The Builder Magazine 

December 1927 - Volume XIII - Number 12 


Masonic Charity in America 

By BRO. E. E. THI E MEYER, Research Editor 

IT is almost immediately apparent that there are difficulties in the way of any attempt 
to compare English Masonic charitable activities with American. If we should 
endeavor to analyse the latter in the manner adopted by Bro. Gilbert W. Daynes in his 
article on Masonic Charity in England, we would be confronted with the task of 
writing not an article but a book, and a sizable volume as well. In treating the English 
side of the question there is only one Grand Lodge to be considered, but in this 
country there are forty-nine jurisdictions which would require consideration. There 
are wide variations in the amounts expended for charity by the various American 
Grand Lodges which make any attempt at generalization almost impossible. It is 
necessary, therefore, that certain things be taken for granted, and that other matters 
receive no mention whatever. The purpose of this article is not so much to show what 
we are doing as to throw some light upon what we are not doing. 


So far as existing American Masonic charities are concerned they may be grouped 
under three or four heads. By far the most important is the Masonic Home —we are 
not interested in the others. Almost every jurisdiction in this country maintains some 
sort of an institution for the care of the aged and the orphans. These homes are 
designed to fill the same need as the English institutions, but whether or not they do 
so is a matter of considerable doubt. There is not much that can be done for those who 
are approaching the end of their span of life. Their requirements are, in most cases, 
limited. The providing of a comfortable and congenial home, with opportunities for 
recreation and amusement, is about all that can be offered. It seems that the American 
Mason is as capable of providing this need as is his Elnglish brother. Capability is 
not really the criterion, we are as capable of doing anything in the way of charity as 
efficiently and effectively as the Masons of England, but the question is, Do we 
measure up to our capabilities? There is some question on that score even in the case 
of our homes for the aged. It is not necessary to enter into that phase of the matter at 



this time. For the present it may be granted that our Masonic Homes, so far as this 
function is concerned, are equal to those of the Grand Lodge of England. 


When it comes to the orphans an entirely different problem confronts us. There is an 
obligation to those of our brotherhood to see that their children are fitted to become 
useful members of society. The ramifications of that problem are too numerous for 
detailed analysis. The American Masonic Homes depend largely upon the public 
school systems for the education of their charges. This is somewhat different from the 
practice prevailing in the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys, and the similar school 
for girls. These homes are really boarding schools. The children are given a good 
education, even to training in a trade or profession if the student shows ability along 
some particular line. So far as the writer has been able to learn, there is nothing of the 
kind in American Masonry. It is certainly true that an education is provided, but it is 
only an education of sorts. Usually it ends with high school, and in some cases a 
course in a business college finishes the schooling. This is not really first class 
equipment for the struggle for existence which is to follow. The reason for this 
practice is not far to seek. There are too many organizations, you may say, or the 
funds are lacking. Perhaps both of these are true, but one is reminded of the story of 
why a man could not buy an automobile. He had thirty Ieasons according to his own 
confession. The first one was that he did not have the money, and the other twenty- 
nine made no difference. 


According to the latest proceedings published by two American Grand Lodges, one of 
them considered among the three wealthiest jurisdictions, and the other just about 
average on this score, the total income for Masonic charities, meaning by this, homes 
and charity funds, was approximately $650,000. The total membership of these two 
jurisdictions is approximately 320,000. In other words, these two jurisdictions 
comprise slightly over 10 per cent of the total membership of the Craft in America, 
and since they are above the average in wealth, they may be fairly taken as a criterion 
for the rest of the Masonic Fraternity in America. In order to make the estimate as 
favorable as possible we will take the expenditure of $650,000 as 10 per cent of the 
total spent by all jurisdictions, and adopt the usual estimate of the number of Masons 
in this country, namely 3,000,000. We then have the interesting fact that 3,000,000 
Masons spent a total of six and one-half million dollars for organized Masonic 
charity, an average expenditure of $2.17 per member. 



Let us make a comparison with the English figures. According to Bro. Daynes, the 
three Royal Masonic Institutions, for Boys, for Girls, and the Benevolent Institution, 
had an income last year of $1,120,000 in round numbers. The United Grand Lodge of 
England has an approximate total of 250,000 members. We thus arrive at an average 
expenditure among the English Masons of almost $4.50 per member. Remember this 
fact, it is important, THE ENGLISH MASON SPENT MORE THAN TWO AND 
ONE-HALF TIMES AS MUCH FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF THEIR HOMES 
AS THE AMERICAN BROTHER SPENT IN ALL ORGANIZED GRAND LODGE 
CHARITY. Are you proud of that ? 


When we take all English Masonic charity into consideration the figures are even 
more impressive. The total revenue of the English charities during the last year was 
approximately $1,450,000, an average of almost $6.00 per member. At the present 
time we are, not interested in the other funds, but there is food for thought in the mere 
fact that there are such things as the English Benevolent Fund in existence. 


The picture of American Masonic Homes in comparison with those of England 
would, perhaps, be more interesting if it were interpreted in another way. A country 
with twelve times as many Masons as the Grand Lodge of England is spending, in 
caring for its aged and orphans, approximately four times as much money. There is 
one other interesting feature that has thus far been left out of consideration entirely. 
The English Masonic Homes are not supported by per capita taxes automatically 
deducted from the annual dues of the members. The funds are acquired chiefly by 
subscription, and apart from any dues paid by the members to their lodges. 


The question of what individual lodges do for their distressed brethren or their 
dependents has been left out of consideration in both English and American instances. 
The discussion has confined itself wholly to organized Grand Lodge charity. 


In view of these facts it seems apparent that it is time for an awakening in the 
American bodies. A question may be asked in conclusion: Is American Masonry 
spending for the erection of massive temples and costly edifices money that should be 
spent for charity ? In doing this are we not listening to our ritual exhortations to 



practice charity and misinterpreting them so that in fact we preach charity and 
practice vanity ? 


— o — 


"Understandest Thou What Thou Readest?" 


By BRO. C. GORDON LAWRENCE, Canada 


THERE are two great text books in Freemasonry. They were commended to your 
attention early in your Masonic career. Without some knowledge of them you can 
never become proficient in our art, nor can you share largely in our mysteries. They 
are the Books of Nature and of Revelation. 


