lodge held there in August last, Mr. Price<63>s
deputation and power was extended over all America, which advice we
hope is true, and we heartily congratulate him thereupon and though
this has not been as yet regularly signified to us by you, yet,
giving credit thereto, we think it our duty to lay before your Lodge
what we apprehend needful to be done for us in order to promote and
strengthen the interest of Masonry in this Provence (which seems to
want the sanction of some authority derived from home to give the
proceedings and determinations of our Lodge their due weight) to wit,
a Deputation or Charter granted by the Right Worshipful Mr. Price, by
virtue of his commission from Britain, confirming the Brethren of
Pennsylvania in the privileges they at present enjoy of holding
annually their Grand Lodge, choosing their Grand Master, Wardens and
other officers, who may manage all affairs relating to the Brethren
here with full power and authority, according the customs and usages
of Masons, the said Grand Master of Pennsylvania only yielding his
chair, when the Grand Master of all America shall be in place. This,
if it seems good and reasonable to you to grant, will not only be
extremely agreeable to us, but will also, we are confident, conduce
much to the welfare, establishment and reputation of Masonry in these
parts. We therefore submit it for your consideration, and, as we
hope our request will be complied with, we desire that it may be done
as soon as possible, and also accompanied with a copy of the R.W.
Grand Master<65>s first Deputation, and of the instrument by which it
appears to be enlarged as above-mentioned, witnessed by your Wardens,
and signed by the secretary; for which favours this Lodge doubts not
of being able to behave as not to be thought ungrateful.
<EFBFBD>We are, Right Worshipful Grand Master and Most Worthy Brethren, Your
affectionate Brethren and obliged humble servants, Signed at the
request of the Lodge,
B. Franklin, G.M. Philadelphia, Nov. 28, 1734<33>
<EFBFBD>Dear Brother Price: - I am glad to hear of your full recovery. I
hoped to have seen you here this Fall, agreeable to the expectation
you were so good as to give me; but since sickness has prevented your
coming while the weather was moderate, I have no room to flatter
myself with a visit from you before the Spring, when a deputation of
the Brethren here will have an opportunity of showing how much they
esteem you. I beg leave to recommend their request to you, and
inform you, that some false and rebel foreigners, being about to set
up a distinct Lodge in opposition to the old and true Brethren here,
pretending to make Masons for a bowl of punch, and the Craft is like
to come into disesteem among us unless the true Brethren are
countenanced and distinguished by some special authority as herein
desired. I entreat, therefore, that whatever you shall think proper
to do herein may be sent by the next post, if possible, or the next
following.
<EFBFBD>I am, Your Affectionate Brother and Humble Servt<76>
B. Franklin, G.M. Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Nov. 28, 1734<33>
<EFBFBD>P.S. - If more of the Constitutions are wanted among you, please
hint me.<2E>
The address upon the letters is:
To Mr. Henry Price
At the Brazen Head Boston.<2E>N.E.<2E>
These letters are variously <20>explained<65> according to the point of
view of the apologists. M.W. Melvin M. Johnson, Past Grand Master of
Massachusetts, noted Masonic historian, says:
<EFBFBD>Should all other evidence and arguments be disregarded, these
letters are definite and final. They establish that Pennsylvania
Masonry as wanting in authority, i.e., was not duly constituted; that
Henry Price was the <20>Founder of Duly Constituted Masonry in
America.<2E><>
Brother J.E. Burnett Buckenham, M.D., writing as Librarian and
Curator of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, in <20>The Amazing Benjamin
Franklin,<2C> says:
<EFBFBD>Whether these letters were written as an excuse for bringing up the
subject of the sale of more
Constitution Books, or from a real (rather than fancied) danger to
the Craft from not having a warrant of constitution, the writer does
not pretend to say.<2E>
In 1738 were heard the first rumblings of that anti-Masonic
excitement which was to shake the Masonic world nearly a hundred
years later. A young man was killed as a result of a mock Masonic
initiation. This was seized upon by a rival of Franklin, Willliam
Bradford, publisher of the <20>American Weekly Mercury,<2C> as a pretext on
which to launch attacks on Franklin and his connection with
Freemasonry. The incident raised anxiety in the hearts of Franklin<69>s
father and mother over their son<6F>s being a member of the Order. To
allay their fears, Franklin wrote his father, April 13, 1738, as
follows:
<EFBFBD>As to the Freemasons, I know of no way of giving my mother a better
account of them than she seems to have at present, since it is not
allowed that women should be admitted into that secret society. She
has, I must confess on that account some reason to be displeased with
it; but for anything else, I must entreat her to suspend her judgment
till she is better informed, unless she will believe me, when I
assure her that they are in general a very harmless sort of people,
and have no principles or practices that are inconsistent with
religion and good manners.<2E>
According to Old Masonic and family traditions the cornerstone of the
Statehouse in Philadelphia (Independence Hall), built while Franklin
was Grand Master, was laid by him and the Brethren of St. John<68>s
Lodge.
Franklin was too busy to visit much Masonically. In 1743 he held
Fraternal communion with his brethren in the First (St. John<68>s) Lodge
of Boston. Later (1749 ) Thomas Oxnard of Boston, appointed him
Provincal Grand Master. This appointment only lasted a year; he was
deposed from his high estate in 1750, when William Allen received the
appointment; Allen immediately appointed Franklin Deputy Grand
Master..
In 1752 he visited Tun Tavern Lodge; two years later he was present
at the Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts,
and in 1755 he was prominent in the anniversary and dedication of the
<EFBFBD>Freemason<EFBFBD>s Lodge in Philadelphia,<2C> the first Masonic building in
this nation. Late in 1760, with his son, Franklin visited the Grand
Lodge in London.
Among his first actions in France when he appeared as Ambassador,
were affiliations with Masonic Lodges. In 1777 he was elected a
member of the famous <20>Lodge des Neuf Soeurs<72> (Lodge of the Nine
Sisters, or Nine Muses) of Paris, and in 1778 he assisted in
Voltaire<EFBFBD>s initiation into this Lodge. What a meeting that must have
been, and what events may of had their beginnings in the meeting of
these two brilliant minds - the Frenchman caustic, tart, rapier-like
in wit, scathing in denunciation of wrong and evil; Franklin smooth,
suave, direct, sensible, keen as his French contem-porary - both
laying aside their defensive arms of wit and diplomacy to meet upon
the level and part upon the square. Alas, it was not for long -
within the year Franklin helped bury the famous Frenchman with
Masonic honors. The following year (1779) he was elected Master of
the Lodge of the Nine Sisters; and it was not definitely known how
much he actually served for he was but an honorary Master.
In 1782 he became a member of Lodge de Saint Jean de Jerusalem, and
the following year was elected Venerable d<>Honneur of that body. The
same year he was elected honorary member of Lodge des bons Amis (Good
Friends), Rouen
In the dedication of a sermon delivered at the request of R.W. Grand
Lodge of Pennsylvania, by Rev. Joseph Pilmore in St. Paul<75>s Church,
Philadelphia, on St. John;s Day in December, 1786, Franklin referred
to as <20>An Illustrious Brother whose Distinguished Merit among Masons
entitles him to their highest veneration.<2E>
Four years later, April 17, 1790, Benjamin Franklin passed to the
Grand Lodge above.
No catalog of Franklin<69>s offices, services, dates, names, and places
adequately can convey the essential facts regarding his Masonic
Membership. Properly to evaluate them it is necessary to form an
accurate mental picture of Franklin the man. But so much talent for
so many activities makes it difficult to pick those facets of a many-
sided jewel which best reflect the influence Freemasonry had upon
him.
Most of his biographers are agree that Franklin<69>s genius showed the
greatest advantage in his philosophical concepts, and his abilities
as an ambassador. The one pictures the man as he was <20>in his heart<72>
which is not only good Masonic ritual but also good scripture, since,
<EFBFBD>as he thinketh in his heart, so he is;<3B> the other paints him a
master of tact, of homely wit, and fair-mindedly keen in an age when
wit had a rapier edge; as skilled in the arts of diplomacy in a time
when intrigue and deceit were the very backbone of bargaining between
nation and nation.
His whole life of service exemplifies the practice of toleration on
the one hand, and a non-dogmatic, non-credic religion on the other.
We cannot prove that he received the inspiration for these from
Freemasonry he loved and practiced, but neither can anyone prove the
contrary. It is difficult to associate Masonic ideas with such
thoughts as Franklin so often expressed, and not see a connection
between.
In the Constitution Convention, when Franklin saved it for the Union,
and the Union for posterity, he said;
<EFBFBD>The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth,
<EFBFBD>That God Governs in the Affairs of Men.<2E> And if a sparrow cannot
fall to the ground without his notice, it is probable that an empire
can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred
Writings, that <20>except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain
that build it.<2E> I firmly believe this; and I also believe, that,
without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political
building no better than the builder<65>s of Babel.<2E>
It would be difficult to put much more Masonry in the same number of
words.
To his father he wrote:
<EFBFBD>The Scriptures assure me that the last day we shall not be examined
for what we thought, but what we did; and our recommendation will not
be that we said, <20>Lord, Lord!<21> but that we did good to our fellow
creatures. See Matt. XXV.<2E>
The famous epitaph he wrote for himself so slightly conceals the
Masonic theme of immortality as told in our Legend that all may read
who run:
The body of
B. Franklin, Printer
(Like the cover of an old book
Its contents torn out
And stripped of its Lettering and Guilding)
Lies here, Food for the Worms.
But the Work shall not be wholly lost;
For it will, (as he believed) appear once more,
In a new and more perfect Edition,
Corrected and Amended
By the Author.
Benjamin Franklin had everything that a reformer should have, except
the desire to reform for the sake of the reformation. He improved
everything which interested him, but he never tried to force his
improvements into the lives of others. He could show a world a new
way of making glasses, and that lightning comes down a kitestring,
and that daylight saving time adds to leisure, and that wit and humor
win more causes than arguments, but he did not try to <20>make laws
about it.<2E> He improved the printing press, the army and navy, the
common stove, ideas of ventilation, paved Philadelphia and made it a
better lighted town, invented a hundred gadgets for common living,
such as a three wheel clock, a combination library chair and step
ladder (they can be bought to this day) an artificial arm to get
books from a high shelf, <20>but he never tried to improve or change or
alter Freemasonry.<2E>
Franklin is generally conceded to have been a diplomat of the first
rank, but only those who read history carefully know what a load he
carried on his old shoulders when in 1776 he went to France to
represent the United States. He had to win the support of a nation
largely controlled by court, fashion, beauty, gallantry - anything
but the hard common sense of a Franklin. Yet this same practical
philosopher, this inventor, scientist, printer, pamphleteer and
politician; took France by storm. He was a gallant gentleman to the
ladies, a man among men with French gallants. He won sympathy
without a display of suffering, and made friends without seeming to
try. He convinced every one of his honor and probity by being honest
in an age when dishonesty was fashionable. On his simple promise to
pay he secured millions in ships, men and goods, where a less able
representative might have failed with an order of Congress on the
Treasury for backing. He played international politics by using the
King<EFBFBD>s hatred of the English. He selected and forwarded military
supplies. He fitted out and commissioned privateers. He kept the
accounts between two nations. He helped plan the campaigns at sea.
He enthused the French ruler and the French people. And through it
all he kept his sanity, made new friends and retained old ones, all
by fair-mindedness, the innate justice and the toleration which are
part and parcel of the teachings of Freemasonry.
Franklin lived to be eighty-five years old. Sixty of those years as
a Freemason; he lived and wrote and practiced the principles of the
Order.
It is not for us to say what he would have been had there been no
Freemasonry in his life; it is for us only to revere the Franklin who
was among the very greatest of any other nation, in all times; for us
to congratulate ourselves and be thankful for our country, that this
wise philosopher, this leader of men and of nations, had taken to his
heart the immutable and eternal principles of the Ancient Craft.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XI November, 1933 No.11
WOMEN FREEMASONS
by: Unknown
The romances of the Ancient Craft include a number of stories of
women who are said to have become Freemasons, in one or another. The
majority are hoaxes, legends or pure fiction.
For a woman to become a real Freemasons is as impossible as for a man
to become a mother, a leopard to change his spots. A female duly
elected, properly prepared, initiated and obligated, passed and
raised, who signed the by-laws of a regularly constituted lodge would
not be a freemason, as all which had been done with her would be
entirely illegal, and one illegally initiated is not a Freemason.
The Third of the Old Charges, foundation law of the Craft, states
emphatically: <20>The persons admitted Members of a Lodge must be good
and true Men, free-born and of mature and discreet age; no bondman,
no women, or immoral or scandalous Men, but of good report.<2E>
It would, however, be extraordinary if at some time, in some place,
some woman was not illegally given a Masonic degree, or obligated as
a Freemason. That the instances which rest on anything more reliable
than tradition and heresay are so few is a remarkable tribute to the
fidelity of Masons. It is a point worth noting that the number of
even possible true instances is much less than the known number of
exposes of Masonry written and published by foresworn brethren.
Best known, most often quoted, and most credible of all histories of
alleged <20>women Freemasons<6E> is that of the Honorable Elizabeth St.
Ledger, later Mrs. Richard Aldworth, of Ireland. Even about her
strange story has clustered a curious collection of myths and
legends, which have required some untangling at the hands of skilled
Masonic historians.
According to the most reliable accounts, Arthur St. Ledger, 1st Baron
Kilmayden and Viscount Doneraile, with his sons and a few intimate
friends, were in the habit (as was the custom in those early days
when Freemasonry was closing the era of Operative and opening an era
of Sepculative Masonry), of opening a Lodge and conducting its
ceremonies in the family mansion at Doneraile Court, County Cork,
Ireland.
When Elizabeth was seventeen years old, the old house underwent
repairs, including removal and replacement of a partition between the
library and a back room , in which the Lodge meetings were held.
One afternoon Miss St. Ledger, in the library, heard voices. With
perhaps pardonable feminine curiosity she listened at an opening
between the bricks of the replaced partition. Not hearing
sufficiently well, she removed a loose brick and obtained an
unobstructed view and complete audition of what occurred.
She looked and listened for some time before she realized what she
saw and heard. There seems to be no question of her gentle breeding,
education or high mindedness; when she understood she became terror-
struck and fled from the room, intending forever to conceal her
guilty knowledge.
Her way out, however, was barred by the Lodge Tiler, her father<65>s
butler. She screamed and fainted..
The Tiler summoned the Master; the young woman recovered
consciousness, and confessed to what she had discovered. The Lodge
considered what should be done, and finally decided to have her take
part in ceremonies similar to those she had witnessed. Accordingly,
she was initiated and passed a Fellowcraft. At this time (1710) the
third degree, or what the was the <20>Master<65>s Part,<2C> was not a separate
ceremony, so that, granting the story be true. Miss St. Ledger
received all the light her father<65>s Lodge had to give.
Too much corroborative detail surrounds this old tale to pass it by
as apocryphal. There is today extant in the possession of Lady
Castletown, Upper Ossory, a painting of Miss St. Ledger in her
Masonic Regalia. Two Jewels she wore are preserved, one in the
possession of the family, the other held by Lodge No.1, Cork.
Contemporary accounts credit her with acting as Master of the Lodge,
and riding in Public Masonic processions, clad in Masonic regalia;
these are doubtless mere inventions. It is not on record that she
was permitted to attend any meeting of the Lodge except that in which
she was initiated and passed.
Nor has the Lodge been identified; yet this is not surprising, since
the date (1710) is prior to the formation of the Irish Grand Lodge,
and seven years before the formation of the Mother Grand Lodge in
London. It is supposed that her father received his Masonry in
London, and brought it home with him, in the easy custom of the olden
time, making Masons of his friends and with them practicing the
Speculative Art.
It is pleasant o chronicle that every version of the story - and they
are many - sets forth that this Irish Lady, as a girl, a wife, a
mother and grandmother, highly valued her singular distinction, never
took advantage of it, and venerated the Craft for all of her eighty
years of life.
Among the many versions of this story , one credits Miss St. Ledger
with <20>intent<6E> to overhear by concealing herself in a clock-case in
the Lodge Room. This seems altogether out of character; moreover, the
clock-case<73> method of a woman<61>s getting Masonic secrets has been
overworked.
In a letter written in 1879 to Brother Montague Guest, the following
passage relating to a Dorsetshire Lodge occurs:
<EFBFBD>There was a Lodge about a hundred years ago, held in a house facing
the Up-Lyme turnpike . . . It was in that lodge that it was said the
woman hid herself in a clock and was in consequence made a Mason.<2E>
The clock-case tradition finds an echo in Thackeray<61>s story of <20>My
Grandfather<EFBFBD>s Time,<2C> which occurs in one of his papers on SNOBS,
about . . .
<EFBFBD>. . . my great aunt (whose portrait we still have in the family) who
got into the clock-case at the Royal Rosicrucian Lodge at Bungay,
Suffolk, to spy the proceedings of the Society. of which her husband
was a member, and being frightened by the sudden whirring and
striking eleven of the clock (just as the Deputy Master was bringing
in the mystic Gridiron for the reception of a neophyte), rushed out
into the midst of the Lodge assembled; and was elected by a desperate
unanimity, Deputy Grand Mistress for life. Though that admirable and
courageous female never subsequently breathed a word with regard to
the secrets of the initiation, yet she inspired all our family with
such horror regarding the mysteries of Jachin and Boaz, that none of
our family have ever since joined the society or worn the dreadful
Masonic insignia.
There seems to be small doubt that Helene, Countess Hadik Barkoczy,
born 1833, was actually <20>made a Mason<6F> in Lodge Egyenloseg, warranted
by the Grand Orient of Hungary. The last of her race, at her
father<EFBFBD>s death she was permitted by the Hungarian courts to take the
place of a son, receiving his full inheritance. In this was an
extensive Masonic library in which she became much interested. In
1875 the Lodge mentioned admitting her!
The Grand Orient of Hungary took immediate action on this <20>breach of
Masonic vow, unjustifiably conferring Masonic degrees, doing that
which degrades a Freemason and Freemasonry, and for knowingly
violating the statues.<2E> The Deputy Master of the Lodge was expelled,
the officers of the Lodge had their names struck from its rolls, and
the members were suspended for various periods of time. To the honor
of the Grand Orient be it said, its final pronouncement - apart from
these merited punishments - was unequivocal. It Read:
<EFBFBD>1. The Grand Orient declares the admission of the Countess Hadik
Barkoczy to be contrary to the laws, and therefore null and void,
forbids her admittance into any Lodge of their jurisdiction, under
penalty of erasion of the Lodge from the rolls, and request all Grand
Lodges to do the same.
<EFBFBD>2 The Countess is requested to return the invalid certificate
which she holds, within ten days, in default of which measures will
be taken to confiscate immediately the certificate whenever produced
at any of the Lodges.<2E>
The Chevalier d<>Eon is a mysterious and remarkable character, but he
was not a <20>woman<61> Freemason. It seems highly probable that this
peculiar person (born 1728 was partially an hermaphrodite, feminine
in appearance, if sufficiently masculine in nature to become a
distinguished soldier and one of the best swordsmen in France. In
spite of a pronouncement by a court of law that <20>he<68> was a woman, his
male sex was definitely proved after his death. This is more
remarkable, as after a masculine career of some distinction (which
included being made a Mason in London) he voluntarily admitted that
<EFBFBD>he<EFBFBD> was a woman, and lived as such for thirty-three years.!
The world believed him at the time, and great was the stir caused by
the thought that a regular Lodge had <20>made a Mason of a woman.<2E>
Postmortem examination restored confidence; the best explanation of
his odd life is that he was insane; the worst which may be thought of
him as a <20>woman<61> is that he deceived the world, Masonic and profane
alike, for many years.
Melrose Lodge No.1 is on the roll of the Grand Lodge of Scotland,
preserves the tradition of as woman initiate, Isabella Scoon, known
in the vernacular as Tib Skin. The story runs that after removing
from Newstead, the meetings were held in hired rooms for some years.
and:
<EFBFBD>The matron, ac true daughter of Eve, somehow obtained more light
upon the hidden mysteries than was deemed at all expedient, and,
after due consideration of the case, it was resolved that she must be
regularly initiated into Freemasonry,<2C> which tradition states was
actually done, the initiate being greatly impressed with solemnity of
her obligation, remaining ever a true and faithful Sister among the
Brethren, and distinguishing herself in works of charity.!
<EFBFBD>The Lodge minutes, however, contain no record of the occurrence.<2E>
The officers and about forty privates of the 22nd Regiment quartered
at Newcastle, England, in 1769, being Freemasons, celebrated St.
John<EFBFBD>s Day in Winter by attending services at St. Nicholas<61> Church.
This publicity would appear to have excited the curiosity of the
landlady under whose roof the Lodge was held, for in the <20>Newcastle
Chronicle<EFBFBD> of January 6, 1770, the following advertisement was
inserted:
<EFBFBD>This is to acquaint the public that on Monday the first inst., being
the Lodge (or monthly meeting night) of the Free and Accepted Masons
of the 22nd Regiment, held at the Crown Inn, Newgate, Mrs. Bell, the
landlady of the house, broke open a door (with a poker) that had not
been opened for some years past, by which means she got into an
adjacent room, made two holes through the wall and by that stratagem
discovered the secrets of Masonry, and she, knowing herself to be the
first woman in the world that ever found out that secret, is willing
to make it known to all her own sex; so that any lady that is
desirous of learning the secrets of Freemasonry by applying to that
well learned woman Mrs. Bell (that lived fifteen years in and about
Newgate St.) may be instructed in the Secrets of Freemasonry,<2C>
If Mrs. Bell did actually acquire the knowledge the advertisement
claims, it is clear that she had by no means learned the lessons
which were apparently so deeply impressed upon the other <20>lady
candidates.<2E> The story can only be a hoax. Probably Mrs. Bell heard
a good deal about the doings of the Lodge held on her premises, and
was inclined to pretend to know more than really was the case. The
advertisement, in the spirit of those times, was doubtless intended
to hold her up to ridicule and warn her to be more discreet.
