The Builder Magazine 

December 1917 - Volume III - Number 12 


CROSSES 

BY BRO. CHARLES W. MANN, New York 

MAN'S inhumanity to man has made countless thousands mourn in the ages that have 
passed and will continue so to do until the time shall come when swords shall be 
beaten into ploughshares and spears into pruning blades. 


As we are about to consider the crosses, let us trace the origin of some of them. To 
endeavor to set before you the circumstances which brought out the large variety of 
crosses that have appeared since our Saviour suffered upon one of them would take 
too much time. I have, therefore, selected seven primary and six secondary, which I 
shall place before you, and I hope that the interest that centers around them will prove 
as increasingly absorbing to you as the study of them has been to me. 


Crosses have been used in various forms by all the nations and tribes of the East as a 
means of punishment for enemies of criminals— excepting by the Jews. The Jewish 
method of putting malefactors to death was by stoning or burning, according to the 
Mosaic Law. From numerous writings upon the subject by La Croze, Jabolinski, 
Zoega, Viscomte and others, we gather that the symbol of the cross appears to have 
been most various in its signification. Justyn Martyr says the sign of the cross is 
impressed upon the whole of nature. Man himself forms a cross when his arms are 
extended from his shoulders. Leigh mentions forty- six different kinds; Sylvanus 
Morgan, twenty-six; and Upton, thirty. 


The cross is believed to have been evolved from that more ancient instrument of 
execution, the pale, as discovered by Gretser in Crecia Christy, Vol. I, Chap. 50, as 
follows: For impaling (infixio), a long and shaipened piece of wood was employed, 
on which the victim was put as on a spit. 



Seneca describes this kind of execution. Some drove a stake through the body and set 
the stake up in the ground; others were suspended on crosses with their heads turned 
towards the earth. This cruel mode of punishment is still in vogue in some parts of 
Russia, China, Turkey and some of the more remote countries of the East. 


A CROSS 


The cross (La Crux) a gibbet formed of two pieces of wood placed crosswise, 
metaphorically, the punishment of the cross, as well as the pain it inflicts, and in a 
general sense, any mental pain; suffering or heavy trial— in its simplest form 
consisting of two pieces of wood, one standing erect, the other placed on top, crossing 
at right angles. Its use as an instrument of punishment was probably suggested by the 
shape so often taken by branches of trees. According to Cicero, it was certainly 
customary to hang criminals on trees (Arbor Infelix). Seneca names the cross, infelix 
lignum, the accursed tree. 


EGYPTIAN CROSS La Crux Ausata 


The Egyptian cross, the oldest cross, will first claim our attention. This is the cross 
often seen held in the hand of the gods of Egypt. It is a pale with a cross-beam on top 
with a ring over its center. From this ring the culprit was suspended until death ended 
his sufferings. This cross without the ring appears often among Indian and Egyptian 
relics. It sometimes appears in the form of two pales crossing each other in the center. 
These crosses are understood to be symbolical ideas of Divinity or life eternal. A 
cross was to be seen in the temple of Serapis as the Egyptian emblem of the future 
life. From Rufinius we get the following: In an obelisk recently discovered in Nineveh 
there is a representation of a king within an arched frame, having the Assyrian 
symbols over the head and a cross like that of Malta on the breast. 


PASSION CROSS, OR THE CROSS OF CHRIST 



In the cross of Christ I glory, Towering o'er the wrecks of time; All the light of sacred 
story Gathers round its head sublime. 


The cross on which our Saviour suffered was, according to Sozomen, discovered by 
the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, in the year of our Lord 326. 
When seventy- nine years of age she was induced by the warmth of her piety to visit 
the place which the Saviour had rendered sacred by his presence and suffering. The 
hatred of the heathens had led them to obliterate as much as possible all traces of the 
memorable events which the life and death of our Saviour had hallowed and to cover 
Mount Calvary with earth and stone and raise thereon a temple to the Goddess Venus. 
A Jew, however, had treasured up what traditions he would gather and was thus 
enabled to point out to Helena the spot where our Lord had been buried. On 
excavation, it is said, three crosses were found, and the title which that of Jesus bore 
was also found lying by itself. That the crosses were wood all declare, but no one 
states the peculiar kind of wood, nor is there any mention made to substantiate the 
tradition that the true cross consisted of three kinds, cypress, pine, and cedar, or of 
four kinds, cedar, cypress, palm, and olive. Lipsius declares that the cross was made 
of oak, as this wood was the most abundant in Judea. The relics are said to resemble 
oak. All the Scriptural writers seem to agree that only on the cross of Jesus was placed 
a title. The wooden title is said to be still preserved in Rome, not entire, for only 
diminutive fragments remain of the Hebrew letters, so that no one can positively 
identify the characters. The Greek and Latin, except the letter Zetta, are written after 
the eastern manner, from right to left Nicetus holds that it is not all the work of one 
hand; the Roman letters are firmly and distinctly cut, the Greek very badly. The 
history of the discovery of this title is worthy of notice. 


When sent by Constantine to Rome it was deposited in a leaden chest above the 
vaulted roof of the ancient church in Coma, in a little window, and then bricked into 
the wall, its position being recorded in a Mosaic inscription without. Time almost 
destroyed this inscription, making it illegible, and a window, owing to the carelessless 
of workmen repairing the church, was broken open and the holy relic discovered. This 
discovery and the genuineness of the title were authenticated by Pope Alexander III. 


THE CROSS OP CONSTANTINE 



This is the miraculous cross said to have appeared in the heavens and to have been 
observed by the Emperor about sixteen years before the visit of his mother, the 
Empress Helena, to Jerusalem. This cross is shaped very much like the one on which 
our Saviour was supposed to have been crucified. 


Constantine Caius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Claudius, surnamed the Great (Roman 
Emperor A.D. 306 to 337), born A. D. 274 at Naissus, in Tipper Moesae; died at 
Constantinople in 337. It is unnecessary to recite the biography of Constantine at 
length, but simply state that he seems to have been the first great potentate to embrace 
the Christian religion and to have given to the cross, that up to this time had been 
looked upon only as an ignominious instrument of death, the hallowed reverence and 
the inspiring influence it afterward attained. History speaks of Constantine as a youth 
of fine physical appearance, endowed with great strength and courage. His first 
service was under Diocletian, the Emperor, and by his various efforts he rapidly rose 
to a place of great distinction. His successes in Egypt and Persia gained him the title 
of Tribune. Upon the death of his father in 306, he was made Emperor of the West, 
and Emperor of Rome in 3 10 after a decisive victory over Maxentius, at which time 
his victorious legions entered the imperial city. There he was greeted as the Emperor 
of the Roman Empire, Maxentius having been accidentally drowned. It was during 
this campaign that Constantine, while in camp near Mentz, is said to have seen in the 
sky a flaming cross, bearing the inscription in Greek "with this you will conquer." 
From that time the symbol of Christianity appeared on the shields of the soldiers and 
the banners of the Roman army. The life of Constantine the Great as given by 
different historians is full of contradictions. That he was cruel in some cases there can 
be no doubt, but justice governed oftener than a baser sentiment; and that he was one 
of the greatest princes none can deny. Tried by a standard of morality he might be 
found lacking. His character scarcely warrants the belief that he was ever troubled by 
compunctions of conscience or remorse; but as a statesman and politician, Constantine 
favored and protected Christianity, though he was not baptized until just before his 
death. It is certainly wonderful the change that came by the advent and acceptance of 
the Christian religion by Constantine. The Christians had suffered all manner of 
persecution and torture at the hands of the pagans of Rome. Constantine changed all 
this by convening and attending the general Council at Nice, in 325 A. D. Constantine 
openly declared the Christian to be the official church of the Empire. Sunday was set 
apart for religious services instead of games, and every attempt to restrain the liberty 
of Christians was severely punished. 



THE EXACT CROSS 


This cross is composed of five squares, four squares on the sides of a central square, 
or two pieces crossed in the center forming four right angles. As this figure is exact in 
every line, it was chosen to represent truth. It first appears as an Egyptian mark on 
obelisks and objects of art. The cross of St. George was modeled after this cross. 
Writers differ greatly about the identity of St. George, although the identity of this 
cross is fully established. Spencer selects St. George as the Red Cross Knight, the 
hero and champion of truth, who engages in a terrible combat with a great dragon 
which he conquers and destroys, rescuing Una, the pure and beautiful Goddess of 
Truth, from his awful folds. On examination of different authors on this subject our 
belief is the St. George who fought so valiantly under Diocletion is the real St. 
George, who with many other Christian Knights, after defending himself against 
seven Saracens and overcoming them, was finally captured by a greater force and 
suffered martyrdom, dying in defense of the cross. There are two other writers who 
declare that St. George was none other than the Bishop of Alexandria, and give him 
the title of the regular Calendar Saint. If this is true, the canonizing of this St. George 
was very strange, as his personal history reads very much like some things we read 
about in the public press of today. The story of this St. George is as follows: 


George of Capadocia, or St. George, the Patron Saint of England, was bom about the 
beginning of the fourth century at Epiphania in Celicia. His father was a fuller, and 
the future Saint himself had a long struggle against the disadvantages of a poor and 
humble birth. According to Gregory of Nacianzene, George distinguished himself in 
his early career as a parasite of so mean a type that he would sell himself for a cake. 
He became an army contractor, but it is said that he fulfilled his contracts on bacon so 
badly that he narrowly escaped death at the hands of the indignant soldiers. After this 
episode he fled to Alexandria, where he became a devout churchman, engaged in 
public business and finally became bishop of the city. It is said further that George 
owed his episcopate to the pliancy of his conscience and the readiness with which he 
lent himself to further the political views of the court. When George took possession 
of the See he found a fierce persecution going on against the Trinitarians. Instead of 
mitigating this evil he favored the persecution to such an extent that he raised a 
rebellion against himself, and fled for his life; but being soon after reinstated by the 
court he returned to Alexandria and signalized himself by redoubling his cmelty, as 
might have been expected. His conduct raised up enemies against him, even among 
his own followers. His downfall could not be long delayed. A tyrannical act which he 
perpetrated toward the pagans in his diocese irritated the people so keenly that they 



rose up en masse, dragged him out of the fortress to which he had retired for safety, 
paraded him through the streets on the back of a mule, and, after tearing him to pieces, 
burnt his remains. Papebroche and Heylyn deny altogether that this Bishop of 
Alexandria is the patron saint of England and give versions of St. George's history 
which explain the reason why he is held in such high honor. Among the Greeks St. 
George was held in the highest veneration as a soldier and defendant of the Greek 
Church, the Christian religion, and the cross; and his cross was adopted by them as a 
sign of victory. In England his renown through song and story had increased to such 
an extent that by the time of Edward the Third he had become the Patron Saint of the 
Kingdom of England. The cross of St. George is a red cross in a field argent. This 
cross is also known as the Red Cross. It was worn by the nine companions in arms 
who had charge of the Holy Sepulchre, by permission of King Baldwin. It was placed 
upon the sleeves of their coats and to distinguish them for their zeal in the defense of 
the Christian religion, and to remind them that they must shed the last drop of their 
blood in the noble and glorious purpose for which they were enlisted. The principles 
to which they subscribed were piety, charity, truth, fidelity to Heaven and the fair. 


THE CROSS OF ST. ANDREW 


The next form of the cross to which I would call your attention is the form of the cross 
on which St. Andrew, the first disciple of Jesus Christ and brother of Simon Peter, 
was crucified. 


This form of cross seems to have been built especially to try the faith and fortitude of 
the martyr, who with arms and legs extended and tied to this form of cross, with no 
support to the body, was left to linger for days before death relieved his sufferings. 
This was to give him time to confess or recant. It may be said here, that St. Andrew, 
pinioned to this cross, living for four days and recanting not, set forth the power of his 
faith. 


The story of St. Andrew is short but pathetic. He was bom at Bethsada in Galilee, and 
was the brother (as has been said before) of Simon Peter, and was the first of the 
disciples to become acquainted with Jesus, and introduced his brother Simon Peter to 



Him. On the day they met they continued in His company and went with Him to a 
wedding in Cana, and then returned to their ordinary occupations. 


Some months after, Jesus coming upon them while they were fishing, called them to 
Him and promised to make them fishers of men. They immediately left their nets to 
follow and be with Him; and never afterwards separated from Him. 


Tradition assigns Scythia, Greece, and Thrace as the scenes of St. Andrew's ministry. 
His crucifixion took place at Patrae in Achaia. 


This cross (crux decussata) was adopted by that celebrated body of Knights known as 
the Knights of St. Andrew and the Scotch Order of the Thistle. On the banners of the 
Ancient Scotch kings may be seen this cross, ft was ever borne by them as well as by 
the Knights of St. Andrew in many a sanguinary battle as a reminder of their faith that 
all followers of this standard must die for it, must never see it lowered; and it is a 
singular fact that it never has been lowered; for, combined with the Cross of St. 
George, on an area of red, it becomes the Standard of the Empire of England, and the 
sun never sets upon it. ft is the greatest standard except one other floating under the 
canopy of Heaven today. 


THE CROSS OF THE MILITARY KNIGHTS OF PRUSSIA 


This cross is called the Teutonic Cross. As each of these crosses represent some 
important epoch in the history of church and state, none, perhaps, is of more 
importance than this which was adopted to be worn upon the standard of the Teutonic 
Knights. This celebrated order arose out of the misery which reigned among the 
besiegers at the celebrated siege of St. Jean D'Acre at the close of the twelfth century. 
The privations and sufferings of the Christian soldiers excited the compassion of 
certain German merchants who had been informed of their condition, and who went to 
the place of siege and erected hospitals made of tents and rendered other services of 
such value to the unhappy warriors that the German princes enrolled these princely 
merchants in this order of knighthood. Their title was Teutonic Knights of St. Mary of 



Jerusalem, and it had the special patronage of Pope Celestine III. None could be 
admitted besides these merchants, who had become ennobled, but those of noble birth. 
Their equestrian garment was a white mantle with a black cross; and this with bread 
and water constituted all the reward sought for by men who vowed to remain pure in 
body and mind, poor in purse, and to give succor to Christians where it was most 
needed. This vow, however, was strangely construed in later years. 


At the beginning of the thirteenth century this Order was powerful and rich, and 
carried forward a bloody war in defense of the infant church of Prussia. So great was 
the hatred of the pagan proprietors, who then inhabited Lithuania, that when they 
captured a Teutonic Knight they immolated him in a most barbaric manner. One of 
these valiant knights, after making a most desperate stand against the force of these 
cruel foes, fell bleeding from a score of wounds and was captured. He was placed 
upon his horse, securely bound, and the knight and the horse burned alive. Thus 
perished Margarand Van Reschaun and many other followers of the Black Cross of 
the Teutonic Knights. 


THE CROSS OF THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSAFEM The Eight- 
Pointed Cross 


This cross was dedicated to St. John the Almoner, a Greek patriarch of Alexandria. 
The order bearing the above title was organized in the year of our Lord 1058, and 
existed for nearly seven hundred years, until extinguished by Napoleon in 1798, when 
he seized the Island of Malta while on his way to Egypt. They were called 
Hospitallers on account of their vow, in which they promised to devote their lives to 
charity, obedience, and poverty. 


Their dress was a plain black robe, having an eight-pointed white cross on the left 
breast. 



Of all the orders that have flourished in the past, the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem 
must hold the highest place upon the walls of fame. This order had its beginning in a 
small chapel and two hospitals, near the Holy Sepulchre. 


A number of sojourning pilgrims entered these hospitals and devoted themselves to 
this service. At the time of the first Crusade, Peter Gerard was rector of the hospital. 
After the conquest of Palestine the Hospitallers experienced high favor with the 
Crusaders, many of whom, following that illustrious example of the illustrious Knight 
Godfrey de Bullion, bestowed landed property in Europe upon them. In 1 1 13 Pope 
Pascal II sanctioned this order by a bull, conferring special privileges upon it. Gerard, 
now First Superior, established branch hospitals in different parts of Europe. Upon the 
death of Gerard, in 1118, Raymond de Puy became his successor. He was a man of 
strong martial instincts and tastes, and he proposed to his brethren that while they 
should still maintain their vows previously taken they should add to them that of 
bearing arms in defense of religion. A proposition so strictly in accordance with the 
spirit of the age was promptly acceded to, and the order became a military fraternity 
and was organized as such by De Puy, who became its first Grand Master and 
impressed his character upon it. 


Passing rapidly to fame as a military fraternal body, and to opulence from the gifts of 
pious persons, the followers of the White Cross struck terror to the hearts of its 
enemies in the East. Their deeds of conspicuous valor are recorded in history from 
their earliest formation until the close of the eighteenth century. Their campaign 
against the Saracens was one of signal brilliancy and one of their most notable 
achievements on land. 


About this time we find a new cross making its appearance: The Union Cross of the 
Knights of St. John and St. Mary of Jerusalem, Rhodes, and Malta, known as the 
Maltese Cross. 


The history of this cross is so closely interwoven with the other that its origin must be 
traced as a contingent of the other which has just been described. 



It is a compound cross, made by joining four triangles at their apexes. When the 
fortress of Acre fell into the hands of the Saracens, in 1291, the Hospitallers were 
established at Limmoesa in Cypress, where they were recruited by drafts on all the 
commanderies in Europe. In this Insular residence they became sailors and navigators, 
and this was probably the time that they assumed their naval character, as their vessels 
were continually in service conveying pilgrims to the Holy Land. This led to sea 
fights in which the brethren became as distinguished for skill and valor as they had 
been on land. In 1309, the combined forces of Knights of St. John, St. Mary, and the 
Templars seized the Island of Rhodes, which had been the home and headquarters of 
Mohammedan corsairs and pirates, and soon converted that island into so strong a 
Christian fortress that it gave its name to the fraternity. They held that island for more 
than two hundred years, though assailed many times by the Mohammedans. They took 
Smyrna and retained possession of that place until it was taken by Tamerlane. The 
first siege of Rhodes took place in 1480 and was successfully defended by the knights 
under the command of Sir Peter de Aubusson, their Grand Master. A second siege 
took place in 1 522, and the knights under the then commanding Grand Master, Philip 
Villiers de Lislle Adam, after holding the Turks at bay for six months, made an 
honorable capitulation to the Sultan Solyman, the Magnificent. 


The remnants of the order proceeded first to Candia, then to Messina, and then to the 
mainland of Italy. 


Charles the Fifth ceded to them the islands of Malta and Gozzo and the City of 
Tripoli, March twentyfourth, 1530. Malta was then a barren rock, but the knights 
made it one of the strongest fortresses in the world; and they carried on the war with 
the Turks, then the dread of Christendom, with so much energy that their new abode 
furnished them with a new name, and a new triangle was added to the triple triangle, 
forming the Cross of St. John, St. Mary, Rhodes, and Malta. 


For two and one-half centuries the Knights of Malta wielded a powerful influence in 
European affairs. Piracy, that dread scourge of the eastern seas, was destroyed by their 
valor; but in the later years of their existence, forgetting their former vows, it seems 
that a fitting climax ended their career when that wonderful soldier and man of 
destiny, Napoleon, the Emperor of the French, closed it in 1798. 



The last cross which we shall consider will be the signal cross of the Crusaders, or the 
rallying cross. Borne by the Crusaders it appeared upon the banners of the military 
expeditions undertaken by the Christians of Europe for the deliverance of the Holy 
Land from the domination of Saracens and Turks. 


About seventy years after the death of Christ, Jerusalem was taken and destroyed by 
Titus; but sixty years afterward the city was rebuilt by Hadrian, and the Christians 
were permitted to return. Their occupancy only existed by precarious tolerance until 
Constantine embraced the Christian religion and proclaimed it to be the religion of the 
Empire. 


For about two hundred years, until Jerusalem was taken by the Saracens in 637, the 
Christians held sway in the Holy City; but all toleration ceased when the Turks took 
the city in 1063. That wild fanatical horde, though superior in force and military 
power, were immeasurably inferior to the people whom they had expelled; and as they 
made no scruple to plunder, insult, and kill the Christians, pilgrims to Jerusalem began 
to bring back serious reports concerning their suffering in the Holy Land. 


This state of things continued until Peter the Hermit took up the mission and began to 
preach the redemption of the City of Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulchre from the 
hands of the infidels. The fame of this mighty and pious design now became 
universally diffused. The greatest prelates, nobles, and princes attended upon the 
preachings of Peter and became so infused and inspired at one of his discourses that 
they arose and exclaimed as with one voice: "God willeth it! God willeth it!" 


The first Crusade occurred in the year of our Lord 1096. We quote from the Princess 
Commena, who expressed herself thus: 


"The whole of Europe seems shaken from its foundation and ready to precipitate itself 
in one united body upon Asia." 



All orders of men now deemed the Crusade the only road to Heaven and became 
impatient to open the way with their swords to the Holy City. Nobles sold their castles 
and belongings at any price. The infirm and aged contributed to the expedition by 
giving money and valuables, and many of them not satisfied with this attended in 
person, being determined to reach and behold with their dying eyes, if possible, the 
city where Jesus Christ had died for the human race. 


The hosts of the Crusaders increased so fast that their leaders became apprehensive 
lest the very size of the great host should prove the cause of the failure of the 
enterprise. For this reason they permitted an undisciplined multitude, computed at 
more than three hundred thousand, to go on before them under the command of Peter 
the Hermit and Walter Gaultier. These took the road through Hungary and Bulgaria 
towards Constantinople, and so sublime was their faith that they trusted that Heaven 
would supply their necessities and made no provision for their march. The more 
disciplined moved under their leaders, and having passed the straits of Constantinople 
they landed and mustered on the plains of Asia over seven hundred thousand men. 
Every one of these Crusaders bore the emblem of the Cross. Their great desire was to 
once more place in the ascendency in the Holy Land that precious symbol of their 
faith. Even women concealed their sex by encasing themselves in the steel armor of a 
knight and accompanied this vast host as a part of it, in many cases their sex only 
becoming known after they had been slain. That they were moved by the same 
impulse to do and dare for the cross was amply proven by their zeal and valor in many 
a fierce and personal encounter with the infidels. Barret in verse says: 


Not she with traitorous kiss the Saviour stung— 
Not she denied Him with unholy tongue. 

She while apostles shrank could danger brave— 
Last at His Cross and earliest at His Grave. 


The second Crusade was preached by St. Bernard of the monastic Order of 
Bemardines, of which he was the founder, and conducted in 1 146. ft was headed by 
the Emperor Conrad III and Louis VII of France, with more than three hundred 
thousand men. 



They were defeated by the Turks near Iconium, and with difficulty escaped to 
Antioch. Louis' army suffered reverses to such an extent that it was not strong enough 
to keep the peace in Asia for the Christian principalities, and their destruction soon 
followed. 


It was at this period that the great Soldam of Egypt appeared, and, having crushed 
both Christian and Turk, entered the Holy City of Jerusalem as a conqueror. He held 
the city for about forty years. 


The third Crusade was undertaken in 1188 by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and 
Frederick, Duke of Seabia, his second son. Frederick defeated the Soldam of Egypt at 
Iconium, but his son Frederick having joined forces with Guy of Fussignan, King of 
Jerusalem, in vain endeavored to reduce St. Jean D'Acre. 


At this time Richard Coeur D'Fion took command of the united forces of England and 
France, laid siege to this important fortress and captured it, defeating the mighty 
Saladin. His success was productive of nothing but glory, for in the end he was 
obliged to return to Europe without even a remnant of his army. 


The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth Crusades were undertaken between the 
years 1195 and 1270 under leaderships of Henry the Sixth, Fouis the Ninth, and other 
nobles, princes, and knights, and were alike unsuccessful. 


But let us now suppose that the Crusades had succeeded to the fullest extent, what in 
that case would have been the effect? Egypt, Syria, Greece, and even Turkey would 
have been under the influence of the Cross and the Christian religion with all its 
attendant elevating influences, and the dread of a mighty struggle that must come at 
no distant date between the adherents of the Crescent and the followers of the Cross 
would not cast its dark shadow over the eastern hemisphere. 



This glorious emblem, which we here have considered in its various detailed forms, 
stands for the mighty uplifting of the human races. Its significance is deep as the sea, 
broad as the earth, and high as the heavens. And as we look upon it let us not forget 
that it is the symbol of our religion, which is the religion of Jesus Christ Our Lord. 