From the Book of Nature we may leam much about the character of our Supreme 
Architect. Evidences of a wise and mighty plan present themselves to the enquiring 
mind. We leam that the Great Spirit who was the Builder was the Designer as well. 
The beauty of the design bears witness to the spirit of an artist. 


From the immensity of space we learn of His infinite greatness. From the 
immeasurable power of natural forces; the sun's power to hold all the innumerable 
worlds in place; the irresistible power of the tides; the terrible power of the 
earthquake. From such as these ye leam how omnipotent is their Author. From the 
certain succession of day and night, summer and winter; from the regular return of the 
planets in their courses, we leam how orderly is the mind of the Great Designer. From 
the glory of the sunset, and the wonder of the snowflake, and the sigh of the night 
wind, we know that in Him wisdom and strength are combined with beauty. "The 
sun's look and the sea's voice and the earth's wonderful breath" all bear the impress of 
the Divine Artist. 



THE MYSTERIES OF NATURE 


The Book of Nature is beyond our limited comprehension. Mankind has proceeded 
but a little way in an attempt to read it. After all the centuries we are still like little 
children just beginning to learn the art of reading. But our efforts receive constant 
encouragement. Before the dawn of history men in Chaldea and Egypt had begun to 
study the stars. At last the telescope was invented and turned toward the sky. "I have 
seen farther into space than any other man," said Herschel. "I have seen stars so far 
away that the light from them can only reach the earth after a journey of many years. 


An undreamed-of section of Nature's Book was opened for us by the invention of the 
microscope. Louis Pasteur and others, who were still at work when we were bom, 
uncovered for us the infinitely small. In the days of the Hebrew psalmists it was 
considered a grand experience, rare no doubt to the Jew of that day, to "go down to 
the sea in ships and see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep." But we 
live to see even greater wonders in a single drop of water. 


Chemistry, in the modem sense, is an entirely new science. The discovery of radium 
by Curie is only the better known of many equally wonderful that have been made in 
our lifetime. Elements and forces entirely new to us must now be taken account of in 
our reading of Nature's witness to her Creator, and a restatement of natural 
philosophy becomes necessary. 


We shall never exhaust the treasures of the Book of Nature. Our little day ends before 
we have fairly begun the task. The multiplicity of interests that have arisen from the 
division of labor distracts our attention. 


THE VOLUME OF THE SACRED LAW 



There is also to be studied the Book of Revelation. "As a Mason, you are to regard the 
volume of the Sacred Law as the great Light in your profession." The Book of Nature 
shows us God portrayed in the inanimate part of the universe. In the Book of 
Revelation we see Him reflected in the mind of man. But the image is not constant. It 
changes according to the ability of mankind to reflect it. In the words of Robert 
Browning, it "decomposes but to recompose again." 


In the early ages of history the almighty nature of the Deity was uppermost in man's 
mind. He is realized then as a terrible person who must be satisfied and propitiated 
with costly sacrifice. In that stage of revelation the human attitude to the Creator is 
that of fear. 


There came in the course of time the realization that the infinite might of the Creator 
is controlled according to a purpose. He is not subject to whims nor sudden fancies. 
He does not act from caprice nor from spite. His purpose is right and His character is 
that of righteousness. With this development in man's idea of God there came the 
problem how to explain what appears to be the unfair treatment afforded to many 
whose lives are apparently exemplary. The inscrutable mystery of pain still remains 
to taunt us. But notwithstanding difficulties insuperable men came to believe that God 
is altogether upright and holy. 


At last the ideas of might and holiness are supplemented by a discovery of His 
tenderness and mercy. To speak of the dawning consciousness as a discovery is only 
to look at the development from man's side. If you prefer to say that God revealed 
these truths about Himself, you imply that the human mind had become sufficiently 
qualified to receive them. The Divine Master does not pass His apprentices to a 
higher degree until they have made themselves fit to receive it. The mystery of the 
Divine tenderness could not have been communicated to those who had not yet been 
initiated into the knowledge of His righteousness. "To him that hath shall be given," 
for he alone has the ability to receive. 


By God's tenderness is meant His sympathy with and provision for the weak and the 
unfortunate; His pity for the wayward and the oppressed. The Book of Revelation 



proceeds to record that in the reign of Caesar Augustus came One who penetrated 
more deeply into the mysteries than any before and who assures us that "God is 
Love." 


The human mind had all through the ages been qualifying itself to perceive new 
features of the Divine countenance. The human character had been coming gradually 
to such a state that it could more adequately receive an impression of the Divine. 
Mankind is ever trying to place itself in proper position to receive an ever grander 
expression of the Most High. To attain to that proper position is man's part of the 
great process. Always in the mind of the Master there is the desire to enlighten the 
suppliant. Always in the suppliant there has been something to hinder complete 
vision. Who knows how often by a Hand unseen the human race has been guided 
along the path of progress? Achievement is no less human because it has been 
inspired from on high. 


AND THESE TWO AGREE 


So we have, my brothers, these two great Books of Nature and of Revelation. They 
each proclaim, but in a tremendously grander style, just what we have tried to express 
in hymns and psalms and music and ceremonial, viz., the greatness and the holiness 
and the loving-kindness of that Great Spirit in Whom we "live and move and have our 
being." Freemasonry requires of us a due attention to them both. Neither alone is 
sufficient for proficiency in our art. It may be (let us say it reverently) that neither is 
yet complete. God, we may be sure, has not yet exhausted His resources. The Great 
Designer has plans (is it not likely?) that are not yet outlined on His Trestle Board. 
Why should we suppose that He has ceased to plan, and to create, and to adorn? Why 
should we suppose that we have received already all that He has to reveal? Because 
the first degree is wonderful may not the next be more wonderful still? This little taste 
of life has afforded its achievements, its triumphs, its satisfactions. Here in the midst 
of numerous hindrances, with a desire for the better only faintly experienced, we have 
never the less enjoyed at least a glimpse of the Light Supernal. But awaiting our 
fitness to appreciate them are all the possibilities that can originate in the loving mind 
of an Infinite Parent. 



HOW SHALL WE UNDERSTAND? 