Recording the death, aged eighty-five, on Tuesday, May 11th, 1802, of
Mrs. Beaton in Norwich, a newspaper notice reads:
<EFBFBD>She was a native of Wales, and commonly called here (i.e. at
Norwich) the <20>Freemasons<6E> from the circumstance of her having
contrived to conceal herself in the waincotting of a lodge room,
where she learnt that secret, the knowledge of which thousands of her
sex have in vain attempted to arrive at - She was a singular old
woman, and as proof of it the Secret dies with her!<21>
Capt, J.W. Gambier, a non-Masons, in his, <20>Links in my Life on Sea
and Land<6E>, wrote:-
<EFBFBD>In 1861 I arrived at Chatham and met my father. We went ashore, and
dined at the old inn by the pier at Chatham. sacred to the memory of
Pickwick and his companions, and but for a fat old waiter . . .
regaling us with pot-house legends . . . we should have been dull
indeed. Amongst other anecdotes this venerable old Ganymede told us
was how once a woman had hidden herself in a cupboard, which he
showed us in the room, to overhear what went on at a Masonic meeting,
but that, being discovered, by her dog scenting her out, she had been
hauled out and then and there made a Mason with all due Masonic
rites.<2E>
About 1864, Lodge Tongariro, No.705 E.C., met at the Rutland Hotel,
at Wanganui, New Zealand. Part of the premises adjoining the room
used by the lodge had ceased to be occupied and had become somewhat
dilapidated. The following story is told in the history of the
Lodge: -
<EFBFBD>The landlord, who was a member of the Lodge, had a sister living in
the house. She was an elderly lady with a great thirst for
knowledge, and she was determined to find out all about Freemasonry.
Accordingly she went to this disused part of the building and
succeeded in removing a knot from the wooden portion, and from this
spy-hole was able to witness unobserved some portion of the
proceedings. She did not, however, posses the gift of silence, and
one evening while serving behind the bar, told a gentleman who was at
that time not a member of the Craft, although he afterwards became a
Mason and subsequently occupied the Master<65>s Chair in the Lodge. The
good lady was especially impressed with the third degree, which she
described as <20>very dreadful<75>. She stated she was going again that
night, and that it was her intention to enlarge the hole in order to
get a better view. She informed her hearer that there was not a
great deal to see until the Lodge had been opened about an hour.
There was to be <20>a third<72> that night, and if her friend would join
her in about half an hour, he might take his turn at the peep-hole.
Unfortunately for her plan, her bother, who was standing near,
though unobserved, overheard this conversation, and when the old lady
had climbed up to her accustomed place, he crept softly behind her,
and taking a firm grip on her ear, conducted her without ceremony to
her rightful place behind the bar. Unlike the Hon. Elizabeth St.
Ledger, the lady who concealed herself in a clock-case at an Irish
Lodge, she was not initiated into Freemasonry, so could not equal
this famed lady.<2E>
Loose bricks, knot-holes, clock-cases, doors pried open with pokers -
the ladies seemed to have had but one method of <20>becoming
Freemasons.<2E>
A number of supposed <20>women Freemasons<6E> have received temporary
notoriety in the United States. Probably the best authenticated (and
that very poor) is Mrs. Catherine Babington, <20>nee<65> Sweet, who was
born in Kentucky in 1815, married in 1834, and died in 1886.
Brother J.P. Babington, her son, of Cleveland Lodge No.202, Shelby,
North Carolina, after her death published a biographical sketch of
his mother, evidently in the sincere belief that what he heard all
his life was true, and giving a plain (if inherently improbable)
account of this <20>lady Mason.<2E>
According to this book, which ran into three editions, Catherine
Sweet spent the greater part of her childhood and young womanhood
with her Grandfather, Benjamin Ulen, who lived near where she was
born in Kentucky. Near her Grandfather<65>s house was a two-story
building; a school below, and a room intended as a church above.
However, it was used by Masons as a Lodge room. Your Catherine is
said to have concealed herself in the hollow pulpit not once, but at
every meeting of the Lodge for more than a year, seeing all the
degrees and learning all the work, even the most secret
She was finally discovered by one of her six Uncles, all alleged
members of the Lodge, and on being closely questioned - and she is
stated to have refused to answer unless interrogated Masonically -
she showed a more proficient knowledge of the ritual than any of them
possessed!
She was kept in custody for more than a month, while the Lodge
decided that to do with her. Finally she was <20>properly prepared<65> and
<EFBFBD>made a Mason<6F> but not a member of the Lodge.
This estimable lady is said to have talked Masonry on every and any
occasion even <20>instructing<6E> brethren whom she considered <20>bright<68> and
was immensely proud of being <20>the only woman Freemason.<2E> Critical
historians, however, look with considerable doubt on the major
incidents of this tale. It appears that there was no regular Lodge
near her Grandfather<65>s home at the time she was alleged to spy upon
it (there may have been a spurious Lodge, of course) and no records
exist that any of her Uncles were Masons.
There seems to be no doubt that (1) Mrs. Babington lived; (2) that
she knew at least some Masonic ritual and (3) that hundreds if not
thousands of her neighbors and friends believed the story.
Her knowledge of ritual can easily have come from any of a half dozen
of the so-called exposes of Masonry (such as the Morgan booklet)
which circulated freely enough and may still be found in libraries
and second-hand stores. It is possible that she learned Masonic work
from her husband (unlikely, inasmuch as he was a Past Master) and
barely possible that she did get into some spurious Lodge and hear
from a concealed place. If the latter is true, why were the
particulars which her son received from her not of a place and a
Lodge which could be identified?
There are tales and tales and still more tales not here mentioned;
many of the are obviously confusions between the French Rite of
Adoptive Masonry and the genuine Ancient Craft Masonry, or have to do
with that odd little bi-product of quasi-fraternity known as <20>Co-
Masonry.<2E> The story of Madam Xaintrailles belongs among the former;
she was doubtless a member of an Adoptive Lodge, but the story that
she was later initiated into Craft Masonry at the close of the
eighteenth century rests almost wholly upon tradition.
Some supposedly Masonic bodies at one time or another have admitted
women to membership - one of these in Mexico in a not far distant
past - but their stories belong in a history of spurious Freemasonry,
not in the chronicle of curious fiction in which only the illegal
<EFBFBD>making<EFBFBD> of the Countess and the accidental discovery of the young
English girl seem to have genuine claims to credibility.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XI December, 1933 No.12
STS. JOHN<48> DAYS
by: Unknown
Among the many fascinating angles of the Ancient Craft are the
numerous facts yet to be discovered.
Masonic history discloses greater and greater gaps as we go back
into the far past. The Ancient mine of Masonic symbolism stills
yields the gold of truth to him who knows how to delve, but many and
various are the Masonic customs, words, rituals and ideas for which
we have as yet no complete explanation.
Among these is the dedication of the Lodges to the Holy Sts. John.
No satisfactory explanation has yet been advanced to explain why
operative masons adopted these two Christian saints, when St. Thomas,
the very Patron of architecture and building, was available as patron
of our Order.
Most Freemasons who give the matter thought are well agreed that the
choice of our Ancient Brethren was wise. No two great teachers,
preachers, wise men, saints, could have been found who better shadow
forth from their lives and works the doctrine and teachings of
Freemasonry. But to be happy that the Holy Sts. John, in character
and attainments, are typical of all that is best in Freemasonry, is
not to know how and why the Fraternity came to select them.
Where the great students and researchers of the Masonic world have
failed, he must be fool indeed who would rush in to explain. Yet
there is an explanation somewhere, if we can but find it.
St. John the Evangelist apparently came into our Fraternal system
somewhere towards the close of the sixteenth century, at least, we
find the earliest authentic Lodge Minute reference to St. John the
Evangelist in Edinborough in 1599, although earlier mentions are made
in connection with what may be called relatives, if not ancestors, of
our Craft. For instance, <20>The Fraternity of St. John<68> existed in
Cologne in 1430.
<EFBFBD>St. John<68>s Masonry<72> is a distinctive term for Scotch Lodges, many of
the older of which took the name of the Saint. Thus in its early
records the Lodge of Scoon and Perth is often called the Lodge of St.
John, and the Lodge possesses to this day a beautiful mural painting
of the Saint on the east wall of the Lodge Room.
Other Lodges denominated <20>St. John<68>s Lodges<65> were some of those
unaffiliated with either the <20>Moderns<6E> or the <20>Ancients<74> in the
period between the schism of the Mother Grand Lodge (1751) and the
reconciliation (1813).
In many old histories of the Craft is a quaint legend that St. John
the evangelist became a <20>Grand Master<65> at the age of ninety. It
seems to have its origin in a book printed in 1789, in which one
Richard Linnecar of Wakefield write certain <20>strictures on
Freemasonry,<2C> although his paper is really a Eulogy. Whether this
Ancient Freemason really continued a tradition, or invented the tale
that was seized upon by Oliver and kept alive as a legend, impossible
though it is, no man may say as yet.
One Grand Lodge has ruled that Sts. John<68> Days are Landmarks! Of
course any Grand Lodge may make its own laws, but it is beyond the
power of any Grand Lodge either to make a Landmark by pronouncement,
or to make a Landmark by denying it. Inasmuch as Landmarks, whatever
else they may be, are universally admitted to be handed down to us
from <20>time immemorial,<2C> and Sts. Johns<6E> Days as Masonic festivals are
neither extremely old nor universal among the Craft (England using
Wednesday after St. George<67>s Day, Scotland St. Andrew<65>s Day and
Ireland St. Patrick<63>s Day), we must consider only this Grand Lodge<67>s
intent to honor our patron saints, and the validity of her results.
Historians believe that only after 1717 when the Mother Grand Lodge
was formed, did Freemasonry generally hold festival meetings on
either or both, June 24th and December 27th.
Perhaps the real explanation of Freemasonry<72>s connection with the
Sts. John is not to be found in the history of the Craft but in the
history of religions. For the festival days of the two Sts. John are
far older than Christianity; as old as the ancient systems of worship
of fire and sun.
It is here too, that we find the beauty and the glory of the reverent
practice of dedicating Lodges, erected to God, to the Holy Sts. John.
Travel backwards in imagination to an unknown date when the world of
men was young; when knowledge did not exist and the primal urges of
all humanity were divided between the satisfaction of bodily needs -
hunger, thirst, warmth, light - and the instincts of self-
preservation, mating, and the love of children. The men of that far
off age found everything in nature a wonder. They understood not why
the wind blew, what made the rain, from whence came lightning,
thunder, cold and warmth; why the sun climbed the heavens in the
morning and disappeared at night, or what the stars might be. As is
natural for all primitive people, they tried to explain all mysteries
in terms of their daily lives. When angry, their emotions resulted
in loud shouts and a desire to kill. What more natural than to think
that thunder and lightning the anger of the Unknown who held their
lives and well being in His hands? Stronger than his enemy, ancient
man bundled him out of his cave into the open, where he froze or
starved or was eaten by the beasts. What more natural than to think
the wind, the rain, the cold, a manifestation of an Unseen Presence
which was angered at them?
The greatest manifestation of nature known to these ancient ancestors
of ours was the sun. It never failed. It was always present during
the day, and it near kin, fire, warmed and comforted them at night.
Under its gentle rays crops grew and rivers rose. The sun kept away
the wild beasts by his light. The sun made their lives possible.
Sun worship and fire worship were as natural for men just struggling
into understanding as the breath they drew to live.
Earliest among the facts recognized about the sun must have been its
slow travel from north to south and back again as the seasons waxed
and waned. And so Midsummer s day, the longest day, became a
festival; it was the harbinger of harvest, the very birthday of new
life. Its opposite was equally inevitable; the winter solstice was
significant of the end of the slow decline of the sun, the beginning
of a new time of warmth and crop and happiness.
Through the countless years, in a thousand religions, cults,
mysteries, in a hundred climes and lands, priests and people
celebrated the solstices. We know it not only from history and the
records of ancient peoples, often cut upon stone but from myths and
legends; the story of Ceres and her search for her daughter
Propsperpine, and the allegory of Isis, Osiris and Horus.
Ancient custom is taken from a people with difficulty.
In the height of our civilization today we retain thousands of
customs the origin of which is lost to most of us. We speak glibly
of Yuletide at Christmas, without thinking of an ancient Scandinavian
God, Juul. The small boy avers truth <20>By Golly!<21> Not knowing that
he offers his hand (gol) if he speaks not the truth. Those who think
it <20>bad luck<63> to break a mirror but continue a savage belief that a
stone thrown in water which mirrors the face of an enemy will break
his heart even as the reflection is broken.
If such ideas persist to this day, imagine how strenuously a people
would resist giving up a holiday celebration which their fathers<72> and
their fathers<72> before them had kept for untold ages.
So it was when Christianity came to the world. Feasts and festival
days of a hoary antiquity were not lightly to be given up, even by
those who put their faith upon a cross. It was of no use for the
early Church to ban a pagan festival. Old habit was too strong, old
ideas too powerful. Hence clever and thoughtful men in the early
days of Christianity turned the pagan festivals to Christian usage,
and the olden celebrations of summer and winter solstices became the
Sts. John<68> Days of the Middle Ages.
As the slow years past, those who celebrated thought less and less of
what the days really commemorated, and became more and more convinced
of their new character. Today, hardly a Freemason gives a thought to
the origin of St. John<68>s Day in Winter, or knows his celebration of
St. John<68>s Day in Midsummer preserves a touch with cave men
ancestors.
Fairbank<EFBFBD>s <20>Greek Religion<6F> indicates that this transfer of meaning
of festival days from a pagan implication to a Christian significance
was not confined to the Sts. John. He writes:
<EFBFBD>That in Greece itself ancient rites should persist under the cover
of the new religion, and that the ancient deities or heroes should
reappear as Christian Saints, is hardly surprising to one who
considers the summary method by which Christianity became the
established religion. It was not so difficult to make the Parthenon
a Christian Church when the virgin goddess of wisdom was supplanted
by a St. Sophia (Wisdom), then by the Virgin Mary. Similarly,
Apollo was more than once supplanted by St. George, Poseidon by St.
Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors, Asculapius by St. Michael and
St. Damian, and in Grottos where Nymphs had been worshipped, female
saints received similar worship from the same people.<2E>
It was a common custom in the Middle Ages for craftsmen of all kinds
top place themselves under the protection of some saint of the
church. Our greatest historian, Gould, puts this in a paragraph,
thus:
<EFBFBD>None of the London trades appear to have formed fraternities without
ranging themselves under the banner of some saint, and if possible
they chose one who bore a fancied relation to their trade. Thus the
fishmongers adopted St. Peter; the drapers chose the Virgin Mary,
mother of the <20>Holy Lamb<6D> or <20>Fleece<63> as an emblem of that trade.
The goldsmiths<68> patron was St. Dunstan, represented to have been a
brother artisan. The merchant tailors, another branch of the draping
business, marked their connection with it by selecting St. John the
Baptist, who was the harbinger of the <20>Holy Lamb<6D> so adopted by the
drapers . . Eleven or more of the guilds . . . had John the Baptist
as their patron saint, and several of them, while keeping June 24th
as their head day, also met in December 27th, the corresponding feast
of the Evangelist.<2E>
To say with certainty why Freemasons adopted the two Sts. John, and
continue to celebrate days as principal feast which were once of a
far different significance than was given them by the early fathers
of the church - Gregory, Thaumaturgus, St. Augustine, Gregory the
Great - is not in the power of any historian or student as yet.
Further light must be had. But the fitness of these two in our
system is obvious if we consider the spiritual suggestion of their
lives.
St. John the Baptist was a stern and just man; intolerant of sham, of
pretense, of weakness; a man of strength and fire, uncompromising
with evil or expediency, and yet withal courageous, humble, sincere,
magnanimous. A character at once heroic and of nobility, of him the
Greatest of Teachers said: <20>Among them that are born of woman, there
hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist.<2E>
Of St. John the Evangelist, the disciple whom Jesus loved, a thousand
books have been written, and student has vied with minister, teacher
with historian, to find words fitly to describe the character of the
gentle writer of the Fourth Gospel. No attempt at rivalry will here
be made; suffice it that St. John the Evangelist is recognized the
world over as the apostle of love and light, the bringer of comfort
to the grief-ridden, of courage to the weak, of help to the helpless
and of strength to the falling.
It is not for us to evaluate the character of either saint in terms
of the other; it is for us to agree only that Freemasonry is wise in
a gentle wisdom which passeth that in books when she takes for her
own both the saint who fore-told the coming of the saint who taught
the law of the Son of Man who walked by Galilee.
Consider thus, from being an historical and fraternal puzzle, the
Sts. John and their connection with Freemasonry becomes as plain as
the light which was the central fact of the old religion which the
solstitial days commemorated. And it at once makes plain that part
of our ritual which so puzzles the initiate; the question <20>From
Whence Come You?<3F> and the answer <20>From the Lodge of the Holy Sts.
John of Jerusalem.<2E>
Many have phrased the simple explanation of the inner meaning of this
passage; none with more beauty and clarity than Brother Joseph Fort
Newton, he of the golden pen and the voice of music:
<EFBFBD>The allusion has nothing to do with the Order of St. John of
Jerusalem. To our thought - which we give for what it is worth - its
meaning is mystical, in somewhat the following manner: The legends
of the Craft associate the two Saints John with its fellowship, as
Masters , if not Grand Masters; the one a prophet of righteousness,
the other an evangelist of love - the basic principles and purposes
of Masonry.
<EFBFBD>Of course, there is no historical evidence that either of the two
Saints of the church were ever members of the Craft. But they were
adopted as its patron Saints, after the manner of former times - a
good manner it is, too - and they have remained so in Christian
lands. Lodges are dedicated to them, instead of to King Solomon, as
formerly.
<EFBFBD>So, naturally, there came the idea, or ideal, of a sacred Lodge in
the Holy City presided over by the Saints John. No such Lodge ever
existed in fact, and yet it is not a fiction - it is an ideal, and
without such ideals our life would be dim and drab. The thought back
of the question and answer, then, is that we come from an ideal or
Dream Lodge into this actual work-a-day world, where our ideals are
to be tested.
<EFBFBD>Our journey is ever towards the East, back towards the ideal, which
seems lost in the hard, real world round about us. Still, we must
plod on, following what we have seen, ever trying to find the ideal
in the real, or to bring the ideal to the interruption of the real;
which is the whole secret and quest of human life. He is wise, and
must be accounted brave, who keeps his memory or vision of the Lodge
on the Holy Sts. John at Jerusalem.<2E>
In a few words and short; we do not know just when, or just how,
Freemasonry adopted the Sts. John. Their days are the Christian
adaptation of pagan festivals of a time when man, knowing no better,
worshipped the sun as the supreme God. So when we celebrate out
festival days on June 24th and December 27th, we walk eye to eye and
step by step with our ancient ancestors, worshipping as they
worshipped, giving thanks as they did; they to the only God they knew
for the glory of summer, the beginning of the period when days
lengthened - we to the G.A.O.T.U. that our gentle Craft took for its
own the austere but loving characters of two among the greatest of
the saintly men who have taught of the Father of all mankind.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XII January. 1934 No. 1
RITUAL DIFFERENCES
by: Unknown
An experience in freemasonry usually upsetting to the newly-raised
brother is his first visit to a lodge in another jurisdiction than his
own. Having carefully been taught a certain ritual, in all probability
with positive emphasis upon the necessity of being <20>letter perfect,<2C> he
learns with a distinct shock that the ritual in other States differs
from his own, and these differ each from the other.
If he converses with those <20>well informed brethren who will always be as
ready to give as you will be to receive instruction<6F> he is more than apt
to be met with a puzzled, <20>I don<6F>t know, I<>m sure, just why they are
different from us, but of course. ours is correct.<2E>
The riddle becomes much plainer as the neophyte studies Masonic history
- but, alas, many never open a Masonic book! Yet divergences in ritual
cannot be understood without some historical background. It is
necessary to understand, for instance, that Freemasonry came to this
country, some time prior to 1731, at a time when English ritual was in a
process of formation. We did not receive our Masonry from one central
source. but from several; nor did we obtain it as a whole. Several
different localities, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia) received
Freemasonry from across the sea and from them our forms and ceremonies
radiated to other sections. The schism in the first Grand Lodge in
England (1753) resulted in two Grand Lodges; the <20>Ancients<74> (the
younger, schismatic body) and the <20>Moderns<6E><73> (the older. original Grand
Lodge). Each had its own ritual; our rituals sometimes lean to one,
sometimes to the other, and often to both. Literal ritualism is
comparatively a modern matter; and <20>mouth to ear<61> in the early days
meant nothing more than giving of information, not transmitting it in a
set form of words. Most of our Grand Lodges have been formed by a union
of particular Lodges, many of which received each its ritual from a
different source, with the result that the ritual finally adopted is a
combination of several. And finally, Grand Lodges have not infrequently
changed, added to and taken from their own rituals, either as matter of
legislation or by the easier course (in early days) of adopting with
little or no question the variations suggested by positive minded
ritualists, Grand Lecturers, Custodians of the Work, ritual committees
and so on. Some of these, unfortunately, had little or no Masonic
background, and changed and altered, added and subtracted with no better
reason than <20>this seems much better to us!<21>
Certain fundamentalists are to all intents and purposes the same in
every one of our forty-nine Grand Jurisdictions. All American Lodges
have a Master and two Wardens, a Secretary and Treasurer, an Alter with
the V.S.L. and the other Great Lights, three degrees; unanimous ballot
required; make Masons only of men; have the same Substitute Word given
in the same way; are tiled; have a ceremony of opening and closing. To
some extent all dramatize and exemplify the Master<65>s Degree, although
the amount of drama and exemplification differs widely.
But beyond these and a few other simple essentials are wide variations.
Aprons are worn one way in one degree in one Jurisdiction and another
way in the same degree in another. Some Jurisdictions have more
officers in a Lodge than others. In some Jurisdictions Lodges open and
close on the Master Mason<6F>s degree; others on the First degree; others
only in the degree which it to be <20>worked.<2E> Lesser Lights are grouped
closely about the Altar, in the stations of the Master and Wardens. In
some Lodges the I.P.M. (immediate Past Master) plays an important part,
as in England. Other Lodges know him not Some Lodges have Inner Guards
and two Masters of Ceremonies - others will have none of these.
Dividing, lettering, syllabling are almost as various in practice as the
Jurisdictions. Obligations show certain close similarities in some
requirements; but what is a part of the obligation in one jurisdiction
may be merely an admonition in another, and <20>vice versa.<2E>
Discovering all this (and much more) the thoughtful initiate is apt to
wonder why it is deemed so important that he memorize his own particular
<EFBFBD>work<EFBFBD> so closely; when he travels he finds that what he knows as
familiar words and forms and phrases are strange to the Lodges he
visits. Not is this the place to ague for purity of the ritual as
taught. There are good and sufficient reasons why we should hand on to
our sons and their sons the ritual as we received it - if only to
preserve without further alteration and change that which was formed by
the fathers. Suffice it that while uniformity in work within a
Jurisdiction is fairly well established as good American Masonic
practice, it is not universal. there are several <20>workings<67> for
instance, permitted in English Lodges, and even in some American
Jurisdictions (<28>vide<64> Connecticut) not all Lodges use the same ritual.