— o — 


CHRISTMAS OBSERVANCE 


BY BRO. E. M. SHOWALTER, P. G. M., VIRGINIA 


AT this hour, on this day, in each year, in every asylum of Knights Templar under the 
jurisdiction of the Grand Encampment of the United States, do members of this order 
assemble to plight anew their vows of Christian knighthood; and to reverently drink to 
the toast "For unto you is bom this day in the City of David a Savior which is Christ 
the Lord." And to its response also, which has been heralded in anthems of praise and 
in the consecrated devotions of men through nineteen centuries of unceasing stmggle 
to bring themselves within the full rays of the light of its interpretation, "Peace on 
Earth, good will to men." 


As you lift your goblets from the triangle about which you assemble on this occasion, 
yours is the inheritance of the chivalry of the ages. In partaking of these several 
libations, you do so, not as primitive creatures ignorant of the elements which 
compose them and of the principles of which they are the symbols, but as rational men 
who by intellectual development and culture have been brought to a reasonable 
comprehension of these rites and observances and their significance. And as you go 
from this place refreshed, having plighted your unsullied honor in a reenlistment 
under the banner of King Immanuel, you do so with the assurance that the sovereignty 
of your King is universal and eternal, and that under the banner of His cross you can 
not fail to conquer. 



Thus on each succeeding Christmas do we celebrate the birthday of the Prince of 
Peace, and acknowledge the sovereignty of Jesus of Nazareth. Not because of the 
antiquity of the religious system which He gave the world, for Confucianism, 
Buddhism, and Brahmanism antedated it by several centuries. Not because of 
imposing and enduring monuments and temples and statues erected to Him, for in that 
respect we were excelled in the very morning of civilization in the valley of the Nile, 
where for thousands of years have stood temples set in avenues of sphinxes and 
obelisks with statues of Athor and Osiris in granite, that have outlived the gods which 
they represent. Nor yet because of the miracle of His birth, the humble surroundings 
of His childhood or His crucifixion; for the birth of Gotama is attributed to divine 
interposition; and we are told that many of the Greek heroes were descended directly 
from the gods; and it is claimed that prototypes of divinity in other religious systems 
have even suffered death like unto the crucifixion on Calvary. 


But you do have this assurance of victory and you do celebrate this day of His birth; 
because, the system of religious philosophy which is embodied in His teachings and in 
the sermon on the Mount, and exemplified in His pure and blameless life, being an 
appeal to Man's intelligence, to do right, not because of future reward or punishment, 
but because it is right; to be just because it is just, and to love truth for truth's sake; 
constitutes the purest philosophy and the highest standard of living ever conceived by 
gods or men; whose foundation and capstone, whose ritual and creed, whose 
confession of faith are all included in one word of one syllable— LOVE. 


— o — 


A PRAYER 


I ask not for forgiveness, Lord, nor help, 

Nor strength nor mercy at Thy hand. 

Give me just faith, Oh Lord, sincere and true, 



Faith in my fellowman. 

I see, Oh Lord, the wonder of Thy work 
But ask not understanding of Thy plan 
Grant me a faith to guide me in the world, 

Faith in my fellowman.. 

—George Gatlin. 

FREEMASONRY AND THE MEDIEVAL CRAFT GILDS 


BY BRO. OS SIAN LANG, GRAND HISTORIAN, GRAND LODGE OF NEW 
YORK 


PART II 


Ossian Lang was born October 29, 1865, of Scotch-English parentage, at Bradford, 
Yorkshire, England; educated in England, France and Germany; editor of several 
prominent educational magazines, "The Social Center," New York City, 1912-1913, 
"The School Journal," Teacher's Magazine, and "Educational Foundations," New 
York City, for twenty years, 1892-1912, "Young America," 1900-1901, and 
contributing editor to "The Forum," 1902-1907; author of a number of educational 
biographies, pedagogical studies, and story books for children; served as President, 
Board of Fire Commissioners of the city of Mount Vernon, N.Y., in 1910, Alderman, 
1910-1912, President, Board of Aldermen, 1912-1914, President, Recreation 
Commission, 1915, President Board of Education, 1916; Master ooe John Stewart 
Lodge No. 871, F. and A. M., 1910 and 1911, District Deputy Grand Master, 12th 
Masonic District of New York, 1911-1912; Grand Historian, Grand Lodge of New 



York since 1913; High Priest Mount Vernon Chapter No. 228, R. A. M., 1906-1907; 
Grand Royal Arch Captain, Grand Chapter of New York, 1911; Master of Phoenix 
Council No. 70, R. and S M., 1906-1907; Correspondent Grand Council of New York 
since 1913; Commander, Bethlehem Commandery No. 53, Knights Templar, 1907- 
1908; also active in Scottish Rite Bodies. LODGES OF "ACCEPTED" MASONS 


Lodges of accepted Masons were to be found outside of London, as well as in the 
bosom of the London Company, during the seventeenth century. Admission was 
accompanied by a short ceremony consisting of an oath of fealty and the 
communication of "certain signs" of recognition. It appears, further, that the 
"Constitutions" were read to the initiates. These Constitutions contained what 
purported to be the "History and Rules of the Craft of Masonry." The "History" was 
essentially the information contained in the later Grand Lodge Constitutions of 1722- 
3, at least so far as the portion relating to Britain is concerned. Many of the men 
admitted to membership in the secret brotherhood were particularly interested in the 
pursuit of the sciences and the study of history and archeology, the names of some of 
these men appearing later on the register of the Royal Society. A sort of connection 
between the Lodges of these "accepted" Masons and the gild of operative Masons is 
demonstrable in London. A "dual condition" existed in the London Company of 
Masons, the members of the Lodge or Lodges of "accepted" Masons there forming a 
distinct body. The Lodges of "accepted" Masons appear to have no continuous 
existence, their history representing rather a series of sporadic revivals of "an old 
order." The final "revival" resulted in the formation of the Grand Lodge of England in 
1717, from which year onward we have a continuous, clear and historic development 
of Freemasonry. 


As the Grand Lodge was formed by representatives of Lodges which appear to have 
been sheltered, before 1700, by the London Company of Masons, we shall have to 
inquire somewhat further into the history of that Company. 


OF GILDS IN GENERAL 


First, a word about gilds in general: 



When and how craft gilds— or any sort of gilds, for that matter— came into existence, 
is one of the many unsolved questions of history antedating the invention of the 
printing press. At one time it was quite generally believed that they represented an 
Anglo-Saxon continuation, analogy, or adaptation of the Roman colleges or 
solidarities of artificers. Since the publication of Hallam's "Middle Ages," this guess 
has been abandoned, and the gild is now looked upon as of AngloSaxon origin.* 


In Saxon times, they were associations of neighbors or townspeople, devoted more or 
less to religious and charitable puiposes and formed a sort of artificial family, whose 
members were bound together by the bond, not of kinship, but of an oath. + They 
assembled for common worship and feasting and served often also as benefit societies 
and burial clubs. They acted in many cases as private tribunals. Women were equally 
with men eligible to membership. An oath of obedience to the gild ordinances was 
administered to each 


*The first gilds were distinctly Christian and essentially democratic institutions. To 
judge from the Carolingian capitularies of 779 and 789, in which the earliest mention 
is made of gilds, they appear to have been regarded as dangerous to the State. After 
the Conquest, they formed the basis of the coiporations which the Norman Kings 
recognized as established. + Gibbins, "Industry of England." 


member as he or she joined. Gild day was the day of the saint to whom the gild was 
dedicated, and formed the occasion for the annual feast. 


Gross, in an article on gilds, in the "Encyclopedia Britannica," gives this summary 
description, based upon a study of the oldest ordinances: "Prayers for the dead, 
attendance at funerals of gildsmen, periodical banquets, the solemn entrance oath, 
fines for neglect of duty and for improper conduct, contributions to a common purse, 
united assistance in distress, periodical meetings in the gild hall— in short, all the 
characteristic features of the later gilds already appear in these Anglo-Saxon 
fraternities." 



The Norman Conquest marked a new era for the fraternities, as it did for all England. 
The "Constitutions" of 1723, which indicate to those who have "the Key of 
Fellowcraft" very clearly the evolution of Freemasonry, record that "as soon as the 
Wars ended and Peace was proclaim'd, the Gothic Masonry was encourag'd, even in 
the Reign of the Conqueror." 


Under Norman rule, the gilds were recognized officially as established institutions and 
were invested with important privileges. Only those who were members of some gild 
or "mistery" were allowed to take part in municipal government. Gilds were in many 
cases the chief or sole medium for acquiring citizenship in a town. ++ As a result 
there was a rapid multiplication of gilds. Fife in a medieval town made membership in 
a local gild or fraternity quite desirable. The merchant gilds and craft gilds gradually 
rose in importance. Men naturally chose membership in the particular organization in 
which they made their living or which corresponded most satisfactorily to their 
personal interests. 


The craft gilds were composed chiefly, though never exclusively, of handicraftsmen 
or artisans. Aside from fostering more or less mutual protection and advancement, 
they undertook the regulation of wages and apprenticeship, and the schooling of their 
members in the technique of their craft or "mistery." Some of them became veritable 
seminaries of technical education. 


In the course of time, conflicts arose between the master artisans and workmen. The 
former ruled the gild. The journeymen or yeomen struggling for independence began 
to set up separate fraternities in defense of their rights, but these soon disappeared 
again, or fell under the supervision and control of the masters' gilds. 


At Fondon, in 1375, the right to election to civic dignities, together with that of 
electing members of Parliament, was transferred from the Wards to the City 
Companies. "Thence forward, and for many years, the Companies engrossed political 
and municipal power in Fondon." * 



++ Ashley, "Economic History of England." 


* Gross, in Ency. Brit., 1 1th edition: In or about 1475, corporate franchise, which had 
belonged to the Companies, was restricted to the liverymen of these Companies, 
representing "selection of a superior class of householders to represent the rest." The 
order issued by Edward IV, in that year, was that the Masters and Wardens should 
"associate with themselves the honest men of their misteries and come in their best 
liveries to the elections." The exclusive power of electing the lord mayor, sheriffs, 
chamberlain and other corporate officers, is held to this day by the liverymen of the 
Companies, "being freemen of the city. 


A further increase of the importance of the Companies resulted when these obtained 
charters from the Crown. The charter from the King or Queen gave to the Company a 
virtual monopoly of the trade it represented. "No one was allowed to carry on any 
particular trade unless he was a member of the Company. . . The quality of his goods 
must satisfy the requirements of the Court of the Company.... The Courts (of the 
Companies) also appointed some of their fraternity to examine the work of their 
members and to see that no one carried on his trade upon Sundays or Saints' Days." + 


In Ditchfield's "London Survivals," we read that "the highest personages in Church 
and State were eager to be enrolled as members," the reason being that the Companies 
enjoyed valuable municipal privileges and played a prominent part in the social life of 
the city. 


Many of the Companies had their own stately halls and have them to this day. "These 
halls are the homes of ancient usage and customs which have lingered on through the 
ages and seem to defy changes wrought by utilitarianism and the modem spirit of the 
age." + 


THE LONDON FELLOWSHIP OF MASONS 



How did the gild of Masons fare? We find that, in 1356, rales for the guidance of the 
Masons of London were passed before the Mayor, Aldermen and Sheriffs of the city. 
The Masons' Fellowship, it appears from this record, was a Company "by 
prescription" and had its ordinances and by-laws passed and sanctioned, from time to 
time, by the Court of Aldermen. 


That the Masons' Company, first known as Fellowship of Masons, existed at that time, 
is proved by the records at Guildhall, which show that it was represented on the Court 
of Common Council, in 1375. 


In 1530, the name of the Fellowship was changed to the Company of Freemasons. 
This, so Conder reminds us, was about the time "when Masons' fraternities connected 
with religious houses fell into a state of collapse." The title, "Freemasons," continued 
down to 1653, when the designation "free" was dropped from the title of the 
Company. 


Perhaps we ought to add a few additional items of information concerning the 
Company to round out our references to that organization. I have gathered these 
chiefly from Parliamentary Reports, particularly those of 1884: 


The tendency of centralization of political government, which gradually weaned the 
gilds away from the authority of the town government and brought them under the 
rale of the crown, is shown also in the history of the Masons' Company. In 1472, a 
coat-of-arms was granted to the "Craft and Fellowship of Masons."* The earliest royal 
charter now in possession of the Company 


+ Ditchfield, "London Survivals." 



*A copy of this oldest document now in existence is printed in Conder's book. 


was obtained from Charles II, in 1677, on "petition by the Master, Wardens and 
Assistants of the Company of Masons in London." A new charter was granted by 
James II, after "the Master, Wardens, Assistants and commonality of the Company 
had surrendered all their powers." The former charter by Charles II, after being 
"inspected and approved by Queen Anne," was reissued, following a recital that "by 
an Act of the fifth year of Queen Elizabeth, the art or occupation of a Mason is 
reckoned as a distinct art or occupation, and that all persons exercising the said art 
were enabled and might be compelled to take apprentices to be instructed in the 
occupation." 


Members consist of freemen and liverymen. An applicant must be "a male of full age 
and a subject of the crown." He may qualify either by patrimony (if at the time of the 
applicant's birth his father was free of the Company), by servitude (serving an 
apprenticeship of seven years to a member of the Company), or by redemption (by 
purchase). Membership may also be conferred as an honor. The governing body, 
composed of the Masters, Wardens, and Court of Assistants, has been for centuries the 
"admitting" authority; in other words, it controls the "calling" to the livery The 
liverymen represent a small, select body, who pay an admission fee of 1 5 pounds 
($75.00). 


Women are not admitted to membership, although eligible in most gilds; the Tylers 
and Bricklayers' Company, for instance, in which women can become members and 
are admitted to the freedom. 


The annual election of officers takes place on St. Basil Day, June 14. The membership 
consists principally of architects, engineers, surveyors, builders, masons, and stone 
masons, but the Company has always had also a considerable number of members not 
connected with any department of the building trade. 



It is characteristic of Anglo-Saxon gilds that persons not identified with any trade, 
might and did obtain membership in them.* Almost every craft gild had "gentlemen" 
among its members. "Gentlemen Masons" is a designation met with quite frequently. 


BROTHERHOOD OF ACCEPTED FREEMASONS 


How can we now account for the existence down to the close of the seventeenth 
century, within the bosom of the Masons' Company, of a Lodge or Lodges of 
"accepted" Masons, all members of the Company and given to literary, scientific, 
archeological and other pursuits apparently in nowise related to operative Masonry ? 


Other trade corporations had "gentlemen members," too, but nothing like this. The oft- 
repeated statement that the non-operative element formed a separate club, just because 
it was not interested in mere trade regulations and shop talk, explains nothing. The 
twelve principal livery companies of London would by reason of their prominence 
and power have seemed to be far more attractive to the gentlemen and scholars, 


* Continental craft gilds were more distinctly and exclusively associations of 
members of trades. 


who joined the Masons' Company, which is number 30 among the minor companies. 
Why did they not join the Merchant Tailors' Company, for instance, which did much 
for the advancement of education? Why did they join the Masons ? 


A sort of answer may be derived from Conder's "Records of the Hole Craft and 
Fellowship of Masons," where we read that the Masons' Company, of London, 
preserved "the ancient traditions of the Guild when the monastic guilds fell into 
chaos." The archaic character of these traditions undoubtedly had much interest for 
antiquarians and the searcher after curious things. However, that is a mere surface 
view of conditions. 



The search for the beginning of the "curious secret brotherhood" yields equally 
unsatisfactory results, as far as explanation of its connection with Craft Masonry is 
concerned. There are indications, rather vague, that it existed during the reign of 
Henry IV (1399-1413), and that it experienced a revival, some years after the 
monastic gilds had collapsed— my own guess is that it was in 1570 or thereabout. After 
a brief period of intermittent activity, it appears in Masons' Hall, in 1 620, as Conder 
noted. Another "revival" occurred soon after 1653. The "symbolic" portion left the 
Company for good, soon after Ashmole's visit in 1682. Next we have the final 
"revival" in the formation of the Grand Lodge of Accepted Free-Masons. 


Searching the "Constitutions" of 1723 for significant clues, we shall find, for a starter, 
the following record: 


"Now though in the third Year of the said King Henry IV while an Infant of about 
four Years old, the Parliament made an Act that affected only the working Masons, 
who had contrary to the Statutes for Labourers, confederated not to work but at their 
own Price and Wages; and because such agreements were supps'd to be made at the 
General Lodges, call'd in the Act CHAPTERS and CONGREGATIONS of 
MASONS, it was then thought expedient to level the said Act against the said 
Congregations.... Nor is there any Instance of executing the Act in that, or in any other 
Reign since, and the Masons never neglected their Lodges for it, nor ever thought it 
worth while to employ their noble and eminent Brethren to have it repeal'd; because 
the working Masons, that are free of the Lodge, scorn to be guilty of such 
Combinations; and the other Free Masons have no Concern in Trespasses against the 
Statutes for Labourers." 


The closing part of the latter sentence tells, as plainly as anything can be told, that 
brethren of the Lodges, which constitute the "curious secret brotherhood," within the 
bosom of the craft corporation, had "no concern with trespasses against the statutes 
for laborers." This disposes of the oft-repeated fallacy which would have us derive 
Freemasonry from operative masonry. The book of Constitutions is quite insistent on 
this point, as for instance in a footnote, where we read: 



"Many in all Ages have been more curious and careful about the Laws, Forms and 
Usages of their respective Societies, than about the Arts and Sciences thereof. But 
neither what was convey'd, nor the Manner how, can be communicated by writing; as 
no Man indeed can understand it without the Key of a Fellow Craft." 


In other words: Whatever suggestions of craft origins you man find in the "Laws, 
Forms and Usages," they explain nothing of the true derivation which must be looked 
for rather in "the Arts and Sciences," that is in the secret teachings of the fraternity. 
"Without the Key" of a fellow or initiated associate member of the operative body, 
"no Man indeed" can understand this.* 


The Act of 1425 seems to have troubled the members of the Grand Lodge of 1717- 
1 723 more than they were willing to admit. They printed it in full in the historical 
preface, added a lengthy footnote to their comments on it, and tucked away a space- 
filling "Postscript" between the "Charges" and the "General Regulations," an "Opinion 
of the Great Judge Coke upon the Act against the Masons." The footnote is 
particularly interesting. It reads as follows: 


"That Act was made in ignorant Times, when true Learning was a Crime, and 
Geometry condem'd for Conjuration; but it cannot derogate in the least Degree from 
the Honour of the ancient Fraternity, who to be sure would never encourage any such 
Confederacy of their working Brethren. But by Tradition it is believ'd, that the 
Parliament-Men were then too much influenc'd by the illiterate Clergy, who were not 
accepted Masons, nor understood Architecture (as the Clergy of some former Ages) 
and generally thought unworthy of this Brotherhood; yet thinking they had 
indefeasible Right to know all Secrets, by virtue of auricular Confession, and the 
Masons never confessing anything thereof, the said Clergy were highly offended, and 
at first suspecting them of Wickedness, represented them as dangerous to the State 
during that Minority, and soon influenc'd the Parliament-Men to lay hold of such 
supposed Agreements of the working Masons, for making an Act that might seem to 
reflect Dishonour upon even the whole worshipful Fraternity, in whose Favour several 
Acts had been both before and after that Period made." 



The insistence that the Accepted Masons had no concern with trade regulations is 
significant, as we have already pointed out. So is the further intimation that 
"Geometry" and an understanding of "Architecture" were a distinctive possession of 
the Accepted Masons. Here we have, in my opinion, the principal explanation of the 
puzzling connection which we have noted between the Masons' Company and the 
secret Fraternity existing within its bosom. 


*Grandidier is an example of how a non-Mason may err. It was he who first declared 
that Freemasonry was derived from operative masonry, in his essays on the Strassburg 
Cathedral, published in 1777. His unfounded conclusion was adopted by scores of 
other writers, and for many years shrouded the real history of our fraternity in an 
impenetrable fog, which has not altogether lifted to this day. 


ARCHITECTURE AS THE SOVEREIGN ART 


I shall be very brief in my remarks on this point, as a fuller discussion would carry us 
too far away from the specific purpose of the present discussion. 


The medieval churches were sermons written in stone, wood and glass. They were 
veritable books, as Emile Male has most convincingly proved in his remarkable work 
on "Religious Art in France of the Thirteenth Century." Victor Hugo, though he 
doubtless erred in some conclusions, has made the fact vivid and clear in that 
remarkable chapter in his "Notre Dame de Paris," which is headed "Ceci tuera cela." 
("This will kill That.") 


Those who have read Victor Hugo's book will recall the scene where the archdeacon 
"threw open his cell window and pointed to the vast church of Notre-Dame, the dark 
outline of its towers, its stone walls, and its hip-roof silhouetted against the starry sky, 
and looking like a gigantic sphinx seated in the middle of the town." You will recall 
how "the archdeacon stood a while without speaking, contemplating the stupendous 
edifice," and how "then with a sigh he pointed with his right hand to the book lying on 
the table, and with his left to Notre-Dame, and, looking sorrowfully from one to the 



other, said: "Alas! this will kill that— cecituera cela." The printed book will kill the art 
of writing in stone— "printing will kill architecture." 


Then Victor Hugo goes on to explain. Let me pick out for you a few sentences here 
and there, which may be helpful to our discussion: 


"The human race has had two books, two registers, two testaments— architecture and 
printing, the Bible of stone and the Bible of paper. Up to the time of Gutenberg, 
architecture was the chief and universal mode of writing. In those days if a man was 
born a poet he turned architect. Genius scattered among the masses, kept down on all 
sides by feudality, escaped by way of architecture, and its Iliads took the form of 
cathedrals. From the moment that printing was discovered, architecture gradually lost 
its virility, declined and became denuded. Being no longer looked upon as the one all- 
embracing, sovereign and enslaving art, architecture lost its power of retaining others 
in its service. Carving became sculpture; imagery, painting; the canon, music. It was 
like the dismemberment of an empire on the death of its Alexander— each province 
making itself a Kingdom." 


Victor Hugo's characterization of architecture is true to fact, particularly so far as the 
medieval age is concerned. Architecture during that period was virtually "the one all- 
embracing, sovereign, and enslaving art," commanding the services of all other arts. 


LABORING TOGETHER IN UNITY 


Back of this architecture— inspiring, shaping, regulating it— was the all-powerful 
Church. Arts and sciences, political and civil life, practically everything, was subject 
to the supreme rule of theology as defined by the doctors of the Roman Papacy. 
Individualism was submerged in and by the unity of the whole. Western Europe 
constituted one ecclesiastic solidarity, a brotherhood of men guided by the dogmas of 
the Mother Church. Community life, as a natural sequence, had its center in the 
church or cathedral. As all acts of civil life were profoundly penetrated by the 
religious spirit of the age, this social center opened its portals freely to every sort of 



cooperative undertaking. It served as a place of reunion for the townspeople; fairs 
were held there; discussions of grievances and plans for improvement were heard; 
gossip and news, accounts of other lands by returned travelers, and other matters of 
interest were unfolded; festivals, sacred and profane, were celebrated; the prices of 
labor and merchandise were regulated. Life turned around the church. No wonder, 
then, that the building of a cathedral was an event affecting everyone in town and 
claiming everybody's keenest interest. 


A letter written by a French abbot to the Religious at Tutburg, England, in 1 145, gives 
an idea of what profound concern the building of a church was to the whole 
community: 


"Who has ever seen anything like this ? Princes, powerful and rich men, nobles by 
birth, proud and beautiful women, bowed their necks under the yoke of chariots 
loaded with stones, wood, corn, wine, oil and other material needed for the building 
and the sustenance of the workmen. One could see as many as a thousand men and 
women in harness drawing the car, so heavy was the load it carried. Advance was 
slow and laborious. There was no boisterousness, no shouting. All labored in solemn 
silence, so great was the emotion filling their hearts, conscious they were helping to 
do the work of God." 


THE CATHEDRAL COMMUNITY 


The monastic orders, which occupied themselves with church building, often 
furnished the principal artisans from among their own numbers. The masons, 
caipenters, plasterers, plumbers, metal and ivory workers, painters, glaziers, 
decorators, together with a host of laborers, constituted a veritable craftsmen's city, 
under the rule of a "master architect," or principal conductor of the work. Usually a 
tent or frame structure was pitched against the rising walls of the building, which 
served as a "lodge," or headquarters. Here the principal artisans met to receive their 
orders, discuss technical difficulties, settle disciplinary matters, and unite in worship. 
The most important room of the lodge was that set aside for the master of the work; 
there he designed and gathered the models of the various portions of the edifice. 