On a certain occasion an officer of a royal household was returning from a pilgrimage 
to the Temple, and "sitting in his chariot he read Esaias the Prophet." There 
approached him one who courteously enquired, "Understandest thou what thou 
readest?" His reply was that which comes to your lips as you attempt these great text 
books in Freemasonry, "How can I except someone should guide me?" The 
bewilderment which overwhelms us as our eyes are opened to the Light, our inability 
to comprehend the Heavenly Wisdom, our fear of misinterpreting what concerns us so 
greatly, these compel one to ask that "someone should guide me." 


The Guide, my brothers, is never lacking. Along a path unknown, led by a Hand 
unseen, mankind proceeds on its way toward perfection. For the Architect is Himself 
the Builder, the Author is Himself the Interpreter, God is Himself our Guide. 


— o — 


The Birth 


MANKIND has a curious habit of using tabu names for things of religious import, 
and this is as true of the uncultured savage as of civilized men; or perhaps the stress 
should be the other way about, it is as characteristic of ourselves as it is of primitive 
man. A few samples will suffice to show that this is true. A priest seems much more 
exalted than an elder, which is all the term properly means, and more so is a bishop 
than the simple overseer who was chiefly charged with the finances, such as they 
were, of the early Church. We speak of the font, which is but a spring or fountain, and 
of the chalice when we mean a cup. But perhaps these terms are too ecclesiastical to 
count. Then what of the Scriptures, which are merely writings, or the Bible, which is 
simply the books? 



A tendency so universal must surely have an equally comprehensive source in human 
nature. Those things that are sacred or holy, that mean most to us in our inner lives, 
are not easily or lightly spoken of; and as language changes (as every living language 
is constantly doing) conservatism clings to old names for holy things, till at last they 
have become obsolete and we have forgotten practically what they really mean. This 
instinctive tendency is in itself a wholesome one, but it may easily lead to barren 
formalism, to a complete divorce of religion from common things, and the separation 
of those higher conceptions and ideals that alone make our daily life and its drudgery 
and petty interests ultimately worth while. 


It is in this way that at the end of the year we celebrate the festival of the Nativity, 
scarcely realizing that we are using a word borrowed from another language that 
means simply "the birth;" and birth is very much a matter of common life— a matter of 
stable and byre, and hovel and slum, as well as of the palace and the palatial modern 
hospital equipped with all the resources science has placed at our disposal. Birth is a 
thing that concerns us all, as much as meat and drink, and raiment, and houses and 
lands and cold cash, and sleep and death. Whether we speak figuratively of the birth 
of events or ideas, or literally of living beings, of souls clothed in flesh and blood, 
birth implies ever the relation of parent and offspring, mother and babe. 


Beginnings and endings— that is for the individual. Endings and beginnings— so for 
life as a whole, which goes on from generation to generation. Are the two separate, or 
are they but different points of view ? Does the individual begin absolutely at birth 
and end finally as such in death ? We do not know, at least not as we know that two 
and one make three, or that day comes with the rising of the sun. Whether there be an 
ultimate essential difference between knowledge and belief is a question of 
philosophy, but practically there is a plain distinction. We believe perhaps— or 
perhaps not— but we do not know. Now, it seems, we may not know— but we can 
believe. 


Thus, it would seem, it has ever been. Prehistoric man buried his dead with food and 
fire, weapons and ornaments. Why ? There is no record to tell us what he thought or 
believed, but what he did tells us silently that, perhaps, in some dim fashion he looked 
for a new beginning after the end— a beginning anew. Mors janua vitae, "death the 
gate of life," death is birth into new life. And this was not only guessed at for man 



himself, but it was seen to be true also of nature; and, confirmed by correspondences 
and analogies, the guess grew into belief. To say the belief was first a guess is to say 
nothing of its truth and validity. All discovery is bom of guesswork, surmise is 
confirmed by evidence, conjecture leads to experiment, and so to knowledge, even of 
the most rigidly scientific type. Man guessed, and then believed; perhaps in this case 
without sufficient proof, that is a point each must determine for himself, but at least it 
seems as if it were in some sort of necessity. 


In the midst of winter, when the warm pleasant days were gone like a dream, and the 
sun retrograded further and further to the south, and the nights grew longer and 
longer, it might well seem that the end had come, the end of all things, the winter to 
be followed by no springtime, the night never to be dispersed by another dawn. How 
should man know? Even though summer they are dead, and of the dead it is not 
necessary to had followed winter before within his memory and that speak evil. They 
were part of the world against which of his fathers, was that proof that it would 
continue so both Jew and Christian bore testimony and they had to do? It is not 
logical proof and he did not know, be fought with any weapon at hand. But looked at 
in What wonder if he resorted to magic to renew the life the perspective of history, 
they were but stages— stages that was necessary to his life, to bring it again to a new 
birth ? And when the days did again begin to lengthen, visibly and palpably, and the 
sun to rise higher every day, it was little wonder that here was set the beginning of the 
new year. 


But countries and climates differ. In eastern lands and in the south, the seasons are 
not the same as we know. It is the coming of the rain that is so ardently desired, that 
causes the earth to blossom and become fruitful. In the north it is the return of the 
sun. Christmas, the birthday of the Lord, is a western feast, that spread eastward. The 
heathen Angles and Saxons of Britain, so the Venerable Bede tells us, kept the feast 
and called it modra niht, the night of the mothers. 