The reasons for all this are so involved, complex, and cover such a long
period; that a complete understanding is difficult even for the student
willing to read the enormous amount of history and authority which may
make it plain. Briefly, and in general, the matter becomes clearer if
we visualize our sources of ritual.
We received our Masonry from:
The Mother Grand Lodge of England 1717-1753
The Grand Lodge of the <20>Ancients<74> 1753-1813
The Grand Lodge of the <20>Moderns<6E> 1753-1813
The United Grand Lodge 1813 and on -
The Grand Lodge of Ireland 1724- and on -
The Grand Lodge of Scotland 1736 and on -
and From the Pre-Grand Lodge era of Lodges of England, Ireland and (or)
Scotland.
Unfortunately for the historian, this list does not signify six or seven
different but <20>pure<72> forms. The ritual of the original Grand Lodge
changed as it flowed, through many years after 1717. The Grand Lodges
of <20>Ancients<74> and <20>Moderns both made alterations in ritual so that rival
members of each body found it impossible to make themselves known
Masonically in the other. Ireland and Scotland were, and are, as
different as Pennsylvania and California. From pre-Grand Lodges members
came to this country to form themselves into Lodges without Warrant or
Charter (as was the custom in early days). A dozen men, bringing <20>what
they remembered of the<68> ritual they heard when <20>made,<2C> to form a Lodge,
would naturally include in their ritual a little of one original source,
some phrases from another beginning, a paragraph from a third
wellspring, and so on.
The Mother Grand Lodge ritual (1717 to 1753) was not the ritual of the
United Grand Lodge which came into existence in 1813, when the two parts
of the original Mother Grand Lodge (<28>Ancients<74> and <20>Moderns<6E>) again came
together. The United Grand Lodge, or Grand Lodge of Reconciliation,
formed its ritual from the best of the divergent rituals of the
<EFBFBD>Ancients<EFBFBD> and the <20>Moderns.<2E>
Thus, Lodges in this country which received ritual, in any and all
states of purity or impurity, from either of these several sources,
would differ decidedly each from the other.
Come we now to the spread of Masonry in the thirteen colonies, and
later, through the forty-eight states, territories, and the District of
Columbia. To write even one paragraph of Masonic history of ritual in
so many subdivisions would make this Bulletin unreadably long. But a
few high lights may be noted.
From our primary American sources of ritual, in one way or another all
other American Grand Jurisdictions, in part at least, received their
<EFBFBD>work;<3B> Massachusetts, which at first sent forth what must have been at
least an approximation of the work of the original Mother Grand Lodge,
though her ritual today is derived from both <20>Moderns<6E> and <20>Ancients;<3B>
Pennsylvania and Virginia, both giving forth individual variants of a
combination of <20>Modern<72> and <20>Ancient,<2C> and North Carolina, almost purely
<EFBFBD>Modern.<2E>
In 1915 Dean Roscoe Pound showed how various were the next groups of
States which received their rituals from the first four American
sources. He developed that Maine derived from Massachusetts since the
fusion; Vermont derived from the Grand Lodge of <20>Ancients<74> in
Massachusetts before the fusion; Ohio derived from Massachusetts, from
Connecticut, a strictly <20>Modern<72> Jurisdiction, and from Pennsylvania;
Indiana derived from Ohio and Kentucky, which later represents Virginia
after the fusion, Michigan derived from the <20>Ancient<6E> Grand Lodge of
Canada and from New York, which since the Revolution was a Strictly
<EFBFBD>Ancient<EFBFBD> Jurisdiction; Kentucky derived from Virginia; Tennessee
derived from North Carolina, a purely <20>Modern<72> Jurisdiction; Alabama
derived from North Carolina, from South Carolina and from Tennessee,
thus representing Virginia and North Carolina; Louisiana derived from
South Carolina, from Pennsylvania and from France; Florida derived from
Georgia and from South Carolina; Missouri derived from Pennsylvania and
from Tennessee, representing therefore, the fusion in Pennsylvania and
the <20>Modern Masonry<72> of North Carolina; Illinois derived from Kentucky
and so represents Virginia; and the District of Columbia derived
Maryland (a fusion of <20>Modern Masonry from Massachusetts and from
England direct, with the <20>Ancient Masonry<72> from Pennsylvania), and from
Virginia.
The further west we go, the more we find a mixture of sources,
complicated rather than simplified by such matters as the splitting of
the Grand Lodge of Dakota into the Grand Lodge the of South Dakota and
North Dakota, when these two States were formed, and the formation of
the Grand Lodge of California, which drew its work from many different
sources. California Lodge No.13, of the District of Columbia, was
formed for the purpose of carrying Masonry to the Golden Gate at the
time of the gold rush. That Lodge is now No.1 on the California Grand
Lodge Register. But California<69>s ritual is not more similar to the
District of Columbia working than that of any other State, since the
District Lodge was but one of several which formed the Grand Lodge of
California.
There have been certain unifying influences; the Baltimore Convention of
1843, the conclusions of which were adopted in whole or in part by
several American Grand Jurisdictions, and the work of Bob Morris and his
conservators, which, despite its chilly reception by many Grand
Jurisdictions, undoubtedly left its impression on American ritual. A
third unifying influence has been the tremendous impress made on almost
all American Jurisdictions by Thomas Smith Webb, and Jeremy Cross,
plainly evident in the exoteric paragraphs printed in many State
Monitors or Manuals. A fourth has been the honest desire and strenuous
efforts of many Grand Lodges through District Deputies, Grand Lecturers,
Schools of Instruction and similar machinery, to preserve what
they have in its supposedly ancient perfection. But by the time these
latter were in operation, ritual was more or less fixed. Because of the
reverence of the average Mason for what he is taught, and his fierce
resentment of any material change in that which he learns, rituals and
degree forms, ceremonies and practices, usages and customs continue to
be what he believes them to have been <20>from time immemorial<61> even when
sober fact shows that they have an antiquity of (in all probability)
less than two hundred years.
For the benefit of those Masons to whom divergence of ritual is not the
less distressing thing, but that it is understandable, it may be said
that most authorities agree that it is really not a matter of great
moment. All over the world Freemasonry teaches the same truths, offers
the same spiritual comfort, creates and continues the same fraternal
bond. In <20>non essentials, variety; in essentials, unity<74> might have
been written of Masonry. It matters little how we wear the apron in a
given degree - so be it that it is worn with honor. The method of
giving a sign or a pass matters much less than that what we do is done
with understanding.
While Freemasonry continues to observe and revere those few Landmarks
which are undisputed everywhere - those which Joseph Fort Newton says
are <20>The Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood of Man, and the hope of Life
Everlasting,<2C> it becomes of less moment that different men, in different
times, in different localities, have found more than one way to phrase
and to teach the ancient verities of the old, old Craft.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XII February, 1934 No.2
HIRAM ABIF
by: Unknown
The word <20>Abif<69> (sometimes written <20>Abiff.<2E> but far less often than
with the single <20>F<EFBFBD>) has in one way or another caused considerable
controversy among both Biblical and Masonic scholars.
Those who are familiar with Hebrew speak learnedly of its derivation
from Abi or Abiw or abiv - the consonants W and V being
approximations, apparently, of a Hebrew sound not easily rendered in
English letters. Our familiar King James Bible translates the word
two ways <20>Huram my father<65>s<EFBFBD> and <20>Huram his father<65> which in itself
has led to some confusion as to whether our Hiram Abif was the only
Hiram or the father of another. Scholars, however, are fairly well
agreed that <20>my father<65> as a translation of <20>Abif<69> is correct if the
words be understood as a title of honor. Hiram the Widow<6F>s Son was
<EFBFBD>father<EFBFBD> in the same sense that priests of the church are so known;
the same variety of father that was Abraham to the tribes of Israel.
Abif, then, is a title of respect and veneration, rather than a
genealogical term.
Just when the legend of Hiram Abif came into our symbolism is a study
by itself of which only a few bare facts can here be included.
Common understanding believes that Hiram Abif has always been in our
system, and descended to us from the days of Solomon. But critical
scholarship will have none of <20>common understanding<6E> and demands
proof; names, dates, places, documents before setting a date to any
happening.
Our oldest Masonic manuscript (Regius Poem, dated approximately 1390)
traces Masonry not to Solomon but to Nimrod and Euclid, in a still
earlier time. In this is no mention of Hiram Abif. The Dowland
manuscript, dated about 1550, mentions him but only as one of many.
Not until The King James version of the Bible appeared (1611) do we
find Hiram Abif know as such with any degree of familiarity. Yet
here a curious fact it to be found; sometime after the new Bible made
its appearance - late in the sixteen hundreds, when the King James
version had become well known - interest in King Solomon<6F>s Temple was
so keen that many models were made and exhibited and handbooks about
it printed and distributed. Such specific interest in this
particular building from the then new book may easily have come from
the familiarity of Operative and some Speculative Masons with the
Temple symbolism and, by inference, with Hiram Abif.
Anderson<EFBFBD>s explanatory footnote of Hiram Abif in his Constitutions
(1732) is as follows (spelling and capitalization modernized and
Hebrew letters omitted):
<EFBFBD>We read (2 Chron. ii, 13) Hiram, King of Tyre (called there Huram),
in his letter to King Solomon, says, I have met a cunning man, le
huram Abi not to be translated according to the vulgar Greek and
Latin, Huram my Father, as if this architect was King Hiram<61>s father;
for his description, ver. 14, refutes it, and the original plainly
imports, Huram of my Father<65>s, viz, the Chief Master Mason of my
Father, King Abibalus; (who enlarged and beautified the city of Tyre,
as ancient histories inform us, whereby the Tyrians at this time were
most expert in Masonry) tho some think Hiram the King might call
Hiram the architect father, as learned and skillful men were wont to
be called of old times, or as Joseph was called the father of
Pharaoh; and as the same Hiram is called Solomon<6F>s father, (2 Chron.
iv, 16) where <20>tis said:
Shelomoh lammelech Abhif Churam ghmasah.Did Huram, his father, make
to King Solomon.But the difficulty is over at once, by allowing the
Abif to be the surname of Hiram the Mason, called also (Chap. ii, 13)
Hiram Abi, as here Hiram Abif; for being so amply described
(Chap.ii,14) we may easily suppose his surname would not be
concealed: And this reading makes the sense plain and complete,
viz., that Hiram, King of Tyre, sent to King Solomon his namesake
Hiram Abif, the prince of architects, decried (1 Kings vii, 14) to be
a widow<6F>s son of the Tribe of Naphthali; and in (2 Chron. ii, 14) the
said King of Tyre calls him the son of a woman of the daughters of
Dan; and in both places, that his father was a man of Tyre, which
difficulty is removed, by supposing his mother was either of the
Tribe of Dan, or of the daughters of the city called Dan in the Tribe
of Naphthali, and his deceased father had been a Naphthalite, whence
his mother was called a widow of Naphthali; for his father is not
called a Tyrian by descent, but his a man of Tyre by habitation; as
Obed Edom the Levite is called Gittite, by living among the Gitties,
and the Apostle Paul a man of Tarsus. But supposing a mistake in
transcribers, and that his father was really a Tyrian by blood and
his mother only of the Tribe either of Dan or of Naphthali, that can
be no bar against allowing of his vast capacity, for as his father
was a worker in brass, so he himself was filled with wisdom and
understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass; and as King
Solomon sent for him, so King Hiram, in his letter to Solomon, says:
And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding,
skillful to work in Gold, silver, brass, iron, stone, timber, purple,
blue, fine linen and crimson; also to grave any manner of graving,
and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy
cunning men, and with the cunning men of My Lord David thy father.
This divinely inspired workman maintained this character in erecting
the Temple, and in working the utensils thereof, far beyond the
performances of Aholiab and Bezaleel, being so universally capable of
all sorts of Masonry.<2E>
In First Kings we read: <20>And King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out
of Tyure. He was a widow<6F>s son of the tribe of Naphthali and his
father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was filled with
wisdom and understanding and cunning to work all kinds of brass. And
he came to King Solomon and wrought all his work.<2E>
In Second Chronicles Hiram, King of Tyre, is made to say:
<EFBFBD>And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding, Huram
my father<65>s, the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his
father was a man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold and silver, in
brass. iron, in stone and in timber, in purple and blue and fine
linen, and in crimson, and to find out every device which shall be
put to him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of David,
thy father.<2E>
Alas for those who would believe in the literal truth of the Legend
if they could find but a single word to hang to; the end of the story
of Hiram Abif is short and calm, not great or tragic. The Chronicler
says<EFBFBD> <20>And Huram finished the work that he was to make for King
Solomon for the house of God<6F> and the writer of Kings is no less
brief:
<EFBFBD>So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made King Solomon
for the house of the Lord.<2E>
This is not the place to speculate upon the formation of <20>The
Master<EFBFBD>s Part<72> into our Third Degree - critical scholarship does not
believe our ceremony was cast into anything like its present form
prior to 1725 at the earliest. But Anderson would not have devoted
so much attention to Hiram Abif without some good reason; it seems
obvious that <20>in some form,<2C> the story of Hiram Abif was of
importance in 1723, and by inference, in the Lodges which formed the
Grand Lodge which led to the writing of the Constitutions.
Facts are stubborn and frequently run counter to our desires. We
would like to believe in the verity of the legends which cluster
around Hiram Abif, but we actually know very little about him.
In addition to six Biblical references, Josephus quotes Menander and
Duis in reference to him two or three times, and refers independently
as many more . . . and that is all; not very much on which to build
our belief in his character, his greatness, his towering moral and
spiritual entity.
On the other hand, it is perfectly possible to envisage any historic
character at least in large outline by careful analogy with other
contemporary characters, by reference to his time, his civilization,
his opportunity, his work. Suppose that all we knew of George
Washington was that he was General In Chief of the Revolutionary
Army, lived at Mount Vernon, and was the first President of the
United States. Much might be read of him merely from these three
facts. Thirteen colonies, engaged in a struggle to the death for
freedom, would not choose for a leader a man without experience in
military affairs. The fact that the Revolution succeeded would tell
us that his leadership must have been superb. That he was made First
President of the new Republic would indicate with certainty that he
had the confidence of the people as a soldier, a man, a leader, and
consequently possessed a character to be admired and revered,
otherwise he would not be so chose. Merely to look a Mount Vernon is
to see a lover of beauty, a man of taste and education, one who loved
the earth and its products; the great house speaks with emphasis of
hospitality. Much more might be read of Washington from only these
three facts, but enough has been said to show the process by which we
may envisage something of Hiram Abif, even with only meager data.
Sacred history teaches much of the time of Solomon; of his queen, the
daughter of Egypt; of Hiram, King of Tyre; of Adoniram, the tax
collector; of officers Solomon set over various districts. We have a
regal picture of Solomon<6F>s court, and lengthy and minute description
of the Temple.
The chief builder, architect, master workman, give him what title you
will, could hardly have mixed in such company, directed the greatest
work in Israel<65>s history, been received by Solomon from Hiram King of
Tyre as the best he had to offer, and not been a man of parts,
ability, skill, learning, culture. To think of him only as one
<EFBFBD>cunning to work all kinds of brass,<2C> in other words, only as an
artisan, is completely to misunderstand the too few words in
Chronicles and Kings. Rather let us put our belief in the statement
that Hiram Abif was <20>filled with wisdom and understanding<6E> and recall
Solomon<EFBFBD>s many words of admiration for wisdom; he must have been a
wise man indeed into whose charge Solomon the Wise was content to
give his most ambitious undertaking.
It is commonplace that genius is eccentric; those touched with the
divine fire are often <20>different<6E> from men of more common clay. So
it is not surprising that one legend tells of intense loyalty, of
firmness and fortitude under duress, reading into these
characteristics an exalted and elevated character, quite in keeping
with the architect and builder of the Temple.
The distinction between architect and builder is often hazy - it
should be acute. Our ritual speaks of Hiram Abif as one <20>who by his
great skill in the arts and sciences was so effectually enabled to
beautify and adorn the Temple,<2C> which seems to make him a mere
adorner! Anything wholly fitted to its use becomes beautiful because
of unity and completeness, yet it is also true that what is also
useful as a building is not necessarily beautiful to the eye. Any
square box of a house gives as secure a shelter as one beautiful in
proportion. But complete beauty of building comes when the utility
is combined with an appeal to sense and soul.
The Temp[le built by Hiram Abif was no mere shelter; it was the
expression of Israel<65>s love of God. To consider Hiram Abif as a mere
decorator, beautifier, ornamenter is to deny the very thing for which
he lived and - in the legend - gave his life. Architect he was, in
all that the best sense of the word implies; builder he was, in that
he carried out his own plans.
Of his physical being we have no details. The probability is that he
stood about five feet six inches in height, was bearded, swarthy in
countenance, had dark eyes, his hair likely long and curly, his
shoulders broad - these were the characteristics of his people.
Doubtless he was married and a father when he built the Temple. The
men of the Twelve Tribes married early; an unmarried man was almost
unknown, so be it he was not a cripple, maimed or diseased. Hiram
Abif would have a reasonable amount of wealth; the chief workman
which Hiram, King of Tyre, sent to King Solomon who <20>wrought all his
work<EFBFBD> would be no tyro, amateur or beginner; but a man famed for his
art and science and craftsmanship, and thus, one who had already won
fame and fortune before he was given this, the greatest task ever
laid on the shoulders of a man of the time of Solomon.
Undoubtedly he was regarded with awe and veneration by those workmen
over whom he came to rule while building the Temple, and all their
families and connections, because of his ability as a great artist.
Tribes which but a short time back had been tent-dwelling nomads,
whose art was small and whose handiwork was of the crudest, must have
looked at one as skilled as Hiram Abif as at a magician, a miracle
man, one equal to the very High Priest himself. No wonder they
called him Abif, <20>my father!<21>
Hiram Abif must have been, at least in private, treated by Solomon as
a familiar friend, as much an equal as was possible for an Eastern
Potentate of absolute power and authority. Consultations would be
daily in the building of the Temple. Hiram Abif would be received as
an honored guest at Solomon<6F>s table. If in public the Architect
treated his lord and master with the profound respect which such as
Solomon have always exacted from subjects high and low, it is
probable that such asteroids were relaxed in private, so that there
is nothing incongruous in our legendary picture of Solomon, King of
Israel, Hiram, King of Trye, and Hiram Abif, acting together in
concert as co-rulers - <20>our first three most excellent Grand Masters<72>
- in governing the workmen and erecting the mighty structure which
engaged their attention for seven years.
It is easy to say this verbal picture is but a flight of fancy. It
is less easy to draw a less attractive one in its place and make it
appear true. While we know Chronicles and Kings and a few other
ancient accounts almost nothing of the architect, we do - thanks to
patient scholarship, much digging in the earth, and a reading of the
literature of all times - know much of the people of Israel, how they
worked and ate and lived and loved and labored. After all, it is
less important that our mental picture of the illustrious Tyrian be
absolutely accurate in small detail than that we keep a true image of
a venerated character in our hearts. The color of his eyes and hair
matter little; the hue of his conscience, everything. We are told of
his knowledge of art and building, of brass and stone, of carving and
sculpture - knowing other great artists who have devoted their lives
to the creation of the beautiful, it is with some assurance that we
liken Hiram Abif<69>s character to the average of great workmen who have
labored to produce beauty before the eyes of Him they worshipped.
Legendary though our story of Hiram is, and must ever be, our
conception of the Architect can continue to be an inspiring fact, and
we are the better men and Masons that it is such a man as this we are
taught to represent.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XII March, 1934 No.3
FOUNDATIONS OF MASONIC LAW
by: Unknown
The history of law and law making is the history of civilization. As
man<EFBFBD>s sense of justice developed with increasing needs and
responsibilities, his ideas of legal enactments altered and changed.
What was lawful in one age became crime in the next; what was
criminal in one age was sanctioned by legislation in the next, in a
thousand periods, climes and countries. Within the memory of men now
living in the west it was permissible to hang a horse thief with no
more legal basis than common necessity; today we name it lynching and
make it illegal. Similarly, it was once illegal for a man to run
away from his employer (slaves, prior to the Civil War) whereas now
any man may travel where he will.
Masonic law, also, has seen developments during the nearly two and a
quarter centuries since the formation of the Mother Grand Lodge;
Some acts right in one age are wrong in this, and certain wrongs of
one century become right in the next. For instance, the power to
make a Mason at sight is now denied by some Grand Lodges to their
Grand Masters; the ancient right of all Lodges to be represented in
Grand Lodge by both Master and Wardens is not now universal.
In the narrower sense, Masonic law rest upon the Old Constitutions,
the Old Charges and the Landmarks; the superstructure is made up of
the Constitutions and By-Laws of Grand Lodges; the decisions of Grand
Lodges on appeals; the edicts of Grand Masters; the decisions of
Grand Masters, sometimes standing without review, more often reviewed
and confirmed by Grand Lodges.
But in the wider sense, Masonic law is based upon English law - which
goes back to Roman law - so that it is within the facts to say that
Masonic law is a development of the ideas of equity, and the
administration of justice, of the days of ancient Rome.
From the time of the reign of Diocletian (284-305 A.D.) on political
theory the Roman State was republic. Ultimate sovereignty was in the
Roman people. The Emperor was the First Citizen, to whom the Roman
people had delegated their sovereignty for the time being, by act of
legislative authority. As time went on, the Emperor became thought
of as the ultimate repository of sovereignty, the source of law. His
powers began when he welded the authority which the sovereign Roman
people delegated to him. But inasmuch as the people, through their
legislative assembly, could lawfully enact a law, the Emperor, having
been delegated their authority, came to be thought also to have the
power to enact a law. Law thus enacted by the Emperor, by virtue of
legislative authority vested in him, was called <20>Constitution,<2C> or in
our language, Constitution. Actually enacted by the Emperor, such
laws were considered rules established by legislative act.
A second medium by which the Roman Emperor made law was by decisions
in cases taken before him on appeal, or cases adjudicated directly by
him. The Emperor filed his opinion or judgment, which when rendered
was called a decree. Under the Roman system. a Roman magistrate had
no power to render a decision of judgment; such decisions were
rendered only by judges or arbitrators chosen for the case. A
magistrate, however, could decide certain matters and render a
decree; these powers also were delegated to the Emperor at his
accession.