The families of the artisans lived in close vicinity to the church. An interesting side- 
light on conditions is obtained from a record made by Archbishop Leger, of Vienna, 
in 1050, telling how one of his faithful, a physician named Aton, interested himself in 
the improvement and beautifying of the "little houses" (domnuncula) occupied by the 
women employed in gold embroidery for vestments and other articles for divine 
service. A school for the children of the craftsmen's city often grew up in the shadow 
of the cathedral and developed in the course of time into an important foundation. In 
short, the host of craftsmen, with their families, who were gathered together for the 
building of a church, formed a center of cooperation for divers industries and arts, 
laboring as a unit in the service of the Great Architect of the Universe. 


The form and spirit of such a union was just what our "secret brotherhood" sought to 
cultivate. That explains, perhaps, why its members affiliated themselves with Masonic 
gilds and particularly the Masons' Company of London, considering, no doubt, the 
traditions of the descendants of the cathedral builders best suited for their own 
purposes. 


THE "GEOMETRY" OF MASONRY 


However, there is a deeper and more clearly defined reason. It is suggested in the 
"geometry" of the Cathedral. Orientation, forms, grouping, position,— the building as 
a whole and every detail of it, were regulated by a fixed code of symbolism. Nothing 
was left to individual caprice. The cathedral, as we said before, was a book, the Bible 
of the humble. The Bishop decreed what it was to teach, the lessons it was to convey. 
Dogma, science, story, ethics were spelled out in characters and signs having specific 
meanings attached to them by the church authorities. The cathedral might represent a 
biography, catechism, church history, an essay on eternity, a martyrology, Bible story, 
combinations of divers subjects, an Encyclopedia or a symphony; whatever it was, the 
same rules and conventions were followed. Accordingly, there was something 
impersonal about the product, much as about a modem newspaper. Artists and artisans 
take their law from the master of the work and they must submit to the dictates of the 
code, from one end of Europe to the other. Art was organized as dogma was 
organized, to the smallest detail. 



The symbolism of the church services familiarized the faithful with the symbolism of 
the building, as Male has shown. When the printed book appeared and the recording 
of thought in buildings fell into disuse, symbolic art declined rapidly. Architecture 
became a thing of individual fancy. Cathedral symbolism would be beyond the power 
of the present age to interpret and at least three hundred years of the history of the 
human race would be largely unintelligible, if the sacred traditions had not been 
zealously guarded and transmitted from generation to generation by a secret 
brotherhood, composed chiefly of architects, sculptors, painters, musicians, poets and 
philosophers, who possessed the key to "geometry” and knew the grammar of 
symbolism. This brotherhood is the same we met with in Masons' Hall, at London, at 
Wiltshire and elsewhere. 


The presence of students of the natural sciences in the lodges of the brotherhood is 
easily explained. Vincent de Beauvais's "Mirror of Nature" and the history of science 
in the medieval age were to be read best in the carvings on cathedral facades. Besides, 
the scientists were themselves attempting to build up a code of symbols for the service 
of the developing physics and chemistry. There were other reasons which we cannot 
discuss at this time. 


A DISTINCTIVELY ANGLO-SAXON DEVELOPMENT 


I have puiposely left unanswered all questions relating more directly to the beginning 
and development of the "symbolic" fraternity which, in England, met under the shelter 
of the Masonic craft gild, until the close of the seventeenth century. On the continent 
it had no such connections. The reason, already suggested, was that continental craft 
gilds were exclusively trade organizations. 


I have also refrained from touching the problem of the origin of the symbology of the 
medieval church. This and other related matters cannot well be considered here. 



I trust, however, that I have made it seem to you quite natural that, in London, the 
"symbolic" fraternity should have been identified, in some sort of way, with the 
Masons' Company, until the close of the seventeenth century. It probably is fairly 
clear to you also now why a portion of that fraternity should have become identified 
with the founding of the Royal Society "for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge," 
and why the later formed Grand Lodge of Accepted Free-Masons should in turn have 
drawn some of its most valuable members from that society. 


FINDINGS 


If you accept my findings, we shall agree: 


(1) That Freemasonry, as we know it, is in nowise derived from operative Masonry. 


(2) That a "symbolic" fraternity existed, whose members, under Anglo-Saxon 
conditions, frequently chose to obtain the freedom of the Masonic craft gild by 
"acceptance." 


(3) That the explanation for the preference accorded to the Masonic gild may be 
inferred from the aspect of cathedral building in the medieval age, more especially the 
function of Masons, to give form to symbols of predetermined significance, the 
brotherhood striving to unite men of diverse interests and to preserve the "geometry" 
of sacred things. 


(4) That on the European continent the brotherhood had not even an elbow-touch 
connection with craft gilds, the latter being exclusively trade organizations. 


(5) That the history of the "Laws, Forms and Usages" of the Fraternity, while of less 
significance than that of "the Arts and Sciences thereof," nevertheless is of 



considerable interest, and serves to interpret much that could not otherwise be 
accounted for. 


(6) That "Laws, Forms and Usages" are largely derived from association with 
Masonic craft gilds and form merely the outer shell or mold into which the substance 
was poured- which developed into the kind of Freemasonry we know. 


— o — 


RED CROSS WORK AT THE FRONT 


by Bro. William Howard Taft 


Very many of our Masonic bodies and the Brethren have shown a lively and helpful 
interest in the activities of the Red Cross, contributing freely to its resources. This 
account of the work was specially prepared for the National Masonic Research 
Society through the courtesy of Brother William Howard Taft, formerly President of 
the United States. 


THE Red Cross idea was fundamentally the relief of soldiers wounded in battle. The 
dreadful carnage and unmitigated suffering of the wounded on the battlefield of 
Solferino, in 1859, was witnessed by the great Swiss humanitarian, M. Henri Dunant. 
Dunant personally ministered to the wounded, organizing volunteers in the vicinity to 
help him in the work. That was the start of the Red Cross movement of today which 
has resulted in highly developed relief organizations in practically every civilized 
country for the care of the wounded in battle. 


As the only agency authorized by the United States government to co-operate with the 
War and Navy Departments in the care of sick and wounded soldiers and sailors, the 



American Red Cross has accepted this as its first duty. The efficient conduct of this 
war work has required the establishment of a very complex and highly systematized 
organization which must be prepared to handle any emergency which may arise. The 
further development of the idea has resulted in various phases of Red Cross work 
which, while having an indirect bearing on the care of the soldier and sailor, have 
been shown to play an important part in relieving the misery created, directly and 
indirectly, by war. 


The big men composing the Red Cross War Council have taken the broadest possible 
view of the duty confronting the American Red Cross in the present conflict. They 
hold it their duty not only to care for the soldiers of this country, giving relief to its 
civilian population, but as far as possible to care for the soldiers of the allies and the 
peoples of the allied nations. In fact, the first army organization ordered abroad by the 
War Department were six Red Cross base hospitals sent at the request of the British 
Commission in advance of any American troops. They were needed to care for the 
English and French wounded. 


These base hospitals constitute the principal service rendered by the American Red 
Cross in time of war. They are the highest possible development of the volunteer 
service first organized by Dunant at Solferino. The hospital staff includes a minimum 
of 26 physicians, two dentists, 65 Red Cross nurses, and 150 enlisted men of the 
Medical Corps. The nurses are all highly trained and registered nurses, and the 
physicians and dentists have to measure up to the strict requirements of the medical 
coips of the army and navy. 


Base hospitals are located at a safe distance from the front, the wounded and sick 
being carried to the hospitals in ambulances, of which there are 64,000 on the French 
front. The American Red Cross now has more than twelve base hospitals in France 
and nearly thirty others are awaiting the call of the War Department to be mustered 
into service of the Army Medical Coips. There are today more than fifteen hundred 
Red Cross nurses doing war work in France. 



The Red Cross also organizes ambulance companies which are composed of a captain, 
four first lieutenants, two first-class sergeants, eleven sergeants, six corporals, one 
mechanic, three cooks and 96 privates— a total of 124 men. 


Forty- five of these companies have already been organized by the Red Cross, many of 
which are now seeing foreign service, while the others are on duty in this country. 


These ambulance companies approach the nearest of any Red Cross organization to 
the actual fighting front and theirs is a work fraught with much danger. Red Cross 
nurses are kept at the base hospitals in comparative safety, the battlefield service of 
the Red Cross nurse having been discontinued years ago. 


Everything that highly developed professional skill can do to relieve the suffering of 
the wounded soldier has been enlisted by the American Red Cross for his care. The 
wounded man is first taken to a "first aid" station where his wounds are bandaged. 
These stations are just back of the fighting line and are in charge of physicians who 
are regular members of the Army Medical Corps, a service organized wholly 
independent of the Red Cross. From here the wounded man is either returned to the 
trenches or, if his condition is serious and further treatment is required, he is taken to 
the base hospitals where the professional services are on a par with that of the leading 
hospitals in this country. From the hospital the soldier may be returned to the front, 
discharged or sent home on furlough. 


The work of the American Red Cross for the soldier today, however, begins far in 
advance of his reaching the trenches. 


Many of the troops had their first experience with the Red Cross in connection with 
the recent canteen service rendered by thousands of Red Cross workers to the troops 
enroute from their homes to the various cantonments. This same canteen service has 
been arranged to follow the men on their trip to the front after crossing to France. 



Following some preliminary training after their arrival at French seaports, the 
American expeditionary forces again entrain for a trip across the country to stations in 
the proximity of the firing lines, where many are now in training. The congested 
condition of French railroads makes quick travel impossible and three days are 
required for the journey. One hundred American women have gone to France to take 
charge of the American Red Cross canteens and rest stations which are scattered along 
the routes traveled by the men in going to and from the French front. These stations 
are equipped with lunch rooms, baths, laundries, reading and writing rooms, and a 
store of such delicacies and small articles as the men may wish. Commendatory as 
was this work, it does not compare in importance with the great work being done by 
the millions of patriotic lay women of America who are today working day and night 
in Red Cross Chapters without recognition or spotlight, in the making of thousands of 
surgical dressings, hospital garments, comfort kits and knitted articles for the soldier. 


Millions of bandages and compresses and hospital garments were needed in the 
equipment of the many base hospitals; these were made by the 25,000 women who 
had taken the special courses in the making of surgical dressings conducted by various 
Red Cross chapters. Thousands of comfort kits have already been made and supplied 
United States troops, and a million more are now in the making. An equal number of 
Christmas packages are being prepared by Red Cross workers to carry Christmas 
cheer to the American soldiers in this country and France. A request for a million and 
a half each of sweaters, mufflers, wristlets and socks has come from Major Grayson 
M. P. Muiphy, Red Cross Commissioner to Europe, upon which Red Cross workers 
all over the country are engaged, knitting under the direction of Miss Florence 
Marshall, director of the Woman's Bureau at national headquarters. 


Another notable achievement on the part of the women workers of the American Red 
Cross recently was the supplying of thousands of bandages and compresses on very 
short notice to each of 188 United States battleships and cruisers. This work was done 
at the request of William C. Braisted, Surgeon General of the United States Navy, the 
Navy Department supplying the gauze and raw material used in their manufacture. 


Probably the most important phase of Red Cross work at this time, next to the 
preparations for the immediate care of the sick and wounded soldiers and sailors, is 
the Red Cross "Home Service" among the families of soldiers and sailors in this 
country. Nearly a million and a half men are now enlisted in the various branches of 



the military and naval service of the United States. Despite the care which is being 
exercised to select men without dependents, and despite the contemplated provision 
by the government, for the granting of separation allowances and for securing the 
assignment of pay, there will be many homes— there are, indeed, now many homes— in 
which, except for prompt, sympathetic and capable help, there would be suffering 
during the absence of men at the front or on the high seas. 


Families which would ordinarily be hard put to it by an attack of sickness, the sudden 
need for an operation, the loss of a job, the advent of either death or birth, now, 
without the judgment and counsel of the men of the household, are unable to cope 
with the difficulties besetting them. During the stress of war, with its rising cost of 
food, its industrial changes, its uncertainties in living conditions, the home is 
handicapped by the withdrawal of the very person upon whom at such a time it would 
depend most for aid in solving its problems. 


Usually the man of the household has been accustomed to transact all of the more 
important business of the home. He it is who knows what to do when the mortgage 
matures, when the insurance policy expires, when it becomes necessary to move into 
another neighborhood, or when the oldest boy is graduated from school and needs to 
be started in the right sort of job. Without his advice, the bewildered family makes 
mistakes and the home is faced with danger and disaster. 


This need was clearly foreseen by the Red Cross War Council. To relieve the situation 
as far as is humanly possible, the War Council organized the Red Cross "Home 
Service" employing hundreds of trained social workers under the direction of W. 
Frank Persons, Director General of Civilian Relief. While the Red Cross cannot 
assume the financial care of dependent families, a responsibility too large for any 
organization except the United States government itself, grants and loans of money 
will be made to tide over financial depressions which are bound to occur in many 
households. 


With the return of the head of the home, discharged because of wounds or sickness, 
the problem is likely to become more difficult of solution. The reeducation of the 
breadwinner in some new line of work will be necessary in many cases in order that 



he and his family may not remain a permanent charge on the community. The Red 
Cross is already conducting investigations abroad looking to the establishment of an 
institute in New York for the re-education of soldiers discharged because of the loss 
of limb, sight, or other cause which incapacitates them for further military service and 
also makes impossible the resumption of their previous occupations. 


Another work which is being performed by the Red Cross in this country for the 
soldier is that of the Sanitary Service in connection with the various cantonments and 
Army posts. This Sanitary Service, under the direction of Dr. W. H. Frost, surgeon of 
the Public Health Service, was established to co-operate with local and state health 
boards in taking care of the peculiar sanitary conditions which naturally arise from the 
congregation of large bodies of men in one locality. In many cases it presents a 
problem which the local health authorities do not consider themselves equipped to 
handle. To the same end, the Red Cross is providing five laboratory cars which, 
stationed at convenient centers, can be hurried to any of these cantonments to assist in 
quelling outbreaks of epidemics. 


This work for the American soldier in this country has already resulted in the 
appropriation of more than $1,500,000, while a part of the $12,000,000 appropriated 
for Red Cross work in Europe has been for the care of our own troops. All this has 
been made possible by the generosity of the American people in the raising of the 
hundred million dollar Red Cross War Fund, the largest sum ever secured by 
voluntary subscription for humanitarian work. This fund is being added to constantly 
by contributions from all over the country. 


-o- 


THE CHOICE 


If You Could 


But know the world, and rule its mart, 



And knowing, ruling have no heart; 
But sail the sea, and dread no storm, 


And sailing miss the dawn of mom; 

But climb the mount, and thread the maze, 
And climbing find no note of praise; 

But rise above the moving throng, 

And rising losse the sweetest song, 
or 

You Could 

Both know the world and feel its heart, 

And knowing, feeling bear the smart; 

Both dream your dream, and find your work 
An endless task you would not shirk; 

Find Joy, and Duty ever blending, 

The broken fragments ever mending, 

Within, without, below, above 
One call and answer,— love then 
If your soul could hear the voice 
Pray which of all would be your choice? 
James T. Duncan. 



Justice is always violence to the party offending, for every man is innocent in his own 
eyes.— Defoe. 


— o — 


A fool is never master of himself, much less of his people and wealth.— Buddha 


— o — 


A SMILE: 


Nothing on earth can smile but man! Gems may flash reflected light, but what is a 
diamond-flash compared to an eyeflash and a mirth-flash ? Flowers cannot smile; this 
is a charm that even they cannot claim. It is the prerogative of man; it is the color 
which love wears, and cheerfulness and joy— these three. It is a light in the windows of 
the face, by which the heart signifies it is at home and waiting. A face that cannot 
smile is like a bud that cannot blossom, and dries up on the stalk. Laughter is day, and 
sobriety is night, and a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both— more 
bewitching than either.— Henry Ward Beecher. 


— o — 


WHICH? 



"Someone has said that when the Creator had made all the good things there still 
remained some work to do; so He made beasts and reptiles and poisonous insects, and 
when He had finished there were some scraps left; so He put all these together, 
covered it with suspicion, wrapped it with jealousy, marked it with a yellow streak 
and called it a Knocker. 


"This product was so fearful to contemplate that He had to make something to 
counteract it; so He took a sunbeam, put in it the heart of a child, the brain of a man, 
wrapped these in civic pride, covered it with brotherly love, gave it a mask of velvet 
and a grasp of steel, and called it a Booster; made him a lover of fields and flowers 
and manly sports, a believer in equality and justice; and ever since these two were, 
mortal man has had the privilege of choosing his own associates." 


— o — 


FOR THE MONTHLY LODGE MEETING 


CORRESPONDENCE CIRCLE BULLETIN— No. 12 DEVOTED ORGANIZED 
MASONIC STUDY Edited by Bro. Robert I. Clegg 


THE BULLETIN COURSE OF MASONIC STUDY FOR MONTHLY LODGE 
MEETINGS AND STUDY CLUBS 


FOUNDATION OF THE COURSE 


THE Course of Study has for its foundation two sources of Masonic information: 

THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. In another paragraph is explained how 
the references to former issues of THE BUILDER and to Mackey's Encyclopedia may 



be worked up as supplemental papers to exactly fit into each installment of the Course 
with the paper by Brother Clegg. 


MAIN OUTLINE 


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


Division I. Ceremonial Masonry. A. The Work of a Lodge. B. The Lodge and the 
Candidate. C. first Steps. D. Second Steps E. Third Steps. 


Division II. Symbolical Masonry. A. Clothing. B. Working Tools. C. Eurniture. D. 
Architecture. E. Geometry. F. Signs. G. Words. H. Grips. 


Division III. Philosophical Masonry. A. Foundations. B. Virtues. C. Ethics. D. 
Religious Aspect. E. The Quest. F. Mysticism. G. The Secret Doctrine. 


Division IV. Legislative Masonry. A. The Grand Lodge. 1. Ancient Constitutions. 2. 
Codes of Law. 3. Grand Lodge Practices. 4. Relationship to Constituent Lodges. 5. 
Official Duties and Prerogatives. B. The Constituent Lodge. 1. Organization. 2. 
Qualifications of Candidates. 3. Initiation, Passing and Raising. 4. Visitation. 5 
Change of Membership. 


Division V. Historical Masonry. A. The Mysteries— Earliest Masonic Light. B. Study 
of Rites— Masonry in the Making. C. Contributions to Lodge Characteristics. D. 
National Masonry. E. Parallel Peculiarities in Lodge Study. F. Feminine Masonry. 

G. Masonic Alphabets. H. Historical Manuscripts of the Craft. I. Biographical 
Masonry. J. Philological Masonry— Study of Significant Words. 



THE MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS Each month we are presenting a paper written 
by Brother Clegg who is following the foregoing outline. We are now in "Eirst Steps" 
of Ceremonial Masonry. There will be twelve monthly papers under this particular 
subdivision. At the head of each installment will be given a number of "Helpful 
Hints" consisting of questions to be used by the chairman of the Committee during the 
study period which will bring out every point touched upon in the paper. 


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


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


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



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


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


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


2. Discussion of the above. 


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


4 Question Box. 


Invite questions from any and all Brethren present. Let them understand that these 
meetings are for their particular benefit and get them into the habit of asking all the 
questions they may think of. Every one of the papers read will suggest questions as to 



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


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


HELPLUL HINTS TO STUDY CLUB LEADERS by Bro. Robert I. Clegg 


Prom the following questions the Committee should select, some time prior to the 
evening of the study meeting, the particular questions that they may wish to use at 
their meeting which will bring out the points in the following paper which they desire 
to discuss Even were but five minutes devoted to the discussion of each of the 
questions given it will be seen that it would be impossible to discuss all of them in ten 
or twelve hours. The wide variety of questions here given will afford individual 
Committees an opportunity to arrange their program to suit their own fancies and also 
furnish additional material for a second study meeting each month if desired by the 
members. 


In conducting the study periods the Chairman should endeavor to hold the discussions 
closely to the text and not permit the members to speak too long at one time or to stray 
onto another subject. Whenever it becomes evident that the discussion is turning from 
the original subject the Chairman should request the speaker to make a note of the 
particular point or phase of the matter he wishes to discuss or inquire into, and bring it 
up when the Question Box period is opened 



QUESTIONS ON "PHYSICAL AND MENTAL PREPARATION" 


1 . What impressed you most on the night you took the First Degree? Did your Lodge 
have a "preparation room" ? If so, in what condition w as it ? Did members there 
present say anything to cause you to lower your estimate of Masonry? If so, why? 
Have you been guilty of frivolous talk to a new brother in the preparation room for the 
first time ? "First impressions are the most lasting": what impressions should make 
themselves felt on a candidate ? Do those impressions help to shape his future 
Masonic activities ? How is a young man prepared to enter college? the army? 
married life? Do the same mental laws apply in all such cases ? 


2. If entrance to Masonry were made more difficult would the Craft mean more to its 
members ? Do you believe in "social clubs" in lodges? If so, why? If not, why not? 
What is the relationship of the social life to Masonry ? of amusements ? What is the 
function of amusement in human life ? What is he difference between an 
"amusement" and a "recreation"? 


3. Have you ever thought of Masonry as a school? Does it have a course of studies? 
What are they? What does Masonry teach ? Why is that teaching difficult to 
understand ? Does the Second Degree make you think of a school ? Why ? Can you 
tell how it came to have its present character? Can Masonry today be made to perform 
an educational function ? How? What is education? Would it be a good thing to have 
schools for candidates in which they could be taught the principles of the Order prior 
to initiation? How could that be done in this country? 


4. Has clothing a symbolical meaning ? Any kind of clothing ? Do "clothes make the 
man" ? If not, why not ? What dictates the style of dress? Is the present style custom a 
good one? What are the advantages of changes of style in dress? Do you believe that 
Masons should have a uniform in which to appear in public ? If not, why not? Is the 
apron a part of a uniform ? What is its function ? Why do Masons wear aprons in the 
Lodge room ? 



5. Why is darkness always thought of as a symbol of ignorance? Why do we say 
"Darkest Africa"? Why is light associated with knowledge? What is the meaning of 
the word enlightenment" ? How does Masonry give enlightenment ? What is "the 
shock of enlightenment"? What is its meaning? 


SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONS 1. Have you ever observed the effect on your own 
feelings of wearing clothing (a uniform, for example), to which you were 
unaccustomed ? What was the effect on your emotions when you found yourself 
clothed for entrance into the Masonic Lodge? Did these emotions help you in 
appreciating what followed ? 


2. Do you know of groups of men who seem to be hoodwinked by ignorance and 
prejudice ? Do you know if any political, social, religious hoodwinks? What can 
Masonry do to remove such blinders? 


3. Does a man ever need a cable-tow in his growth and development? Should a man 
be held in restraint by his superiors until he is able to govern himself ? Is the restraint 
under which a boy is kept by his school teacher similar to the significance of the 
Masonic Cable Tow? 


4. Can a man get anything out of a business venture, or job, or a college education, 
etc., who does not throw himself into it ? How can a man expect to get anything out of 
Masonry if he puts no energy into it? What is the cure for so-called "Masonic 
Indifference" ? 


5. What preparation must a man make to get into the army? into a new job? into 
college? A man cannot enter into any new field of experience until he is prepared: 
does Masonic Preparation symbolize for you the laws governing all types of 
preparation? Is your mind prepared to understand Masonry? Are you prepared to 
interpret it to new Brethren? 



PART I— PHYSICAL AND MENTAL PREPARATION 


FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF GREATEST CONSEQUENCE 


THE first contact of the candidate and the Lodge is of greatest consequence. First 
impressions are lasting. A candidate seldom if ever forgets the conditions under which 
he first came to the Lodge. Every detail stands out distinctly in his memory. Years 
pass and many later incidents are effaced by time but the first experiences remain with 
him almost as fresh and vivid as ever. All the more responsible, therefore, is the 
burden upon those in authority that the Lodge is first presented to the candidate, and 
he to it, in a manner fully worthy of the occasion. 


CANDIDATE'S FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF MASONRY 


The candidate in entering the building and passing through the Lodge parlors and 
anteroom to the preparation room should meet nothing that will give him aught but the 
most appropriate reflections. Naturally he is in a serious mood. He has asked for 
membership in the most mysterious of societies and has been summoned to appear for 
initiation. Nothing is known by him of what is in store. That the ceremonies will be 
impressive and inspiring may be taken for granted by him. So much at least he can 
guess from the well-known reputation of the fraternity. An institution of such 
prominence and permanence is likely to be neither dull nor crude in what it does with 
the candidate. 