The Mothers! How strange— and yet is it ? We are reminded how all over the ancient 
world, behind the pantheon of the gods of Olympus, ranged in their ordered 
hierarchy, existed the worship of the nameless Mothers. We hear of them in scattered 
references and stray inscriptions, but no contemporary record has revealed the 
mystery of the rites performed in their honor. In villages and obscure cities they were 



worshipped, and here and there they emerged into the light of day, and stood veiled 
and mysterious with the other deities. Demeter at Eleusis, and Bona Dea, the good 
goddess, at Rome. But of their rites none ventured openly to speak. In Asia was the 
Mountain Mother, worshipped in caves and on rocky peaks— she was one and many, 
here Cybele, there Artemis of the Ephesians, many breasted and nurse of all life. 
Astarte, too, or Ashtoreth, as her name appears in the Old Testament, the abomination 
of the Gentiles. What are such as these to us ? Once they had living and powerful 
cults. Carrying over the crude naivete of primitive thought into a high culture they 
became, in their orgiastic rites, rather incitements to evil than expressions of 
fundamental human needs. The Prophets and the Apostolic fathers denounced them 
bitterly and vehemently. But now they are dead, and of the dead it is not necessary to 
speak evil. They were part of the world against which both Jew and Christian bore 
testimony and they had to be fought with any weapon at hand. But looked at in the 
perspective of history, they were but stages - stages from which some were already 
passing. Let us remember that any cult may deteriorate and decay, even the highest, 
and that other forms of the worship of the mothers were refined and spiritualized 
apart from Christianity. The figures of Isis suckling the infant Horns, and Krishna in 
the arms of Devadetta. Not wholly spiritualized indeed, nor in the minds of all 
devotees. But it is not fair to judge possibility and trend by the conservatism of 
peasants, whether in India or Egypt or modem Europe, whether of heathen cult or 
Christian. 


The early church was not interested in such things as anniversaries. The first day of 
the week commemorated the Resurrection; and the Passover in its Christian guise, 
became the feast of Easter. Even in the second century and later the remembrance of 
the Birth was not only deprecated but opposed. It was of no importance; the 
Epiphany— the showing forth, the revealing or exhibition— of Jesus as the Christ to 
Jew and to Gentile in the persons of the shepherds and the wise men from the East 
and to the multitude at Jordan where John baptized— this first became a day of 
observance. The objection against the remembrance, of the Nativity was that the 
birth-days of the Emperor, who was also a god, were celebrated as a religious festival. 
Perhaps, too, in the background lay an unexpressed fear of the parallel between those 
dark veiled Mothers of mountain crag and rocky cleft, of the wild maenads (who were 
matrons, not maids) and that gentle mother who brought forth her first bom in the 
stable at Bethlehem, and laid Him in a manger "because there was no room for them 
in the inn." 



Beginnings and endings; endings and beginnings. The old Mothers died; they faded 
into vague figures of folk-tale and folk- observance, hags, witches, vampires, and 
their place was taken by Mary, the mother of the Lord according to the flesh. Did they 
die? Or have they survived in a new and more spiritual avatar? Or did the Virgin 
inherit from them part and place, as the younger generation ever does from the elder? 
That they were figures of myth and mysterious ritual, while Mary was a young 
woman of Judah, of the lineage of King David, who lived in the time of the Emperor 
Augustus, makes no difference; many a real person has become a figure of tradition 
and myth. Perhaps in some degree a mythology grows up about every human being 
who is remembered. But in this case the parallels between the child bom to be savior, 
and redeemer, and His mother, and those earlier mothers and their sons that men had 
projected and externalized from their needs and yearnings and their ideals and hopes, 
was too deep and too far- reaching to be denied, and little by little the symbols of the 
old came back, more or less changed and disguised, and attached themselves to the 
central figures of the new faith. 


It is surprising when we come to examine closely how little we are definitely told in 
the Canonical Gospels on the subject when compared with the wealth of detail 
supplied by legend. St. Matthew tells us of the doubts of Joseph and how they were 
resolved by an angel who appeared to him in a dream. He also tells of the magi who 
had seen a star and had come from the east to worship the new- bom king. St Luke 
relates how the annunciation was made to the Virgin Mary, and how it was that she 
and her husband came to Bethlehem— because of a census ordered by the Roman 
government. And how the night of the birth other angels told it to certain shepherds. 
Meagre material, it would seem, to serve as foundation for the superstmcture erected 
upon it. The earliest representations of the Birth are from the Catacombs; they are not 
many. Here the mother is represented seated, with one, two or more figures, 
representing the magi, offering gifts. She is clothed as a Roman matron, while the 
men are in Phrygian dress. Phrygia was hardly "the East" from Palestine, but it was 
far east of Italy, and so it served. In the fresco, a reproduction of which is shown in 
Fig. 6, there are two bearing gifts. In another fourth century painting, from a tomb, 
there are four symmetrically disposed, two on each side of the seated mother. St. 

Luke says nothing of the number of wise men who followed the star, but he 
mentioned the three gifts which very early took on symbolical import, gold, 
frankincense and myrrh, and soon it was taken for granted that they were three who 
bore them. It was supposed also that in their own lands they were kings; and then the 
symbolism was carried further and they were supposed to be of different racial stocks 
to represent the better all nations and languages, and of different ages to represent all 



states and stages of human life. In a fifth century relief at Ravenna they have thus 
become three, but they are still all young and in Phrygian cap, cloak and trousers. 


In another relief, now in the Lateran Museum (Fig. 2), which is probably fourth 
century, they are shown as three, but other details have appeared. The mother is 
seated, the swaddled babe, absurdly disproportionate in size, lies in the manger under 
a low shed roof before which stand an ox and an ass. Between the crib and the mother 
is a young man with a crooked staff who is probably one of the shepherds. Behind the 
three "easterners" is an elephantine camel as a further label to designate who they are 
and whence they came. Thus early did the two main types of representation of the 
mother and the child appear. Perhaps one of the earliest of the crib is a fresco from a 
tomb in the cemetery of San Sebastiano. It is very crude, and shows the babe alone 
with the heads of an ox and an ass seen over it. In a fragment of a sarcophagus of 
about the year 340, the babe lies on what seems to be a low mound (perhaps a pile of 
hay!), by it is a young man with a curved rod in his left hand who seems to beckon 
others who approach. Then come the ox and the ass, and then the first of what may 
have been several shepherds. The first only remains, and the hands of another behind 
him holding a branch of laurel. The mother does not appear in either of these, and in 
this they are almost, if not quite unique. And indeed, even here she may have been 
shown originally in the parts of the work now lost. 