Power to make or declare law by edict originally belonged to the
magistrates of the Roman Republic, and was exercised by the Praetors
or judicial magistrates. In the beginning edicts were pronouncements
by a magistrate of a course which he proposed to take in the
administration of his office, to the end that the citizen might know
what to expect. In time these pronouncements easily became
authority, and had the force and effect of law which governed the
administration of the official who made the pronouncement. When the
power of the magistrate was delegated to the Emperor, the power of
issuing an edict also passed to him. The Emperor was thus given
authority to issue general orders governing matters of
administration, which had the full force and effect of law. In the
Roman Empire an edict was a general administrative law, as
distinguished from a judicial order, prescribing the conduct of some
matter of administration.
The Roman Emperor also made or declared law by <20>rescripts<74>; letters
or answers which he made to questions put to him by judges or
magistrates. In the judicial system of Rome, a judge, having a cause
for adjudication, was advised by the expert opinion of a person
learned in the law, known as the Jurisconsult. As the Emperor was
the Jurisconsult of highest authority, the practice of submitting
questions of law to him for his opinion was but natural; having all
the sovereign power of the Roman people vested in him, his
determination was final.
<EFBFBD>The Constitutions of the Free-Masons<6E> published in 1723 contains the
<EFBFBD>History, Charges, Regulations, & etc.<2E> of the Craft. This volume is
the foundation stone of our Masonic law. But it is not the only
<EFBFBD>Constitution<EFBFBD> of Freemasonry.
At the end of the eighteenth century the people of this country
constituted themselves the sovereign, and as much the highest earthly
power, fixing as the frame work of the Government then formed what we
call the Constitution, the object being to limit the several organs
of Government set up. Proceeding from the highest earthly power,
this is our superior law, to which the several legislatures and
departments of the Government must yield.
In the same way, the Constitution of a Grand Lodge, whether called by
that name or another, is the superior law of that Grand Lodge; the
act of the supreme legislative authority of all Masons in that
Jurisdiction, acting through their legally authorized
representatives. Whatever the Grand Lodge establishes and
promulgates as its fundamental law becomes its Constitution.
In the early part of the eighteenth century, a Constitution in this
sense was unknown; Anderson<6F>s Constitutions was but a reducing to
writing of existing usage and customs. So, in speaking of Masonic
Constitutions, we must distinguish between Anderson, whose work was
fundamental Masonic law, and the Constitution or governing instrument
of an individual Grand Lodge, devised and adopted by it to fit its
own particular needs. Anderson<6F>s Constitutions belong to the Craft
as a whole; a Grand Lodge<67>s Constitution is its alone, and has no
force or effect beyond its Jurisdictional limits of authority.
The similarity between the law of Rome and the modern conception of
Masonic law is striking. To the Roman Emperor was delegated the
powers of the sovereign Roman people. To the Grand Master is
delegated many (not all) of the powers of the sovereign Craftsmen.
Thus, in Landmark 3, in the <20>Constitution, By-Laws, General
Regulations and Edicts of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey,<2C> we read:
<EFBFBD>The Grand Master is elected by the Craft, and holds office until his
successor is duly installed. He is the <20>Ruler<65> of the Craft and is,
of right, the presiding officer of every assemblage of Masons as
such. He may, within his Jurisdiction, convene a lodge at any time
or place and do Masonic work therein; may create lodges by his
warrant, and arrest the warrant of any lodge. He may suspend, during
his pleasure, the operation of any rule or regulation of Masonry not
a <20>Landmark.<2E> He may suspend the installed officers of any lodge,
and reinstate them at his pleasure and is not answerable for his acts
as Grand Master. He may deputize any brother to do any act in his
absence which he himself might do if present.<2E>
This excerpt has been chosen because it sets forth certain powers of
the Grand Master more plainly than is done in some other
Jurisdictions, but his fundamental powers are rarely questioned in
any Jurisdiction. Particular attention is called to two statements:
the Grand Master is the <20>Ruler<65> of the Craft, and, he is not
answerable for his acts as Grand Master. These two powers over the
Roman people were inherent in the Roman Emperors.
The Roman Emperor made law by decisions in cases taken to him on
appeal, or in those which he adjudicated directly. The Grand Lodge
hears appeals from those involved in Masonic trials, and affirms or
reverses the decision of the Lodge (or trial commission); Grand
Lodges adjudicate directly in trials involving Masons who are members
of Grand Lodge. The modern conception of justice is bound up in our
belief in the right of appeal from a lower authority to a higher, and
finally to the highest, that fallible human justice may be made as
infallible as possible. The brother in Lodge cannot appeal from the
decision of his Master, but can appeal to the Grand Master or the
Grand Lodge. The brother tried, convicted and punished, may not
appeal to the Lodge that tries him, but may appeal to the highest
authority, the Grand Lodge.
The Roman Emperor made law by <20>rescript<70>; by letters of answer to
questions put to him by a judge or magistrate. All Grand Masters are
called upon to make decisions on questions asked by Masters of Lodges
or individual Craftsmen. Like those of the Emperor, these decisions
are law for the time being, and usually (not invariably) become part
of the written law when Grand Lodge receives the Grand Master<65>s
report of the decisions he has made during the year. The Grand Lodge
either affirms the decision, or, if its legality has been questioned
by the Committee on Jurisprudence, mat adopt the Committee<65>s report,
thus determining that the law in the future is contrary to what the
Grand Master decided.
The roman Emperor made law by edict. An edict was initiated by the
Emperor; the decision came as a response to an appeal. the Grand
Master may issue an edict as an initiatory act of law making, it
stands as law until repealed or affirmed by Grand Lodge.
The development of law making in modern times is divided by Dean
Roscoe Pound into four stages:
1. Unconscious legislation, when dealing with common law
principles. The facts of the case before the Court may differ
from those of a former case, to which the Court has applied a
common law principle. Notwithstanding the difference in the
facts, the Court may extend the common law principle to cover
the case at the bar; the legal effect of this is to extend the
common law doctrine to new limits. This was described by the
late Justice Harlan, of the Supreme Court, as <20>Judicial
Legislation,<2C> because in law the latest application of a
doctrine establishes the law of jurisdiction.
2. Declaratory legislation, or reducing the unwritten law to
written law. This does not result in new law, but only gives
written authoritative expression to already existing common law.
3. Selection and amendment, when by the political union of peoples
with divergent customs, it becomes necessary. A new State
resulting from a combination of peoples of different customs,
requires selecting and amending laws and customs of the
different peoples to fit the needs of the new State.
4. Conscious legislation; law making to meet existing exigencies or
new conditions.
Here also we find distinct parallelism with Masonic law. The law of
a certain Jurisdiction states that no man may be made a member of the
Craft who is <20>engaged in the manufacture or sale of intoxicating
liquor.<2E> By <20>unconscious legislation<6F> a Grand Master extended this
to mean, also, a book-keeper employed by a man who sold liquor. A
later Grand Master extended this enactment to mean a stockholder in a
hotel company who countenanced the sale of liquor by that hotel. As
these decisions were confirmed by Grand Lodge, they became
constitutional law in that Jurisdiction.
Masonic declaratory legislation, reducing the unwritten to written
law, first took place in London in 1723, when Anderson<6F>s
Constitutions were published. But the process has by no means been
completed. Many Grand Jurisdictions have local customs which have
grown up through the years; it occurs to someone, or the need arises,
to have this reduced to writing and made a part of the constitution
of the Grand Lodge By-Laws. It is properly put before Grand Lodge,
and becomes law.
In a certain Jurisdiction the ancient custom of opening the V.S.L. at
definite passages of Scripture during the three degrees was thought
by some to be more honored in the breach than in the observance.
Grand Lodge decided that what its prophets contended was the common
practice, should prevail. It is now law in that Jurisdiction that
the Bible may be opened <20>at Random.<2E>
Selection and amendment takes place Masonically when a new Grand
Lodge is formed, or an old one splits in two. When the States of
North and South Dakota were formed from the Territory of Dakota, the
Grand Lodge of the Territory became two Grand Lodges. The Grand
Lodge of North Dakota selected and amended the law of the Mother
Grand Lodge to form its own Constitution.
Conscious legislation in Masonic bodies is similar to that in all
other legislative bodies. In almost every Grand Lodge meeting some
amendment to existing law is offered, to lie over for a year, or
having been proposed the previous year, it is acted upon and accepted
or rejected.
Grand Masters and Grand Lodges today have far more despotic power
than any ruler or national legislative assembly in any modern body
politic. That such despotic authority has learned to rule wisely and
well; that Grand Masters under-emphasize rather than over-use their
powers; that the Craft as a whole is well, sanely and soundly
governed, are tributes to the gentle influence of the principles of
Masonry, too great for even headstrong men to oppose. Truly,
Masonic leaders have well learned the ancient truth:
<EFBFBD>O, <20>tis excellent To have a giant<6E>s strength, but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant!<21>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XII April, 1934 No.4
WHERE WAS LAFAYETTE MADE A MASON?
by: Unknown
Brother Lafayette entered the Grand Lodge Above on May 20, 1834.
Many Lodges in 1934 will dedicate meetings to a memory only less
immortal than that of his friend and brother George Washington. To
aid n such undertakings, this Bulletin sets forth the principal
contradictory testimonies about this Masonic making.
Julius S. Sachse, Grand Librarian if the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania,
learned student and scholar. wrote (Brochure. 1916):
<EFBFBD>No original documentary evidence is known to be in existence which
records the initiation of General Lafayette in the Masonic
Fraternity, nor in what Lodge or when it took place. It has always
been a tradition in Masonic circles that General Lafayette was made a
Mason in one of the Military Lodges at Morristown, New Jersey, where
a Festal Lodge was held December 27, 1797, for which occasion the
jewels and furniture and clothing of St. John<68>s Lodge No.1 of Newark,
New Jersey, was borrowed. The meeting proved a great success, sixty-
eight brethren being present, one of whom was George Washington.
<EFBFBD>There is another tradition that General Lafayette was made a Mason
in a Military Lodge which met at Valley Forge during the winter of
1777-78, but no official records of such action have thus far been
discovered.<2E>
Dr. Fredrick W. Hamilton, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of
Massachusetts, eminent and learned Masonic scholar, write (The
Builder, March 1921):
<EFBFBD>Where and when La Fayette was made a Mason is not known. There are
at least two quite different traditions, but neither rests on any
very substantial basis or historic fact. Not improbably it was on
the eve of his momentous diplomatic mission to France when he was
just twenty-two; almost certainly it was in the Army Lodge; very
probably it was at the insistence and in the presence of Washington.
What is more likely than that Washington should have desires to weave
the bond of Masonic brotherhood around the young man who was to play
so delicate and important a part in the relations between the great
Mason who commanded the American Army and the other great Mason,
America<EFBFBD>s greatest diplomat, Benjamin Franklin, who was American
Ambassador to the French King.?
<EFBFBD>When La Fayette made his last visit to the United States the Grand
Lodge of Pennsylvania received him with distinguished honors, but
before doing so appointed a committee to investigate and report upon
his Masonic regularity. The committee reported that they had made
careful investigation and were fully satisfied, but unfortunately
their report gave no information whatever as to the evidence upon
which this conclusion was based.
<EFBFBD>Gould, in the <20>Library of Freemasonry.<2E> named the place of ceremony
as Morristown, N.J., saying, <20>According to the late C.W. Moore, all
the American Generals of the Revolution, with the exception of
Benedict Arnold, were Freemasons. The Marquis de Lafayette was among
the number, and it is believed that he was initiated in American
Union Lodge at Morristown, N.J., the jewels and furniture used on the
occasion being sent by St. John<68>s Lodge at Newark, N.J.<2E>
Under the full page portrait of Lafayette which embellishes this
article, appears this caption: <20>The Marquis Lafayette was admitted
into Freemasonry in American Union Lodge which was held in a room
over the old Freeman<61>s Tavern, on the north side of the green,
Morristown, New Jersey, during the winter of 1777, at which time
Brother George Washington presided in person.<2E>
As Benedict Arnold <20>was<61> a Mason, his name was expunged from the
rolls after he was proved a traitor; the reader must decide for
himself how much weight can be given the testimony of <20>the late C.W.
Moore.<2E>
Past Grand Master Harry J. Guthrie, Delaware, Contributed a scholarly
paper on Lafayette to <20>The Builder<65>, in March, 1925. From it the
following is abstracted:
<EFBFBD>General Lafayette arrived in this country on June 14, 1777; received
a commission (honorary in effect) as a Major General from the
congress and was later assigned to Washington<6F>s staff July 31, 1777;
led part of the troops in the Battle of Brandywine on September 11,
1777, where he was wounded in the leg and remained incapacitated at
Bethlehem, Pa., until the later part of October. He volunteered for
duty when scarcely able to place a boot on his foot, was assigned to
the command of General Green and assisted in a reconnoiter with a
view of giving battle to Lord Cornwallis, strongly entranced at
Gloucester Point, N.J. The fact that the whole country between New
York and Philadel-phia was held in British grip precludes the
probability of a gathering of general officers of the American Army
attending a Masonic function at Morristown, N.J. between the first
of November and the fifteenth of December 1777, on which date
Washington went into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pa., where
Lafayette was quartered until after Dec. 30, 1777, after which time
he went to Albany, N.Y.
<EFBFBD>This should satisfy the mind as to the utter improbability of his
having taken any degrees at Morristown, N.J. in 1777. But I am
inclined to think the printed date of 1777 an error and that it
should read 1779 in accordance with the tradition. History and
government records inform us that on October 21, 1778, Lafayette, as
a Major General, was granted a leave of absence to go to France to
return at his convenience. (Probably on a secret mission) Lafayette
left Boston Harbor Fe. 11, 1779 for France; and the fact that he was
presented with the Congressional sword at Havre on Aug. 24, 1779,
comes pretty near proving that he arrived in France. On the return
trip he sailed aboard the French frigate Herman from Rochelle March
19, 1780, and landed at Boston April 28, 1780, and on May 13, 1780,
the Continental Congress considered his return to America to resume
his command as a fresh proof of zeal, etc., etc. So it was not
possible for him to have received the degrees of Freemasonry at
Morristown, N.J. in December 1779, and that is the reason a reference
was not made to him and that his name was not included in the Lodge
register which contained the names of Washington and the other sixty-
seven distinguished visitors.<2E>
Gould, in his <20>Military Lodges,<2C> says:
<EFBFBD>In December, 1777, the Army retired to Valley Forge, and it was
there - according to evidence which seems to be of a trustworthy
character - that General Lafayette was initiated. The French
Officer, though he had been received very warmly and kindly by
General Washington, experience much uneasiness from the circumstance
that he had never been entrusted with a <20>separate command.<2E> During
the winter he learned there was a Lodge working in the camp. Time
hanging heavily on his hands, and the routine of duty being
monotonous, he conceived the idea that he would like to be made a
Mason. His wish, on being made know to the Lodge, was soon
gratified, the Commander-in-Chief being present and in the chair at
the time of his initiation.
<EFBFBD>After I was made a Mason,<2C> said Lafayette, <20>General Washington
seemed to have received a new light. I never had from that moment
any cause to doubt his entire confidence. It was not long before I
had a <20>separate command<6E> of great importance.<2E><>
Moore in his <20>Masonic Biography<68> states: <20>He had already become a
member of the Masonic Fraternity.<2E> (This was prior to his coming to
America.)
Findel, in his <20>History of Freemasonry,<2C> states that Lafayette
attended a Masonic meeting December 25, 1775, for the purpose of
consecrating a lodge named Da La Candeur. Particular mention was
made of Lafayette being present.
Brother W.P. Strickland, D.D., stated in his late sixties that
Lafayette was a member of the Fraternity when he came to America.
Earl B. Dellzell, in the <20>Grand Lodge Bulletin,<2C> Iowa, November,
1930, states<65>
<EFBFBD>In the proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee of 1825, pages
133 and 135, the minutes of the Grand Lodge of Wednesday, May 4,
1825, state: <20>Our illustrious brother General Lafayette was
unanimously elected an honorary member of this Grand Lodge.<2E> Later
we find: <20>Our illustrious brother General Lafayette was introduced
by Bros. Andrew Jackson and G.W. Campbell, received with Grand
Honors, and seated on the right of the W.W. Grand Master.<2E>
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD>At the conclusion of the Grand Master<65>s address of welcome,
Lafayette made a feeling and appropriate reply, in substance as
follows:<3A>
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD>He felt himself highly gratified at being so kindly welcomed by the
Grand Lodge of Tennessee, and at being made an honorary member of
that Lodge, in which he had been introduced by the distinguished
brother Mason who had erected the lines of New Orleans, and, in
technical language of the Craft, had made them <20>well-formed, true and
trusty.<2E> He had, he said, been long a member of the Order, having
been initiated, young as he was, even before he entered the service
of our country in the Revolutionary War. He had never for a moment
ceased to love and venerate the institution, and was, therefore,
peculiarly delighted to see that it had spread its genial influence
thus far to the west, and that his brethren here were not only
comfortable, but brilliantly accommodated. He considered the Order
as peculiarly valuable in this country where it not only fostered the
principles of civil and religious liberty, but was eminently
calculated to link the extremities of this wide republic together,
and to perpetuate, by its fraternizing influence, the union of the
States.<2E><>
Contrast this with the statements made by Dr. George W. Chaytor,
addressing Lafayette Lodge No. 14, A.F. & A.M., Wilmington, Delaware,
January 18, 1875, on the fiftieth anniversary of its constitution.
(Quoted from the Guthrie article in <20>The Builder,<2C> March, 1925):
<EFBFBD>He was not a Mason when he landed in America, nor was he a Mason at
the Battle of Brandywine. The Army under Washington, in December,
1777, retired to Valley Forge, where they wintered. Connected with
the Army was a Lodge. It was at Valley Forge that he was made a
Mason. On this point there should be no second opinion - for surely
Lafayette knew best where he was made a Mason. We have this
statement from himself - made at the time he was the guest of the
Grand Lodge of Delaware, and to members of that Grand Body. The
statement he made was as follows:
<EFBFBD>He had offered his services to this country from the purest motives,
and he knew that, in his heart he had no selfish impulses. He found
a people struggling for liberty against tyranny, and he put his whole
soul in the cause. That Washington received him in the kindest and
warmest manner, and never in any direct way showed the he had not the
fullest confidence in his intentions and ability as a soldier, but
yet, he could not divest his mind of a suspicion (that at times gave
him great discomfort) that the General of the American Army was not
altogether free from doubt in his case. This suspicion was
engendered from the fact that he had never intrusted him with a
separate command. This fact, he said, weighed upon him and at times
made him very unhappy. With this exception, he had not the least
cause for discomfort. During the winter (1777-78), as the Army lay
at Valley Forge, he learned there was a Masonic Lodge working in
camp. Time hanging heavy, and the routine of duty being monotonous,
he conceived the idea that he would like to be made a Mason. He made
his wish known to a friend, who at once informed him that he himself
was a Mason, and would take pleasure in making his wish known to the
lodge. This was done, and he was there made a Mason. He also stated
that Washington was present and acted as Master of the Lodge at the
time of initiation.<2E>
<EFBFBD>This statement was made to members of the Grand Lodge, from some of
whom it was received. I have no doubt that he said what I have here
given, for the parties making the statement were gentlemen as well as
Masons, and their public lives show the estimate their fellow
citizens placed upon their honor and characters. I know that much
doubt and contradiction had been bandied about the important point in
Lafayette<EFBFBD>s life. Various places have been stated as the point of
his initiation - but an Army Lodge was always the organization in
which he secured light.
<EFBFBD>I have not yet finished his statement - the later part is evidence
of the former. In the beginning he stated he felt rather hurt that
Washington had not shown sufficient confidence to entrust him with a
separate command. Now listen to what he said later:
<EFBFBD>After I was made a Mason, General Washington seemed to have received
a new light - I never had, from that moment, any cause to doubt his
entire confidence. It was not long before I had a separate command
of great importance.<2E><>
Past Grand Master Guthrie says of this writer:
<EFBFBD>Dr. George W. Chaytor, well and favorably known, was a notable
physician and enthusiastic Mason. He was born December 25, 1813,
initiated September 7, 1841, raised November 2, 1841, and died April
14, 1878; respected by all men. He served his lodge as Master and in
1845 became a permanent member of the Grand Lodge of Delaware and was
immediately elected Senior Grand Warden, Grand Secretary, 1849-59,
Chairman of Committee on Foreign correspondence in 1875, elected
Grand Master of Masons of Delaware in 1875.<2E>
Just how much Dr. Chaytor really knew, and how much he was influenced
by tradition is now only a matter of speculation. Even a reliable
and worth witness may easily be misled in reporting on history a
hundred years after the fact. It is interesting, at least, that
Chaytor and Gould report the same language as coming from the lips of
Lafayette as far as the <20>separate command<6E> is concerned.
No attempt is here made to settle a question which has vexed the most
learned. That Lafayette was an enthusiastic, loyal and devoted Mason
no one can doubt; his reception on his final visit to this country
was one long Masonic Pilgrimage with Grand Lodges and Lodges vieing
with each other to do him honor. But just where he was <20>brought to
light<EFBFBD> is so involved with contradictions, that only further
discoveries seem likely, finally to settle it to the satisfaction of
Masonic Historians.
<EFBFBD>ADDENDUM<EFBFBD>
In <20>The New Age<67> magazine for July 1941, Brother Ray Baker Harris,
Librarian of the Supreme Council, 33 deg., Southern Jurisdiction,
revealed the acquisition of a rare 18th century program of the
inauguration of Lodge St. Jean de la Candeur in Paris in December,
1775
The Lodge had invited to the inauguration ceremonies <20>the Honorary,
Regular and Subordinate Officers, and Deputies, of all Lodges
composing the Grand Orient of France, and all brethren who could be
recommended as regular Masons.<2E> Obviously the ceremonies were held
<EFBFBD>In Lodge.<2E>
Attached to the program is a Tableau of 100 <20>Les Chers Freres
Visiteurs.<2E> The Marquis de Lafayette is listed among the visiting
Brethren.
While this seems to establish conclusively that Lafayette was a Mason
in 1775 before coming to America, it leaves unanswered the question
of when and where he was made a Mason.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XII May, 1934 No.005
MASONIC GEOMETRY
by: Unknown
Fellowcrafts receive several admonitions and exhortations regarding
the Sciences of Geometry and astronomy, and many an initiate has
wondered just how far his duty should carry him in undertaking anew
the study of branches of mathematics which are associated in his with
much troubled effort in school days.
While some mathematical-minded men may find the same joy in the study
of lines, angles, surfaces, spheres and measurements which the
musician obtains from his notes, the painter from his perspective and
colors; and the poet from his meter and rhymes; comparatively few
brethren rejoice in the study of the mathematically abstruse.