With these elementary facts firmly fixed as our foundation let each one of us frankly 
picture in our minds the circumstances under which we first visited a Lodge. If there 
then occurred anything not calculated to maintain the high regard of the candidate for 
the fraternity the newcomer was not to blame for either the plan or the surroundings. 
Whatever has occurred since our initiation in that Lodge, as far as it concerns the 
reception of a candidate, is to some extent a part of our personal responsibility. 



CONDUCTING CANDIDATE TO LODGE 


Let us proceed with the candidate to his Lodge. He may or may not go alone. If he is 
taken there by some member of the brotherhood let us hope most heartily that the 
guide is something more than congenial. Discretion was never more needed. Light 
talk is out of place. Other trivial acts are foolish if indeed they are not positively 
wicked on the way to Lodge. Coming from the candidate's home to his Lodge family 
of friends may there be no halt anywhere along the road. 


Assuming that nothing has interfered with the solemn and serious reflections of the 
applicant for initiation while on his way to the Lodge, we may enter the building and 
here under the very roof of official Masonry we can sometimes discover conditions 
far from the best for the puipose. We may present to him the spectacle of a card room 
and one not too clean at that, or of a smoking room not too free of fog and odor— and 
the latter be it remembered is quite objectionable to some people, and in order to 
avoid offense it is well to bar all possibilities of unpleasantness until we are certain 
there is absolutely no danger of offending. 


Lor we must assume that now we are trying to make the best possible impression in 
the most permanent manner. What we do must be lasting, not blasting. At this 
moment the candidate takes the impress from his surroundings as if he were wax but 
he is as marble or brass to retain them. 


PRESERVE THE STRENGTH OP THE RITUAL 


Par be it from the intention of the writer of this paper to decry or oppose the 
installation of Masonic clubs and of all the attendant innocent pleasure that rightly 
accompany them. Games, the reading of popular literature, and the enjoyment of 
tobacco are without vice when pursued with due restrictions upon the user's habits and 



with proper regard to the rights of others. In general, is it not safe to say nevertheless, 
that these should not be mixed up with the ritual ? 


Before going further with our candidate in his journey toward an American Lodge we 
may inquire as to how far this account of his travel is in accord with the practice 
elsewhere at the present day and how closely is it in agreement with the customs of 
the early Freemasons. Some of the Lodges claiming to be following in other lands the 
pioneer practices of the fraternity have sundry customs of much interest. These are 
founded upon the very desirable puipose that the first impression shall be as healthy 
as it is permanent. 


Beginning long before the time set for the ceremonial, the candidate is caused to 
travel far and near from one objective point to another, receiving and conveying and 
delivering messages that are calculated to impress him with a due sense of the labor 
and zeal and knowledge required of a Mason. 


Thus he continues during the day until footsore and weary, but neither discouraged 
nor disheartened he finally arrives at the Lodge room just in time for the remainder of 
the ceremony of initiation. Under this system of ritualism the tests of sincerity and 
devotion are severe as might be expected. They are distinctly different from what are 
familiar to us but of course possess peculiar merits of their own. 


THE MASONIC SCHOOL 


Masonry is a school. Character is taught. Everything that is done has the one end, to 
engrave upon the candidate certain things never to be erased. To do this deeply is the 
puipose of the ritual and the duty of the ritualists. Candidates are students in the 
school of Masonry listening to lectures and receiving instruction through eye and ear. 



When we teach a child to write and to figure we adopt certain well established rules. 
We show him examples and we make him memorize formulas. Then we cause him to 
do the things we have done, to do for himself what he has seen and to obey when he 
has been told. We explain the use of the plus and minus signs as well as of other 
symbols. He soon sees that they are very handy because they group a lot of 
explanation in a few simple signs. 


The child is taught that position is of importance, his hands and feet and body have all 
an influence on what he does and that while they are directed by his mind and this in 
turn is an expression of the work of his brain, the mind and particularly the memory 
reflects what he has seen and what he was then doing. Childhood is shown and told 
because we have found it advisable to appeal to as many as possible of the senses at 
once in order to cause the more lasting effect. 


The thoughtful Mason will see the application of these truths. Masonry employs all 
these approved resources of the teacher's art. In the light of these reminders the use of 
our system of instruction is clearly seen to be standing on solid and substantial 
ground. 


CLOTHING AS A SYMBOL 


Reduced to its simplest expression the true clothing of a Mason is the apron. 
Sometimes, as on the occasion of public processions, white gloves are added to the 
street attire. In certain foreign jurisdictions a sword is worn. Unless clothed befittingly 
as becomes his Masonic advancement a member can not enter or take part in Lodge 
labors. 


There is unity in uniforms. Aside entirely from the symbolism of clothing, of being 
clothed or unclothed, it is a fact that a body of men is the more closely united when 
dressed alike in any suitable clothing. Just as their garments are apparently of the one 
piece of cloth so are they themselves parts of the one substance, fragments fused by a 
common bond into unity and uniformed accordingly. 



Every Mason in the uniformity of his clothing, and the similarity of the experiences 
with clothing through which he and his brethren have passed, is thereby again 
reminded of the lessons taught by these means. 


LIGHT AND SIGHT, DARKNESS AND BLINDNESS 


We learn that in the ancient mysteries the candidate first encountered complete 
darkness and thence progressed toward more enlightened conditions. To shut off the 
sense of sight is therefore to repeat the initial experience in the mysteries of the 
ancients. 


CABLE-TOW AND OBLIGATIONS 


A tow-line enables a tug-boat to draw a ship after it. There is a sense in which such a 
cable-tow connects the source of energy with that which can not, for the time, be self- 
propelling. When a stronger tie, bond or pledge is assumed, then the old material 
connection can be cast aside. He that is bound to the brotherhood by the abiding 
strength of love, devotion and light, needs no other harness on his limbs. 


CANDIDATE IS A FREE AGENT 


We welcome not the unwilling. Neither reservation nor evasion or reluctance may 
mark the applicant for the mysterious Masonic rights and benefits. Uninvited he 
comes and upon him is no compulsion born of us. No restraint from us relieves him of 
fullest responsibility. He is free to act in man fashion, not as a child or slave. 


INTENTIONS OF THE CANDIDATE 



By a time-honored declaration the candidate announces his intentions. This is done 
before witnesses. In some countries the solemnity of the proceedings is increased by 
the use of a special room for the puipose, called the Chamber of Reflection. 


So much importance rightly belongs to this part of the proceedings that all possible 
care may well be taken to have the announcement of the candidate heard with all 
dignity and fervor. He asserts that he has no unworthy motives, that he offers himself 
of his own accord as a candidate and will conform to all the established customs of the 
fraternity. There are other items of consequence but these are contained in the various 
Monitors and Codes and need not be repeated here. 


The form of the declaration is very old and as usually given is similar to what is found 
as far back as the era of Preston. 


MENTAL AS WELL AS PHYSICAL PREPARATION 


Too much care can not be devoted to the use of the preparation room. This work is 
sometimes alloted to young and inexperienced members of the Lodge. Then the case 
is bad enough. But it is very much worse when the labor is undertaken by the 
indifferent or negligent or flippant. If the Master and the other officers of the Lodge 
will reflect that the better the candidate is physically and mentally prepared the easier 
it is for them to make an impression, then they will realize how they are affected by 
the shortcomings of the Stewards. 


It is proper here to assert that the true initiation of a candidate begins long before he 
enters the Lodge room. There is in this fact a lesson of deportment. Are we always 
cautious in what we say and do? Not only before the candidate but ever before the 
brethren do we need to maintain carefully the conduct of a real Mason. 



SYMBOLISM OF THE PREPARATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT 


To me this stage of the First Degree of Masonry is deeply significant. There is a new 
birth. Out of the womb of the laboring blindly-groping world there comes to the altar 
of friendship a willing sacrifice. The old garb of ignorance is cast aside and the 
clothing of knowledge is assumed. Eyes that were blind are opened and he that was in 
darkness beholds the Eastern rays of the rising sun. New duties are defined in the light 
of the dawning day. God, country, neighbor, self— for each is to be held the balance 
true of our faith, our patriotism, our service and our character. 


REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTAL PAPERS 


The following articles to be found in Mackey's Encyclopedia and THE BUILDER all 
have a bearing upon the subject treated in the foregoing paper by Brother Clegg. 
Lodge and Study Club Committees should decide upon those which they may wish to 
use and then assign to some of their interested members the task of preparing and 
presenting them as supplemental papers at the same meeting at which Brother Clegg's 
paper is used. 


Mackey's Encyclopedia: Cable Tow; Declaration of the Candidate; Discalceation; 
Heart; Hoodwink; Qualifications; Seeing; Shoe. THE BUILDER: Cable Tow, The, 
vol. 1, p. 215, (Q. B.); p. 276, (Cor.); p. 278, (Cor.); vol. Ill, C. C. B. p. 5, this issue. 
"Divested of all Metallic Substances," vol. Ill, p. 384, this issue. Metallic Tokens, vol. 
II, p. 205. Preparing the Candidate, vol. II, p. 205. 


THE CABLE TOW 


(By R.W.Bro. S. Clifton Bingham, P. M.) 



It has been said, and I think well said, that "Freemasonry is a system of morality, 
veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." Whilst I have heard many other 
definitions, and so probably have you, I think all will agree that it correctly conveys to 
all our minds in the fewest possible words the aim and object of our fraternity. Some 
doubtless look upon it as a convivial organisation only, but I rejoice to be able to say 
that the number of those amongst us are steadily diminishing. 


If we would understand the sublime teachings of Freemasonry it is absolutely 
necessary that we should study the meaning conveyed to us by the symbols brought 
forcibly before us at every meeting. By such means alone can we hope to attain 
perfection and qualify to become a stone in "that eternal mansion, that house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens." 


A symbol has been defined as a visible sign by or with which a spiritual feeling, 
emotion, or idea, is conveyed. Is not the level to us always a symbol of equality? the 
plumb, of uprightness? the square, of rectitude ? 


If we carry ourselves back to the earlier years, when our system was probably of a 
much simpler character than it is today, and when comparatively few people had any 
degree of education, the only method of conveying ideas to the large mass of people 
would be by the use of symbols. The crown is to us a symbol of royalty; the sceptre, 
of power. Indeed, what is our alphabet but a system of symbols, the letters of which, 
combined in different ways, convey to us different meanings. The symbol to which I 
intend particularly to refer this evening is apparently in universal use amongst 
Freemasons, viz., the cable tow. In the earliest rituals extant, and the pretended 
exposures which were so numerous in the first part of the eighteenth century, this 
symbol was invariably used in preparation of candidates for our Order. 


What is a cable tow? The word "tow" signifies, properly, a line wherewith to draw. 
One dictionary I consulted defines it as "that which tuggeth, or with which we tug to 
draw." A cable tow, therefore, is a rope or line for drawing or leading. In one of the 
earliest so-called exposures it is called "cable rope." In its first inception the cable tow 
seems to have been used only as a physical means of controlling the candidate, and 
such inteipretation is given in the E. A. degree. One writer says it is emblematical of 



the dangers which surround us in this life, especially if we should rashly stray from 
the paths of duty. It will also remind the initiated to submit, while he is in ignorance, 
to being guided by those whom he knows to be enlightened. 


In the United States this symbol is used in each of the three Craft degrees. In the E. A. 
exactly as we do; in the F. C. it is coiled twice around his waist; and in the M. M. 
three times. This seems a symbolic use of the symbol. I might here mention that my 
ignorance of this use of the cable tow evidently caused me some doubt in the mind of 
the worthy brother testing me at the door of a Lodge in the States. The monitors says 
that the variation in the second and third degrees are to symbolise the covenant with 
which all Freemasons are tied, thus reminding us of the passage in the writings of the 
prophet Hosea, "I drew them with cords of a man, with bonds of love." Some of the 
brethren will recollect the use of this symbol in other degrees. 


Whence came the cable tow? That is a question somewhat difficult to answer. 

Fellows, author of an interesting work on the mysteries, says:— "The necks of the 
Dmidical priests were decorated with gold chains in the performance of their religious 
rites." In these is to be seen the arch type of the cable tow or tow rope, worn about the 
neck of the aspirant to Masonic secrets, which is the subject of much ridicule amongst 
the uninitiated. Indeed, the fraternity themselves do not seem to be aware of its true 
import. They are not conscious that this humble badge is a testimony of their belief in 
God, their dependence on Him, and their solemn obligations to devote themselves to 
His will and service. 


How long is it? How many of us have troubled to find out, and yet if we carry our 
minds back to the solemn obligation we took as M. Ms. we cannot overlook the point 
contained therein, "if within the reach of my cable tow." Gadicke, a German writer on 
Freemasonry, defines the length as three miles for an Entered Apprentice. I am not in 
a position to argue this point, nor I expect are you. In ancient times every adult had to 
present himself yearly before the sheriff or chief authority of the county to renew his 
oath of fealty to his liege lord and the King, nor were any excused from this service 
except they were a considerable distance away; some writers say over fifty miles, a 
very considerable journey in those days. 



The subject of the length of a cable tow was one of the questions for discussion at a 
National Masonic Convention held in the City of Baltimore, U. S. A., in the year 
1842. Mackey says that after considerable discussion on the matter of definition of 
"within the scope of man's reasonable ability" was arrived at. 


History tells us that the burghers of Calais, when that city was besieged by the English 
under Edward, the Black Prince, came out in procession with ropes round their necks 
in token of their submission. 


According to Grimm, quoted by Gould in his History of Freemasonry, a cord about 
the neck was used symbolically in criminal courts to denote that the accused 
submitted his life to the judgment of the court. When used upon the person of a 
freeman it signified a slight degree of subjection or servitude. You will remember also 
that when Benhadad's servants after his defeat by Ahab approached the latter King, 
asking for mercy, "they girded sackcloths on their loins and put ropes on their heads." 
This with the remaining portion of the verses, has been used by many Freemasons to 
prove the existence of our Fraternity in those days. If we accept the reasoning, we 
could hardly mistake the meaning of the ropes. 


Its use amongst our operative brethren is referred to by Bro. W. J. Shaw as 
follows:— "As a poetic symbol it has a special reference to the idea of rescue and 
assistance, and as a form of expression it has that significance in our Masonic rites. 
Upon the cable depended the safety of the ship riding at anchor, the salvation of the 
man overboard and in peril. On land it was also a means of aid and rescue upon 
mountain and plain, and especially so in the use that operative masons made of it in 
the construction of those magnificent buildings with which they adorned Europe. 
Doubtless from every great structure, in their work of decoration, men dangled by 
ropes from dizzy heights, and were rescued from perilous situations by means of the 
cable tow of some fellow workman. 


Our obligation, therefore, simply is that, as the length of the Freemason's cable tow, or 
long rope, is the measure of his means and ability to aid and rescue, it is his aid and 
rescue his fellow if within the reach of his means and ability. 



We are told that the timber of the building of King Solomon's Temple was felled in 
the forest of Lebanon and sent down in floats by sea to Joppa. Necessarily these floats 
or rafts of timber must have been towed and connected to the boats used for that 
purpose by strong ropes or cables. The use to which such a cable would be put would 
cause it to be known as a cable tow. Hence, possibly, the expression "the length of my 
cable tow." 


When the floats reached Joppa they would be released from the boats and secured to 
the shore (which we are told was very precipitous) by the same cables with which 
they had been towed. The expression so familiar to us, "a cable tow's length from the 
shore," will be brought to our thoughts at once. 


In this connection the cable tow may be considered an apt symbol of obedience— that 
is of obedience to the requirements of the ceremonies of our Institution and the 
principles of morality and virtue inculcated thereby. Obedience to the dictates of our 
Masonic duty, which must be performed even under the most adverse circumstances, 
and if need be without fee or reward, except that gratifying test of a good conscience. 


As the float by aid of the cable tow follows unduratingly the course intended by those 
who row the boat, so should the seeker for light attend to the truths revealed to him 
and faithfully follow the instructions and heed the solemn admonition of those who 
are guiding him into the Temple of Light and Truth. 


Let us remember that while candidates are asked to yield a mere blind obedience for 
the time, no unreasonable demands or unintelligible requirements are made. 


Does not the cable tow, by which metaphorically we lead our candidates into the 
Temple, remind us that we too have duties to fulfil ? Let it be to us a symbol of that 
love and affection with which the Masonic Brotherhood seeks to draw the initiates 
from the darkness of ignorance to the glorious light and liberty of our Fraternity. In 



humble imitation of the Divine plan, let us endeavour to draw our brethren by the 
tenderest chords of affection, and bind them to us forever more by the sweetest bonds 
of love. 


You have heard the phrase used occasionally in one of our ceremonies— "a two-fold 
cord is strong, but a three-fold cord is not easily broken." I do not know if a cable tow 
is composed of three principal strands or not, but if so the reference in both instances 
surely is the three great principles of our Institution— Brotherly Love, Relief, and 
Truth.— Transactions of the Masters' and Past Masters' Lodge, No. 130, New Zealand. 


A CORRECTION 


In the article "Evolution of the Operative into the Speculative Craft," by Brother Wm. 
F. Kuhn, an error was made by the compositor using a duplicate typeslug in place of 
one left out entirely in the seventeenth line from the top of the inside column on page 
341 of the November BUILDER. It should read: "Dr. Desaguliers, above all others, is 
the great figure who changed the operative into the speculative craft. By birth, 
education, training, and in his associations with the scientific and philosophical 
schools, he was preeminently qualified for this work." 


A SERIES OF ARTICLES ON FRENCH MASONRY 


A Canadian Grand Master and an American Past Grand Master are now at work 
compiling a series of articles for us on French Masonry which will present the subject 
from two different angles— the American and the Canadian. This series should be of 
vital interest especially to our Canadian and American members who are now in the 
service of King George and Uncle Sam and those who may be called later. We expect 
to be able to publish the first of these articles at an early date— possibly in the January 
BUILDER. 



SEARCH AGAIN! BY BRO. H. L. HAYWOOD, IOWA 


A SEARCH FOR A NAME 


MASONIC Research!" I write the words out slowly. I write them out a second time 
and stare at them. "Masonic Research ! " What a formidable forbidding sound they 
have ! They conjure up pictures of sallow bookworms burrowing about in mildewy 
libraries; or dyspeptic professors sitting up nights in a laboratory; or of some grimy 
archeologist digging up the bones of Egyptian crocodiles; or maybe they suggest some 
dapper young university graduate gathering data for a brand-new factory efficiency 
system. There is no denying these associations; they are there, and I do not wonder 
that many good Masons of the common walks of life shy aside when a new movement 
calling itself a "Research Society" comes along to bid for their attention. Did we make 
a mistake in calling it a "Research" Society? Perhaps we did; some of us thought so at 
the time, but nobody, to save his life, though everybody used his think apparatus to 
the limit, could conceive of another name that would fill the bill. 


A "research" Society it had to be— and consequently IS. Now the task before us is to 
get abroad among our friends, and our prospective friends, a new feeling about this 
word, a new understanding of what it means when we use it. After all it is use and not 
the dictionary that interprets our words to us, and it is just the purpose of this little 
screed to say that we are using the word "Research" in a very different sense to the 
uses described above. What we mean by Research is not what the college professors 
would mean by it. 


"RESEARCH" THE ONE CURE FOR THE APATHETIC MASON 


But even so, we are not committing crimes against the dictionary for what is the 
dictionary derivation of the word? Does it not come from "re" and from "search" and 
doesn't that mean "search again" ? And what are we Masonic researchers but Masons 
who are making "another search" in Masonry, digging up things we didn't know were 
there, finding matters of fascinating interest which had been hidden from us before? 



To the brother who has nosed about a little bit in Masonry and has come to the 
decision that while its teachings of brotherhood are very nice there is little in it to 
interest him, we say "Search again," brother. To the man who thinks he has "studied" 
it and has come to its limits, we say "Search again"— there isn't any limit to Masonry 
except the sky. We say that the one cure for all the indifference, the apathy, the 
indolence, the "don't care a shuck" of the watch-fob Mason can be remedied forever if 
we can get him to make another search in Masonry. 


METHODS OF "RESEARCH" 


How can a Mason set about this task of making another search? There are as many 
ways as there are men but there are a few methods which anybody can use, and it will 
not be beside the mark to note two or three of them. We will divide them into two 
classes; the use of books, the not using books, and we will speak of the latter first, as 
the high cost of books makes it more practicable to many of us. 


"RESEARCH" WITHOUT BOOKS 


Let us suppose that you are a busy man, with many interests outside the Order, that 
you have an average education, and that you don't care to read a lot about the subject. 
Can you indulge in Masonic Research ? Try this plan. Go to Lodge at the next 
meeting when a candidate is to be initiated; sit back in a comfortable chair and watch 
every move that is made and listen to every word that is spoken; and as you watch and 
listen keep saying to yourself, What does that mean ? How can I put that meaning in 
my own plain words? How can I make use of that when I get home, or when I get to 
work tomorrow? What is the LIFE VALUE of this for me? When you are doing that 
you are making another search in Masonry and you will be suiprised to find how the 
"work" will open up to you and reveal surprising new meanings. 


You can do another thing, you not-to-use-books researcher; you can hunt around 
among your fellow Masons until you find a few who are like you in a desire to get 
under the skin of the Ritual; then you can get them off into a corner, or invite them 



down to your house, and you can begin to ask THEM the question which you had 
before been asking yourself. You can say to them, "What did you fellows get out of 
this or that? Why do you think the candidate was taken around three times? What is 
your reason for the manner in which he is clothed? What means the Pot of Incense 
which was swung before our eyes in the Third Degree lecture? You will be perfectly 
amazed at the results, and so will your friends, for you will discover how much fun it 
is to do Masonic Research with no other equipment than one's own wits. 


"RESEARCH" WITH BOOKS 


Now let us suppose that you have grown bolder, and more determined to get under the 
veils of Masonry; you venture to dip into a few books; how will you go about that? 
The best plan is to begin by reading a few short and simple works that deal with the 
subject as a whole; Brother Newton wrote his "Builders" and Brother MacBride wrote 
his "Speculative Masonry" for just such a puipose; and there are many others. After 
you have gotten your aeroplane view you can then lay out a little field for more 
special study. You will have no difficulty in finding a field, for Masonry is as long 
and as broad as the life of man. You can choose the history of the Order, or its 
Symbolism, or its Philosophy, or its Jurisprudence, or you can find enough to keep 
you busy for a life-time in studying the biographies of great Masons— men like Albert 
Pike, and George Washington, and Robert Freke Gould, and William Preston, and so 
on. 


When you have chosen your special field it will be well to break that into smaller 
parts and specialize on one of the parts. Thus, if you elect to read the history of the 
Fraternity you can choose to study the medieval gilds, or the Comacines, or, say, 
eighteenth century Masonry in England. 


INDUCE THE MASTER OF YOUR LODGE TO INAUGURATE "RESEARCH" 
MEETINGS 



After you have discovered what fascinations such a course of reading holds for you, 
you can again do what you did before; you can hunt up a group of likeinded brethren 
and persuade them to go with you to a little venture of forming a Study Club. If you 
do that— but I mustn't go into all that would follow! Being an enthusiast on the subject 
I would eat up all ae space in this issue! 


Or— better than that— you may be able to infect the Master of your Lodge with your 
new-born enthusiasm and persuade him to make use of an hour or more during your 
regular meeting in order to awaken the membership to the fascinations of Masonic 
Resarch: "Research," I say advisedly, for all this time you have been engaging in that 
very thing, little as you may have realized it. 


RESULTS TO BE DERIVED FROM "RESEARCH" 


What will be the results of this adventure of making another search in Masonry? 
There will be many little pleasant results, but there will be two great results, and it is 
of these only that I have space to speak. 


For one thing, you will have unearthed the profound and exciting interest that lies in 
Masonry. I once heard of a Tennessee mountaineer who sold his little farm for forty 
dollars; he had been able to hunt squirrels and rabbits over that farm but he had not 
been able to make a living. So he sold it to a group of men, and these men took more 
than a million dollars worth of marble out of that mountainside inside of a year! Are 
not many Masons like that man? They go rabbit hunting around over Masonry without 
ever discovering the millions of dollars worth of marble that lies under its surface. 
Your study will uncover to you all the unimaginable riches of Masonry; it will reveal 
to you how interesting it is. 