Since the Renaissance, representations of the circumstances of the Nativity have been 
of three points —the annunciation to the Virgin by the Angel Gabriel —the vision of 
Joseph is rarely if ever treated; the adoration of the shepherds in which the babe lies 
in a manger, or naked on the ground; and last the homage of the three kings, in which 
the mother seated holds the child in her arms. Often the stable has by this 
disappeared, or become a palace, and the Virgin is crowned and clothed in royal 
robes. But the quaint wood-cut by Durer, shows stable, ox and ass, and the exotic 
camels. Here the three kings are of different ages and races, the youngest being a 
negro. In Fig. 5 by the same artist is the Nativity. One elderly shepherd worships at a 
distance from the kneeling mother, while Joseph draws water from the well. The 
buildings are half ruinous and represent such a wayside hostelry as presumably might 
have been found near Nuremburg in his day. But Durer was not typical though he 
reproduced the type, even the dilapidated buildings and the pitcher of water were 
traditional details with a long history behind them, perhaps also the tree growing on 
the ruined wall. In the beautiful picture by Tintoretto at San Rosso in Venice, the 
mother seated on the hay in a loft above the stalls where an ox is lying, lifts the 



covering from her babe lying beside her to show it to the wondering shepherds and 
shepherdesses, while the light from the opened heavens streams through the broken 
roof, where the beams make three crosses, a dark foreboding of the future. 


In the painting of da Fabriano, now in Florence (Fig. 3), another conception is seen. 
Joseph is asleep, the ox and the ass are lying down. The mother alone adores the 
babe. In the distance the angel is awaking the sleeping shepherds. The stable is here a 
cave, and this was another traditional detail. 


The ox and the ass were appropriate enough. The mother laid her babe in a manger 
we are told. A manger implies a stable, a stable implies the animals. But there were 
other reasons, or other meanings. Two generations ago it would not have been 
necessary to explain that every passage in the Old Testament that would bear it was 
given a Messianic interpretation, was supposed to be prophetic. Perhaps it was so, 
even when there is obvious contemporary meaning enough. In Isaiah is that 
wonderful millennial passage in which occurs the verse 


The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, 
and the calf, and the young lion and the fading together, and a little child shall lead 
them. 


But it is in the first chapter that it is said 


The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my 
people doth not consider. 


So it seemed that even the ox and the ass came to adore the new- born king, while the 
ruinous building signified the end of the old dispensation, of the stiffnecked people 
who rejected their Lord. But perhaps there was also a dim memory of sacred animals 



connected with the Mother. Diana of the Ephesians suckled beasts as well as men. We 
can never be sure when a tradition is wholly dead. 


From the Renaissance onwards, artists observed more or less, according as they broke 
the fetters of tradition, the unities of time and space in their representations of the 
birth. But by the eighth or ninth century a grouping had become stereotyped that 
persisted even to the fourteenth century and later. Of this the two reliefs shown in 
Figs. 1 and 7 are early and late examples. In them the mother reclines in the center, 
beyond her is the babe lying in the manger, behind that again stand the ox and the ass. 
Above are angels, one of which on the right speaks to the shepherds, whose sheep and 
goats, which again are made symbolic, occupy the lower right-hand part of the group. 
Below on the left sits Joseph, generally in an attitude of depression, and with an 
expression of doubt and despondency. Under the mother are two women who are 
engaged in washing the new-born babe. All these details constantly reappear. Often 
enough the star is shown, sometimes the three kings with their gifts, as in Fig. 7, 
where they are still in Phrygian garb. In Fig. 1 this space is unusually occupied by the 
annunciation. The dove is shown descending upon the veiled woman who listens to 
the angel. There is another strange feature about this relief of which no explanation 
has been given. The figure which by all analogy should be Joseph has horns distinctly 
showing on the head. By itself it might be taken that Joseph had been replaced by 
Moses, who was often thus represented owing to a mistranslated text in the Vulgate. 
The colossal Moses of Michael Angelo is homed. But here we have more than horns, 
from under the shrouding cloak appears a cloven foot. Was the doubt that Joseph had 
felt concerning the chastity of his affianced bride here made to symbolize the doubt 
and fear of the Adversary at the birth of the Redeemer who was to destroy his 
kingdom? It is hard to say. 


If Giovanni of Pisano had any such thought as this it is another indication that with 
the growing feeling for historic unity this traditional aspect of Joseph was felt to be 
incongmous with the rejoicing at the birth. In the later groups of this type his 
expression is changed, and later his attitude also, though for a while he remains seated 
in his comer. But he is now made to look at the mother and child with wonder and 
reverence and love. 



The two nurses or midwives have no warrant in scripture, though they constantly 
appear. Like the ox and the ass they seem appropriate enough, but it is to be doubted 
if so persistent a detail was derived merely from its congruity. It is probable that they 
are taken from the Apocryphal gospels, in some of which two midwives are made to 
give unwilling testimony to the virginity of the mother. But the washing of the infant, 
wrought by Giovanni with such loving care and truth to life, recalled another aspect 
of the Epiphany-- the baptism at Jordan. 


There were two other details that appeared very early, one of which is well known, 
and the other has hardly ever been noticed, though artist after artist put it in. The first 
is that the stable became a cave. There are strange compromises in composition in 
order to combine a rude or ruined building with a rocky cleft or grotto. But often the 
building disappears entirely. Again we are haunted by the parallel— the mountain 
mother, Bona Dea, worshipped in the form of a stone— the earth mother whose 
sacrifices were offered in a pit —heroes whose mothers bore them in caves— Mithra 
who was bom of a rock, and whose rites were celebrated in caves. 


But it is impossible to think that the cave of the Nativity derived directly and 
consciously from this. Undoubtedly it was introduced as a bit of realism, when 
pilgrimages to the Holy Land became frequent and many knew as a fact that the 
birthplace at Bethlehem was shown in a cave. Was there any genuine tradition of a 
real fact here? Had it been locally handed down from generation to generation? Again 
it is impossible to determine, all that can be said is that caves are common in 
Palestine and that they have been, and are, frequently used as stables and sheepfolds. 
Yet on the other hand it is precisely in Asia Minor that the Mountain Mother was 
supreme, and the mystic birth in a cave celebrated for unknown ages. 