This must have been well known to Preston, when he wrote those
portions of our Fellowcraft Degree which we owe to his genius, as to
any modern. So it seems fair to conclude that it was less the
literal study of geometry, with a design to become an expert, than a
figurative appreciation of its implications which the great Master of
Masonry had in mind. Indeed, a careful and critical examination of
the ritual which speaks of geometry, and its child, astronomy, will
demonstrate this.
Fellowcraft rituals, in this country, with very few exceptions trace
back to Thomas Smith Webb. Because of the variations which ritual
committees, Grand Lecturers and others have introduced, so that few
Jurisdictions are exactly at one as to what is the proper form. our
examination here will be based on Webb. His several para-graphs,
here quoted in succession although separated in his <20>Monitor,<2C> read
as follows:
<EFBFBD>Geometry treats of the powers and properties of magnitudes in
general, where length, breadth and thickness are considered; from a
point to a line, from a line to a <20>superficies<65> and from a
superficies<EFBFBD> to a <20>solid.<2E>
<EFBFBD>By this science, the architect is enabled to construct his plans and
execute his design; the general to arrange his soldiers; the engineer
to mark out ground for encampments; the geographer to give us the
dimensions of the world, and all things therein contained, to
delineate the extent of seas, and specify the divisions of empires,
kingdoms and provinces; by it also, the astronomer is enabled to make
his observations, and to fix the duration of times and seasons, years
and cycles. In fine, geometry is the foundation of architecture, and
the root of mathematics.
<EFBFBD>Astronomy is that divine art, by which we are taught to read the
wisdom, strength and beauty of the Almighty Creator, in those sacred
pages of the celestial hemisphere. Assisted by astronomy, we can
observe the motions, measure the distances, comprehend the
magnitudes, and calculate the periods and eclipses of the heavenly
bodies. By it we learn the use of the globes, the system of the
world and the preliminary law of nature. While we are employed in
the study of this science, we must perceive unparalleled instances of
wisdom and goodness, and through the whole creation, trace the
Glorious Author by his works.
<EFBFBD>Geometry, the first and the noblest of sciences, is the basis on
which the superstructure of Masonry is erected. By geometry, we may
curiously trace Nature, through her various windings, to her most
concealed recesses. By it we discover the power, the wisdom and the
goodness of the Grand Artificer of the Universe, and view with
delight the proportions which connect this vast machine. By it, we
discover how the planets move in their different orbits, and
demonstrate their various revolutions. By it we account for the
return of the seasons and the variety of scenes which each season
displays to the discerning eye. Numberless worlds are around us, all
framed by the same Divine Artist, which roll through the vast
expanse, and are all conducted by the same unerring laws of nature.
<EFBFBD>The study of the liberal arts, that valuable branch of education,
which tends so effectually to polish and adorn the mind, is earnestly
recommended to your consideration; especially as the basis of our
art. Geometry, or Masonry, originally synonymous terms, being of a
divine and moral nature, is enriched with the most useful knowledge;
while it proves the wonderful properties of nature, it demonstrates
the more important truths of morality.<2E>
The interested Mason will find here far less of admonition to make
himself a geometer than an attempt to make him appreciate what the
science of geometry means to Masonry, as a demonstration of the
<EFBFBD>glorious works of creation,<2C> the majesty and awe-inspiring magnitude
of the universe, and thus, the <20>perfection of our divine creator.<2E>
To understand how geometry <20>demonstrates the more important truths of
morality,<2C> it is essential to comprehend just what this science
really is.
Geometry is that deductive science which deals with the properties of
space, and masses which occupy space.
Science is exact and classified knowledge. In the last analysis all
science is measurement. It may be measurement of time or space; of
atom or electron; of event or process, but measurement it is. Hence
geometry, which is based on measurements of area, masses, angles,
spaces and the relations between them, is fundamental to all science.
It may come as a shock to some minds to know that there is not,
strictly speaking, any really <20>exact<63> science. One of the greatest
truths man has learned, in all his centuries of study, is that there
is no absolute to be known; all truths, including the mathematical,
are relative. There is no absolute rock on which any geometry,
either the familiar Euclidian geometry of our school days or the non-
Euclidian geometries of the mathematician, can be based.
For all geometries are founded upon <20>some<6D> assumptions.
The axioms of geometry are so-called self-evident truths which not
only need no proof. but which cannot be proved. These self-evident
truths are those which we instinctively know by experience; truths
which no counter experience questions. And right here we meet with
one of the great pregnant meanings of Geometry from the Masonic
standpoint. The whole of the system of Freemasonry, the essence of
all its teachings, the content of all its philosophy, the soul of all
its morality, rest upon an axiom, an assumption which can never be
proved, as either mathematical or legal world understands the word
<EFBFBD>proof<EFBFBD> . . . the existence of Deity.
Deity can neither be proved nor disproved, using the word in the
scientific sense. <20>Proof<6F> is a process of he mind, a matter of
logic, a satisfaction of the intellect, and in the end rests upon the
assumption that which is universally observed, and universally
constant, has always been and always will be so. It is unthinkable
to our minds that two plus two could ever be anything but four,
though we perform the addition on the farthest star. Yet we are
learning that what seems <20>true<75> when bounded by earthly conditions,
is not necessarily <20>true<75> when considered from a vaster and more
distant viewpoint.
Belief in Deity is not the result of a process of the intellect, but
of the heart or soul.
Man is now, has always been, and presumably will always be, universal
in his belief in, and longing for, a Great Architect of the Universe.
Masons accept the belief without question. It is part of our lives;
we could have no masonry without it. Lacking it we could not live as
we understand life. But from the scientific standpoint it is as
impossible to prove as are any of Euclid<69>s axiom, without which there
could be no geometry.
And those very statements are as near a proof<6F> as we can come.
Surely, if it is a fair assumption that the geometry on which rests
all science, and which in itself rests upon unprovable axioms, as a
<EFBFBD>true<EFBFBD> science, so is the belief, on which rests all hope and
happiness in life, but which is not scientifically provable, a <20>true<75>
belief.
We are taught that geometry <20>demonstrates the more important truths
of morality.<2E>
<EFBFBD>Morality<EFBFBD> can hardly here mean any code of human conduct, such as
the observance of the ten commandments, the <20>live and let live<76> idea
on which modern civilization is founded, observance of man-made law,
etc. Such, indeed, is morality in the strict sense, but here
morality must mean something much greater and quite different. The
<EFBFBD>more important truths of morality<74> which geometry teaches must be
those fundamental beliefs on which all life is founded; the existence
of Deity, the immortality of the soul, the reality of the love of God
for his children.
The intelligent reader will have noted that here Preston says
<EFBFBD>demonstrate<EFBFBD> and not <20>prove,<2C> as he does a phrase before. Geometry
may <20>prove the wonderful properties of nature<72> but <20>demonstrate<74> is
as much as we can claim for <20>the more important truths of morality.<2E>
Imagine yourself in the middle of the Sahara desert.
You are alone, many miles from any human being, You have no
knowledge whatever that any one has passed this way before you.
Suddenly you come upon a watch, lying in the sand. It is running,
and it agrees with your watch. On tests you find that the watch
will run but thirty-six hours without winding.
You are absolutely certain, and no one could convince you to the
contrary, that, (1) some human being was here within thirty-six
hours, or, (2) that the watch was tied to some animal, and fell off
that animal at the spot where you found it, or, (3) that is was tied
to some bird, and fell from the bird, or (4) that is was dropped from
an airplane or balloon.
The one inescapable fact is that the watch was running; it had been
wound within thirty-six hours.
Geometry <20>demonstrates the more important truths of morality<74> very
much as the watch demonstrated to you that some one had been where
you found it, before you. A running watch <20>proves<65> a maker and
winder . . . the human mind is so constituted that it cannot conceive
of a plan without some intelligence to make the plan. No power or
argument could convince you that the watch made itself; or rolled or
flew to the spot where you found it. It is a watch - therefore it
was made by hands. It runs - therefore it was wound. It is where no
watch can be, ordinarily speaking - therefore it was brought to that
spot by something living.
The geometer measures the <20>numberless worlds around us, which roll
through the vast expanse and are all conducted by the same unerring
laws of nature.<2E> From his measurements he concludes that the orbit
of a certain planet - say Venus - is such-and thus, and its time of
travel from here to there is so-and-so many days. By careful
computation, aided by numberless observations, he reduces these facts
to exact data. From these he predicts that on a certain day, at a
certain hour, minute and second, Venus will appear against the sun -
will <20>transit,<2C> in other words.
If, then, Venus <20>does<65> cross the face of the sun, beginning at the
time predicted, and taking just the interval prophesied to do so, the
geometer <20>knows,<2C> as well as it possible for the human mind to know,
that his calculations are correct.
In other words, Venus revolved in her orbit and the sun swung in his,
<EFBFBD>according to plan.<2E>
The astronomer repeats the feat for a thousand heavenly happenings.
Eclipses of the sun, moon, the tides, occultation of countless stars,
the beginning and ending of <20>times and seasons<6E> he predicts in
advance with such accuracy and certainty, that no brother scientist
questions the verity of his predictions. All are agreed that the
numberless worlds about us <20>roll through the vast expanse<73> according
to a <20>plan.<2E>
The previous statement is here repeated; <20>there can be no plan
without a planner!<21>
In this way, then, does geometry demonstrate the most important
possible truth of <20>morality<74> - the definite existence of Some One who
planned; planned with such exactitude that even poor witless ignorant
humans are able to prophesy the future results of the working of that
plan.
Some <20>stupid atheists<74> counter such an argument by saying <20>You do not
need a plan - the planets revolve according to natural law.<2E> Very
well, <20>Who<68> made the natural law? If the skeptic says <20>Eclipses are
but the nature of things<67> <20>Who created the nature of things?<3F>
Question can be added o question, and each push the answer further
back in space and time and consciousness; but, inevitably, at the
end, we come to <20>Who?<3F> That is geometry<72>s <20>demonstration<6F> of the
most important truth.
Our minds are wholly sense bound. We can obtain no information
regarding the universe except through our five senses, and the use
our intelligences make of the information thus secured. A man
without sight, hearing, smell, taste and feeling might still <20>think,<2C>
but he could not communicate, nor be communicated to. A man so born
could never learn anything, since he would have no channels through
which even the simplest information could run. It is inescapably
true that if in our universe are facts which cannot be learned by our
senses, mortals can never learn them. In other words, there <20>is<69> a
limit to human knowledge. Therefore must there be a limit beyond
which no human science, such as geometry, can demonstrate great
truths. But with these we are not concerned, since those truths,
physical or moral, of which we know and of which we teach that a
geometrical demonstration is possible, are sufficiently beyond common
understanding without asking for others still less comprehensible.
If the <20>more important truths of morality<74> are, as stated:
1. Existence of Deity.
2. Immortality.
3. Love of God for his children:
Then geometry can be said to demonstrate the first, thus:
1. There is no plan without a planner - geometry proves that the
universe runs according to a plan, which follows laws to exact
that predictions successfully can be made from them.
2. It is impossible for Deity to be less perfect than his
creatures.
3. All his creatures exhibit love, tenderness and devotion for
their children. No human parent but would give indefinite life
to his child if he could.
4. Therefore, Deity, infinitely more perfect than the most perfect
of His children, has, in His infinite love, provided infinite
life for His children.
The attempt to prove that which is known of the soul in terms known
only of the mind is more or less fruitless. But it is only by some
such process of reasoning that we can follow out the admonitions of
the Fellowcraft degree. We are to study geometry, not so much in
books and lines and angles and measurements and axiom and theorems
and propositions and problems, as in a demonstration of the
<EFBFBD>wonderful properties of nature.<2E> From these we deduce that the
universe in general, and the world in particular, exist, move,
evolve, live according to definite laws or plans. Knowing that plans
cannot create themselves, any more than the watch in the desert could
create and wind itself, we are logically compelled to believe in the
planner. In the nature of things, as we know them. He who plans
must be more perfect than we who were planned. Our virtues, then,
must be but pale reflections of His. If we would not deny
immortality to those dependent upon us whom we love, then the love of
the Great Architect, and His provisions of immortality, are as much
proved to us as any processes of the mind can prove the certainty of
the soul.
So considered, the study of geometry, so magnificently set forth in
the Fellowcraft degree, becomes not an admonition to <20>do examples<65> or
<EFBFBD>learn from a book<6F> but a clarion call to understand that <20>the
heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His
handiwork.<2E>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN -Vol.XII June 1934 No.6
MASONRY IN THE GREAT LIGHT
by: Unknown
The Short Talk Bulletin of December, 1931, on <20>The Three Scripture
Readings,<2C> described the symbolic significance of the passages from
scripture used in conferring the three degrees.
Masonry in the Bible is not confined to these three poems in prose.
Masons are taught to look to the Great Knight for spiritual comfort,
as the inestimable gift of God to man for the rule and guide of his
faith and practice. If he searches intelligently, he will there find
much Masonic teaching, an amplification of ritual, a continuation of
symbolism as beautiful as it is intangible, as lovely as it is
ethereal.
At the door of every Lodge stands the Tiler with a drawn sword in his
hand. How apt to this office is this verse:
<EFBFBD>So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of
Eden, Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep
the way of the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24)
A man not a Mason is not permitted in the Lodge; the Tiler<65>s sword
<EFBFBD>turns every way<61> to keep the path to the tree of spiritual life to
be found in every Lodge.
In the opening of the Lodge is mention of the widowed and the
fatherless, that we may never forget a Mason<6F>s duty to those whose
natural protector is no more.
<EFBFBD>A father of the fatherless and a judge if the widows, is God in his
holy habitation. (Psalms 68:5) Learn to do well; seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
(Isaiah 1:17)<29>
In these two passages are the charity teachings which Masons follow;
the very heart of that care of the lonely and the orphan which is at
once a Master Mason<6F>s duty and his pride. He who visits his
Jurisdiction<EFBFBD>s Masonic Home, and there sees the helpless helped, or
is happy to contribute to the support of the Charity Foundation,
Grand Lodge Charity Fund or Lodge gift, can be comforted that he
follows the inspired teaching of these words from the Great Light.
In many Grand Lodges there is much discussion as to the <20>Doctrine of
the Perfect Youth<74> which proclaims that a man must be unmaimed to be
accepted as a candidate. Modern ideas in some Grand Lodges lean
toward relaxing the severe restrictions; others still cling to the
old idea that he who has lost a member - even a finger - must suffer
for the good of the whole Order, that the Ancient Landmark be
preserved. Some quotations from the Old Testament seem to show that
the priests of Israel regarded physical perfection much as the
Fraternity has done:
Only he shall not go in unto the veil, nor come nigh unto the altar,
because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries; for I
the Lord so sanctify them. (Leviticus 21:23) Ye shall offer at your
own will a male without blemish, of beeves, or the sheep, or of the
goats. But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer; for
it shall not be acceptable for you. (Leviticus 22:19-20)
On the other side of the question, and bearing vitally on the
principle that Masonry is universal, and no respecter of race or
creed, is this clear exposition:
<EFBFBD>But Peter said, Not so Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is
common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second
time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. Then Peter
opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no
respecter of persons; but in every nation he that feareth him, and
worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. (Acts 10:14-15-34-35)<29>
Where is a man first prepared to be made a Mason? Think of the
essential symbolism and then read:
<EFBFBD>For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. (Samuel 16:7)<29>
The Great Light shadowed forth the truths of our symbolism and the
teachings of the three degrees long before Operative Freemasonry, as
we know it, came upon the earth to extend and promote the
dissemination of those great principles on which all true character
making is based.
After a candidate enters the Lodge by the West gate, the first
question asked him sets the key to all that the degree may be to him;
he who answers this solemn inquiry must be sodden minded indeed if he
visualizes not the serious import and the glorious future of the
ceremony thus anticipated. Long, long ago sweet singers sang:
<EFBFBD>In God have I put my trust; I will not be afraid what man can do
unto me, (Psalms 56:11) Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and
lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge
him, and he shall direct thy paths (Proverbs 3:5-6) Thou wilt keep
him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he
trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever; for the Lord Jehovah
is everlasting strength. (Isaiah 26:3-4)<29>
Masons know the benefit of Lodge prayer. Never the Lodge is opened
but a petition to the Most High is a part of the ceremony; never a
degree is conferred but humble petition to Deity forms an important
part. The Bible is filled with exhortations regarding prayer, which
show the essentials of asking what we may receive. Familiar though
we are with these beautiful passages, recall this one here:
<EFBFBD>And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye
shall receive. (Matthew 21:22)<29>
Nothing equivocal, nothing hidden or obtuse about that promise; a
clear cut statement from the lowly Son of Man who walked by Galilee;
a truth acceptable alike to Jew and Gentile, Mohammedan, and Parsee,
Buddhist and Christian, profane and Mason.
By slow degrees, in a solemnity which no man who has experienced it
can ever forget. the initiate approaches the Holy of Holies - the
Sacred Altar of Freemasonry - there to assume obligations of such
importance that no man who takes them upon his heart and conscience
is ever quite the same thereafter. The old testament is filled with
stories of the altar, of places of worship built of rude stones in
the open, of silver and gold in Temples, of high hopes and devout
hearts in tents in the wilderness. Most tender and touching, as well
as most symbolic from the Masonic viewpoint, are these verses:
<EFBFBD>And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I
give this land; and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who
appeared unto him. (genesis 12:7) And he said, Take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of
Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one the
mountains which I will tell of. (Genesis 22:2) And they came to the
place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there,
and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on
the Altar upon the wood. (Genesis 22:9)<29>
If a man have not a humble and contrite heart before the Altar of
Freemasonry it were better for him not to kneel. For the Altar is a
symbol of sacrifice. Abraham was required to give his very heart;
true, it was but a test, but he knew it not. How many times may the
Freemason be required to sacrifice before the Altar of Freemasonry as
a test only - and know it not? Here must he offer up selfishness,
and learn to live for others; here he must enter into a solemn pact
with his brethren that they are, to him, more important than he can
be to himself; here he must lay pride and egotism and selfish
independence, and bow not only his head but his very soul before the
Great Architect of the Universe. Brethren cannot know if the
sacrifice is real or but lip service, but he is a brave initiate
indeed who does not believe that One knows in what spirit and with
what self-abnegation he lays his sacrifice upon our Altar; even as
Abraham of old.
We are told to read the book of Ruth; many if not most rituals follow
almost exactly these words:
<EFBFBD>Now this was the manner in former times in Israel concerning
redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man
plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor; and this was a
testimony in Israel. (Ruth 4:7)<29>
<EFBFBD>Redeeming and Changing<6E> refer to property in general and land in
particular; he who had given his land as security for a debt,
redeemed it just as we can pay off a mortgage on our house.
<EFBFBD>Changing<EFBFBD> is an old word for selling; he who sold his land <20>changed<65>
it to another owner. We sign a paper, and perhaps acknowledge it
before a Notary Public, by swearing to it. Our ancient Jewish
brother plucked off his shoe as a testimony that he sold that which
he had a right to sell. It is not improbable that the custom arose
from the inability of a shoeless man to run away; it is analogous to
removing the glove before we offer our hand, as Knights of Old
stripped off their mailed gauntlet before shaking hands, in testimony
that they feared no enemy.
It would be easily possible to extend this Bulletin for many pages,
and still remain in the Entered Apprentice Degree; the obligation,
the bringing of light, the poor, the house not made with hands, the
northeast corner, the lambskin - practically all the symbols of our
initiatory ceremony can be amplified and made clearer by an
intelligent reading of the Holy words. But space forbids.
The Fellowcraft Degree is often less appreciated than its inner
meaning deserves. It is no mere stepping stone to the Master<65>s
Degree, not a ceremony designed only to stretch out the process of
initiation and make the neophyte wait a bit longer before he receives
full Masonic Light. It holds a series of teachings of such
importance that no brother may truthfully declare himself a good
Mason who has not taken at least its essentials into his heart.
We are taught of the <20>glorious works of creation<6F> as indicating the
<EFBFBD>perfections of our divine creator.<2E> What is glory? Here is not
meant fame, applause, the exalted opinion held of a man by his
fellows; but the glory which is the sunset, the glory which is great
music, the glory which is inspiring poetry. The <20>glorious<75> works of
creation are those which inspire man with reverence and awe, those
which the Great Light typifies in:
<EFBFBD>When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and
the stars, which thou hast ordained: What is man, that thou art
mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Psalms
8:3-4)<29>
Freemasons are taught to reverence the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
Save to attend divine services, or to lay away a departed brother, no
Lodge may meet or work on the Sabbath, for Freemasonry, not a
religion, is an upholder and supporter of all religions.
<EFBFBD>Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of
them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made;
and rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in
it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
(Genesis 2: 1-2-3) I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and
keep my judgments, and do them; and hallow my sabbaths; and they
shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I and the
Lord your God. (Ezekiel 20:19-20)<29>
How many craftsmen built the Temple? Curiously enough; many rituals
do not strictly follow the plain statement in the Old Testament,
which reads:
<EFBFBD>And he set three score and ten thousand of them to be bearers of
burdens, and four score thousand to be hewers in the mountain, and
three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people awork.
(2 Chronicles 2:18)
The wages for these laborers and overseers, as all who ever heard a
Middle Chamber Lecture know, were paid in corn, wine and oil - the
currency with which those of olden times bought and sold.
<EFBFBD>And behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut timber,
twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand
measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty
thousand baths of oil. (2 Chronicles 2:10)<29>
The word <20>corn<72> is not mentioned, but our <20>corn<72> is a generic term
for all the grains of the Israelites, and has no reference to maize.
The Wages of a Fellowcraft of these modern days are paid in symbolic
corn, wine and oil; the refreshment of mind and soul which comes from
brotherhood practiced, duty well done, lessons humbly learned; wages,
indeed, far more valuable than their ancient prototypes of fruit of
the land and the vineyard waiting only for the worthy Fellowcraft to
stretch forth his hand to take.
It is hardly necessary here to draw attention to those passages of
Scripture which are the foundation for that part of the Middle
Chamber Lecture which deals with the pillars in the Porch, the
passage of the Jordan and the war between the Ephramites and the
Gileadites; much of our ritual follows the words of the Old Testament
(Judges) almost exactly. The fellowcraft follows his brethren of
olden time who <20>went up the with winding stairs to the middle
chamber, and out of the middle into the third.<2E> (I Kings 6:8)
In our Middle Chamber we find a Holy of Holies indeed, for here is
displayed that Letter <20>G<EFBFBD> which is the very essence of Freemasonry.