But there will be a still greater result than that! Masonry is not a creed, or a mere set 
of antiquarian teachings, it is a vast dynamo of power. The trouble with us all is that 
we have this dynamo in our possession but we are not using it. We are like Hero of 
Alexandria who toyed with steam, or like the alchemists who played with electricity, 



without ever realizing what they had in their hands. If ever we find a means whereby 
to set loose the living power that lies in Masonry we will have performed a service 
that will outrival anything ever done to man. Masonry is that full of potentialities! 
And if this is ever done it will be done by the men who are not contented to take a 
lukewarm interest in Masonry, but who go ahead with the determination to "make 
another search" into the vitals of the greatest and oldest Fraternity in the world. 


PROGRESS OF THE STUDY PLAN IN INDIANA 


Since September 1 st and up to the time of going press with this issue of the 
Correspondence Circle Bulletin, exactly one hundred and ten Lodges in Indima have 
appointed "Research Committees" and are taking up the "Bulletin Course of Masonic 
Study" as a part of their monthly Lodge meetings. 


As evidence of the practicability of the plan and so 
think of it, we present the following letter from the 
260: 


show what the Indiana Masons 
Chairman of Winslow Jodge No. 


"Winslow, Indiana. 


'Dear Brother: 


"We have held our first 'Study Club' meeting. It was a success from every angle. I 
enclose a copy of the notice of the meeting which was sent out to our nembers and a 
goodly number responded. 


"The undersigned, as Chairman of the Committee, conducted the meeting and had no 
difficulty in answering all the questions, although I am free to say that I did not know 
such lack of knowledge of the Institution existed among the membership as made 



itself apparent at this meeting. Men whom I thought had given some study to the 
Fraternity asked questions that surprised me and they were more surprised when they 
were answered. 


"At the close of the meeting I asked an expression from every member present and all 
expressed themselves as more than pleased with the meeting, each agreeing that he 
had learned many things about the Fraternity, its aims and puiposes, that he had never 
known before. I then announced the program for the November meeting. Ten 
members were given places on the program and each was eager to take the part 
assigned him and to find out all he could on the subject assigned. All the work is 
along the lines laid out by the National Masonic Research Society. 


"I have the only stagger at a Masonic Library in town and before eight o'clock Sunday 
morning I was besieged by members wanting into my study to start their work. 


"Every indication is that the 'Study Club' plan wil be a big thing for our Lodge. The 
Committee is well pleased with its start and will keep the ball rolling while the 
interest gains. "With best wishes, I am, 


Fraternally yours, A. J. Heuring, Chairman." 


-o — 


THE TRIAL OF CHRIST FROM A LAWYER'S STANDPOINT 


BY BRO. LOUIS H. FEAD, GRAND MASTER, MICHIGAN 



Brother Louis H. Fead, the sixty-seventh Grand Master of the Grand Lodge F. and A. 
M. of the State of Michigan, was born at Lexington, Michigan, May 2, 1877, and is 
consequently one of the youngest Grand Masters that ever presided over that Grand 
Lodge. He graduated from the Lexington High School in 1893, attended Olivet 
College two years, Detroit College of Law one year and graduated from the Law 
Department of the University of Michigan in 1900; settled at Newberry, Michigan, 
July 25, 1900, and was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Luce County the same year, 
taking the office January 1, 1901. Was re-elected every two years for six consecutive 
terms when he was elected Circuit Judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, composed 
of the counties of Alger, Chippewa, Luce and Schoolcraft, in 1912, taking office 
January, 1913, his term expiring January 1, 1918. He has just been re-elected for the 
full term of six years commencing January 1, 1918, without any opposition, either in 
the primaries or at the election. He is also engaged in the banking business being vice- 
president of the Newberry State Bank. 


Bro. Fead is a member of all the various bodies of Masonry and allied Orders. 


Young in years, vigorous in health, sturdy in manhood, richly endowed with brilliant 
qualities of mind and best of all a big heart overflowing with love for his fellow man, 
Michigan Masons are indeed proud of their Grand Master for 1917-18. 


An address delivered before the Masonic Relief Association of the United States and 
Canada at the biennial meeting held in Omaha, Nebraska, Sept. 25-27, 1917. 


RESUME OF LEGAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 


IT may seem to you, at first blush, that the subject of this address is not strictly 
appropriate to a Masonic gathering. During the meeting of the Relief Association, we 
have heard much of Masonic relief and charity, and our minds have been tuned to that 
idea. But Masonry could live without particularly teaching charity as it might rely 
upon that natural impulse which prompts men of generous natures to extend aid to 
those in want. On the other hand, Justice is one of the basic principles of our 



institution, within which true charity is embraced, upon which the idea of fraternity is 
builded and without which there can be no true brotherhood. Consequently, it 
behooves the Mason to think much on the subject of Justice, the rendering to every 
man his just due without distinction, and to learn where he can, just principles that he 
may practice them. Where is there a better field for his contemplation and study than 
the most famous criminal trial in the history of the world, where all the diverse 
passions of humanity were loosed, the trial of Jesus Christ? And in presenting it to 
you, I desire to present the subject, stripped of religious aspects, as a legal study, and 
in line with the duty of Masons to seriously consider the Masonic principle of Justice. 


Heretofore, our consideration of the trial of Christ has always been tinged with a 
religious coloring. We have been taught and have learned to look upon the tragedy as 
an unspeakable outrage committed upon the Savior of Mankind, the Son of God. Its 
human side has been seldom, if ever, presented to us; The divine character of Christ 
has always been pre-eminent in our minds and we have viewed the scene either in a 
humanitarian way, with horror at the cruelty and vicious hatred of the persecutors of 
one who harmed no man and did only good, or in a religious way, as the voluntary 
sacrifice by God of his own Son for the redemption of the world. 


This evening, for a few minutes, I want to consider this tragedy with you from a 
different viewpoint, from its legal rather than its humanitarian or religious side. We 
are not now considering Christ as divine, but as human. The trial is not that of the Son 
of God but of Jesus the man, the caipenter, and the son of the caipenter, of Nazareth. 
He is the prisoner at the bar, entitled to the protection only of those laws provided for 
the protection of any person accused of crime, subject to the punishment provided for 
the breach of the law, and, in all respects, having the same rights and only the same 
rights as has any accused inhabitant of the country. The justice or the injustice of the 
execution and the motives of those who condemned him are entirely beside the 
question except in so far as they may be pertinent to the legal phase of the 
controversy. Our puipose is merely to discover whether the accused man Jesus was 
lawfully condemned in accordance with the settled legal principles of the times and 
land. 


The proposition before us may be summed up in two questions: 1. Was Christ guilty 
of a breach of the law? 2. If he was, was he regularly convicted and executed in 
accordance with the provisions of the law ? As a partial answer to the first question 



and to bring the viewpoint sharply to your minds, let me say that when Jesus said he 
was the Son of God, he was guilty of blasphemy under the laws then in force and if he 
had been regularly tried and convicted of that offense and executed by the legally 
provided punishment of stoning to death, there could be no legal exception to the 
execution, whatever one might think of its justice or propriety. Judea, at this time, was 
a Roman province or dependency. As Judea was an enlightened land, Rome, with that 
splendid administrative ability which fostered self-government so long as there was 
constant recognition of Roman supreme sovereignty, permitted her to enforce 
practically entirely her own system of laws, through the instrumentality of her own 
courts and to inflict her punishments, except where the sentence was death, in which 
case Roman sanction was required, possibly to pronounce, certainly to execute, the 
sentence. Both the Jewish and Roman legal systems were admirable and, in many 
respects, persons accused and tried before their courts were much more fully protected 
from unjust sentence than under our modem systems, although the punishment of the 
guilty was more generally assured. And Jesus was tried, not by a mob as we 
sometimes think, but before two courts of proper jurisdiction and under both the 
Jewish and Roman systems of law whose enlightened provisions are even now being 
gradually incorporated into Anglo Saxon jurisprudence, from which they had been for 
centuries barred by the autocratic and evil theories of the Feudal system. 


In order that we may intelligently pursue the inquiry, let us briefly state the principal 
provisions of the law relating to the trial of criminal cases in Judea, the bare 
enumeration of which will satisfy you, I think, that the present day system is not 
immeasurably superior to the past in all respects. 


The trial of the major offenses was had before the Sanhedrim, a court of general 
jurisdiction, composed of 71 rulers, priests, scribes and scholars, and having a general 
place of meeting in the temple. The presiding officer was usually, but not always, the 
High Priest. Upon extraordinary occasions, the Sanhedrim could meet in the palace of 
the High Priest. In a capital case, that is one in which the death penalty could be 
inflicted, twenty-one members were required to be present. No Jewish court could 
conduct judicial proceedings on a feast day and in a capital case, the court could not 
sit at night. 



A person accused of crime could be arrested only after a formal accusation setting out 
the crime of which he was accused, unless he were taken in the actual commission of 
crime. If arrested at night, he must be kept in ward until the next day. 


In all cases, the accused was presumed to be innocent until proved guilty. He could be 
tried and condemned only if he were present. He could not be called upon to testify 
nor could he be made a witness against himself. The charge must be proved by other 
witnesses. Counsel must be appointed for his defense. Evidence in his favor was to be 
freely admitted. 


No one could be convicted upon the testimony of a single witness; at least two must 
testify in the presence of the accused and must agree together. Their testimony was 
required to be scrutinized carefully and technically and, in case of slight disagreement 
between them, it was insufficient to convict. The oath administered to the witness was 
an adjuration "by the living God." This was the most solemn oath a Jew could take 
and, when so adjured, he was bound to answer and to tell the truth. It was the duty of 
the presiding officer of the court to call the attention of the witnesses to the value of 
life and to warn them not to forget anything they knew in the prisoner's favor. 


In minor cases, counsel on both sides were permitted to make an argument. In capital 
cases, only counsel for the accused was heard. 


After the testimony was in, the votes of the younger members of the court were taken 
first, that they might not be influenced by their older associates. A judge who had 
voted for conviction could change his vote at any time. One who had once spoken for 
acquittal could not change his vote to conviction. In capital cases, a majority of at 
least two was required to convict. A verdict of acquittal could be given at once. A 
verdict of guilty could not be pronounced until a day after the conclusion of the trial. 
That day was to be spent by those judges who favored conviction in fasting, prayer 
and religious meditation. If a verdict of acquittal was not reached on the day the trial 
ended, the court was imperatively obliged to adjourn to permit the full day of fasting 
and prayer. 



Upon conviction, the condemned man was led away to be stoned; but the court 
remained in session. An officer stood at the door with a signal flag. Another followed 
the prisoner to the further point from which he could see the signal. If any new 
witnesses came to prove the innocence of the accused the signal flag was waved; and 
the execution of the sentence was stayed until the new witnesses had been heard and 
judgment again pronounced. 


The spirit of the Jewish law was well illustrated in the precise and technical rules 
protecting those accused of crime. It was a common saying that the "Sanhedrim was 
to save life, not to destroy life." It was under such a system that the Sanhedrim 
purported to conduct the trial of Jesus and by that system the regularity of the 
procedure is to be tested. 


With this brief resume of the important legal principles involved in the present 
discussion, let us take up the various incidents in the trial of Christ and examine their 
legality. 


I. THE COURT No enlightened system of jurisprudence has ever sanctioned the 
participation of a partisan judge in a case, of a judge interested in the outcome of the 
suit. Under the Mosaic law the judges were admonished: "Thou shalt not wrest 
judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift." The theory was that the 
judgment was God's. The courts were merely the human agents appointed to state that 
judgment. The Sanhedrim, the Supreme Court of the Jews, was especially considered 
to be above partisan feelings and its judgments were deemed to be the nearest 
approach to exact justice attainable through human wisdom and divine revelation to 
man. The enlightened rules and laws of Judea could have no possible place for a 
partial or biased tribunal. 


But the record reads: 


"After two days was the Feast of the Passover, and of the unleavened bread; and the 
chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him and put him to death. 



"Then assembled together the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people 
unto the palace of the High Priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they 
might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him." 


This record shows, not a merely general enmity or personal hatred toward Jesus, but a 
direct interest on the part of the judges, a conspiracy by them to accuse Christ and to 
have him executed, and their subsequent conduct shows that the manner of carrying 
out such conspiracy was by a trial in which they were the judges. Consequently, it is 
my contention that the court which first tried Christ was unlawfully constituted 
because it was composed of judges who had pronounced the judgment of death 
against him in advance of trial and who were actually conspiring to encompass his 
execution. 


II. THE ARREST On the first day of the feast of the unleavened bread or the 
Passover, Jesus and his disciples celebrated the feast in the institution of what we now 
call the Lord's Supper. After the feast, and in the evening, he went with his disciples 
into the garden of Gethsemane to pray. He saw his end approaching and he spent his 
few remaining hours in communion with his God. Three times he went apart from his 
disciples and three times he returned to find them sleeping. The third time he came 
out, Judas arrived, with a multitude from the chief priests and elders of the people, and 
betrayed him with a kiss. This multitude was composed of Roman soldiers, Temple 
guards and some of the members of the Sanhedrim. And they laid hands on him and 
took him. 


A short time before this, Jesus had publicly come up from Galilee. He had entered 
Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, attended by a great concourse of his followers. He had 
openly taught in the temple and confounded the scribes. Consequently, there was 
ample opportunity for a formal accusation against him and his arrest in the day time. 
He was not, at the time of his arrest, engaged in the commission of any criminal act. 
He was not even teaching his gospel. He had been engaged in prayer. Under no 
provision of the Jewish law was there legal authority for his arrest without a formal 
accusation being first made against him. Jesus knew his arrest was unlawful and he 
reminded the members of the Sanhedrim present of their breach of the law when he 
uttered that gentle rebuke: 



"Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me ? I sat daily 
with you teaching in the temple and ye laid no hold on me " 


I do not contend that the illegality of arrest was sufficient to prevent Jesus' being 
brought to trial. It would not result in an illegal judgment if the subsequent 
proceedings were in accordance with the law. But it is important as indicating the 
length to which the Sanhedrim went in furtherance of their conspiracy and as being 
added proof of the disqualification of the judges for interest and bias. 


III. THE TRIAL BEFORE THE SANHEDRIM Saint John says "They led Jesus 
away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the High Priest." The 
record is not very clear at this point. Some sort of an examination seems to have been 
conducted by the High Priest Caiaphas, either privately or in the presence of Annas, 
but as the examination was not fruitful, it is of no particular consequence. 


Jesus was then taken to the house of the High Priest, where the chief priests and the 
scribes and the elders were assembled. Whether this was an extraordinary occasion 
warranting a trial in the palace of the High Priest is subject to grave differences of 
opinion and therefore will not be dwelt upon. You will bear in mind, however, that 
this was in the night-time, when no trial could legally be had of a capital offense, and 
at the time of the Feast of the Passover, when no criminal trial of any kind could be 
conducted. Under the Jewish law, the whole of the proceedings of the trial of Jesus 
before the Sanhedrim were invalid, as much so as if a court in this state should try and 
convict a person of crime on Sunday. The judgment would be void. 


Nevertheless, Jesus was arraigned at the bar of the Sanhedrim for trial. No formal 
accusation was even then made against him. But in order to preserve the semblance of 
a trial, witnesses were presented. The record reads: "The chief priests and elders 
sought false witnesses to put Jesus to death." They found none because, although there 
were many false witnesses, they did not agree together. It was necessary, in order to 
convict, that there be two witnesses agreeing in all respects in their testimony. Two 
witnesses were finally found. Matthew's version of their testimony is that Jesus had 



said "I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days." Mark 
differs in the language used and narrates it as "I will destroy this temple made with 
hands and in three days I will build another without hands." Both of the Evangelists 
say the witnesses were false witnesses and Mark further says they did not agree 
together. 


St. Mark's claim of disagreement between the witnesses is not, according to the 
record, entitled to any legal weight. The record affirmatively shows that the witnesses 
agreed upon Christ's statement. The only disagreement appearing in the record is that 
between Matthew and Mark as to what the testimony was. 


Nor is there support in the record for the designation of the two as false witnesses. 
The testimony they gave was not strictly accurate, it is true, because what Christ had 
said was "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." But he was then 
speaking in the temple at Jerusalem, which was the Jewish temple of God. And it is 
not to be expected that the Jews understood that he "spake of the temple of his body" 
in making the remark, as it is apparent his own disciples did not so understand his 
words until after he had risen from the dead. The version given by the witnesses, 
particularly as narrated by Matthew, was substantially a correct rendition of the 
meaning which would ordinarily be gathered from the words used and the place in 
which they were said. Substantial accuracy is all that can be expected of a witness 
narrating what was said by another at a previous time. 


The record does not show that the witnesses were cautioned to forget no testimony 
favorable to the accused, warned of the sanctity of life, or that they took the oath. As 
these were customary details in the trial of all criminal offenses, it is probable there 
would be a presumption that they were fully observed. It appears, however, that no 
counsel had been appointed for Jesus and the judges were seeking witnesses against 
him instead of in his behalf, as was their legal duty. 


After this testimony, the High Priest demanded of Jesus: "Answereth thou nothing ? 
What is it which these witness against thee?" And Jesus held his peace. If this demand 
was a call upon him to testify against himself, it was illegal as no accused person 
could be so called upon. If it was an announcement by the High Priest, who presided 



over the court, that the prosecution had finished and the defense would be heard, Jesus 
had the right to hold his peace. The requirements of the law had not been observed in 
his behalf, in the composition of the court, its time of meeting or in the procedure. 
Whether a crime had been charged may be doubted but it was evidently not a very 
serious matter as the High Priest immediately abandoned the charge and proceeded 
along another line. Christ was not condemned by the Sanhedrim on the charge 
testified to by the two witnesses. 


That the High Priest was, in fact and illegally, seeking to require Jesus to testify 
against himself is, I think, conclusively shown by the fact that upon Christ's refusing 
to testify, the High Priest then besought him with the most solemn adjuration which 
could be put to a Jew, one which he was obliged to answer "I adjure you by the living 
God that thou tellest us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God." Mark does not 
relate this incident as an adjuration but states the question to have been "Art thou the 
Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" In either case, it was a call upon the prisoner to testify 
against himself and was illegal. 


To this demand, Jesus answered: "Thou hast said; nevertheless I say unto you, 
hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in 
the clouds of heaven." Immediately the High Priest rent his garments saying "He hath 
spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses ? Behold, now ye heard 
his blasphemy. What think ye ?" And they said "He is guilty of death." 


And they jeered and mocked at him, spit in his face and buffeted him, and, covering 
his head with a cloak, struck him and asked him to prophecy who had struck him. 
Imagine a scene of this kind in the highest court of the land, where the most dignified 
personages of the day were in attendance, if justice were the object of the proceeding. 


The illegalities of this trial were many. The judges had denied Christ the presumption 
of innocence, with which the law invested him, and had adjudged him guilty in 
advance of trial; the court was held in the night-time and on a feast day; no counsel 
had been appointed for the accused; he had been convicted, not upon the testimony of 
two witnesses, but upon his own testimony given upon the demand of the High Priest 
and, according to Matthew, after the adjuration which a Jew could not refuse to heed; 



the judges had sought witnesses against him instead of in his favor; the vote had not 
been taken in the manner prescribed by law; the High Priest, who should have spoken 
last, with a dramatic rending of his garments, expressed his opinion first and called 
upon the others to confirm it; the verdict of guilty was pronounced at once, without 
the intervention of the day of fasting and prayer and religious meditation. 


The Sanhedrim itself recognized the illegality of its own procedure in holding a night 
session and, as soon as it was day, held another meeting. At this meeting, as recounted 
by St. Luke, they all propounded the question to Jesus whether he was the Christ. And 
when he said he was, they said "What need we any further witnesses? for we 
ourselves have heard of his own mouth. And the whole multitude arose and led him 
unto Pilate." It is unnecessary to point out that this day meeting was not legal. It is 
subject to all the objections made against the one held during the night before except 
that it was held in the day time. 


IV. THE TRIAL BEFORE PILATE The trial before Pontius Pilate, the Roman 
Governor, began at the hall of judgment in the early morning. It was held in the open 
air as the Jews would not enter the hall on the feast day for fear of being defiled. This 
is not the only instance in history of where a precise observance of the forms of 
religion or ethics has attended an example of man's inhumanity to man. Christ was 
brought before Pilate because the Sanhedrim had no power to put him to death 
without the approval of the Roman Governor. 


When they brought Jesus to the hall of judgment, Pilate went out to them and said 
"What accusation bring ye against this man?" Thus he made an express demand for a 
statement of the charges. The priests made no specific charge but answered: "If he 
were not a malefactor we would not have delivered him up unto thee." Pilate said to 
them: "Take ye him and judge him according to your law." And they replied: "It is not 
lawful for us to put any man to death." 


This colloquy indicates that the Jews were then seeking only to obtain the approval of 
the Governor to the sentence of death for blasphemy which the Sanhedrim had 
determined upon. While it was the duty of the Roman Governor to pass upon all cases 
where it was sought to impose the death penalty, it was the frequent practice, in order 



to avoid friction with the native authorities as far as possible, to approve the sentence 
without investigation and as a matter of form. The failure of the priests to make a 
definite accusation in answer to Pilate's question was apparently a hint to him that 
such a practice would be very acceptable to the Sanhedrim in this particular case. 


There are several entirely patent reasons for Pilate's refusing to act upon the hint. He 
knew that "for envy they had delivered" Christ to him. He seems to have evidenced a 
considerable respect for Jesus, of whose activities he had heard. Being a Pagan, he 
could hardly be expected to wax indignant over superstitious differences. Knowing 
the charge was conceived in envy and not apparently deeming the matter of any 
particular consequence, he had little sympathy with their purpose. Hence his 
contemptuous advice to try Jesus according to the Jewish law under which he knew 
the death penalty could not be inflicted. 


The priests also knew that a charge of blasphemy would meet with little favor from 
the pagan Governor and, accordingly, they concealed their true complaint and made 
against Christ the accusation of treason against the Roman state. 


"We found this man perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, 
saying that he himself is Christ, a king." 


Such an accusation could not, obviously, be dismissed without investigation by the 
Governor. In addition to his administrative powers, he was a judge, with power to try, 
condemn and execute. Declining to exercise his administrative and discretionary 
powers in favor of the death penalty for blasphemy upon the conviction by the 
Sanhedrim, he was bound, as a judge, to determine this new charge of treason against 
the Roman State in accordance with the laws of Rome for the trial of criminal cases. 
The record shows that he endeavored so to do. 


When Christ was so accused by the chief priests and the elders, he answered nothing. 
Why ? The charge was of a triple nature, (1) perverting the nation, (2) forbidding to 
pay tribute to Caesar, and (3) claiming to be a king. The charge of perverting the 



nation was too indefinite to be specifically answered. The charge of forbidding to pay 
tribute was false and his accusers knew it. That very week when the Pharisees, trying 
to entrap him, had asked him whether it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, he had 
answered, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things 
which are God's." The charge of claiming to be a king was ooe a double nature, having 
both a political and a religious aspect, and he waited for the specifications of what was 
meant. Pilate, as will be seen, ignored the charge regarding the payment of tribute and 
conducted the trial solely upon the charge of Christ's claiming to be a king, regarding 
that as what was meant by the allegation of perverting the people. 


He took Jesus into the judgment hall, away from the others, and examined him 
privately. His first question was "Art thou the King of the Jews ?" Jesus sought 
immediately to know whether Pilate was proceeding with the trial from a political or a 
religious standpoint and answered by himself asking a question: "Sayest thou this 
thing of thyself or did others tell it thee of me?" The purport is whether Pilate's 
question referred to a king as he understood the term and in the sense that Caesar was 
a king or as the Jews understood it, as a Messiah. Pilate was not concerned with the 
religious controversy. He made it plain that he asked the question only in a political 
sense and, impatient at being questioned by a Jew, peremptorily demanded: "Am 1 a 
Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast 
thou done ?" Jesus answered the question in both ways explaining, in a political sense, 
that he was not a rival of Caesar because his kingdom was not of this world but, in a 
religious sense, that he was a king in the kingdom of truth. And Pilate, without 
waiting for answer, asked that brooding question which has haunted free men with 
free minds since the beginning of time, "What is truth?" They went out of the 
judgment hall and, before the whole of the assembled people, Pilate solemnly 
pronounced a verdict of not guilty. "1 find no fault in him at all." 


In a legal way, the case was then ended. Under our modem system of jurisprudence, 
we have a maxim that no man shall be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense. 
That maxim was part of the Roman law long before and after the time of Christ, was 
adopted from thence into the common law of England and became the heritage of 
American jurisprudence. Pilate's judgment, pronounced after investigation and before 
the accusers, was final. All proceedings thereafter upon the same charge were illegal. 