The other detail is less persistent as it is less prominent; indeed only by considering a 
series of such representations does its presence make itself felt; and that is the tree. In 
Fig. 1 it does not appear in the group, but is shown at the right in the form of a 
geneological or Jesse tree— showing the ancestry of the Lord. In many others it is, and 
probably the artist thought it no more, a natural adjunct of the scene. Yet there it is 
again and again— Durer puts it in. In very early representations its presence is more 
obvious because of the work being more cmde. In Fig. 3 is the sapling against which 
the sleeping Joseph seems to lean. Fig. 7 seems at first sight to be exceptional for its 



period; in other ivory carvings of the same type it occurs again and again, but closer 
inspection shows on the winding ledge what is probably intended for a budding bush 
or shrub. And finally, in that early fragmentary relief mentioned above remain still the 
hands of a figure holding a laurel branch, here conceived, doubtless, as the sign of 
victory. But generally the Christian intended the tree of life guarded in Paradise and 
now again made accessible to mankind, or else that other tree which legend said grew 
from seed of its fruit planted by Adam, out of which, in the fulfillment of the ages the 
cross was constructed. But again, behind all this there is the disturbing memory of the 
tree in the mother cult. The Asherah, and the green trees on the mountain tops spoken 
of in prophetic denunciations, the pine tree of Attys— but what need to go further. 
Again the parallelism disproves nothing, only it sometimes causes wonder whether 
true prophecy was found only in the pages of Holy Writ. 


The story that is so briefly and allusively told in the Gospel clothes itself inevitably in 
images of our own experience. Tell it to a child and it thinks at once of such things as 
it has seen— a bam behind the house, with horse or cow stalls. And in the experience 
of men at large traditional memory has so predominant a place, that the details of old 
legends could not but creep in. Barred out consciously at the door they came in 
unobserved by cracks and crevices. The evangelists were interested chiefly in the life 
and death of the Lord; at first, writing as they were for those who even if they had not 
seen him with their own eyes may have had converse with those who had, the birth 
was taken for granted. But later came those who could not believe that the God- head 
would have stooped to the material world, who held that His body must have been an 
illusion, an appearance, or at least composed of some higher and more spiritual 
substance, and that He appeared suddenly, without parentage or human relationship; 
and then it became necessary to insist that He came into the world as every man. As 
He Himself said, men seek for signs and wonders, and none are vouchsafed. Why 
should they be ? The miracles lie in the facts, the common things, of daily life. 
Throughout the ages mankind had looked for a child to be bom— a child who should 
grow in strength and wisdom, and go forward and do the things that his fathers had 
not been able to do. And in the fullness of time the child was bom, who was to be 
Savior, the Christ, whose name was to be Wonderful, the Prince of Peace. Thus 
through the centuries the story has been repeated, and set forth in painting and 
sculpture, as the artist was able. Hieroglyphics, picture writing, all of it, on different 
levels. Mnemonics for each to clothe from his own memories. The mother raising 
herself on her couch to look at the wonderful baby in its manger cradle, still all her 
own; or adoring in the stillness of the night while others sleep. Common events in 
every life, repeated a thousand times every day in palace and hovel, yet ever new and 
miraculous, could we but understand. 



Birth is an initiation, a bringing to light, a revelation of hidden mysteries. All rituals 
symbolize it, according to the cultural level either crudely and with direct realism, or 
obscurely and with refined allusions. To enter upon any new path is in a sense a new 
birth, to take new responsibilities, to come into new relationships, to learn new truths, 
to enter upon mysteries. But to be reborn or twice bom implies also death. Here again 
is a circle, the turning wheel of life— or of the law. Death and birth— birth and death. 
Wherever we make a beginning one follows on after the other, and it matters little 
where we begin, at least so far as the symbolism is concerned. Out of darkness into 
light. Out of the light of day into the darkness of the tomb and thence to be reborn to 
new life. There is initiation and initiation. Formally and ritually into the knowledge of 
formal mysteries; really and spiritually so far as we may— so far as we earnestly seek. 
The Christian is baptized into the Way, the washing of water symbolically represents 
the cleansing from sin, the entering on a new life, a new search. It is an initiation 
ritually, it may be the beginning of one in tmth and reality. Initiation is a beginning, 
in ire, to go, to enter in. So the Latin conceived it; but to the Greek it was the end, 
telos, the completion, the consummation, perfection; thus St. Paul wrote of those who 
were perfected, initiated. And he set forth a yet deeper symbolism, that baptism was a 
ritual death, shared with the Lord, in which the old was left behind, and a new 
creature bom. But he, like all teachers and prophets, was concerned with the reality 
and not the form. 


So the shepherds watching their flocks by night saw the heavens opened and the glory 
of God, and heard the angelic choir singing— "Peace on earth, good-will towards 
men." Or as the Vulgate has it, "Peace on earth to men of good-will." To them comes 
that peace that passeth understanding, that the world does not give nor can it destroy. 
But other versions have another reading. Peace on earth, content to mankind— 
contentment— eudokia— satisfaction, fulfillment— because a babe had been bom and 
was lying in a manger. And they rose up and came with haste and found Mary, the 
mother and her child, he that was to come, the Desire of all Nations. 


— o — 


The Essenes in Masonic Literature 



By BRO. R.J.MEEKREN 


IN the second volume of THE BUILDER it was stated, in an answer to a question 
regarding this mysterious sect, that Da Costa was the first (in his sketch of a history 
of the still more mysterious Dionysian Architects) to trace the genealogy of 
Freemasonry through the Essenes. This is yet another instance to prove how difficult 
it is to discover when a given opinion first arose, and the danger of making definite 
pronouncements in such cases. Da Costa wrote in the first decade of the nineteenth 
century; the first mention of the Essenes in connection with Masonry that the present 
writer has been able to find (and it is highly improbable that there will be anything 
very much earlier discovered) is in 1730. It is to be found in that rare and curious 
work, A Defence of Masonry, published anonymously in December of the above 
year. It has since been proved that the author was Martin Clare, who was Junior G. 
W. in 1735, and who, owing to a careless and misleading utterance of George Oliver, 
has been confidently supposed by later writer to have been an early "tinkerer" with 
the ritual. 