Never the Lodge or Grand Lodge which has not some such symbol; in all
lands and climes and Jurisdictions is some sign of the Most High in
the East.
<EFBFBD>G<EFBFBD> is not in the Bible as a symbol, but other letters are:
<EFBFBD>I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord,
which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. (Rev.
1:8).
And God said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM
hath sent me unto you. (exodus 3:14)<29>
Here the cryptic phrase <20>I AM THAT I AM<41> is a symbol, just as our
Letter <20>G<EFBFBD> is a symbol; the inspired prophet who wrote the Old
Testament knew the value of the symbol, even as we know it. So when
for the first time the Fellowcraft hears of the significance of the
Letter <20>G<EFBFBD> in the East, he is kin to those ancient teachers and
spiritual rulers who wrote of God with symbols, even as we so typify
Him.
Omitting many another Scripture reference to the teachings of this
beautiful degree we pass on to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason.
Some Lodges of some Jurisdictions exemplify an especially beautiful
lesson from the contention and confusion which existed among the
workmen of the Temple at the time of the tragedy. In these Lodges
the Master instructs the brethren, if any have any cause of
difference with their fellows, to leave the Lodge room, nor return
until that quarrel is reconciled. Authority for this is found in
several places in the Great Light - whether or not it be the practice
in most of our American Grand Jurisdictions matters not; to be at
odds with a brother of the lodge is not to live the true Masonic
spirit.
Ponder these instructions:
<EFBFBD>Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest
that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before
the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and
then come and offer thy gift. (Matthew 5:23-24) Moreover if thy
brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault
between he and thee alone; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained
thy brother. (Matthew 18:15) And if he trespass against thee seven
times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying,
I repent; thou shalt forgive him (Luke 17:4)<29>
In the Master<65>s Degree a brother must pray for himself.
Happy is he who has the prayers of his fellows, standing as one among
a united group, all for one and one for all. But in the life of
every man comes the time when the prayers of others avail not; when
he stands spiritually naked and alone before the Great White Throne,
there to offer up his petition with none to say <20>In too, speak for
him.<2E> So is the brother about to be raised taught to pray, alone
with his God. It is good here to recall the words which promise that
such prayers are heard:
<EFBFBD>In my distress I call upon the Lord, and cried to my God; and he did
hear my voice out of his Temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.
(Samuel 22:7) In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee; for
thou wilt answer me. (Psalms 86:7)<29>
All Master Masons find a peculiar significance in the expression <20>the
clefts of the rock.<2E> How many know the symbolic, as well as the
historic meaning of the phrase? In our ceremony it is place of
hiding which availed not against those who had the right and
righteousness on their side. In symbolism it is an emblem of the
uselessness of pride and self-sufficiency; no clefts of the rock -
nay, not caves nor valleys nor mountain tops not any hiding place
upon earth - exist where sin may hide either from itself or from the
All Seeing Eye.
<EFBFBD>The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in
the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his
heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though then exalt
thyself as the eagle and though thou set thy nest among the stars,
thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. (Obediah 1:3-4)
Fifty pages would not supply space for all the beautiful allusion to
Masonic truth and Light which a careful perusal of the Great Light
discovers. But enough, perhaps, has been quoted to show that
Freemasonry is in the Bible in full measure, pressed down and running
over. We who have so much from the Scriptures to be a part of our
ceremonies, have left far more than we appropriated.
Two final quotations; even as the raising and the Substitute Word
form the very crux and climax of the Sublime degree; so are these the
head of the corner of all the many Scriptural expositions of
symbolism to be found in the Rule and Guide of Our Faith.
<EFBFBD>So shall ,y word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not
return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and
it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. (John 1:1)<29>
<EFBFBD>SO MOTE IT BE!<21>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XII July, 1934 No.7
MASONIC BLUE
by: Unknown
The inquirer who asks why the Ancient Craft Masonry is <20>blue<75> - why
speak of Blue Lodge, Blue Degrees, wear aprons edged with blue,
suspend jewel about the necks of officers with blue ribbons - is
faced at once with two divergent schools of thought. One of these is
the practical, hard-headed, founded-on-fact school of the Masonic
historian and antiquary; the other is that which associates ideas
with objects, colors, numbers, beasts, birds, natural phenomena,
etc., as symbolism has been developed and followed throughout the
history of mankind.
Historians both Masonic and secular agree that the square has been a
symbol of rectitude, honesty, fair dealing, justice the world over
for unknown ages. But the symbolist who reads much into the familiar
square apron, with its triangular flap, is at once confronted with
the undoubted fact that this form of apron is modern, not ancient.
The invention of the square as a tool must have been coincident with
the first appreciation of the right angle, and the advantages, in
solidity and ease of construction, of the use of stones and timbers
which were squared. Its Symbolism, therefore goes back to <20>time
immemorial.<2E> Masonic aprons used by operative masons were simple
skins of any shape or no particular shape. With the change from
operative to speculative, the apron became conventionaized, but only
in comparatively recent times did it assume its present rectangular
and triangular features. The symbolism read into its present shape
will not fit, for instance, the aprons worn by George Washington,
which had curved flaps and rounded corners.
Blue as the color for Ancient Craft Masonry is accounted for by two
schools of thought on its origin. Both can adduce considerable
evidence. One believes that the symbolism of the color, like that of
the square, comes to us from <20>time immemorial<61> and that the color
must have been adopted because of its meanings; the other
demonstrates that blue as a Masonic color is not as old as the Mother
Grand Lodge, and that it was adopted for other than symbolic reasons.
Blue was a sacred color to the priests of Israel. The color is
mentioned first in the Old Testament in Exodus XXV:3-4, in which the
Lord Commands Moses to speak to the children of Israel: <20>And this is
the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and
brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goat<61>s
hair.<2E>
Throughout Exodus and Numbers are many references to the color, and
several are to be found in Chronicles, Esther, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
We read of the <20>fine twined linens,<2C> <20>Make the ephod of Gold and
Blue,<2C> <20>bind the breastplates with a lace of blue,<2C> <20>pomegranates of
blue,<2C> <20>an hanging for the tabernacle of blue,<2C> <20>needlework of blue,<2C>
<EFBFBD>a cloth wholly of blue, etc.
Perhaps the most interesting allusion is in Numbers XV:37-38-39-40:
<EFBFBD>And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of
Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of
their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon
the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue; And it shall be unto you
for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the
commandments of the Lord, and do them; and that ye seek not after
your own heart and your eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring;
That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto
your God.<2E>
Mackey notes that the blue of the Old Testament is a translation of
the Hebrew <20>tekelet<65> which is derived from a root signifying
<EFBFBD>perfection.<2E> He develops the idea that the blue was anciently, and
universally sacred as follows:
<EFBFBD>Among the Druids, <20>blue<75> was the symbol of <20>truth<74> and the
candidate, in the initiation into the sacred rights of Druidism, was
invested with a robe composed of the colors, white, <20>blue<75> and green.
<EFBFBD>The Egyptians esteemed <20>blue<75> as a sacred color, and the body of
Amun, the principal God of their theogony, was painted light <20>blue,<2C>
to imitate. as Wilkinson remarks, <20>His peculiarly exalted and
heavenly nature.<2E>
The ancient Babylonians clothed their idols in <20>blue,<2C> as we learn
from the prophet Jeremiah (x, 9). The Chinese, in their mystical
philosophy, represented <20>blue<75> as the symbol of the Deity, because,
being, as they say, composed of black and red, this color is a fit
representation of the obscure and brilliant, the male and the female,
or active and passive principles.
<EFBFBD>The Hindus assert that their God, Vishnu, was represented by a
celestial or sky <20>blue,<2C> thus indicating that wisdom eminating from
God was to be symbolized by this color.
<EFBFBD>Among the medieval Christians, <20>blue<75> was sometimes considered as an
emblem of immortality, as red was of the Divine Love. Portal says
that <20>blue<75> was the symbol of perfection, hope and constancy. <20>The
color of the celebrated dome, <20>azure,<2C> was in Divine language the
symbol of eternal truth; in consecrated language, of immortality; and
in profane for which Masons strive.<2E>
Our ancient brethren met on hills and in vales, over which the blue
vault of heaven is a ceiling; Jacob in his wisdom saw the ladder
ascending from earth to heaven; the covering of a Lodge is the
clouded canopy or starry decked heaven. These allusions seem to
connote that blue, the color of the sky, is that of all celestial
attributes for which Masons strive.
Man<EFBFBD>s earliest forms of worship were of the sun and fire. The sun
rose, traveled and set in a realm of blue; to associate the color
with Deity was inevitable. Blue also is the color of the ocean, of
mountain streams, of lakes, of good drinking water - that blue should
also become emblematical of purity is equally natural.
In heraldry, blue or azure signifies chasity, loyalty and fidelity.
In painting, the color is frequently used in an emblematical manner,
as in depicting an angel<65>s robe and the robe of the Virgin Mary, to
signify humility, fidelity and especially faith. It is the color of
hope. It has been held to signify eternity and immortality; pale
blue is especially associated with peace. Of forty-seven nations,
twenty-seven have blue in their flags; all, doubtless with the same
thought that Brother Wilbur D. Nesbit so beautifully expressed:
Your Flag and my Flag
And how it flies today
In your land and my land
And half a world away!
Rose-Red and Blood-Red
The stripes forever gleam;
Snow-white and Soul-white
The good forefathers<72> dream;
<EFBFBD>Sky-blue and true-blue
With stars to gleam aright -
The glorious guidon of the day
A shelter through the night.
There seem to be many grounds on which he can firmly stand who
believes that Freemasonry adopted blue as the color of the three
degrees with its ancient symbolism in mind. Yet it is to be
remembered that Freemasonry as we know it was not formed overnight,
by any one group of men, each of whom contributed some idea to its
ritual, ceremonies, ancient usages and customs. No committee sat
about a table to decide the question <20>what color shall we adopt by
which the Ancient Craft shall forever more be distinguished?<3F>
It is possible, of course, that the ancient operative masons, from
whose guilds and organizations modern Freemasonry came as a result of
slow evolution, may have had an especial reverence for the color
blue. As has been noted, blue has been associated from early times
in ecclesiastical history with the Virgin Mary. The earliest
document of Freemasonry, the Regius Poem (1390) has two lines:
<EFBFBD>Pray we now to God almyght And to hys moder, Mary brytht.<2E>
Which certainly connotes a reverence of these ancient Freemasons for
Mary the Mother, and may easily be considered ground for thinking
that the early builders also revered her special color.
However that may be, it is obvious that the absence of any evidence
is not negative evidence; it is commonplace of human experience that
in the face of any positive evidence for an idea, in the absence of
any evidence against it, the fact should be admitted.
All of which brings us to what we know of the earliest use of blue as
a Masonic color, regardless of how much we may wish that our
forefathers had adopted blue for the symbolism we are now content to
read into the hue of heaven.
Two extracts from the minutes of the Grand Lodge of England (1717)
are explicit upon the matter of color:
<EFBFBD>Resolved, nem. con, that in private Lodges and Quarterly
Communications and General Meetings, the Masters and Wardens do wear
Jewells of Masonry hanging to a White Ribbon (vizt.) That the Master
wear the square, the Senr. Warden the Levell, the Junr. Warden the
Plumb-Rule.<2E>
G.L. MINUTES, 24th JUNE, 1727.
<EFBFBD>Dr. Desagulier taking notice of some irregularities in wearing the
marks of Distinction which have been allowed by former Grand Lodges.
<EFBFBD>Proposed, that none but the Grand Master, his Deputy and Wardens
shall wear their Jewels in Gold or Gilt pendant to blue ribbons about
their necks and white leather Aprons lined with blue silk.
<EFBFBD>That all those who have served any of the three Grand Offices shall
wear the like Aprons lined with Blue Silk in all Lodges and
assemblies of Masons when they appear clothed.
<EFBFBD>That all Masters and Wardens of Lodges may wear their Aproms lined
with White Silk and their respective Jewels with plain white Ribbons
but of no other color whatsoever.
<EFBFBD>The Deputy Grand Master accordingly put the question whether the
above regulation should be agreed to.
<EFBFBD>And it was carried in the affirmative. Nemine Con.<2E>
G.L. Minutes, 17th March, 1731.
But why did the Grand Lodge adopt, or permit, <20>blue<75> in 1731, when
<EFBFBD>white<EFBFBD> was specified just four years previously?
Passing over the common but wholly coincidental <20>reason<6F> - that many
taverns where Masons met were distinguished by blue signs, such as
the Blue Boar - the sanest theory seems to be that proposed by the
noted Masonic scholar Fred J.W. Crowe. He wrote (1909-10 <20>Lodge of
Research Transactions).
<EFBFBD>The color of the Grand Lodge Officers clothing was adopted from the
ribbon of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. The Grand Stewards
from the second National Order - the Most Honourable Order of the
Bath. The Scottish Grand Lodge undoubtedly copied the ribbon of the
Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, and the Grand Lodge
of Ireland anticipated the formation of the Most Illustrious Order of
St. Patrick in 1788 by selecting light Blue - thus accidentally
completing the series, although I would suggest that light Blue may
in all probability have been chosen merely to mark a difference from
the English Grand Lodge. In like manner I believe the light blue of
our own private Lodge clothing was, by a natural sequence of ideas,
adopted to contrast with the deeper colour of Grand Lodge attire, and
not very long after the last-named became the rule.<2E>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN -Vol.XII August, 1934 No.8
GIFTS OF THE MAGI
by: Unknown
<EFBFBD>. . . and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto
him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.<2E> (Matthew 21:11)
<EFBFBD>A young man asks, <20>What will I receive from Freemasonry if I become
a member? My father was a Mason, and I<>d like to be, but I want to
know what the Order has to offer me.<2E><>
Freemasonry <20>offer<65> nothing. The petitioner requests; the Lodge may,
or may not, give. But the question is entirely legitimate; any young
man sufficiently thoughtful to want to know something of the Craft
which he expresses a desire to join, is good material for a Lodge,
and should receive a satisfying answer.
The first gift of Freemasonry is that of standing in the community.
To pass the investigation of a competent committee, and the secret
and unanimous ballot of a Lodge, is to be stamped with the earmark of
a good character. Freemasons have an enviable reputation. To become
one is to share in that reputation, since acceptance as a Freemason
marks recognition of character by men well thought of in the
community. Cicero said: <20>To disregard what the world thinks of us
is not only arrogant, but utterly shameless.<2E> If his Freemasonry
makes the world think better of a man, it is worth all it may cost in
time and effort.
The young man who becomes a Freemason has the privilege of giving
charity and relief to those less fortunate, in a way which is
beautiful, because it is secret and unselfish. Addison wrote:
<EFBFBD>Charity is a virtue of the heart and not of the hands.<2E> As all know
who are concerned in Masonic charity, it is truly of the giving
spirit.
The young Mason has also the privilege of receiving charity and
relief for himself, should he need it. It is to be emphasized that
Freemasonry is not primarily a charity and relief organization.
These are incidental to her practice and ac result of her teachings.
No Freemason has a right to either, but he has certainty of receiving
both, should he, or those dear to him, be in need.
This gift of the Craft makes a greater appeal to men as they grow
older. To the young man just facing the world, with the future
stretching hopefully before him, the possibility of needing the
comfort of a hand on his shoulder, a check for a ton of coal, a
helping hand for a penniless widow, seem remote. But he receives the
precious privilege of giving to those who have traveled further on
life<EFBFBD>s pathway.
Gifts of Freemasonry are the opportunities she provides for service
other than charity; service in friendships, service to the ill,
service to brethren in trouble, service to the Lodge. Nor care that
the service to be rendered may not be great. Wordsworth sang: <20>Small
service is true service while it lasts The daisy, by the shadow that
it casts, Protects the lingering dewdrop from the sun.<2E>
As all know who have lived, service to others generates the greatest
happiness. He who lives for himself alone, lives miserably. He who
lives somewhat for others finds that peace which passeth
understanding.
The Ancient Craft gives her sons a liberal education in the difficult
art of character building. World activities are founded upon
ramifications of character. We travel in a railroad train at
dizzying speeds, secure in the belief that the engine is controlled
by a man of <20>character;<3B> sober, reliable, industrious, careful,
cautious and able. We never see him; we do not know him personally;
but we believe that he could not be where he is, had he not
demonstrated character. Business is done on credit, which is only
faith in a man<61>s word. We accept as money a piece of paper with a
name on it, certain that the character of the maker of the check and
the officials of the bank, will secure to us the money for which the
checks calls for. We have faith in the character of the doctor, our
lawyer and the judge in the court. Character is the foundation of
our civilization. Freemasonry offer such opportunities for the
development and the increase of the stature of character as can be
found nowhere else in like amount.
<EFBFBD>Many men build as cathedrals were built, the part nearest the ground
finished first; but that part which soars towards heaven, the turrets
and spires, forever incomplete.<2E> Beecher<65>s simile need not apply to
Freemasonry; he who does not finish his turret and his spire of
character in the Fraternity fails because he will not, not because he
cannot.
To the Freemason the Lodge offers the gift of intelligent patriotism.
Not the <20>one hundred per cent American, America first and the devil
take the hindmost<73> patriotism of the demagogue, but the real
patriotism of genuine love of country, which comes to those who
genuinely try to make their country lovable. The history of
Freemasonry in this nation is inextricably intermingled with the
stirring events and the deathless deeds of literally hundreds of
Masonic patriots without whose devotion the United States might not
have been a nation. Paul Revere, Warren, Washington, Marshall,
Jefferson, Lafayette and Franklin - pages might be filled with
immortal names of great men in our history who have known and loved
and used the Ancient Craft for the betterment of the nation.
<EFBFBD>For how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the Temples of his Gods?<3F>
It is this patriotism which Freemasonry teaches; we may not keep the
bridge with old Horatius, but in the Lodge we can and do learn to
reverence the <20>ashes of our fathers<72> and the Temples of our liberties
and our traditions.
Freemasonry gives to her sons the gentle gift of fellowship. Our
fiends are those we know well, who love us, perhaps, as much because
of our faults as in spite of them. Those with whom we fellowship we
may see only once, and yet, because of our common bond, we know them
as men who might become friends, did opportunity offer; it is to be
hoped that they fell thus of us. The spirit of fellowship in a Lodge
cannot elsewhere be found. We come to the tiled door a stranger;
when passed within we are not among strangers, but brethren. William
Morris phrased it thus:
<EFBFBD>Forsooth, brethren, fellowship is heaven and lack of fellowship is
hell; fellowship is life and lack of fellow-ship is death; and the
deeds that ye do upon earth, it is for fellowship<69>s sake that ye do
them.<2E>
Freemasonry stops not with fellowship. She gives the gracious gift
of the most favorable opportunity to make friends which can come to
any man.
<EFBFBD>If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life
he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his
friendships in constant repair.<2E>
Samuel Johnson<6F>s philosophy might have been written of his who finds
the Lodge the cradle of new friendships. The initiate is vouched for
to his fellows. This is a <20>man,<2C> so the committee has said. He is
worthy. He is well qualified. His reputation suffers not under the
tongues of his friends. He is honest, upright, of good character.
What the committee has said of him to the Lodge which accepts him,
other committees and the Lodge have said of every member the newly-
made brother will greet. Surely no happier beginning to friendships
could be imagined. The young Master Mason who cannot find in his
Lodge the men who will later become the friends of his heart - surely
is he fortunate in his choice of a Lodge!
The Lodge gives the gentle gift of innocent recreation to her sons.
The initiate will find here a conception of <20>good time<6D> quite
different from that of the world without. The <20>good time<6D> of a Lodge
smoker, banquet, informal picnic, entertainment, ladies<65> night,
concert, Masonic talk or what-have-you; has a charm all its own quite
distinct from similar functions arranged by other bodies. <20>Pleasure
the servant. Virtue looking on,<2C> wrote rare Ben Johnson, almost as if
he had learned the phrase in the pleasures of refreshment in Lodge.
The <20>camaraderie<69> of the social hour of the Lodge cannot be equaled
elsewhere. Within these portals where men upon the level and part
upon the square, the <20>good time<6D> is not confused by questions of <20>who
is he?<3F> or <20>what does he do?<3F> Men enjoy Lodge functions not only
because of the <20>innocent mirth<74> which the Old Charges enjoin, but
because of the freedom and happiness; one must accept all others in
the Lodge at face value.
A great gift of the Fraternity is that of home in a strange place.
That <20>The Mason is never homesick<63> is a truism. In practically any
town in the land - aye, in thou-sands of towns the world over - are
Freemasons and Freemason<6F>s Lodges. Come to any Lodge a stranger and
knock on the door. If the knocker can prove that he is a member a
royal welcome awaits, warming to the heart, easing the pain of
loneliness, comforting to him who is far from those he loves and
knows. One thinks naturally of Byron<6F>s:
<EFBFBD>Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark our coming, And will
look brighter when we come.<2E>
and Shakespeare<72>s:
<EFBFBD>His worth is warrant for his welcome.<2E> Nor is this <20>home for the
homeless<EFBFBD> all sentiment.
Many a Mason has been stranded in a strange place - and been speeded
to his destination by brotherly hands. Many a man in a town he does
not know has entered it a stranger and departed with new friends upon
his list. The Mystic Tie is a <20>real<61> tie, too strong for breaking,
be the strain put upon it never so great.
A gift of the Fraternity which it is good to take from the box of
memory and muse upon is that of kinship with the old. To do as all
good brothers and fellows have done who have passed this tiled door
before is inspiring to all but the most practical minded. To kneel
where George Washington knelt; to take the obligation which was
sacred to Benjamin Franklin; to sit, in fancy, with the first Grand
Master in London; to be initiated with Elias Ashmole; to look over
the shoulder of the unknown priest whose careful penmanship lives to
this day on our Regius poem; to gather with Athelstan and the great
Assembly in York a thousand years ago - to go back, back, and still
further back, through the Roman Collegia, Ancient Mystery, into Egypt
and perhaps the very birth of the legend of Isis and Osiris - be
spiritually one of a long line of brethren who have knelt at this
Altar, taken these vows, lived this life and loved these teachings -
that is a gift all Freemasons may have for the taking, and which none
take but value.
<EFBFBD>O, there are Voices in the Past
Links of a broken chain;
Wings that can bear me back to times
Which cannot come again;
May God forbid that I should lose
The echoes that remain.<2E> (Proctor)
A companion gift is the kinship with the present day.