But the people were not appeased. Either in reiteration of their former charge or as a 
new complaint, they became "more fierce," saying, "He stirreth up the people, 
teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place." 


Herod, the Governor of Galilee, was then in Jerusalem. Pilate, finding that Jesus was a 
Galilean, sent him to Herod for trial. This could be legally done. Frequently changes 
of venue were ordered to the jurisdiction of the prisoner's home. The common opinion 
seems to be that Pilate sent Jesus to Herod in order to escape the responsibility of 
further trying him and to shift the burden of the trouble which was gathering. Whether 
this is true, I do not know. But inasmuch as the complaint then made was that Christ 
had been stirring up the people of Galilee, it is not unreasonable to suppose that Pilate, 
having found him not guilty of crime in Jerusalem, might desire that the Governor of 
Galilee pass upon him claimed violation of law in that jurisdiction. 


Christ was taken to Herod, who was glad to see him because he wanted him to 
perform some of the miracles of which Herod had heard, to act the mountebank. 
Christ refused to say anything. And the chief priests and scribes accused him before 
Herod. While the particulars of this accusation are not set out, it was evidently 
regarding Christ's claim to be a king, as Herod mocked him, arrayed him in a 
gorgeous robe and sent him back to Pilate. Evidently Herod did not consider the 
charges serious nor proved. And Herod was a Jew. 


Upon Jesus' return, Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people 
together and once more pronounced a deliberate judgment of acquittal. 


"Ye have brought this man unto me as one that perverteth the people; and behold, I, 
having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those 
things whereof ye accuse him. No, nor yet Herod; for I sent to him; and lo, nothing 
worthy of death is done unto him. I will chastise him and release him." 


From a legal standpoint, the decision of Pilate to chastise Jesus may be justified upon 
only one theory. Pilate, the judge, having found Christ not guilty of crime against 



Caesar, transferred the case to Pilate, the Governor and Administrator, whose duty it 
was to pass upon the sentence of the Sanhedrim. Having found that Christ had done 
nothing "worthy of death," he accepted the verdict of guilty passed by the Sanhedrim 
but modified the sentence and substituted for death, the penalty of scourging, as he 
had the power to do. 


The non-legal and generally accepted theory, however, seems to be that Pilate's action 
was taken merely for the purpose of appeasing the people, who were insistent in their 
desire to punish Christ, and his statement that he would then release him was 
evidently an invitation to the people to ask his release. It was the custom at the Feast 
of the Passover to release a prisoner to be selected by the people. Pilate, finding Christ 
not guilty, to give force to his implied invitation and to make the selection sure, 
offered them the choice of Christ or the most vicious criminal in the prisons, Barabas. 
And the people, being incited by the priests and the elders, chose Barabas. 


Pilate thereupon took Jesus and scourged him; and the soldiers spit upon him and 
mocked him and crowned him with thorns. 


Under either theory, the judgment was final and the case ended. If the decision was a 
complete verdict of not guilty, the sentence of scourging was unjustified and illegal. If 
it was an approval of the verdict rendered by the Sanhedrim, it was the 
pronouncement of sentence upon that verdict and the sentence, having been fully 
executed, was a complete bar to any further proceedings. 


After the scourging, Pilate brought Jesus before the people again, wearing the purple 
robe which had been placed upon him in mockery and with the crown of thorns upon 
his head and a third time pronounced a verdict of not guilty. 


"Behold I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him." When 
Jesus appeared, Pilate, seeking to awaken in the hearts of the people some feeling of 
pity for the just and blameless man, presented him to those assembled, "Behold the 
man." And his efforts to arouse pity met with that same response which has usually 



been given by those who are consumed by partisan hatred, "Crucify him, crucify 
him." 


In this scene, however, there is one redeeming feature. The people who, having been 
urged by their leaders to demand the crucifixion of Christ, had been insistent in such 
demand, were silent. They pitied him as he stood there. Only the leaders, the chief 
priests and the officers, then cried "Crucify him." 


Once more Pilate, angry at the insatiable vindictiveness of the leaders, pronounced the 
verdict of not guilty, this time, in the verdict, directly challenging them to themselves 
assume the responsibility of executing Christ. 


"Take ye him and crucify him; for I find no fault in him." 


And they answered: "We have a law and by our law he ought to die because he made 
himself the Son of God." 


The reason for this statement by the priests is not very clear to me. They do not now 
seek to have the sentence of the Sanhedrim confirmed. They seek the punishment of 
crucifixion under authority of Rome. Religious claims would have but little force with 
the pagan Governor, accustomed to the worship of many gods. It may have been an 
involuntary statement justifying their vindictiveness, under the biting challenge of 
Pilate. But the explanation which seems most reasonable to me that it was an 
argument in justification of their attitude, addressed to the people who had apparently 
begun to pity Christ, to impress upon them the fact that Jesus had been guilty of 
blasphemy against the Jewish religion and to turn their pity into antagonism. In no 
way could they more surely arouse the resentment of the people than by the 
accusation that Jesus claimed kinship and equality with Jehovah. 



The statement had the effect of attracting the attention of Pilate. Believing in the 
pagan myths of the gods and the sons of the gods leaving the celestial spheres and 
commingling with human beings upon the earth, taking the forms of humans but still 
retaining their divine power, he became afraid lest Jesus be the son of Jupiter or one 
of the other gods, and again questioned him in private. While his curiosity was not 
entirely satisfied, he was so impressed that "from thenceforth Pilate sought to release 
Jesus," a most proper attitude on the part of the Roman Governor and Judge, in view 
of the numerous judgments of not guilty he had pronounced. 


His efforts were unavailing. The argument of the leaders, appealing to the religious 
instinct and teachings of the people, convinced them that Jesus should die. With 
cunning malignity, they presented to Pilate the last and convincing argument. 


Pilate's administration as Governor had not been entirely free from corruption and 
extortion. Investigation might disclose irregularities. Tiberius was a suspicious 
Caesar, who believed without proof and delighted to humiliate and punish. Complaint 
to Caesar was practically equal to condemnation by Caesar. And Pilate feared 
complaint. Caesar's friendship was a most powerful but most unstable support. 


Unable to convince Pilate as a judge and not being able to accomplish the death of 
Jesus through the forms of the law, the rulers attacked him through political argument, 
with veiled hint of complaint to Rome. 


"If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend; whosoever maketh himself a 
king, speaketh against Caesar." 


The trial was ended. The judge vacated his office, and gave way to the time-serving 
and fearful politician. 



Pilate took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying "I am innocent of 
the blood of this just person; see ye to it." And "he delivered him to be crucified." 


NO VERDICT OF GUILTY There was no verdict of guilty. Even as the soldiers led 
him away to the execution, the words of the judge hung on the air, pronouncing him a 
just person, not guilty of the charges made against him. He was not legally executed. 
He was murdered, either judicially or politically, it matters not which. 


In telling the story of the trial of Christ, I have dovetailed together the various 
accounts as related in the four gospels in such a way as to most clearly present my 
conception of the legal propositions involved, each of the accounts being incomplete. 
The conclusion is irresistible that Jesus was never legally condemned by any court. In 
the Sanhedrim, he was tried by partisan judges, acting at an illegal time, with illegal 
procedure and pronouncing its judgment illegally. Moreover, its sentence was 
disapproved by the officer having legal authority to pass upon it and another sentence, 
within his power and discretion, was inflicted instead. Before Pilate, he was four or 
more times pronounced innocent; he was never found guilty of any crime and he was 
executed without warrant of law. Before Herod, he had also been pronounced not 
guilty of the charges made against him. He was the victim of religious hatred, going to 
his death to satisfy the demands of those who feared to let men think. 


To read the story of the trial occupies only a few minutes. It is impossible to answer 
all the questions which surge into the mind as one reads. The account is short, told 
plainly and with almost legal calmness. Yet the story, as it is told, is of infinite 
sadness. The injustice toward the central figure is heart-rending. But what is infinitely 
more pathetic is that through the whole tragic scene, there is no man, save one, who 
measures up to stalwart and loyal manhood. It may be that the story is not all told. It 
may be that under the merciless glare of the white light of Christ's character, men 
seem only base. Certainly, among the Romans whose ideals of justice were of the 
noblest character, among the leaders and rulers of the Jews who worshipped Jehovah 
with devotion, among the vast crowds who followed Jesus, among the disciples who 
had lived with him and from his own lips had heard his gospel and who afterward 
endured martyrdom for his sake, there was a man. It is hard to believe that the story 
has been all told. 



In conclusion, let me merely suggest an idea, told in legal language and illustrated 
from the trial we have just considered. 


Sometimes, people are prone to condemn the forms of procedure in our courts. 
Indignant because of the circumstances or character of a crime, they immediately 
pronounce the accused guilty and are impatient with the forms and presumptions with 
which he is invested by law and in which it is the business of the court to protect him. 
The forms of procedure in courts are the best expression of the settled judgment of 
experts in the orderly conduct of a trial designed to arrive at the truth. They change 
slowly because they should always progress, never retrogress. They must always 
further protect against injustice rather than foster it. So long as they remain, they 
ought to be most jealously followed. Life and liberty are too sacred to be destroyed by 
the clamor or passion of the moment. Had the forms of the law been followed in the 
trial of Christ he would, in all probability, not have been condemned and executed. 


In private life, also, brethren, should we strictly observe the forms and spirit of the 
law. We often try, before the bar of our prejudices, those who do not conduct 
themselves strictly in accordance with our own dogmatic views and, without proof or 
a chance to be heard, condemn them and demand that they be crucified by the Pilate 
of public opinion. Sometimes, we may even drag them out of the agony of another 
Gethsemane at night to pronounce our judgment and demand their social or political 
or civic death. And for aught we know, they may be princes in the kingdom of truth. 


Let us arraign men only before the bar of the Sanhedrim of our consciences. Let no 
passion, desire or evil feeling prejudice the court. Let us hold them innocent until 
proved guilty. Let the witnesses be two, and not false witnesses, who must agree 
together. Let us appoint our Charity counsel for the accused and admit testimony 
freely in their favor. If our verdict be not guilty, let us proclaim it at once and loudly. 
If it be guilty, let it be pronounced only after a day of fasting, prayer and meditation. 
Even after the judgment has been given, let the court of our Humanity remain in 
session and the signal flags be set from the judgment hall to the place of execution. 
And as the one we have condemned is being led away to judgment, let the first 
fleeting witness of fact, doubt or rumor in his favor stay the execution and a new trial 
be granted. Paraphrasing what was said of the Sanhedrim, let it be said of us "He 
seeks to save character, not to destroy character." 



O 


OPINION AND ACTION ON MILITARY LODGES BY GRAND MASTERS 


In response to an inquiry sent out from the Secretary's Office to the Grand Master of 
every State and Province in the United States and Canada asking for a report of any 
action taken by the Grand Lodges or Grand Masters in the formation of Military 
Lodges, or, where no action had been taken, the personal opinion of the Grand Master 
as to the advisability of such Lodges being authorized, the following replies have been 
received and are published for the information of our members. 


Additional replies are being received in each mail, which will be published in the 
January issue as those here given have taken all the available space for this month. If 
your State or Province does not appear here, look for it in the January number. 


ALABAMA 

WOULD CAUSE JURISDICTIONAL COMPLICATIONS 


I have granted no dispensation for the formation of Army or Military Lodges. 


To grant such dispensation while our men are in America would be to authorize the 
invasion of the jurisdiction of some sister Grand Lodge, and even if that Grand Lodge 
made no formal complaint or protest, the invasion would be no less real and illegal, 
and might easily endanger the comity now existing between us. 



Even for Lodges held in Franee, where we are not in fraternal relations with the Grand 
Orient, I doubt the expediency of such Lodges, or that they would accomplish the 
purpose for which they are intended. Present experience with the methods of re- 
organizing and consolidating troop units make it seem certain that the changes and re- 
adjustments will leave men from a particular state so distributed that the Army Lodge 
would be of little or no benefit. Walter Smith, Grand Master. 


* * * 


ARKANSAS 


WILL CO-OPERATE IN ANY PLAN TO PROVIDE MASONIC INTERCOURSE 
FOR BRETHREN AT THE FRONT 


I endorse the war, and the truly Masonic principle of unselfish service to the cause of 
Liberty and democracy, so ably presented to the World by our President, for his nation 
and people. Therefore, the men fighting the battles have my first and deep concern. 


I favor the plan of providing Masonic intercourse for the brethren at the front, and 
affording those, found worthy, desiring to unite with this brotherhood, Lodge facilities 
to do so. It is my earnest wish and desire to co-operate to the fullest extent in whatever 
plan or plans will best promote the desirable result. J. S. Reamey, Grand Master. 


* * * 


COLORADO 

GRAND LODGE HAS AUTHORIZED GRAND MASTER TO GRANT 
DISPENSATIONS BUT NONE YET ISSUED 



In answer to your inquiry I desire to say that the Grand Lodge delegated the right to 
the Grand Master to institute such Military Lodges as he, in his judgment, might think 
were for the interest of the Craft. Up to the present time no dispensation has been 
issued to such lodges. There is, however, a movement on foot to organize a Colorado 
Military Lodge in of one the units now in the service of the Government. 


There is one obstacle in granting a Military Lodge for Colorado Masons; we are not 
sure that enough of Colorado men will be located in the same place, regiment or 
division to support a lodge. It is a question, which has not apparently been opened, if a 
Military Lodge formed by the Grand Lodge of one state can justly take soldiers from 
another state into the lodge. Without discussing the point I will say I must be 
reasonably assured that enough Colorado material will be available to form a lodge 
and to maintain it before I will look with favor upon the organization. As mentioned 
before, a Military Lodge is now forming in one of the camps, but no dispensation has 
as yet been issued. L.D. Grand Grand Master. 


* * * 


CONNECTICUT 

PREPARED TO ISSUE DISPENSATION 


The Grand Lodge of Connecticut has taken no action on the question of the Military 
Lodges. As Grand Master I am prepared to issue a dispensation under suitable 
regulations to hold a lodge in France or elsewhere in the field if desired. Not having 
issued such a dispensation I have not carefully considered the particulars. 


L.J. Nickerson, Grand Master. 



* * * 


GEORGIA 

AFTER INVESTIGATION OF PRECEDENTS IS OPPOSED TO MILITARY 
LODGES 


When my attention was first called to the matter of Military Lodges, I felt strongly 
inclined to issue dispensations for same, Lodges to continue under dispensations 
during the war. Before doing so, however, I thought best to investigate the matter 
more thoroughly, get what information I could with reference to Military Lodges 
during the Civil War. After a thorough investigation, I have fully decided that I will 
not issue a dispensation for a Military Lodge. 


I find that during the Civil War, the Military Lodges in existence took in every person 
who applied regardless of their character or anything else. I find further that very few 
of these Lodges ever reported to the Grand Lodge under whose jurisdiction they were 
supposed to work. No record made after the war anywhere of any work done by these 
Lodges. Owing to the fact that a great deal of very undesirable material was received 
by these Lodges, the natural result was the Masonic order was in extremely bad odor 
in many sections. 


I find that the best posted Masons in our jurisdiction are opposed to Military Lodges. 


I await with much interest the ideas and opinions of Grand Masters in other 
jurisdictions. 


Frank O. Miller, Grand Master. 



* * * 


ILLINOIS 

DOUBTS NECESSITY FOR MILITARY LODGES, SUGGESTS MASONIC 
CLUBS 


I have been approached by a number of brethren with reference to granting 
dispensations for lodges to be known as Military Lodges and to be operated in 
connection with some military organization or unit. There is nothing in our law that 
permits a Grand Master to grant such a dispensation and I so advised the brethren who 
came to me in this regard. Some of these brethren wanted a dispensation for a lodge to 
have all the powers of the lodges now in existence, that is, to transact the ordinary 
business of a lodge, receive and act upon petitions, and confer the degrees. Others 
wanted to organize for the puipose of transacting the ordinary business of a lodge but 
without acquiring any jurisdiction over candidates for the degrees. It was their desire 
to have an organization where they would enjoy the fraternity and good fellowship of 
meeting together, and to confer degrees upon candidates who had been elected in 
regular lodges, this work to be done only upon request coming from the mother lodge 
through the proper channels. 


To my mind there is some doubt as to whether there is any necessity whatever for 
lodges in connection with the military or naval activities of this government. With 
reference to the question of lodges of this kind having jurisdiction to receive and act 
upon petitions, I am of the firm belief that this should not be permitted by any 
jurisdiction, and I am sure that if a lodge holding a charter of this character from some 
other jurisdiction should invade Illinois, by holding meetings within its jurisdiction 
and receive and act upon petitions, this Grand Lodge would resent it, and I cannot 
understand how any Grand Lodge could defend such action. Lodges organized 
without any jurisdictional rights would of course be much less objectionable, but the 
opportunity for supervision over lodges of this kind is very limited and it has been 
demonstrated to the satisfaction of all that the method of observation now in vogue in 
Illinois has a very beneficial effect and I am of the opinion that there is danger in 
granting dispensations or charters to lodges situated so that there can be no 
supervision. All of this is from a Masonic point of view. 



From a military point of view the question arises as to whether organized institutions 
of this kind within the military or naval forces of the government would have a 
beneficial effect or not upon the discipline. I have given a great deal of thought to this 
question and have had considerable correspondence with Grand Masters of other 
jurisdictions and have come to the conclusion that there is no occasion for the granting 
of charters or dispensations for military lodges. If the members of the fraternity 
located in a particular camp, regiment, fort, on board a battleship or at some training 
camp, believe that it would be desirable to have a Masonic organization, they can, if 
permitted to do so by the military authorities, organize a club, which to my mind will 
serve all of the purposes of a lodge. 


Ralph W. Wheeler, Grand Master. 


* * * 


IOWA 

PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO KEEP PROPER RECORD OF MILITARY 
LODGES 


In re Military Lodges, the Grand Lodge of Iowa has not authorized any Military 
Lodges and unless conditions very materially change, rendering such Lodges a 
necessity, none will be chartered. 


There are many serious objections to the Military Lodge, which only necessity can 
overcome. 


It is almost impossible to keep any proper record of a Military Lodge and most 
especially under the conditions of war in effect today. 



There are so many lodges scattered throughout the United States that there certainly 
can be little demand for a Traveling Military Lodge under the conditions of present 
day warfare. Degrees are conferred by courtesy in nearly all of the lodges of the 
United States, so that any brother really desiring degrees can get them in a regularly 
authorized lodge no matter where he happens to be stationed. It is true that this 
necessitates considerable work, especially upon the lodges near the cantonments, but 
the Masons everywhere have arisen to their duties and are only too glad to confer 
these degrees when authorized to do so by the proper authorities. 


These being the conditions, the Grand Lodge of Iowa as above stated will charter no 
Military Lodges at the present time. John W. Barry, Grand Master. 


* * * 


KENTUCKY 

TWO DISPENSATIONS GRANTED AND OFFICERS INSTALLED BY GRAND 
MASTER SAUNDERS - ONE LODGE MEETS ON A "HIGH HILL" IN THE 
OPEN 


I am sending you the portion of my address to the Grand Lodge, as Grand Master, 
upon the subject, which shows my opinion. The Grand Lodge sustained me and 
continued the dispensations until the close of the war and the return of the Regiments. 
Upon request of the members of the Army Lodge the name Kentucky Rifle Lodge was 
changed to J.N. Saunders Army Lodge. J.N. Saunders. 


From sixteen officers in the First Kentucky Infantry, Army of the United States, now 
the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth United States Infantry, I received the following 
petition and made the following order thereon, viz: - 



"To J. N. Saunders, Grand Master of The Grand Lodge of Kentucky, F. & A. M.: 


We, the undersigned officers of the First Kentucky Infantry having volunteered our 
services to the country in the war now waged, and being about to depart for foreign 
lands for active service with the Army of the United States; we, each of us, being 
residents of Kentucky, Master Masons in good and regular lodge standing, under the 
jurisdiction of lodges subordinate to The Grand Lodge of Kentucky F. & A. M., not 
disturbing our present relationship to our home lodges, hereby ask a dispensation 
empowering us to meet as a Masonic lodge at or near the Military Stations of said 
Regiment of the United States Army and there practice the rites, perform the duties 
and enjoy the privileges of Masonry; and in said lodge to receive to membership, to 
initiate, pass and raise soldiers of said Regiment who are residents of Kentucky, who 
are found worthy and who possess all the requisite qualifications. 


(Signed) 

Wm. A. Colston, Fall City, No. 376. 

I. L. Shulhafer, St. George, No. 239. 

Harris Mallenckrodt, Phoenix, No. 31, N. C. 
C.V. Williams, Aurora, No. 633. 

F.J. Hardesty, Eminence, No. 282. 

J. C. Barnes, Donovan, No. 292. :S 
B.F. Ewing, Louisville, No. 400. 

Geo. M. Cheschier, Louisville, No. 400. 

Dan Carrell, Daylight, No. 760. 

Walter Byrne, Jr., Russellville Lodge, No. 17. 
H.F. Rives, Solomon, No. 5. 



F.S. Wright, Solomon, No. 5. 

Ellis Duncan, Daylight, No. 760. 
Thompson Short, Lexington, No. 1. 
Hubert E. Royalty, Breckenridge, No. 67. 
Ben F. Offut, Preston, No. 281." 


All of them residents of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Master Masons in good and 
regular lodge standing, under the jurisdiction of lodges subordinate to The Grand 
Lodge of Kentucky F. & A. M., and officers in the First Kentucky Infantry, Army of 
the United States, now One Hundred and Fifty-ninth United States. Infantry, 
summoned to active military service in a foreign land, not disturbing their present 
relationship to their home lodges, ask me for a dispensation empowering them to meet 
at or near their military stations as a Masonic lodge, and there to practice the rites, 
perform the duties and enjoy the privileges of Masonry, to receive to membership, to 
initiate, pass and raise soldiers of said Regiment who are residents of Kentucky, who 
are found worthy and who possess all the requisite qualifications. 


The Master Masons who make this petition have evidenced the highest claim to all the 
rights and privileges possible to be granted under the constitution of the Grand Lodge 
of Kentucky; they have voluntarily offered their services and their lives in defence of 
their country, in vindication of the rights of outraged civilization, and in protection of 
peaceful homes, of guileless children and defenseless women against the most 
barbarous and faithless military tyranny the world has ever known. 


The Dispensation Is Granted. 


The petitioners are hereby authorized to open and hold a lodge of Free and Accepted 
Masons at or near the Military Stations of said Regiment to be known as 



W.A. COLSTON ARMY LODGE 


with jurisdiction not territorial and limited to residents of Kentucky in the service of 
the United States with the First Kentucky Infantry, now One Hundred and Fifty- ninth 
U. S. Infantry, I hereby designate Hubert E. Royalty to be Master, and I. F. Shulhafer, 
to be Senior Warden, and Wm. A. Colston, to be Junior Warden, of said Fodge, each 
of whom has been examined by me and found proficient in the work and lectures of 
the symbolic degrees of Masonry. 


This Fodge shall be governed by the constitution and regulations of The Grand Fodge 
of Kentucky, F. & A. M., and the By-laws and Rules of Order as recommended by 
The Grand Fodge of Kentucky, F. & A. M., and published in the authorized Book of 
Constitutions, 4th Edition, pages 184-190. 


All Past Masters admitted to this lodge to retain such rank therein as though Past 
Masters thereof. 


Given under my hand and the seal of The Grand Fodge of Kentucky, F. & A. M., at 
Stanford, Kentucky, this 27th day of August, 1917. (Signed) J. N. Saunders, Grand 
Master. 


On August 27, 1917, at Regimental Headquarters of the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth 
United States Infantry, at Camp Zachary Taylor, Fouisville, Kentucky, with the 
assistance of the officers of The Grand Fodge of Kentucky, in the presence of most of 
the Past Grand Masters of this Grand Fodge, and a large company of distinguished 
Masons from different parts of the State, I opened W. A. Colston Army Fodge, and 
installed the officers thereof. 


From the following eighteen officers and privates in the Second Kentucky Infantry, 
Army of the United States, I received a similar petition: 



First Lieut. J. M. Haiper, McKee Lodge, No. 144. 

Captain E. B. Wise, Harlan Lodge, No. 879. 

First Lieut. Ena W. Walker, Jackson Lodge, No. 731. 

Captain George W. Jenkins, Whitesburg Lodge, No. 754. 