The Defence of Masonry is obviously written by a man of considerable learning, and 
one who was a forerunner of all the school of students who have sought to explain the 
usages of the Craft by references to religious and other customs gathered 
indiscriminately from every possible source. Unfortunately he was not an accurate 
scholar by any means, and it seems very probable that he may be ultimately 
responsible for a number of statements which have been repeated time after time but 
which have no foundation in fact. One example is the account given of the death of 
Hipparchus the Pythagorean. It is not directly connected with our subject, but 
Josephus (one of our two chief authorities) describes the Essenes as being like the 
Pythagoreans; a statement, however, that is only to be taken as a descriptive analogy 
suited to the Roman public for which he wrote, and not as implying that he thought, 
or intended to assert, any connection existed between them. The passage here referred 
to in Clare's work runs as follows: 


. . . there was a false brother, one Hipparchus, of this sect [the Pythagoreans], who, 
out of Spleen and Disappointment broke through the Bond of his Oath, and 



committed the secrets of the society to writing, in order to bring the Doctrine into 
contempt. He was immediately expelled the School as a Person most infamous and 
abandoned, as one dead to all Sense of Virtue and Goodness; and the Pythagoreans, 
according to their custom, made a tomb for him as if he had been actually dead. The 
Shame and Disgrace that justly attended this Violation of his Oath threw the poor 
Wretch into a Fit of Madness and Despair so that he cut his Throat and perished by 
his own Hands, and (which surprized me to find) his memory was so abhorred after 
Death, that his Body lay upon the Shore of the Island of Samos and had no other 
burial than in the sands of the sea (1). 


If this surprised the author, it certainly surprises us still more when we find that the 
authority he gives, Book V of the Stiomateis of Clement of Alexandria, says no more 
than the following, and this merely as a casual illustration to the subject he has in 
hand: 


Indeed they say that Hipparchus the Pythagorean being accused of writing the 
[esoteric teaching] of Pythagoras in plain terms was expelled from the school, a pillar 
being raised for him as though for one dead.... 


The words in brackets do not appear in the original Greek, but are understood from 
what has immediately preceded this sentence (2). 


It is hard, however, to think that the author of the Defence deliberately fabricated the 
additional details. He cites also Iamblichus and Porphyry, both of whom wrote lives 
of Pythagoras. The latter, unfortunately, has not been accessible, so that it has been 
impossible to see if anything to the point is to be found in it. Iamblichus, however, 
does say something of a certain Hipparchus, it was not an uncommon name. This is in 
a rather lengthy rebuke or exhortation addressed to him by one Lysis, which begins 
thus: 


It is reported that you philosophize to everyone you may happen to meet, and 
publicly, which Pythagoras did not think fit to do. And these things indeed, O 



Hipparchus, you learnt with diligent assiduity, but you have not preserved them . . . 
[from the vulgar or common herd presumably]. If, therefore, you will abandon these 
[practices] I shall rejoice; but if not you will be dead in my opinion . . . 


The remainder of the speech has nothing more to the point but merely goes on to give 
the arguments for not teaching the esoteric parts of philosophy without strict 
discipline and proving of character beforehand, and Hipparchus is not again 
mentioned by name. Nevertheless the beginning certainly does sound like an official 
reprimand with a veiled threat of condign punishment. In another place Iamblichus 
tells us that any disciple or student who failed to "make his grade," or who was 
deemed unsuitable for other reasons, either intellectual or moral, was loaded with 
gifts of gold and other wealth from the common treasury and dismissed from the 
school; after which a pillar was raised for him as if he were dead, and if they met him 
afterwards they pretended he was a stranger. This form of rejection of the unfit 
disciple would most likely be used for the expulsion of an offending initiate also. Still 
we have here no suicide, or leaving the body on the seashore. A little further on, 
however, there is a brief remark on a person called Hippasus, who was said to have 
belonged to the school, and "divulged and described the method of forming a sphere 
from twelve pentagons," in consequence of which 


he perished in the sea, as an impious person, but obtained the renown [i.e. in the 
profane world] of having made the discovery. 


The most charitable supposition, and inherently the most probable, too, is that the 
passage in the Defence was written without verification of the references, and that 
several different passages had been confused in the author's memory. His general 
purpose in writing might also excuse some departure from his authorities, if under 
cover of that he really intended (as seems certain) to convey a special meaning to the 
initiated. But however legitimate this might be in itself it was dangerous, as the event 
has proved; for unlearned and careless and enthusiastic writers have copied and 
recopied it as literal fact. In any case it shows the necessity of caution in accepting 
what he says later on about the Essenes. 



This latter is all comprised in one paragraph of some length, and as authority for the 
statements made the Vita Contemplativa of Philo and the Antiquities of the Jews of 
Josephus are cited. Curiously the most detailed description of the Essenes given by 
Josephus is not in this work, but in the Wars of the Jews; and in the Antiquities he 
refers to this account as a reason for not in that place describing the sect at length; 
which is another indication that Clare quoted from memory. But the matter in the last 
part of the paragraph is all taken from Philo, and does not deal with the Essenes at all, 
but with the Therapeutae of Egypt. Of course, it has been often asserted that they 
were one and the same organization with the Essenes, but the fact remains that Philo 
speaks of the Essenes as living in Palestine and the Therapeutae in Egypt, and gives 
no indication whatever that he regarded them as the same. Besides, the Therapeutae 
admitted women to their society which the Essenes did not, and further, they anointed 
themselves with oil in the usual Oriental manner, while oil was regarded as a 
defilement by the Essenes. It therefore seems impossible to suppose any close 
connection between the two sects. The passage of especial interest in the paragraph 
under discussion is as follows, the italics are in the original: 


But before he was receiv'd as an establish'd Member, he was first to bind himself by 
solemn obligations and Professions, to do Justice, to do no Wrong, to keep Faith with 
all men, to embrace the Truth, to keep his Hands clear from Theft and fraudulent 
Dealing, not to conceal from his Fellow-Professors any of the Mysteries, nor to 
communicate any of them to the Profane, though it should be to save his life; to 
deliver nothing but what he received [of these mysteries, presumably] and endeavour 
to preserve the Principle that he professes. They eat and drink at the same common 
Table, and the Fraternity that comes from any other place are sure to be received 
there; they meet together in an Assembly, the Right-hand is laid upon the Part 
between the chin and the Breast and the Left-hand let down straight by their side. All 
this is very specific, and very exciting. Let us follow it up and see what has been done 
with it by later writers. The Defence was reprinted with the second edition of 
Anderson's Constitutions in 1738, and thus its contents were widely disseminated 
though the original work practically passed out of existence. One curious mistake was 
perpetuated, which definitely proves that the editor, James Anderson, did not verify 
the author's references; nor have we seen that it has been noticed elsewhere. The 
author of the Defence cites Josephus' Antiquities, Book VIII, Chapter 2, for the 
account of the Essenes mentioned above. As a matter of fact this chapter tells us 
about the wife of Solomon, his wisdom and riches, and his correspondence and 
treaties with Hiram of Tyre for the building of the Temple, while the first reference 
made to the Essenes comes in a much later chapter and, as already noted, his principal 



account of them is in another work altogether. The other authority given is Philo's 
Vita Contemplativa but no specific reference is given (3). 