More than three million men in this nation are now living who have
taken the Masonic obligations, and who hail the new brother, as he
may hail them, with that dearest of titles given by man to men -
<EFBFBD>Brother!<21> These three million - more than four millions in the
world - will look upon the work you may do in the Lodge as important.
Anciently it was written <20>Laborare est orare<72> - to labor is to pray.
He who accepts the responsibilities of Masonic membership will learn
to pray by unselfish labor; labor on committees, labor on fellowcraft
teams, perhaps labor in conferring degrees. Labors of love, all, but
all bringing their own reward. Not the least of her gifts is this
opportunity the Ancient Craft puts before her sons, that they may
work for the common good.
One of Freemasonry<72>s most precious gifts to those who seek her light
is her emphasis on religion. Freemasonry is not a religion -
Freemasonry is <20>religion,<2C> which, without the qualifying article, is
quite a different matter. A Religion is a method or mode of worship
of God as conceived in that system. <20>Religion<6F>, with no qualifying
article, is knowledge of, obedience to, dependence on and utter
belief in Deity. The Freemason mat worship any God he pleases, and
name as he will; God, Jehovah, Allah, Buddha, Christ, Primordial Urge
or Great First Cause. Freemasonry<72>s term for Deity is <20>The Great
Architect of the Universe,<2C> but she cares no whit what her sons may
call Him in their prayers.
For a thousand reasons men may wish to <20>become<6D> Freemasons, but the
great reason why men <20>remain<69> Freemasons, devoted to the principles
and teachings of the Order. is vitally concerned with this non-
doctrinal, non-sectarian, non-dogmatic teaching of religious truths
which neither conflict not interfere with the tenets and practices of
any religion; nay, which buttress and uphold the teachings of the
Church.
All men at heart are religious and desire kinship and communication
with a Supreme Power. Many men do not phrase this need to
themselves; many never think of it. Yet it is within all, as truly
as hunger and thirst for material food and drink are present.
Freemasonry satisfies this hunger in men who cannot, or do not,
appease it in church; Freemasonry adds to the hunger, and therefore
to the satisfaction, of men who <20>do<64> find in the church the
gratification of a spiritual need the stronger that they may not put
it into words.
In a Lodge emphasis is everywhere upon an Unseen Presence. Lodges
are erected to God. Freemasons open and close Lodges with Prayer. A
candidate receives the benefit of Lodge prayer and later must pray
for himself. The number three is everywhere in Lodge - three
degrees, three stations, three principal officers, three Great
Lights, three Lesser Lights, three steps on the Master<65>s Carpet,
three pillars . . . and three is the numerical equivalent of the
triangle, most ancient symbol of Deity. The initiate may learn of
this as he will; he cannot escape the implications of the Letter <20>G<EFBFBD>
whether he will or no. As millions have learned before him, he will
come to the conviction that there is a <20>Winding Stair,<2C> which <20>does<65>
lead to a <20>real<61> Middle Chamber the Letter in the East stands for a
<EFBFBD>reality,<2C> to know and understand which is the end and aim of life.
The young man petitions a Lodge, is passed by the committee, receives
a favorable ballot of his fellows, and lives thereafter with the
proud privilege of wearing a Masonic apron and saying to those who
ask, <20>I am a Master Mason.<2E> For a little space he walks forward up
the hill; then he turns his steps downward on the sunny side, facing
the western sun. At long last the shadows fall and he steps into the
sunlight beyond the horizon.
Then he has that precious heritage which is for all Masons, and only
for Master Masons - to be laid to rest with the tears of his
brethren, the white apron of initiation the only decoration on his
bier, the solemn words of the comforting Masonic service in the ears
of his relatives and friends, and, at the end, peace under the Sprig
of Acacia of immortal hope. Surely this is not least among the gifts
which the gentle Craft has for those who love her and whom she loves.
The greatest gift? It is, of course, a matter of opinion. To some
it will be one, to others another of those here so slightly sketched.
Sadly sang the great Persian poet:
<EFBFBD>There was a Door to which I found no key
There was a Veil through which I might not see;
Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee
There was - and then no more of Me and Thee.<2E>
To many, her greatest gift is this; Freemasonry gives to her sons a
Key. Many never fit it to the door. Others turn the Key, but never
push the portal wide. Some there are who swing the gate on its
hinges to enter the <20>foreign countries<65> of Freemasonry, there to
wander and to ponder, to study, and to learn, to delve and to dig
into the foundations, the symbolism, the history, the inner meaning
of the old, old society. For these are the gifts transcending gold
and frankincense and myrrh; gifts of spiritual satisfaction, of
knowledge gained, of understanding won.
For many pleasures of this life man has invented names,; the glory of
music, the loveliness of painting, the beauty of sculpture, the
satisfactions of the body, the happiness of unselfishness. For
others, more ethereal, no words have yet been coined. But the Key
leads to the door, beyond which stretches the path to knowledge of
those unknown, unnamed joys which only the possessors understand.
In Freemasonry, as in the Great Light, it is said:
<EFBFBD>Ask and ye shall receive; Seek and ye shall find;
Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.<2E>
He who asks, seeks and knocks, in Freemasonry will receive gifts as
beautiful as they are indescribable, as desirable as they are
imponderable. And here the word of those older and wiser in the
Craft, since it is not given to any man to catalog in words that
which no words may limn.
Say to the you man who asks you what he will find in Freemasonry;
<EFBFBD>You will receive what you expect and all you expect.<2E> Say to him:
<EFBFBD>If you expect little and give much, you will receive far more than
tongue may tell.<2E> Finally, sat unto him: <20>Ask of Freemasonry what
you will - and it shall be given to you, even the gifts of the Magi.
But ask of her nothing, unless you come with a heart open first to
give.<2E>
<EFBFBD>FOR THAT, AND THAT ONLY, IS BROTHERHOOD!<21>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XII September, 1934 No.9
THE MASTER<45>S HAT
by: Unknown
<EFBFBD>Why does the Master wear a hat?<3F>
How many times do newly raised brethren ask the question, and how few
of the brethren interrogated can give a satisfactory answer! Usually
the reply is: <20>Oh, that an old symbol,<2C> or: <20>That<61>s one of the
Landmarks.: But, as a matter of fact, wearing a hat in Lodge is
symbolic only as all custom with regard to headgear are symbolic, and
certainly no custom which has suffered so many changes and reversals
as this, can, by any stretch of a point, be considered a Landmark.
Ceremonies connected with clothing are very ancient, dating at least
from the era in which the first captives in tribal wars were stripped
of all their clothing, partly that their captors might possess it,
partly as a symbol of the complete subjugation of the slave state.
Among some peoples today, stripping part of the clothing is still a
sign of respect; the Tahitians uncover to the waist as a sign of
reverence to a king; Asiatics bare the feet; Japanese take off a
slipper for ceremonious salute. Worshippers in ancient Greece and
Rome remove their sandals in a house of worship, as do East Indians
today.
During the days of chivalry, knights often wore full armor in public,
and usually when going upon private journeys. To open a visor was a
form of greeting which said in effect: <20>I do not expect a sword
thrust in the mouth from you,: A knight removed his helmet before a
friend as a token that he feared no blow, and always in the presence
of a King, as a symbol that his life was the King<6E>s.
Moderns remove the hat as a sign of respect in greeting a friend,
always when speaking to or meeting a lady, a survival of the ancient
custom of uncovering as a symbol of trust, or subjectivity to a
higher authority.
That monarchs wear crowns - or hats - as a right when all others are
uncovered, has been sung by poets of all ages. In Scott<74>s <20>Lady of
the Lake,<2C> Ellen Douglas is taken to see the King, little suspecting
who he is:
<EFBFBD>On many a splendid garb she gazed -
Then turned bewildered and amazed
For all stood bare, and in the room
Fitz-James alone wore a cap and plume,
To him each lady<64>s look was lent
On him each courtier<65>s eye was bent;
Midst furs and silks and jewels sheen
He stood, in simple Lincoln green,
The center of the glittering ring
And Snowden<65>s knight is Scotland<6E>s King!<21>
The King never uncovered. He wore his crown where he would. even in
the House of God. All had to uncover before the King, as all had to
retreat from his presence by moving backward - a custom which obtains
even today in ceremonial audiences in England - that none might <20>turn
his back on the sovereign.<2E> The very bowing of the head in the
presence of authority confessed either fearlessness of an unseen
blow, or his willingness to receive it from his liege Lord.
Not always does the removal of the hat indicate respect. Orthodox
Jews remain covered in their synagogues; early Quakers wore hats in
their houses of worship; women do not remove their hats in some
churches. Romans prayed with covered heads; indeed, Romans forbade
the head covering to a slave, a wooden cap (pileus) being only for
citizens. After a Roman owner liberated a slave, the manumitted man
often went to the Temple of Feronia, on Mt. Suracte, if indeed, he
did not receive his freedom in her Temple. Feronia, the goddess of
fruits, nurseries and groves, was especially honored as the patroness
of enfranchised slaves, and in her Temple the manumitted received a
cap.
Dr. George C. Williamson (Curious Survivals) says of the House of
Commons in London: <20>A member has to wear his hat when he is to
address the House and there is often confusion when the member is
unable to find his hat at the moment, and put it on, before he
addresses the speaker, but, were he to rise without his hat, he would
be greeted immediately with cries of <20>Order, Order!<21><>
Just when or where originated the custom of a Master wearing a hat as
a sign of authority is an unsolved question. It is easy enough to
<EFBFBD>guess<EFBFBD> that it began from operative Masons of the Middle Ages aping
the customs of the Court, and requiring all Fellows of the Craft to
uncover before the Master Mason. But guessing is not proving.
Oliver is quoted as saying: <20>Among the Romans the hat was a sign of
freedom. Formerly Masons wore them as a symbol of freedom and
brotherly equality. In English and American Lodges it is now
exclusively an attribute of the Master<65>s costume.<2E>
Oliver as a historian is open to question; certainly hats are not
generally worn by Masters in England now. But this quotation
indicates that English Masters formerly did, which is born out by
some notable exceptions of today;
Bristol, for instance and Lodge Newstead, 47, in the Province of
Nottingham, where the Master wears a silk hat at Lodge ceremonies.
In the Royal Sussex Lodge of Hospitality (Bristol) the Master carries
(not wears) wa cocked hat into the Lodge room. In Lodge Moria the
transfer of the hat from outgoing to incoming Master has for many
years been a part of Installation.
There are extant some rituals of French Masonry of 1787, apparently
authentic, which seem to give a true picture of the ritual and
practices of French Brethren of the time. Masonic students are
agreed that while doubtless French Masons did dramatize some of the
English ritual and made certain changes in the Old English ceremonies
which better fitted the Latin temperament, on the whole these rituals
contain much that was originally English Masonic practice.
In the old French Ritual of 1787, in the third degree, each Master is
required to wear a hat. The word <20>Master<65> here has the double
significance; Master of the Lodge and Master Mason. This has led to
some confusion in translating the real meaning of the rituals. But
in this particular instance the context is made clear by some old
prints, showing French brethren in a Lodge in which all present wear
hats <20>except the candidate.<2E>
Writing in 1896, Wor. Brother Gotthelf Greiner states, of German
Masons;<3B> . . .it is the invariable custom for brethren in Lodge to
wear silk hats (which are raised during prayer and when the name of
the G.A.O.T.U. is invoked). In that country, it (the wearing of the
hat) is not a distinction confined to those of any particular
standing.
It is to be noted that the Ahiman Rezon of Pennsylvania specifies
that at Masonic funerals all the brethren should wear black hats,
Contrast these instances of all brethren wearing hats (except the
candidate) with one of the articles of the statutes of the Chapter of
Clermont (1755) which reads:
<EFBFBD>Only the Master of a Lodge and the Scots Masters are permitted to
remain covered.<2E>
Confirming this, an old eighteenth century catch question (which
survives in some of our Lodges to this day) is:
Q. <09>Where does the Master hang his hat?<3F>
A. <09>On nature<72>s peg.<2E>
Some fanciful theories have been advanced to account for the Master<65>s
hat. Among these may be mentioned this curious idea; because of a
supposed unpopularity of the Mason<6F>s Craft in the middle ages, the
brethren on a cathedral building project were occasionally permitted
to hold their meetings in the cathedral they built, or, if it was not
sufficiently advanced, in a nearby monastery. The monks, being
learned men, were often made Masters of the various builders<72> Lodges,
and continued to wear their mitres, as was their custom. From this
is supposed to have arisen the custom of a Master wearing a hat!
Fort, in his <20>Antiquities of Freemasonry,<2C> writes:
<EFBFBD>During the Middle ages, when a traveling Fellow approached a Lodge
of Masons in prescribed form, he first exclaimed: <20>May God Bless,
direct and prosper you, Master, Pallier (Wardens), and dear fellows!<21>
Whereupon the Master, or in his absence the Pallier, was instructed
by the ordinance of Torgau, to thank him in reply, in order that the
visiting brother might see who was custodian of the Lodge. And
having obtained suitable assistance, the wandering craftsman removed
his hat, and thanked the brethren with an established formula. From
the proceeding ceremony, it is evident that neither the Master not
the Wardens of a mediaeval German Lodge were distinguishable by
distinctive tokens while at mechanical labor; otherwise, no
regulation was essential or obligatory upon the officers to make
proper response to a visitor for the purpose of deter-mining the
Master.
<EFBFBD>Curiously enough, the implication is direct and clear that the
Masons of ancient times, when regularly convened for work, and during
the formal reception of a traveler, pursued their daily avocation and
attended the usual Masonic demands, within closed portals, with
covered heads. At the present day the custom has materially changed,
and, with one exception, the members of a Lodge at labor noticeably
divest themselves of their hats. This is unquestionably a
transformation of recent origin, and with it the instruction usually
incident to the distinction has been adopted to the innovation.
<EFBFBD>When the initiatory rites in a mediaeval Lodge were performed, the
Master was not thus prominently contrasted with his brethren. I
speak with especial emphasis upon this point, because the esoteric
and sublime signification involved in the Master<65>s hat has been
recklessly perverted and destroyed.
It was typical, during the Middle Ages, of superiority, and was so
interpreted in the ceremonies of initiation by the Masons of France
at the termination of the eighteenth century, all of whom sat in open
Lodge with covered heads. (At the conclusion of the rites in French
Lodges, the Master handed the candidate his hat, and said: <20>For the
future, you shall be covered in a Master<65>s Lodge.<2E>
This very ancient usage is a sign of liberty and superiority.) Among
the Germans, this article was used as a symbol of transfer of
chattels, and landed property. The judge held a hat in his hands;
the purchaser must receive it from him, and with it the title passed.
Frequently the ceremony perfecting a sale was performed by the
contract parties thrusting their hands into a hat, and upon
withdrawing them the estate changed owners.
<EFBFBD>Gothic justices wore a cap or suitable headdress when presiding over
court, as emblematic of authority, and manifestly the people wore
their hats while attending the tribunal as symbols of personal
liberty. (In an engraving, dating from the 15th century, given in
Lacroxi, op. cit. p. 379, all persons attendant upon court are
presented with heads covered). And with this typical allusion
generally acquiescence originally harmonized; but the distinctive and
exceptional feature of a Master<65>s head-dress contains the secret
symbolism of authority at the present day, while mediaeval Masons
worked with covered heads as a sign of freedom. Both customs,
descended from a remote teutonic antiquity, have long since
dissipated their vital forces, while the ordinary interpretation
possesses less significance than a dilapidated mile-post!<21>
By all of which it may be seen that we really know very little, and
must guess a great deal as to the origin of the custom. But in the
light of history and the etiquette of various ages, the most probable
theory seems to be that a Master wears a hat today in imitation of
the rulers of olden times who wore hat or crown while those who them
allegiance were uncovered.
Turning from history to practice, a question often asked is: <20>When
should the Worshipful Master remove his hat?<3F> The answer must come
from taste rather than law. Some Masters are veritable <20>hat
snatchers,<2C> pulling off their headgear whenever they speak from the
East. There seems little more reason for a Master to divest himself
of his badge of office when addressing a brother, than to remove his
apron or jewel. the Master<65>s hat is not used as a head covering
designed for warmth and protection from the weather, but as a badge
of authority. Good taste would dictate its lifting when the Master
speaks of or to Deity, of death, during the reading of passages of
Scripture, and in the presence of the Grand Master. In other words,
the Master<65>s hat is doffed in the presence of superior authority.
What kind of a hat should a Master wear? Here also is neither law
nor rule except for those of good taste. Fashion and custom rule all
our clothing, including our hats. The gentleman in dark cutaway
coat, gray stripped trousers, a black and white tie, gray gloves and
spats, who appeared at the White House wearing a golf cap, might
easily be mistaken for a lunatic; he who tried to step to bat on the
diamond with a derby would certainly receive Bronx cheers if not pop
bottles!
Lodges in which the officers appear in evening clothes, either
<EFBFBD>swallow tails<6C> or dinner coats, naturally expect Masters to use
black silk hats. Lodges where less formality is practiced frequently
see Masters in silk hats, but the results are sometimes anomalous.
The spectacle of a brother in white trousers, black and white shoes
and a silk hat, is incongruous, at the least. At a Lodge meeting in
hot weather in informal clothes the Master is better dressed with a
straw hat than the more formal silk. Lodges in which officers wear
ordinary business clothes should look with approbation on the felt or
derby.
The Grand Master in Massachusetts wears a three cornered cockade hat
at the solemn ceremonies of St. John<68>s Day in winter, survival of the
custom begun in the days when Paul Revere was Grand Master in that
Jurisdiction, inclusive of a large, heavily gold-encrusted apron,
collar, gauntlets and jewels, removes any feeling of incongruity from
the appearance of this old custom; the Massachusetts Grand Master
does not wear his cockade when visiting other Grand Lodges.
That the Grand Master <20>should<6C> wear his hat, and not let the old
custom go by default, merely for personal convenience, goes without
saying. But it has been said!
On closing the one hundred fiftieth Communication of the Grand Lodge
of New York, Grand Master Charles S. Johnson (now Grand Secretary)
said:
<EFBFBD>I want to call your attention to the fact that I have been wearing a
hat during this communication. I have done it on purpose - not
because I have any desire to wear a hat like this, but I want you men
in the Lodge to see that the ancient custom of a Master wearing a hat
shall not be dispensed with. I have found as I have gone around the
State, again and again, that in many Lodges there is no attempt on
the part of the Master to fulfill this ancient tradition of our
Fraternity. It is a very interesting tradition in our organization,
and I think it is one that we ought not to lose; and, therefore, I
have set you the example, and I ask you in your respective Lodges
throughout the State and the City of New York, to see that this old
tradition, which has been so honoured in the past, shall continue
even in these modern days.<2E>

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XII October, 1934 No.10
MASONRY AND RELIGION
by: Unknown
Every brother must decide for himself whether freemasonry has, or has
not, is or is not, a religion.
Without argument pro or con a few thoughts are here set forth by
which such decision may be illuminated; doubtless he who decides in
the negative will herein find support for his position, and perhaps
he who finds joy in the belief that Freemasonry is more than a
Fraternity, and that the ancient Craft is not alone of this, but of
two worlds, may be comforted.
To discuss any subject intelligently it is necessary that those who
speak and those who listen have a common understanding of the terms
used. It will hardly be necessary here to define Freemasonry
although many have phrased many definitions. But it does seem
essential that the reader and the writer have one mind as to what is
meant by religion.
The terms has many meanings in many minds. For instance: <20>What is
the religion of the Unite States?<3F> is a question intelligently
answered by: <20>On the whole, Protes-tant,<2C> by those who think of
religion as made up of modes of worship which may be Episcopalian or
Catholic, Jewish or Mohammedan, Baptist or Buddhist. But change the
tense and ask: <20>What are the <20>Religions<6E> of the United States,<2C> and
the only complete answer will be a catalog of all the faiths followed
in this country.
There is, then, a difference between <20>the religion<6F> and <20>the
religions.<2E> Carried a step further, there is a great distinction
between <20>a religion<6F> and <20>religion.<2E> Any qualifying article seems to
connote a special variety of theology; it is only when we forget that
<EFBFBD>a<EFBFBD> and <20>the<68> that we come to that experience of the heart which is
essential religion.
Some deny that in Freemasonry is <20>anything<6E> religious, let alone
religion. <20>Freemasonry as we know it was born in a tavern in London;
how can it be religious?<3F> has been asked by those who forget that
lilies bloom on a dung hill and that the carpenter who walked by
Galilee was born in a stable. But to those to whom Freemasonry is
but a social order these words are not addressed; he who can avow a
belief in God, kneel at his Altar, take vows in His name, receive the
teachings of the Lodge and deny <20>any<6E> kinship with worship of the
Great Architect is not within the reach of words here to be printed.
Religion is most emphatically not theology; more<72>s the pity, the two
are all too frequently confused. Religion is consciousness of,
kinship with, worship for a Supreme Being; theology is the means, the
method, the science of such worship. Theology is the manual of
astronomy, but it is the stars in the sky towards which we reach;
theology is the craft of mixing colors, but man thrills to the sunset
without knowing even the names of its hues.
Nor is it necessary here to say that Freemasonry inculcates no
theology. Every Freemason must affirm the existence of Deity; he is
an unhappy Freemason indeed for whom a life to come is not a fact,
but nowhere about the Altar of the Great Architect in a Lodge, in no
words of any Masonic ritual, is there a symbol or phrase setting
forth by what ways or means a brother is to claim kinship with the
Unseen Presence.
Millions of reverent men never even heard of the term <20>theology,<2C>
still less know its meaning. But there lives no man who does not
know of God - aye, even if he knows but to deny him. R.W. Brother
Joseph Fort Newton, of the Golden Pen and understanding heart, who
sees more in life and religion and Freemasonry than is given to many
a brother formed of more common clay; has written:
<EFBFBD>There is in human nature a spiritual quality, by whatever name it is
described; to express which some contrive theologies, others write
rituals and others sing anthems. It is a part of our human
endowment, at once the foundation of our faith and the consecration
of our labor. It emerged with man, revealing itself in love and
birth, joy and woe, pity and pain and death; in the blood in the
veins of men, the milk in the breasts of women, the laughter of
little children, in the ritual of the seasons - all the old, sweet,
sad and happy human things - adding a rhythm and pathos to mortal
life. Older than all creeds, deeper than all dogmas, it is the voice
out of the heart of the world; the account which life gives of itself
when it is healthy, natural and free.<2E>
It is this sense of one-ness with an invisible Absolute, of a touch
with matters spiritual none the less true that they are too ethereal
to phrase; of the reality of that which is the more all embracing
that it is unseen, unheard, untouched and unknown; which is here
meant by the term <20>religion,<2C> with no qualifying article to fence it
into the narrow confines of any creed or special faith. It is <20>that
natural religion in which all men agree<65> as the wise fathers but it
in the first of the Old Charges of a Freemason.