First Lieut. A. C. Cope, Breathitt Lodge, No. 649. 

First Lieut. Ura W. Bryant, Island Lodge, No. 743. 

First Lieut. Carter D. Stamper, Proctor Lodge, No. 213. 

First Lieut. Hiram Hogg, Jr., Booneville Lodge, No. 425. 

Captain R.J.H. Spurr, Lexington Lodge, No. 1. 

Captain F.W. Staples, Lexington Lodge, No. 1. 

Major Robert W. Jones, Lexington Lodge, No. 1. 

Sergeant James Bowling, Red Bird Lodge, No. 838. 

Cook, Henry Evans, St. Helens Lodge, No. 684. 

Coiporal Charles Barker, St. Helens Lodge, No. 684. 

Robert Stone, St. Helens Lodge, No. 684. 

W.O. Bradley, St. Helens Lodge, No. 684. 

Fred M. Curtis, Somerset Lodge, No. 111. 

Sergeant John M. Bartley, Whitesburg Lodge, No. 764. 

All of them residents of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Master Masons in good and 
regular lodge standing, under the jurisdiction of lodges subordinate to The Grand 
Lodge of Kentucky, F. & A. M., and officers and members of the Second Kentucky 



Infantry, now the 160th U. S. Infantry, summoned to active military service in a 
foreign land, not disturbing their present relationship to their home lodges, ask me for 
a dispensation empowering them to meet at or near their military station as a Masonic 
Lodge, and there to practice the rites, perform the duties, and enjoy the privileges of 
Masonry, to receive to membership, to initiate, pass and raise soldiers of said 
Regiment, who are residents of Kentucky, who are found worthy, and who possess all 
the requisite qualifications. 


The Master Masons who make this petition are the descendants of the home seekers 
who, bearing the rifle, the Bible and the ax, converted "No Man's Land" into one of 
the greatest of all the American States. 


Masons of such descent, Masons who voluntarily answer their Country's call to 
patriotic duty, to hardships, to victory or to death are entitled to make such request. 


The Dispensation Is Granted. 


The petitioners are hereby authorized to open and hold a Lodge of Free and Accepted 
Masons at or near the Military stations of said Regiment, to be known as 


KENTUCKY RIFLE LODGES 


with jurisdiction not territorial, and limited to residents of Eentucky in the service of 
the United States with the Second Eentucky Infantry, now the 160th United States 
Infantry. 


I hereby designate: Major Roger W. Jones, to be Master; First Lieutenant Joseph M. 
Harper, to be Senior Warden, Captain Keith B. Wise, to be Junior Warden, each of 



whom has been examined by me and found proficient in the work and the lectures of 
the symbolic degrees of Masonry. 


This lodge shall be governed by the constitution and regulations of The Grand Lodge 
of Kentucky, F. & A. M., and the By-laws and Rules of Order as recommended by 
The Grand Lodge of Kentucky, F. & A. M., and published in the authorized Book of 
Constitutions, 4th Edition, pages 184-190. 


All Past Masters, admitted to this lodge to retain such rank therein as though Past 
Masters thereof. 


Given under my hand and the seal of The Grand Lodge of Kentucky, F. & A. M., at 
Stanford, Kentucky, this 25th day of September, 1917. 


(Signed) J. N. Saunders, Grand Master." 


On September 25, 1917, upon a high hill, in the open, overlooking Camp Stanley, 
near Lexington, Kentucky, guarded by military pickets who stood out of sight and 
hearing, and carefully tiled by two Master Masons, I opened Kentucky Rifle Lodge, 
U.D., installed its Master and Wardens, and, upon their appointment and election by 
the lodge, installed the remaining officers. 


The love and the prayers of a grateful people go with the brave boys of these two 
lodges. They have voluntarily answered the greatest call our country can make to its 
patriotic sons, they have voluntarily enlisted in the holiest army that ever followed a 
battle flag. We, who sit at home in the place of safety, cannot, dare not, deny our 
soldier brothers, to the guardsmen of our homes, to the defenders of our country, the 
sweet ministration of Masonry in their shell swept camps, which we, in places of 
security, here at home enjoy. 



I recommend the Grand Lodge continue these dispensations until the close of the war 
and the return of what will be the two battle scarred regiments. 


J. N. Saunders. Grand Master. 


MANITOBA 

WOULD STRAIN A POINT TO ADD TO THE COMFORTS OF OUR SOFDIER 
BRETHREN 


In this jurisdiction, we have not yet been asked to grant dispensation for a Military 
Lodge to go overseas, therefore the question has not been considered carefully in all 
its angles, and I do not know that I am therefore prepared to give an opinion in the 
matter as you request. 


Personally, I would be inclined to strain a point if it were going to be of advantage to 
our soldier brethren and add to their comforts in any way. I do not see that any great 
harm can come from a military lodge working in France or any other country, 
providing they are taking members only from among the soldiers who went from the 
country from which they received their charter. I believe though, that a lodge of that 
kind should be limited to taking applications from people hailing from the jurisdiction 
it received its charter from, because owing to the principle of exclusive jurisdictions 
that we have established on this continent, it would not be fair to allow them to take 
applications from the people of the countries in which they might be residing. 


These are briefly my views in the matter. I have not time to prepare an article such as 
you suggest. If this is of any service to you, you may use it in any way you wish. 


P.E. Kellett, Grand Master. 



* * * 


MINNESOTA 

NO ACTION BY GRAND LODGE - GRAND MASTER OPPOSED 


The Grand Lodge of Minnesota has taken no action in the matter of the establishment 
of Military Lodges. Personally I am opposed to them. 


Albert Berg, Grand Master. 


* * * 


MICHIGAN 

NO OBJECTION TO LODGE TO WORK ONLY IN FRANCE WITHOUT POWER 
TO RECEIVE OR ACT ON PETITIONS 


I have had only one application for a Military Lodge and have refused it because our 
Grand Lodge has held, during and since the Civil War, that exclusive jurisdictional 
sovereignty is a reciprocal, as well as sound, doctrine and has denied both the right of 
its own Grand Master to authorize lodges to work out of the state and the right of 
other Grand Lodges to authorize lodges to work in the state of Michigan, except by 
courtesy. 


I think this position is sound and approved by the best authorities. If, however, a 
Military Lodge is chartered to work only in France, or in a recognized jurisdiction by 



courtesy alone, the powers of the lodge would have a considerable bearing on its 
advisability. In my judgment, it is not advisable to charter Military Lodges with power 
to receive and act upon petitions. The feature of promoting fellowship among Masons 
may be better taken care of by Masonic Clubs. It is not the duty of Masonry to afford 
the opportunity to become Masons to those who have evidenced no prior interest in it 
and contrary to the usual course. Military Lodges, according to the experience during 
the Civil War as shown by the correspondence reports of that period, however they 
may be originally restricted, soon become irresponsible, get lax in the admission of 
material and, because of frequent changes caused by the fortunes of war, do not 
remain in safe hands. The greatest duty of lodges after the war will be to take care of 
disabled brethren and their dependents. If our army now in training gets to the firing 
line, that duty will be so onerous that it will tax to the utmost the ability of lodges. The 
burden should not be increased by a lodge which goes out of existence at the end of 
the war, which has no future responsibility as to the conduct or care of its members 
and merely creates obligations for others to bear. If the lodge be authorized only to 
work degrees upon request of permanent lodges, the latter receiving and acting upon 
petitions and holding the members, the situation would be entirely different. I can see 
no objection to such a lodge if a feasible plan of membership and control be devised. 


Louis H. Fead, Grand Master. 


MISSOURI 

GRAND LODGE REJECTS PROPOSITION 


At the last meeting of the Missouri Grand Lodge, A. F. & A. M., held in St. Louis, 
September 19-21, 1917, the question of special or Military Lodges was taken up on a 
resolution introduced to establish such lodges, and to allow regular lodges in the state 
to shorten the time between the degrees in order that those who had been drafted 
might be made Masons before leaving. After a considerable discussion pro and con, 
the proposition was voted down by a very substantial majority. 


There is no question as to advisability of the Grand Master of Missouri granting 
permission for the organization of such lodges or for shortening the time between the 



degrees, as the By-laws of our Grand Lodge strictly prohibit it and the Grand Master 
can do nothing contrary to the Grand Lodge Law. 


I am well satisfied that the matter ended as it did for I am of the opinion that 
confusion would arise and the unworthy material that would probably creep in under 
such conditions would be very troublesome in the future and in the long run would 
possibly do more harm than good. 


W. A Clark, Grand Master. 


* * * 


MONTANA 

MONTANA ARMY LODGE NO. 1 CREATED SEPTEMBER 8th 


A Dispensation creating Montana Army Lodge No. 1 was put into effect September 
8th, 1917. 


There is to be no Jurisdictional invasion. The Lodge cannot meet in any other State of 
the United States than Montana without first obtaining the consent of the Grand 
Master of that State. 


The membership in the Military Lodge is that of Companionship only; affiliation with 
the lodges to which the brethren belong is not severed. Those made Masons 
thereunder, when the Dispensation is recalled (the Lodge is never to be chartered) will 
be given dimits by the Grand Secretary and will be required to deposit them in the 
Lodge nearest their home and petition for membership therein. 



No one can be a Companion of the Lodge, or be made a Mason therein, unless at the 
time of his entering the service of the United States he was a citizen of the State of 
Montana. 


F. D. Jones, Grand Master. 


(COPY OF DISPENSATION) 

T.T.G.O.T.G.A.O.T.U. 

LETTERS OF DISPENSATION 

IN THE NAME AND UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE 
MOST WORSHIPFUL GRAND LODGE OF 
ANCIENT, FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS 
OF THE STATE OF MONTANA 


To All to Whom These Presents May Come, Greeting:- 


WHEREAS, The following named brethren who are Ancient Free and Accepted 
Masons and citizens and residents of the State of Montana, and members in good 
standing of Lodge under the jurisdiction of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of 
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Montana, and elsewhere throughout the globe, 
and who are in the military service of the United States of America, and forming a 
part of what is known as the "Second Montana Regiment," regularly enlisted in the 
services of the United States of America, now engaged in war with Germany and 

other nations, have petitioned that they may be authorized to work as a 

temporary Lodge under dispensation, during said war, without disturbing their 
affiliations with the Lodges to which they belong in order that they may meet as 
Masons, and thus encourage the practice of our sublime principles while subjected to 



the trials and temptations of army life in time of war, and to regularly confer degrees 
upon proper applicants, and to lay to rest, with the honors of the Craft, any of their 
brethren who may fall while engaged in the service of their Country - and it appearing 
to be for the benefit of our Ancient and Honorable Order that their request be granted: 


NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT KNOWN: That by the power in me vested as Grand 
Master of the Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of Montana, I 
hereby authorize our brethren aforesaid to open and hold a temporary Lodge of 
Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, at the posts and camps of the Second Montana 
Regiment, or at some convenient place near the same, without invading any other 
Jurisdiction, and to be known as 


"MONTANA ARMY LODGE NO. 1 UNDER DISPENSATION" 


Vesting them with power to admit to companionship by affiliation in said Lodge, 
Masons serving in the armies and navies of the United States who are regularly 
affiliated in Lodges holding charter from the Grand Lodge of Montana, or, if affiliated 
elsewhere, echo were at the time of entering the service of the United States, citizens 
of the State of Montana; to enter Apprentices, pass Fellow Crafts and raise Master 
Masons, regularly from among such citizen soldiers aforesaid, as any Lodge under the 
jurisdiction of said Grand Lodge of Montana could do, excepting that the jurisdiction 
of said temporary Lodge hereby authorized is not territorial but is confined and 
limited to citizens of Montana in the service of the United States as before mentioned. 


That this warrant shall not authorize the meeting or formation of a Lodge of Masons 
in any other State of the United States than Montana without first informing the Grand 
Master of said state and obtaining his consent to such meetings. 


That no petition for degrees shall be received by said Lodge while within the 
territorial jurisdiction of the United States except from a person who at the time of his 
enlistment in the service was a bona fide resident of the State of Montana. 



I hereby appoint Brother to be Worshipful Master, Brother to be Senior 

Warden, and Brother to be Junior Warden of said temporary Lodge. 


All actual Past Masters who may be hereby or hereafter admitted to companionship 
therein will retain their rank as if really Past Masters thereof, so that in case of the 
absence of the Master and Wardens, they may act as by law provided. In the event of 
the death or total disability of the Master and both Wardens herein named, while the 
Regiment is absent from the United States, the Lodge may, when regularly convened, 
elect to these offices from their members, and such persons so elected shall serve until 
the Grand Master has been notified and he shall thereupon appoint to fill vacancies. 


I require that all of the said brethren and their associates be governed by the 
Constitution, laws, rules, edicts and regulations of the Grand Lodge of Montana, and 
all of the laws thereof, and to keep a record of their proceedings and promptly send a 
copy of the same (after each meeting) to the Grand Secretary, and make return as all 
other Lodges should do. In case of dissolution, from any cause, to promptly transmit 
all books, papers, money, or other property of said Lodge, with this dispensation, to 
said Grand Secretary. Further, at the termination of the service of any one holding 
"companionship" with said lodge who is not a member of some Montana Lodge of 
Masons, he and each agree to petition some Lodge near his residence for affiliation 
therewith; and all withdrawals (dimits) from the said "Montana Army Lodge" shall be 
obtained from the Grand Secretary of said Grand Lodge. 


That for the purpose of aiding said Lodge in discharging its functions, and realizing 
the great service our brethren and those who may unite with them are performing for 
our country and our nation, I hereby suspend our statutory provisions with reference 
to minimum fees for the degrees, and hereby authorize said Lodge to fix said fees in 
such sums as it may find advisable. 


This dispensation will continue in force at the will and pleasure of the Grand Master, 
and shall be subject to revocation at his pleasure. 



LASTLY : The Master, Wardens, Past Masters and brethren in companionship with 
said Army Lodge, by accepting this Dispensation, solemnly engage and promise to 
conform to all of the foregoing requirements, whether expressed or implied, and at all 
times to hold themselves subordinate to, and under the jurisdiction of the aforesaid 
Grand Lodge of Montana. 


IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, witness my hand as Grand Master of the said Grand 
Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Montana, with the Seal 
of the said Grand Lodge, and the attestation of the Grand Secretary thereof. 


Done in the Grand East in Helena, Montana, this eighth day of September, Anno 
Domini 1917, Anno Lucis 5917. 


(SEAL) 


Grand Master. 


ATTEST: 


Grand Secretary. 


The above Dispensation was put into force and effect at the Consistory- Shrine Temple 
at Helena, Montana, on September 8th, 1917, in the presence of Helena Lodge No. 3, 
Morning Star Lodge No. 5, and King Solomon's Lodge No. 9, under our jurisdiction, 
by 



Grand Master. 


* * * 


NEW BRUNSWICK 


SUBJECT HAS NOT BEEN DISCUSSED 


The M.W. Grand Master of New Brunswick is at present out of the jurisdiction and, in 
his absence, I wish to say that no action has been taken in this Grand Lodge respecting 
Military Lodges; nor indeed has the subject been discussed. I know there are instances 
of England having, in the eighteenth century, chartered Lodges in connection with 
British regiments, but no doubt this is an historical matter with which you are familiar. 


J. Twining Hartt, Grand Secretary. 


* * * 


NEW JERSEY 

BY-LAWS OF THE GRAND LODGE PROHIBIT MILITARY LODGES 



The establishment of Military Lodges is prohibited by the By-Laws of the Grand 
Lodge of New Jersey, which ruling will be in effect until the next session of the Grand 
Lodge, which will be in April, 1918. 


William M. Thompson, Grand Master. 


* * * 


OREGON 

MATTER NOW UNDER CONSIDERATION 


In reply to your inquiry as to what steps, if any, have been taken by the Grand Lodge 
of Oregon on the question of establishing Military or Army Lodges, I beg to advise 
you that the matter is under consideration, but, up to the present time, no definite 
action has been taken. 


Such conditions as confront us, at the present time, were evidently not contemplated 
in the Oregon Grand Lodge Law, and the only action which would apply in this 
situation is the granting of a Special Dispensation for an Army Lodge, which would 
only have Oregon material to draw from. 


Personally, I am strongly in favor of our boys in the military service having the 
privilege and opportunity of fraternal associations with their fellows. We recognize 
the "necessity of congregating in Lodges" as one of the landmarks of Masonry, and if 
necessary to the member while in civil life, it is necessary to a greater degree to the 
brethren in the various war organizations, which are deprived of many of the 
privileges they were accustomed to in civil life. 



W.G. Shellenbarger, Grand Master. 


(Additional replies from Grand Masters in January number.) 




EDITORIAL 


HOW DO WE KNOW YOU TO BE A MASON? 


ONLY the other day we sat in an Eastern office when there came in an officer 
wearing the uniform of the army of the United States. He was not in the best health 
but looked of fine frame and training. So it proved. 


But he had been very ill. Present-day demand is for the well and strong. None but the 
fittest are scheduled for the far-off front in Europe. Of late he was discharged from 
hospital. His condition caused him to be sent before a medical board of examination. 
The verdict recommended him for retirement. 


Retirement, to a soldier of his fine fiber, was felt by him as a disgrace. In him thrilled 
the patriotic impulse at flood tide. His heart was in the front rank and an order for him 
to go to the rear was killing. What could be done for him to face the enemy and go 
forward ? 


He was a Mason. To him the brethren were as patriotic and self-sacrificing as he 
himself. So to his brothers he came with the plea that wherever they could they should 
speak on his behalf, that his body and brain might go where his heart led on. 



Are we like unto him? Do we ache to get in the game? Or do we discourage and decry 
the duty ahead ? 


Masons! This is not the time to argue fastidiously with the crew or the captain. We are 
at sea in a storm. Fine-spun theories about navigation are all excellent maybe in port 
when at anchor but these are other days with pressing duties. Get busy on deck or go 
overboard! 


What should be done with the fussy folk who stand worrying in the doorway when the 
house is afire ? One side with them ! 


Would you discuss the chemistry of combustion if a life were in danger from the 
flames? No! Your road would lie straight ahead and there you would go with a rush. 
Later on when all is calm is a permissible period for talking, then is the time to freely 
say your criticizing say. But not now ! 


Pay, don't say! We are Masons and Masons are patriotic and law-abiding or they are 
not Masons. 


Every Study Club is a center of citizenship or it is nothing. 


Unless we see more than a strip of fabric in every flag, a bit of freedom in every 
thread of bunting or khaki uniform, the faith is not in us, and we are indeed undone. 


Masonry is citizenship in action, putting every dollar of money and every drop of 
blood into the service of a greater brotherhood among all men. 



Masonry is for solemn treaties kept, for womanhood respected, childhood protected, 
homes guarded, manhood maintained and honored. 


Masonry is here and now with and for what was gained for us by George Washington, 
a heritage from him and the other Masons of early days, that is only worth while so 
long as Masonry lives up to his standards and follows in his footsteps. 


Brother, where do you stand and what are you doing for the common cause at this 
great crisis? 


Are you begging for a chance to serve? Or are you waiting to be asked to do your 
share? Maybe you are ill, or perhaps some examining board would turn you down for 
the exact thing you would like best to do. 


Do what you can and all you can. At least you can speak a good word to the rest. 
Encourage everyone. Hearten all. Remember that unity is victory, concord spells 
success, every laggard is a break in our ranks. Masons, what came you here to do? 


R.I.C. 


— o — 


Brethren of the Society: 



America is at War. Every patriotic citizen, and I am one of them, believes that 
luxuries and unnecessary expenditures should be eliminated in the interest of our 
common National emergency. I therefore ask you the question, is our Research work a 
luxury or is it a worth-while endeavor? I believe that as we have defined it, it is a 
necessity. If we as Masons are to take part in support of our Country, we need now, 
more than ever before, to keep our Masonic principles clearly in view. The great 
lessons which our Fraternity is teaching have a real value in this crisis. To promote a 
clearer understanding of those lessons among our membership will be our aim in 
continuing THE BUILDER. If I am right in this - if the above opinion is held by the 
members of this Society, then we shall have your support in the form of your 1918 
dues. Will you give us this evidence of your loyalty this month, if you have not 
already done so, and save us as much postage as possible? 


Fraternally 

Geo. L. Schoonover. Secretary. 




THE LIBRARY 


EDITED BY BRO. H.L. HAYWOOD 


(The object of this Department is to acquaint our readers with time-tried Masonic 
books not always familiar; with the best Masonic literature now being published; and 
with such non-Masonic books as may especially appeal to Masons. The Library editor 
will be very glad to render any possible assistance to studious individuals or to study 
clubs and lodges, either through this Department or by personal correspondence; if 
you wish to learn something concerning any book - what is its nature, what is its value 
or how it may be obtained - be free to ask him. If you have read a book which you 
think is worth a review write us about it; if you desire to purchase a book - any book - 



we will help you get it, with no charge for the service. Make this your Department of 
Literary Consultation.) 


THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS 
A LITTLE REVIEW OF LEADER SCOTT'S BOOK 


IN the great days of the Roman Empire, as we all know, the various trades were 
organized into collegia, or workmen's gilds; the carpenter's had theirs, the textile 
workers, the stone masons, the dyers, the physicians, the lawyers, even the priests. 
Each society had its central organization, its subordinate bodies, its common chest 
wherefrom help might be given to members in distress, and nearly all made some 
provisions for the burial of their dead. 


Among these collegia none was more powerful than the fraternity of builders, whose 
art was then held as a secret to be made known only to the initiated. Whenever a 
public building was to be erected, a city to be laid out, a wall to build, or a bridge, the 
collegium of builders was called upon to do the work. So also with the enterprises of 
colonization. Many times the Roman army would carry a group of builders with it in 
order that they might the more readily set up some new town in a territory conquered 
by Roman arms. It was in this way that one collegium, at least, was carried as far as 
Britain where vestiges of its work are said to be still in evidence. 


When the barbarians came down upon Rome and succeeded at last in sweeping 
everything before them, the collegia suffered shipwreck like almost everything else. 
What became of them all we do not know, we never will know. But it is a question of 
some urgency to us Masons who like to trace our lineage back through the centuries 
of builders to ask what became of the collegium of architects. Did they also perish 
from the face of the earth? If so, how do we account for the rise of architecture in 
Europe so soon after the invasion had run its course? Whence came the sudden skill to 
erect the beautiful churches of Italy and France long before the days of Charlemagne? 
Is it possible that there can be some link to unite the cathedral builders of Europe to 
the old collegia builders of Rome? 



Now it is the theme of Leader Scott's book (Leader Scott was the pen name of a Mrs. 
Baxter of Florence) that there WAS a tie between the Roman collegium of masons 
and the early cathedral builders, and it is no difficult matter to condense her account 
of the matter in a paragraph or two. 


Briefly put she holds that at the time of the general smash-up in Rome a group of 
trained Roman builders took refuge on an island in the little Italian Lake of Como. On 
this island, and in the more immediate neighborhood, they remained for many years 
practicing their ancient art in such small scale as circumstances permitted. At last, 
after the storm had blown over a bit they sallied farther forth until they at last found 
the freedom and the opportunity to resume their normal occupation. 


Space does not avail to trace in detail anything of this emergence or the manner in 
which the old collegium, or fraternity, grew in numbers and strength until kings and 
emperors began once more to call them into service. Wherever they went, these 
Comacines, they established Lodges and they built schools in which young 
apprentices might be taught the secrets of the craft. In this wise they developed again 
not only the art of building but also carving, sculpture, and even painting, and they at 
last grew into the powerful gilds of the Middle Ages to which we owe these stately 
cathedrals of such solemn beauty over which this war has caused us to watch with 
anxious solicitude. 


Now it is plain to see the importance of the story of the Comacines to us Masonic 
students. We trace our present organization back to the medieval cathedral builders; if 
the Comacines were the parent body of these medieval cathedral builders then are 
they the grandparents of Masonry, and it is through them that we trace our inheritance 
from the old Roman collegia. And also, if we can hold DaCosta's theory that the 
Roman Collegia received their initiation into the building art from the ancient 
Phoenician builders' fraternities then are the Comacines one link in the long historical 
chain which binds us up to the building of Solomon's Temple, for, as is now 
abundantly proved, it was the Phoenicians that erected Solomon's mighty house of 
worship. 



Inasmuch as our purpose here is to describe the contents of a book and to indicate its 
significance to Masonry rather than to criticize, we shall attempt no analysis of Leader 
Scott's argument or to indicate any of its weaknesses. It may be said, however, that 
evidence is accumulating apace which may one day establish the Comacine theory in 
the true House of History. 


(Leader Scott's book runs to more than 400 pages. To our members wishing a "boiled- 
down" version we recommend "The Comacines" by Brother W. Ravenscroft.) 




THE QUESTION BOX 


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


WORKS ON MASONIC SYMBOLISM 


I would like to inquire if there is published any work which treats exclusively of 
Masonic Symbolism, including that of the Blue, Chapter and Cryptic degrees? 
Something that I could use as a text-book on the subject. I have "Signs and Symbols" 
by Oliver, Mackey's Symbolism of Freemasonry as well as Mackey's Encyclopedia. - 
J.T.C., California. 



Yes, there are many works which treat of Masonic Symbolism though you already 
have some of the best and most complete. You might add Oliver's Landmarks, and his 
Dictionary of Symbolic Masonry. Macoy's Revision of Oliver's Dictionary is also 
good. 


For a more extended study you might consider Bromwell's "Masonic Restorations," 
Thomas M. Stewart's "Symbolic Teaching," John T. Lawrence's "The Keystone," 
"Sidelights on Freemasonry," "By-ways of Freemasonry," and "Perfect Ashlar," F. 
Portal's "Comparison of Egyptian Symbolism with Hebrew," H. C. Barlow's "Essays 
on Symbolism," J. Finlayson's "Symbols and Legends of Freemasonry," J. G. Gibson's 
"Masonic Problem," A. S. McBride's "Speculative Masonry," P. Nicholson's 
"Symbolism of Freemasonry," Chas. H. Vail's "Symbols and Legends of Masonry," 
and C. M. Boute lie's "Man of Mt. Moriah." This by no means exhausts the list of such 
works, but it is enough to keep you busy for a time. The last named book is a novel, 
but it is full of Masonic Symbolism and is well worth reading. 


* * * 


MASONIC LITERATURE DEALING WITH GRADES OF THE STONE AGE 


I am glad you are engaged in such a worthy undertaking. I am now free to enter into 
the study of the Masonic sciences and devote some time to it and wish, indeed, more 
of our Brethren in my Lodge might do so. As I have received most of my knowledge 
of Masonry from scientific books not Masonic, I wish to ask you if there is any 
Masonic literature dealing with grades of the stone-age, as for instance, the passage 
grades in England and on the Danish island Tyen. If so, will you inform me, that I 
may secure such? - A.P.O., California. 


Thank you for your words of commendation. We are glad you can devote some time 
to Masonic sciences and trust you will be able to favor us with the result of your 
investigations. Our undertaking to be helpful must be mutual, each contributing his 
mite to complete and make perfect the structure of Masonic science. We are sorry to 



say that we do not know of any distinctively Masonic literature of the subjects named. 
You are doubtless familiar with the general scientific literature of the subject. If you 
find anything distinctively Masonic we will be pleased to be so advised. Can any 
reader of THE BUILDER furnish the information? 


* * * 


QUALIFICATIONS OF CANDIDATES 


At the last meeting of our Study Club we took up the subject as found in the 
September BUILDER, "The Lodge and The Candidate - Proposing and 
Recommending," and some very interesting points came up and I was requested to 
write you for further information concerning the petition and recommending for a 
paper for our next meeting. Send us any suggestions you may have to offer. - R.F.B., 
Iowa. 


You will find the material you are looking for in the Jurisprudence table on page 70 of 
the March issue of THE BUILDER and also that on page 273 of the September issue. 
In the latter article, in most instances, are included portions of the law in various 
States having reference to the moral, intellectual and age qualifications of a 
Candidate. 


* * * 


BOOKS ON MASONRY 


If you have any important public works or a list of books dealing on Masonry, I would 
like to have you submit the same to me with your recommendation as toy their 
importance. - W.S.C., Texas. ' 



See replies to J. T. C., California, and G. H. K., Minnesota, in this issue. 


* * * 


MATERIAL FOR A CIRCULATING LIBRARY - LIST OF MASONIC 
MAGAZINES 


With a view to starting a circulating library of Masonic literature, we would 
appreciate it very much if you would send us a list of twenty-five (more or less) of the 
most desirable Masonic books and a second list of periodicals. - G.H.E., Minnesota. 


On Symbolism see reply to J.T.C., California, in this issue. 


On Ritual you should have the Monitor of your Grand Lodge. If your jurisdiction has 
no standard Monitor we would recommend Simons', Webb's, and Ahiman Rezon. The 
latter is the name given to the Monitor of the Grand Lodge of Ancients and has been 
followed with modifications by the states which followed the ritual of this Grand 
Lodge rather than that of the Modems. 


On Jurisprudence, Mackey and Lawrence each have a good work, and there is also 
Look's "Masonic Trials" and Lockwood's "Masonic Law and Practice." Also, do not 
overlook the Code of your jurisdiction. 


On History, the best is now unobtainable, but there are some close seconds like 
Hughan and Stillson's "History of Freemasonry and Concordant Orders." L. Vibert's 
"Freemasonry Before the Existence of Grand Lodges," J. F. Newton's "The Builders," 
Pierson and Steinbmner's "Tradition, Origin and Early History of Freemasonry." 



For general works on Masonry and allied subjects we would recommend W. M. 
Adams' "Book of the Master," and "House of the Hidden Places," A. F. Bloomer's 
"Ante Room Talks," J. D. Buck's "Mystic Masonry" and "Genius of Masonry," W.S. 
Caldecott's "Solomon's Temple," R. S. Clymer's "Ancient Oriental Masonry," E. S. 
Ellis' "High Twelve" and "Low Twelve," J. Fellows' "Mysteries of Masonry," G. F. 
Fort's "Antiquities of Freemasonry," Sidney Hayden's "Washington and His Masonic 
Compeers," W. F. Kuhn's "Chips from the Quarries," A.G. Mackey's "Encyclopedia 
of Freemasonry," "Masonic Symbolism," "Jurisprudence" and "Cryptic Masonry," L. 
A. McConnell's "Poems of the Temple," Robert Morris' "Masonic Poetry," Albert 
Pike's Poems, and "Morals and Dogma," Leader Scott's "Cathedral Builders," W. G. 
Sibley's "Story of Freemasonry," and A.L. Waite's "Secret Tradition in Freemasonry." 


These are all desirable works and your choice from this list will depend largely upon 
your own preferences. Another very good list embracing some of the same 
publications was given on page 144, Vol. I of "The Builder." 


The list of Masonic Publications follows: 


LIST OF MASONIC PUBLICATIONS 

(From N. R. Parvin's Report to Grand Lodge of Iowa in 1916.) 


LIST OF MASONIC PUBLICATIONS 

(From N. R. Parvin's Report to Grand Lodge of Iowa in 1916.) 


Name 

Address 

Price 

Issued 

El Paso Bulletin 

El Paso, Texas 

free distribution 

monthly 

Algeria (Shrine 
Magazine) 

Helena, Mont 

free distribution 

monthly 

American Tyler 
Keystone 

Owosso, Mich. 

$1.00 per year 

monthly 



Annuity Messenger . 

Atlanta, Ga 

.25 per year 

quarterly 

The Ashlar . 

Detroit, Mich 

.25 per year 

monthly 

Bohemia Lodge 
Compass 

Chicago, 111 

free distribution 

monthly 

Brotherhood . 

New York City 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Builder . 

Anamosa, Iowa 

2.00 per year 

monthly 

Crescent (Shrine 
Magazine) 

St. Paul, Minn 

1.50 per year 

monthly 

Duluth Masonic 
Calendar 

Duluth, Minn 

free distribution 

quarterly 

Friendship Bulletin 

Detroit, Mich. 

.50 per year 

monthly 

Gavel (Shrine 
Magazine) 

Portland, Oregon 

1.50 per year 

monthly 

Gavel . 

Newburgh, N. Y 

.25 per year 

monthly 

Illinois Freemason 

Bloomington, 111 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Illinois Masonic 
Review 

Areola, 111 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Inter-State 

Freemason 

Kansas City, Mo 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Kansas City 
Freemason 

Kansas City, Mo 

1.00 per year 

weekly 

Light . 

Louisville, Ky. 

1.00 per year 

semi-weekly 

Long Island Masonic Brooklyn, N. Y 
News 

1.00 per year 

semi-weekly 

Malta Mallet 

Grand Rapids, 
Mich 

free distribution 

monthly 

Masonic Bulletin . 

Des Moines, Iowa 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Masonic Bulletin . 

Cleveland, Ohio 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Masonic Chronicle 

Chicago, 111 

1.50 per year 

weekly 

Masonic Fratemalist 

Chicago, 111 

1.50 per year 

weekly 

Masonic Fund 

Hudson, Mass 

free distribution 

quarterly 

Masonic Grand 
Lodge Bulletin 

Fargo, N. Dakota 

free distribution 

quarterly 

Masonic Herald . 

Rome, Ga 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Masonic Home 
Journal 

Louisville, Ky 

1.00 per year 

semi-monthly 



Masonic Monthly 

Philadelphia, Pa 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Masonic News 

Peoria, 111 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Masonic Observer . 

Minneapolis, Minn 1.00 per year 

weekly 

Masonic Review 

Tacoma, Wash 

free distribution 

quarterly 

Masonic Standard . 

New York City 

2.00 per year 

weekly 

Masonic Tidings 

Milwaukee, Wis 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Masonic Tidings 

Winona Lake, Ind 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Masonic Token 

Portland, Maine 

12 per year 

quarterly 

Masonic Trowel . 

Little Rock, Ark 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Masonic Voice 
Review 

Chicago, 111 

1.50 per year 

monthly 

Masonic World 

Chicago, 111. 

.50 per year 

monthly 

Missouri 

Freemason . 

St. Louis, Mo 

1.00 per year 

weekly 

Mystic Light 
(Negro) 

Rock Island, 111 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

New Age . 

Washington, D. C 

1.50 per year 

monthly 

Ogden Park Good- 
Fellow 

Chicago, 111 

free distribution 

monthly 

Oriental Consistory 

Chicago, 111 

free distribution 

weekly 

Palestine Bulletin . 

Detroit, Mich 

1.00 per year 

semi-monthly 

Plumb Line (Negro) 

Natchitoches, La 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Rob Morris Bulletin 

Denver, Colo 

.50 per year 

monthly 

Sanford Collins 
Lodge Bulletin 

Toledo, Ohio 

free distribution 

monthly 

Scottish Rite 

Bulletin 

Louisville, Ky 

.50 per year 

monthly 

Scottish Rite News 

Nashville, Tenn 

free distribution 

monthly 

Sioux Falls Masonic 
News 

Sioux Falls, S. 
Dakota 

free distribution 

monthly 

Southwestern 

Los Angeles, Cal 

1.00 per year 

monthly 


Freemason 

Square and Compass Denver, Colo. 


1 .00 per year monthly 



Square and 

New Orleans, La 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Compasses 
Tennessee Mason 

Nashville, Tenn 

.50 per year 

monthly 

Texas Freemason 

San Antonio, Texas 1.00 per year 

monthly 

Theosophical Path 

Point Loma, Cal 

2.50 per year 

monthly 

Trestle Board 

San Francisco, Cal 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Trestle Board 

Detroit, Mich 

.50 per year 

monthly 

Virginia Masonic 

Richmond, Va 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Journal 

What Cheer Trestle 

Providence, R. I 

.50 per year 

monthly 

Board 

Zion News 

Detroit Mich. 

free distribution 

monthly 

Canada' 

Freemason 

Toronto, Canada 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Masonic Sun . 

Toronto, Canada 

1.00 per year 

monthly 

Foreign 

Freemason . 

London, England 

15s per year 

weekly 

Masonic Journal 

Johannesburg, S. 

12s 6d per year 

monthly 

Masters' and Past 

Africa 

Christchurch, N. Z 


quarterly 

Masters' Lodge No. 
130 

Miscellanea 

London, England 

5 s per year 

monthly 

Latomorum 

Review of Relizions 

Gurdaspur, India 


monthly 


* * * 


MASONIC FUNERAL CEREMONIES 


When a member of the Order dies and his relatives request that the Masonic Fraternity 
take charge of the remains, can other Lodges of which the deceased was a member, i. 
e. the Odd Fellows, Elks, etc., perform their ceremonies at the church? What Masonic 
authorities will give light on this subject? - O. L., Colorado. 



The "Colorado Craftsman," the official Masonic Monitor adopted by the Grand Lodge 
of Colorado, gives the reply to your query on page 104, as follows: 


"Whenever other societies or associations, of which the deceased was also a member, 
desire to perform any ceremonies in the burial of a brother, they are not to be 
prevented from doing so. The Lodge will show them respectful consideration, and 
whatever ceremonies they may have must precede the taking charge of the body by 
the Lodge, or after the body is buried by the Craft. 


"The remains must be in charge of the Lodge from the time it takes possession of the 
coffin, whether at the residence, church, or in some cases from the entrance to the 
cemetery, as occasion may require. The Lodge shall, under all circumstances, march 
in the rear of all other societies, and immediately precede the funeral car or hearse, 
and lead in all services at the grave and fully complete the burial." 


You may obtain a copy of the "Colorado Craftsman" from the Secretary of your 
Lodge or from Brother Charles H. Jacobson, Grand Secretary, Room 319, Masonic 
Temple, Denver. It contains, besides the Masonic Burial Service, monitorial 
instructions of the degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason, 
ceremonies of installation of officers and an appendix giving the twenty- five 
Landmarks of Freemasonry according to Albert G. Mackey and the old "Charges of a 
Freemason." The price is $1.00. 




CORRESPONDENCE 


TIMELY SUGGESTIONS THAT SHOULD BE OBSERVED BY ALL LODGES 



Occupying for centuries a commanding position in human affairs, having a great 
influence in the uplift of mankind, strong in its protestations and demonstration of 
fraternal love and equal rights, subjected to the most intense antagonism and enmities, 
Masonry has drawn to itself the notice of all the world. 


Error which, in a lesser institution, would pass unremarked, is, in Masonry, in the 
opinion of a multitude of men, guilt or selfish indifference. 


It is not a matter of regret but of infinite pride that the standards set by our brethren of 
former times are so lofty and the splendid character of our institution is so universally 
recognized that the world looks to us for great things, done as though they were 
common, and considers as failure in us what would be hailed as success in others. 


The war has imposed upon Masonry great duties and obligations, to measure up to 
which is a great privilege. The world is watching to see how the institution will meet 
its problems. The fraternity is on trial. Now is the time to demonstrate to all men that 
Masonry is a living thing, not a matter of sounding words without meaning, and 
euphonious platitudes, but a strong, vibrant, virile institution worthy the confidence 
and respect of a full-grown man. 


Each Grand Lodge has its own peculiar problems. It must direct its activities in a 
broad way, touching Masons largely in the mass, and offering the opportunity for 
service on the part of the lodges and brethren. From the very nature of its organization 
and its limitations, it can come but little into intimate contact with the soldier Masons 
and those they leave behind. 


The grave responsibility and the great opportunity fall to the lodges themselves. As 
they perform, or neglect to perform, their obligations to the brethren who offer their 
lives for the security of civilization, so will Masonry be esteemed or scorned. The real 
and intimate work of the institution, the personal touch, that most important and 
satisfying manifestation of Masonic love, can come only from the lodges. To them is 
offered the opportunity for work and service which must gladden the heart of every 



man who is indeed a Mason. Each Lodge must and should be glad to care for its own 
members in that personal relationship which neither Grand Lodge nor any other 
organization can reach. 


The Masonic Relief Association of the United States and Canada, with which are 
affiliated forty-six Grand Jurisdictions and eleven thousand lodges, with no intention 
or desire to weaken the initiative of individual lodges or to minimize their work, but 
believing that all lodges should work somewhat in harmony and that certain 
fundamentals are necessary, both to the due performance of Masonic obligations and 
to the preservation of the fair name of the institution, would recommend to the lodges 
affiliated with it the following procedure as a basis upon which to build a structure of 
Masonic usefulness and true Masonic worth. 


first. Each lodge should enthusiastically and energetically support the plans presented 
by its own Grand Lodge or Grand Master for the performance of the broader features 
of Masonic war work. 


Second. Each Lodge should keep a complete record of every member enlisted in war 
service, with a history of such service and of all the immediate family and dependents 
of the brother. And should it happen that the brother fall on the field of battle, to rise 
no more in body, it is recommended that his record be entered permanently in the 
minutes of his lodge, with the honorable mention that he died that civilization and 
democracy might live. The form following is suggested: 


1 . Name, age, residence and occupation of the brother. 


2. All other lodge and church affiliations. 


3. Names and residence of father, mother, brothers and sisters. 



4. Immediate family and dependents, if any, and their residences. 


5. Military rank and record of the brother, showing successive promotions, if any. 


6. Location from time to time in war service. 


7. Matters left by him in charge of the Lodge. 


8. General remarks. 


Third. As many brethren have no male relatives to whom they may leave the care of 
business affairs, such, for instance, as the payment of taxes, insurance, rent, interest, 
etc., or to whom the wife or mother can turn for advice and counsel, each Lodge 
should appoint a committee to look after such things as may be requested by the 
brother, that his mind may be at ease in the knowledge that his going will not leave his 
business affairs neglected and his loved ones helpless or friendless. 


Fourth. The officers in the army and navy all agree that the most valuable thing that 
the people back home can do fo the man in service is to frequently write him bright, 
chatty gossipy letters, not filled with regret or sentimentality, but the unconstrained 
letter of friend to friend or chum to chum. Every Lodge should appoint members to 
carry on such a correspondence with their brethren, that they may not feel themselves 
forgotten. Once in a while, let the Lodge write that a bouquet of bowers had been sent 
to the wife or a plaything given to the baby as the expression of a real love of brother 
for brother And once in a while, a box of tokens, books, magazines, tobacco home- 
made edibles, or other little things will cause the soldier in the silent watches of the 
night on guard, to thank the stars twinkling above his head, and their Maker, that his 
Masonry has brought him brothers. 



Fifth. The greatest curse of camp life is the dissipation which presents itself with fatal 
fascination in hours of leisure. Disease, horrible disease, takes a fearful toll. 
Wholesome amusement for the time off duty is imperative if the soldier is to come 
back clean in body and decent in mind. Every Lodge and member should generously 
contribute money for such entertainment. And if there is no Masonic organization 
having such matters in charge near the camp where the brother is located money 
should be offered to the Lodge or other Masonic agency nearest the camp for the 
purpose of entertainment. A Lodge located adjacent to a cantonment or camp should 
provide the opportunity for such entertainment. But a Lodge which seek; to provide 
such entertainment can not and ought not to be expected to bear the burden of the 
expense. The Lodges whose members are so entertained are entitled to and ought to 
pay the cost. 


Sixth. Take care of the dependents. See that those whom the brother leaves behind are 
not in want. Comfort those who mourn. Plant smiles where tears had been. Be a 
Masonic Lodge. 


Seventh. As the future will bring its greater responsibilities in the care of brethren 
wounded and shattered, and those dependent upon them, it is urged that each Lodge 
establish a special fund for that puipose in which the generous brethren may deposit 
their voluntary contributions from time to time, that the burdens of the future may be 
met by the preparation of the present. 


Eighth. As each Lodge will also have its special problems, let all the brethren 
energetically seek their solution. Upon the manner in which each Lodge performs its 
duties will depend the standing of Masonry in that community. Let each Lodge 
resolve, and with determination bring to pass, that, when the war is over, Masonry in 
its jurisdiction will stand more respected than ever, and the world at large convinced, 
beyond all question, of its good effects. 


CHARLES BLASDEL, President, 



WILLIS D. ENGLE, Secretary, 


Masonic Relief Association of the United States and Canada. 


* * * 


ENDORSES CALIFORNIA’S REFUSAL TO ISSUE DISPENSATION FOR 
MILITARY LODGE 


I have just received and read through the October BUILDER. It seems to me that the 
question of traveling, or Military Lodges should be settled now, and by uniform 
refusal. In our Great War of the 60' s, Drummond (and who better could we follow) 
refused dispensations because to grant them would be invasion of the jurisdiction of 
Virginia and other States. M. W. Brother Keesling might have pointed a moral just 
here, in the fact that though Virginia's Grand Master, Col. Wm. H. Harmon, was 
killed in battle, though churches both Sides of Mason and Dixon's line, called down 
the wrath of God on their foes and split into separate organizations of North and 
South, Masonry never ceased to be a solid brotherhood elevating its votaries far above 
the passions of war. Save the facts that Union soldiers visited our Lodges in perfect 
amity, that Major Wm. McKinley and 362 others in blue were made Masons in our 
Winchester Hiram Lodge No. 21, that a Com. Major (and Mason) saved our old hall, 
the oldest on the continent, and that Masons among the conquerors here in Richmond 
thronged Richmond Lodge No. 10 in that old hall to relieve Richmond's suffering 
people, while our army was still fighting theirs to Appomattox, save, I say, these 
items. I will not burden this letter with the many proofs of the Divinity of Masonry 
which are the reasons why I am and have been a Mason for a lifetime. 


Traveling Military Lodges might have taken over Lodge rooms and outfit, but they 
did not. So we should all be very careful of each other's rights. Soldier Masons at 
Camp Lee are joyously welcomed in the Petersburg, Hopewell and Richmond Lodges. 
We are conferring without a dollar of cost, all degrees we are requested to confer, and 
Military Lodges are not needed. When they get to France, our soldier Masons will be 



given all the courtesies possible by English, Canadian and Australian Masons and I 
believe by those of France, although we of Virginia recognize only the Independent 
National Grand Lodge. 


So let's not create confusion and perhaps discord by invasions of the rights of any, 
even of the unrecognized Grand Orient. Grand Master Iieesling is right. 


Jos. W. Ezzleston. P.G.M. 




"DIVESTED OF ALL METALLIC SUBSTANCES" 


The alchemists of the Middle Ages employed alchemical terms to express their grand 
philosophy. Some Masonic authorities claim that much of our ritual is derived from 
the ritual of the alchemists of the Middle Ages. A knowledge of the meaning of the 
terms they employed is necessary to understand their philosophy. 


Thus one of their favorite expressions was "base metals." 


"Base metals" stood for base passions, and to be divested of metallic substances is to 
rid ourselves of base passions. 


As our work is to transform the individual from a lower state to a higher state, and as 
our goal is ultimate perfection, the first thing then an individual must do, in order for 
him to rise above the animal plane, is to divest himself of his metallic substances, or 
his base passions. For the ideal of every individual is to reach a higher estate of being, 



a purer life, and how are we going to perfect ourselves, to rise from our animal state, 
if not by self examination and by ridding ourselves of our base passions? 


What are these base passions? They are prejudice, anger, wrath, jealousy, envy, greed, 
fear, hate and lust. These are the arch enemies of every individual. They are the 
enemies, the devils or evils that keep us down to our animal nature, that bind us hand 
and foot to our low state, a slave to our baser feelings. 


That is why we demand, at the outset, that the candidate, before he seriously takes up 
the work of the degrees, that is, the degrees of his growth and self development, free 
himself from his baser passions, the shackles, the things that bind him to the animal. 
How is he going to advance to the next degree, or to a higher plane of being, unless he 
removes the fetters that bind him down to these demon passions? 


O, Brother, examine yourself, and see if you are free from these base passions, see of 
you are in truth divested of all metallic substances? You are not a free man, a real 
man, if you let your base passions tie you down to the animal being. Are you free 
from prejudice, are you free from anger, from greed, from hate and the rest of the 
brood? 


Honest self-examination yields results. It will enable you to become acquainted with 
yourself, it will enable you to find out some things you never knew about yourself. 
"Man know thyself' was written over the portals of ancient temples. Very few men 
know themselves, their real selves. 


O, brother, look within thyself, thine own temple, and discover the rubbish within. If 
you are honest with yourself, if you desire to give yourself a fair chance, you will 
begin to divest yourself of your base metals. One by one you will cast out the base 
passions, and uncover the goodness within yourself that lies deeply buried. Do not 
thi nk this can be accomplished in a short time. It will require a great deal of effort and 
struggle. But be patient. "Patience and perseverence" are necessary. As you proceed 



and root out the passions, one by one, you will gain strength and power, and a feeling 
of peace will come over you that will repay you for your pains. 


Bro. A. W. Witt, in the Kansas City Freemason. 


— o — 


The mind of the scholar, if he would have it large and liberal, should come in contact 
with other minds. - Longfellow. 


— o — 


Happiness is the motive of every action of every man, even of him who hangs 
himself. - Pascal.