Modern science teaches us that what we see and taste and touch and
feel is but the shadow of reality. In the eyes of science the common
chair on which we sit is a vast space filled with vibrating electrons
and protons, too small to conceive, too speedy to envisage. The
space we know and move in is but a phase of time; the intervals we
measure on a clock face are but parts of a <20>space-time continuum.<2E>
In somewhat the same way, neither Freemasonry nor religion are really
as we see them; they are but shadows of a greater reality behind. In
a certain theatrical produc-tion it was necessary to introduce the
Christ. To do so with a reverence which should offend no one, the
producer showed His presence merely by a glory of light which came,
and passed, and went. Religion is such a glory - a light from One
Passing Unseen. In all reverence, Freemasonry too, is a hidden sun
of which we know only the shadows cast by brethren as they move
against it.
It will be news to none that Freemasonry has secrets; but to some the
concept will be new, that the greatest secret is one which none need
take an obligation never to reveal. It is one each man must learn
for himself; for its words have not been coined, so he cannot tell it
if he would.
So has religion her secret - it is written large in many a holy book,
yet never the tongue which may read it aloud. It is painted in the
rainbow and the aurora, but never the artist has lived who could limn
it. It sounds in the music of great composers, but never has a
harmonist translated it in words formed by the lips.
So religion and Freemasonry alike tell their simple, profound
secrets, to all who will learn, by the use of symbols.
Freemasons are bound each to each by the Mystic Tie; define it,
explain it, put it pinto words! It may not be done, for there are no
words. Some say it is the Cabletow, confusing the symbol with the
thing symbolized. The cabletow is no more the Mystic Tie than the
umbilical cord is the mother love. Yet the Mystic Tie is real;
brethren braid it in the Lodge, twist its strands together in
fellowship, lay cord on cord to form it in pity and charity and
relief. The friendly word ties a knot in it; the familiar background
of mutually lived Lodge life keeps its end from fraying. Those who
meet on the level and part upon the square, who listen together to
the old, old words of the old, old ritual, tie it tighter, and
tighter about them . . .but cannot tell of it; only feel it, know
it, love it. A great Masonic poet wrote:
<EFBFBD>What is it in the wild things that calls to little wild things?
What secret sacred things do the mountains whisper to the hillmen, so
silently yet so surely that they can be heard above the din and
clatter of the world? What mystery does the sea tell the sailor, the
desert to the Arab, the arctic ice to the explorer, the stars to the
astronomer? When we have answered these questions; mayhap we may
define the magic of Masonry - who knows what it is, or how, or why,
unless it be the long Cabletow of God running from heart to heart?<3F>
Religion cannot exist without the human race, since - at least as far
as we know - the beast of the field do not worship.
And the contrary is true - the race could not have been, without
religion. Wise scientists <20>prove<76> that worship of an Unseen Presence
is an outgrowth of a primal fear of the unknown causes of natural
phenomena; thunder, lightning, earthquake, wind storm, tidal waves
and so on. But others as wise point to the instincts through which
alone the race has survived and grown - love and protection of the
weak, care of the infant, mutual helpfulness, the formation of tribes
on the foundation of the greatest good to the greatest number; all of
which, during the slow years, have evolved into justice, liberty,
unselfishness, courage and the giving spirit.
Even the beasts of the jungle know love of offspring and occasionally
the spirit of helping one another; without them, no species could
survive.
Religion, then, rests on the certainty that there <20>is<69> a meaning to
life. Without it, our very existence is chaos. No man is so
Godless, no character so vile, but what some within is a
consciousness of <20>meaning.<2E> The completely selfish person who live
solely for himself cannot survive. Nor confuse this with that queer
doctrine which says that all that is lofty and fine in humanity is
but <20>enlightened selfishness.; that the courageous man who faces
death for his friend is doing that which pleases him better than
living securely without risk; that he who devotes himself to service
to others at personal sacrifice prefers that life, and therefore, but
please his own desires; that the missionary who faces torture and
death to spread the gospel thinks only that in such a life will he
find his greatest joy. For if that doctrine is carried back to the
Great Teachers - Jesus and Moses, Confucius and Buddha - it becomes
blasphemy.
Religion knows there is meaning to life; Freemasonry is as definite
in her dependence upon the rationality of the Universe, the define
justice in which brethren have most faith when understanding it
least. Without creed or dogma, Freemasonry is predicated upon an
utter belief that in the universe man has his place, and in the
reality of spiritual value. Here Freemasonry and religion are so
close they seem to become one. Yet even when two theories of living
coalesce there is no proof that one possesses, or is possessed by the
other.
Religion should not be required to submit to any process of
<EFBFBD>proving.<2E> Proofs are for the mind; religious conviction transcends
the mind. Proofs are of man; religion in man<61>s heart is of God.
Proofs are what we see with the eye and touch with the hand;
religion<EFBFBD>s certainties are not of the earth, earthy.
Theologies and dogmas, rites and churches, creeds and faiths have
complicated religion for the common man by a multiplicity of details,
a hard and fast hewing to some one line, conceived by some -
doubtless human and mistaken - mind. Religion, as distinct from <20>a<EFBFBD>
religion or <20>the<68> religions, teaches only by the simplest of symbols
- so does Freemasonry. The parables of the Carpenter of Nazareth are
all concerned with every day things; the symbols of religion - home,
fireside, a building, a lost sheep, a father<65>s love - are simple.
The symbols of Freemasonry which teach the most are the simplest -
the square, the compasses, the letter <20>G, the sprig of Acacia, a
Great Light to shine. . .
Tear aside the dark veil that hangs between today and the dim and
distant past when men worshipped fire on a pile of stones - a group
of half naked men and women and children in solemn procession pass
from east to west by way of the south about the godhead burning
merrily, casting in the flames the roots which, ignited, give out the
sweet odor, laying on the coals what was to become the <20>burnt
offering<EFBFBD> of the days of Moses, all with the dim idea of
propitiation.
Tear from a <20>high<67> church the veil of formality and austere ritualism
which enshrouds its truths - a group of men and women kneel humbly to
partake of the bread and wine by which they offer contrite hearts to
the Unseen Presence.
Finally, tear aside the covering of mystery and ritualistic
observance which conceals a Masonic Lodge at labor from a profane
world - a group of men who pass from the east to the west by way of
the south to gather about an Altar, there to lay their hands and vow
themselves to mutual service, offering their gifts to the Great
Architect of the Universe in gratitude for the fatherhood of God and
the brotherhood of man, and of the old, old Craft. . .
Every brother must decide for himself whether Freemasonry has or has
not, is or is not a religion.
But before he decides let him read, in the Great Light of Masonry,
Matthew, Chapter XVIII, verse 20.

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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XII November, 1934 No.11
NATIONAL
by: Unknown
Four great national organization serve American Freemasonry. In
alphabetical order these are: The Conference of Grand Masters, The
George Washington National Memorial Association, The Masonic Relief
Association of the United States and Canada and The Masonic Service
Association of the United States.
No single Short Talk Bulletin is large enough adequately to set forth
all the aims, ideals and accomplishments of any one of these national
movements, but a short general outline may be of interest to brethren
not closely in touch with their activities.
THE CONFERENCE OF GRAND MASTERS, as at present organized is of recent
origin, although the need for such annual meetings has been
recognized for many years. Due probably to the rather desultory
methods which prevailed in connection with the early Conferences, no
records of the dates on which they were held, nor minutes of their
proceedings are available.
During the past twenty-five years, a number of Conferences have been
held, beginning with those at Philadelphia and Baltimore in 1909,
followed by gatherings in Indianapolis in 1913, and in St. Louis the
following year. Commencing with 1925, the Conferences have been held
annually, in 1920506 and 1926 in conjunction with the meetings of the
Masonic Service Association of the United States;0, in Chicago, and
from 1927 to the present, in Washington, D.C., immediately preceding
or following the annual meetings of the George Washington National
Memorial Association and the Masonic Service Association.
The organization of each Conference includes a Chairman and
Secretary-Treasurer, elected annually. Since 1927, M.W. J. Claude
Keiper, P.G.M., District of Columbia, has been annually elected
Secretary-Treasurer. The present Chairman is M.W. Richard Priest
Dietzman, P.G.M., Kentucky. With three other members appointed by
the Chairman, these officers constitute the Committee on Agenda.
Each of the appointed members serve for three years, the period of
service ensuring a continuity of program.
Under the present plan of operation, the Committee on Agenda selects
the topics to be considered by the Conference, and assigns the
opening of each discussion to a Grand Master who is regarded as
especially qualified in the topic assigned. To obtain views of
brethren from different parts of the country, in some instances two
or more Grand Masters are given the same assignment.
Subjects cover matters of general interest to the Fraternity, the
problems which everywhere confront it and those questions which
involve interjurisdictional relations and procedure. Examples are:
<EFBFBD>Interjurisdictional relief;<3B> what are the best methods of procedure
to secure effective and uniform action in extending such relief:
<EFBFBD>Service and Employment;<3B> (a) Masonic Service Bureaus, (b) Masonic
Employment Bureaus: <20>Educational Programs;<3B> (a) for Lodges or larger
groups, (b) for individuals; <20>Recognition of Grand Lodges;<3B> are
general standards desirable and can uniformity of such standards be
attained by Grand Lodges?
A general discussion follows the presentation of the formal paper,
delegates asking questions regarding the methods adopted in the
various Jurisdictions, which are answered by those having facts to
offer.
The value of the these Conferences of Grand Masters is now widely
recognized. That the Conferences have won an assured place in the
national activities of the Fraternity is proved by the large
attendance of Grand Masters or their representatives, the number of
Grand Jurisdictions represented varying from 41 to 46 out of 49,
during the past three years. Their educational value to those in
attendance cannot be measured and the broadened vision of the
problems, the activities and the possibilities of the Fraternity,
which are obtained by those who participate, is universally regarded
as worth many times the individual sacrifice of the time required of
those who attend, not to mention the benefit derived by the personal
contacts which cement the ties between Grand Jurisdictions and
promote the unity and universality of Freemasonry.
The GEORGE WASHINGTON MASONIC NATIONAL MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION had its
inception on February 22, 1910, when the Grand Masters, or their
representatives, from eighteen Grand Jurisdictions met in Alexandria,
Virginia, on the invitation of the Grand Master of that State, to
consider the erection of a fireproof structure in which to house the
Washington relics belonging to Alexandria-Washington Lodge No.22. At
this meeting resolutions approving and endorsing the erection of a
Masonic Memorial to Washington were adopted, and a committee on
permanent organization was appointed.
One year later, pursuant to the agreement adopted in 1910, a second
meeting was held at which a permanent organization, The George
Washington Masonic National Memorial Association, was formed. A
constitution and by-laws were adopted and officers elected; M.W.
Thomas J Shryock, Grand Master of Maryland, being the first
President. Since 1911, the association has met annually, either in
the old Lodge Room of Alexandria-Washington Lodge No.22, or in the
Auditorium of the Washington Masonic Memorial. Grand Master Shryock
served as President until his death in 1917; his successor, elected
in 1918, is R.W. Louis A. Watres, P.G.M., Pennsylvania.
The present organization of the Association provides for a President,
four Vice-Presidents, a Secretary-Treasurer, twenty-one Directors and
an Executive Committee of five chosen from the Board of Directors.
The objects of the Association, as set forth in its Constitution, are
to erect and maintain in the City of Alexandria, Virginia, <20>A
Suitable Memorial Temple to Geroge Washington, the Mason, one which
shall express in durability and beauty the exalted and undying esteem
of the Freemasons of the United States for him in whose memory it
shall stand through the coming years.<2E> It is also provided that the
Memorial Temple shall furnish accommodations for the safekeeping and
exhibition of the Washington relics and a place where the several
Grand Jurisdictions may place memorials to their distinguished
brethren. Another object is <20>to create, foster and diffuse a more
intimate fraternal spirit, understanding and intercourse between the
several Grand Jurisdictions and sovereign Grand Bodies throughout the
United States and her Insular possessions.<2E>
Under the constitution, the active members of the Association are the
Grand Lodges of the United States and her Insular Possessions, so
that the ultimate direction of its affairs is vested in the Grand
Lodges.
Believing that every Freemason in the United States should have a
part in the erection of this great Memorial, the plan for raising
funds provided for the payment by each Grand Lodge of an amount equal
to $1.00 per capita of its membership, which amount was later
increased to $1.70. Sustained effort to bring the matter prominently
before the brethren of each Grand Jurisdiction were made. A Chairman
for each State was appointed and efforts met with such success that
many of the Grand Jurisdictions have over subscribed the original
quota, some even exceeding the one later adopted. To date, almost
$4,000,000.00 have been contributed to the erection of the Memorial.
On June 5, 1922, ground was broken for the Memorial on Shooters Hill,
Alexandria, Virginia, and on November 1, 1923, the corner-stone was
laid in the presence of the largest gathering of Masons the country
has ever seen. Since then, with the exception of the last year, when
financial conditions prevented, building operations have been carried
forward continuously. The exterior structure is completed and the
Auditorium finished and furnished. Under the policy early adopted,
no contracts for work are made unless funds to meet them are in the
treasury of the association. While this course has perhaps resulted
in slower construction, but,it has also placed the project in the
enviable position of being absolutely free of debt.
On May 12, 1932, although uncompleted, the Memorial was dedicated, so
that the ceremonies might be held during the year devoted to the
commemoration of the bicentennial of the anniversary of Washington<6F>s
birth. Notwithstanding the inclement weather a great assembly of
brethren participated in the ceremonies, which were attended by the
then President of the United States, the Honorable Herbert Hoover,
and distinguished Masons from the United States and abroad.
With the return of normal financial conditions, it is confidently
expected that contributions to the Memorial funds will be resumed and
that this outstanding Masonic project will be completed. When this
has been accomplished, Freemasons of the United States may well take
pride in their achievement. They will not only have erected a
Memorial to the greatest Mason of his time, but will have built an
enduring monument to Masonry, and to the influence which it has
exerted in so marked a degree in the foundation, maintenance, and
preservation of our free Government.
THE MASONIC RELIEF ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, a
non-profit making organization operated exclusively for information
and protection against imposition on the Fraternity, and was
organized in 1884. The aims and objectives are: First, the
detection and publication in the Bulletin of unworthy Masons and
impostors preying upon the Fraternity; Second, the coordinating and
correlating of the various forms of Masonic relief throughout the
United States and Canada; third, the promotion of prompt and
effective methods of handling cases of interjurisdictional relief;
fourth, to act as an agency in organizing Masonic relief in times of
National disaster when such services are requested by any Grand Lodge
or group of Grand Lodges; and, fifth, to provide a meeting place for
the discussion of all these varied problems of Masonic relief, which
in these days are so pressing, and bring together those who are
active and interested in Masonic relief of every form and character.
Nine thousand eight hundred and forty-five Masonic crooks and
impostors are recorded in the office of the Association.
The Association<6F>s Conventions are held biannually. It officers are a
President and Chairman of the Executive Board (Present incumbent is
W.M. Lewis E. Smith, P.G.M., Nebraska), First and Second Vice
Presidents, Treasurer, and Secretary (present incumbent is E. Earle
Axtell, 43 Niagara Street, Buffalo, N.Y.) The Executive Board is
composed of all officers and an Advisory Council of five.
THE BULLETIN, official publication of the Association, is published
six times a year, and mailed to all Grand Secretaries in the United
States and Canada; and to the Secretaries of all Lodges, Boards of
Relief, and other active organizations within Grand Jurisdictions
which are supporting members of the Association.
It is the largest organization in the world composed exclusively of
Masons, with membership of approximately two million; while those who
are eligible but not members, aggregate approximately one million
more.
THE MASONIC SERVICE ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES, was formed as
the result of the distressing need, seen in the Great War, of an
adequate method by which American Freemasonry could function
unitedly, instead of as forty-nine separate units. in relief and aid
for the distressed.
No honest man insures his house against fire with the belief that the
morrow will see it in flames. He pays a little over a term of years,
so that in the unlikely event of conflagration the money value of his
destroyed home will be at his disposal that he may rebuild. The
Masonic Service Association is an insurance policy issued to American
Freemason insuring that, when disaster comes, the Fraternity will not
be bound and helpless to move and give from its great heart to those
who need, as it was in the Great War.
The tool, forged in the fires of bitterness and conflict of war, was
tempered and ready for decisive and successful action when disasters
came. During the Association<6F>s fifteen years, five disasters of
national proportions have tested the ability of American Freemasonry
to act unitedly in<69>restoring peace to the troubled minds<64> of those
who suffered by convulsions of nature. These were the Japanese
earthquake of September 1, 1923, the Florida hurricane of September
18, 1926, the Puerto Rico hurricane of September 13, 1928, and the
Florida hurricane of September 16, 1928.
The Masonic Service Association was able to speak for the afflicted
brethren without the excitement and distress under which those who
suffered, necessarily labored. It made an impersonal survey of four
of these five disasters and its duty accredited representatives
advised from first-hand investigations of the extent of the
devastation and the relief imperatively needed. By its suggestions
and its plans it assisted the Grand Jurisdictions involved in setting
up and starting in motion the necessary relief machinery. By acting
as a clearing house for information, a diseminator of appeals and a
central agency through which contributions were sent, it expedited
both the collection of funds and their application where most needed.
That there might be a permanent and concise record of its relief
activities, in 1931 the Association published <20>United Masonic
Relief,<2C> a fifty-three page bound volume, in which the finances of
all five disasters were set forth in detail; twelve hundred copies
were distributed to Grand Lodges, Grand and Past Grand Officers, the
Masonic Press, and Masonic and Public Libraries.
ALL RELIEF, ALL DISASTERS
Japanese Earthquake Relief, 1923 $15,777.25
Florida Hurricane, 1926 $114,236.97
Mississippi Valley Flood, 1927 $608,291.91
Puerto Rica Hurricane, 1928 $86,316.58
Florida Hurricane, 1928 $107,622.14
Total $932,244.85
ALL EXPENSES, ALL DISASTERS
Japanese Earthquake, 1923 (No Expense)
Florida Hurricane, 1926 $1,130.95
Mississippi Valley Flood, 1927 $7,202.21
Puerto Rico Hurricane, 1928 $3,078.08
Florida Hurricane, 1928 $527.35
Total $11,938.59
Percentage, All Expenses to All Relief 1.28%
Inquiries and offers of help in disasters ranging from floods in New
England, an earthquake in the West, a storm in Mexico and
hurricanes in Central America, have been made whenever damage was of
large proportions; happily, since 1928, no flood, fire, hurricane,
earthquake or other natural calamity has been beyond the power of the
afflicted Grand Lodge to handle alone.
The Association early realized that, vital as is cooperative effort
between Grand Jurisdictions in time of stress, in the merciful
providence of the Great Architect war and disasters come seldom, so
that an Association of Masons devoted to service should also have
peacetime work to do.
That field was found in developing programs of Masonic education,
forming Craft Libraries, issuing a Masonic magazine (<28>The Master
Mason<EFBFBD>) and the publication of modern, well printed, authoritative
and readable Masonic books. The Masonic world is forever the debtor
to the Association for the National Masonic Library and the Little
Masonic Library, thirty-two volumes of primary importance.
In 1928 the delegates from member Grand Lodges decided to enlarge the
educational activities of the association. To that end, and to meet
the criticism of some who thought publishing books (even if sold to
Craftsmen at unusually low prices) a work which secular publishers
might the better do, the Association sold its publishing business and
retired from the book field.
Since then the association has developed a program of investigation
into, and digestion and dissemination of, facts showing national
trends in Freemasonry. No other organization duplicates this work,
the uniqueness and interest of which has won countless expressions of
interest and praise from high Masonic authorities the nation over.
Such Digests as those on Masonic Employment Bureaus, Masonic Funeral
Services, Ancient Landmarks, Masonic Educational Activities, Who May
Confer Degrees, Taxation of Masonic Properties, Masonic Advisory and
Executive Boards, The Bible on the Altar, Light on the N.P.D.
Problem, Masonic Trial Methods, Masonic Finances and Charity, Grand
Lodge Standards of Recognition, Masonic Law Relative to Liquor and
Beer, <20>What They Think,<2C> American Masonic Petitions, etc. have proved
of inestimable value, not only in spreading knowledge of the laws,
practices and ideas of all Grand Jurisdictions to each of them, but
as permanent contributions to source material for students and
historians of the future.
The Association has not neglected the Masonic educational work for
constituent Lodges; Four Programs<6D> and later, <20>Three Evenings of
Masonic Inspiration,<2C> a number of Masonic Contests to be held in
Lodge, a one act Masonic Play which requires neither costumes,
accessories or stage, and similar material have won instant acclaim
from the Masonic world.
Frequent broadcasts of interesting Masonic ideas and material are
made, such as z Reconsecration Address of unusual caliber, sent to
all Grand Jurisdictions; a unique system of Lodge accounting, an
Armistice Day Address by Reverend Brother and Doctor Joseph Fort
Newton, Chaplain of the Association, etc.
Beginning in 1923 a monthly Short Talk Bulletin (of which this is the
one hundred and forty third) has been issued. It goes to every Lodge
of Member Grand Jurisdictions. Begun at the suggestion of M.W. W.L.
Eagleton, P.G.M., Oklahoma, of sainted and unforgettable memory, as a
contribution to Lodge interest, it has become a library of Masonic
addresses, a concise and authoritative encyclopedia of facts on
interesting Masonic subjects, a reference collection of value to all
Masonic students. All these Short Talk Bulletins are still in print.
(The catalog both classifies and lists them alphabetically
To catalog all the activities of the Association is impossible in a
short space; in brief, it is a servant of American Grand Lodges, a
patient and tireless investigator into Grand Jurisdiction law,
custom, practices. ideas; which it digests and issues in permanent
form for the benefit of all, an insurance policy against disaster, a
weapon to fight flood, famine, pestilence, kept sharp and ready for
the brotherly hands of all The Ancient Craft.
Its officers are an Executive Commission, elected annually, a
Chairman of the Commission, elected annually by delegates to the
annual meeting; and an Executive Secretary and staff with offices in
Washington, D.C. M.W. George R. Sturgis, P.G.M., Connecticut, is
Chairman, and W. Carl H Claudy, P.M. District of Columbia, is
Executive Secretary.

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