In his Lexicon of Masonry Mackey has the following statement, under the heading 
"Essenes": 


Philo, of Alexandria, who in two books written expressly on the subject of the 
Essenes has given a copious account of their doctrine and manners, says that when 
they were listening to the secret instructions of their chiefs, they stood with "the right 
hand on the breast a little below the chin, and the left hand placed along the side." A 
similar position is attributed by Macrobius to Venus when deploring the death of 
Adonis.... 


He does not, however, give any reference for this last statement. The first part is 
certainly not a literal copy of the passage in the Defence any more than of Philo. We 
now learn, also, that the attitude was one employed by the Essenes, and assumed by 
inferiors when listening to their superior, and that they are standing. Also that the 
hand is now laid on the breast, whereas before it was on the part between the breast 
and the chin, which one would naturally take to be the neck. 


The Lexicon was published in 1855; in the article on the same subject in the later 
Encyclopaedia this passage was deleted for some reason, though otherwise the 
account was expanded. Perhaps in the meantime Mackey had looked up the original ! 
Before coming to that, however, we will give another quotation from a well-known 
English Masonic author, John Yarker. In his Arcane Schools (page 157) he gives us 
yet another development— he says: 


When addressing their Chiefs they stood with their right hand below their chin, and 
the left let down by the side. 



The Chiefs are now dignified by a capital letter ! But the phrase "let down by the 
side" is peculiar, and reminds us of that in the Defence, "and the Left-hand let down 
straight by their Side." It is not quite a natural way to describe the attitude in the 
modern usage of the English tongue, and it looks almost as if Yarker had followed 
Mackey, but with the Defence version in his mind at the same time. Yarker gives no 
references at all, but he goes on to say that "a select class of the Essenes were termed 
Therapeutae," which is simply baseless guess-work hazarded in favor of a theory, 
though again it is possible he took the opinion from someone else. It is only a step 
from saying the Therapeutae were the same as the Essenes to saying they were a 
higher degree. Whatever the arguments may be worth for the hypothesis that the latter 
were an Egyptian branch of the Essenes, recruited from the Hebrews resident in that 
country, and they are certainly far from conclusive to say the least, as we have seen 
there is no shadow of reason for supposing them a select class or inner circle of the 
sect. Rather the reverse seeing they admitted women. 


It is now high time to go to the original and see what Philo actually did say. He is 
describing the Assembly of the Society, at which, as has been said, women were also 
present, though separated by a screen from the men, just as was customary in the 
Christian Church at a later time. He says: 


On the seventh day the various members meet for common worship. They arrange 
themselves according to age, sitting on the ground, the right hand between the chest 
and the chin, but the left tucked down along the flank. The senior recluse then 
delivers an address to which all listen in silence (4). 


If Mackey did look this up it is no wonder he so completely dropped his earlier 
statement. But then he should have said so and exploded the fairy tale. It would be 
interesting to know who first adorned the tale by inserting in the account given by the 
author of the Defence, which is accurate enough so far as it goes (though misleading 
by its omissions) the detail that Philo was describing a posture taken, or gesture made, 
while standing? It was not like Mackey to have drawn on his imagination in such a 
case. So far no earlier version has come to light, but in view of the difficulty that dogs 
every attempt to discover the real origin of any assertion or statement of this kind, this 
is in no way conclusive that Mackey was the culprit; it is most probable he copied it 
from someone else. 



As another instance to show how easy it is to make a slip, no less an authority than 
Robert Freke Gould, in the first chapter of his Concise History (it remains unamended 
in the Revised Edition), makes the following statement: 


That two members of this singular sect, on meeting for the first time, at once 
recognized each other by means of signs, 


and as the paragraph in which this occurs begins: 


The references to the Essenes by ancient authorities are brief and unsatisfactory. We 
leal n, however, that, etc., 


the reader naturaljy concludes that the points in the summary that follows had direct 
authority in these brief references of ancient writers. Bro. W. Wynn Westcott in his 
paper on the subject before Quatuor Coronati Lodge (5) says that "in a recent letter" 
(1915) Gould admitted that he could not give "any original authority for this 
statement." If he had been able to do so it must have been from some document 
hitherto unknown to students. It was evidently a case of "Homer nodding," the 
reiterated statement copied by one uncritical writer after another slipped in by 
accident. 


That the Essenes would naturally be thought of by Masons seeking to find traces of 
the lineage of their Fraternity was really inevitable. The articles in THE BUILDER 
this year by Prof. Strauss are proof enough, for he built up his hypothesis without 
knowledge of the fact that it had ever been advanced before. If, as he maintains, their 
proper name in their own country was Banaim, Builders, he has produced another 
argument, one that, so far as we know, Bros. Yarker and Rosenbaum alone among 
Masonic writers have touched upon, and Yarker did not develop it at all. He got the 
suggestion apparently from de Bunsen, who so far as the present writer is aware was 
not a Mason. It is supposed by this last that a tradition passed from the "Egyptian and 



Jewish Gnostics" into Christianity, and that "it had the doctrine of a spiritual 
development which transformed them into living stones, hence denominated Banaim 
or builders, that is of a bodily temple, and therefore they neglected the material 
temple of Jerusalem." 


Presumably he had in mind the allusions of St. Paul to building, and living stones, and 
to Christ as the "headstone of the corner." The coincidences are indeed striking and 
they have been freely used in framing the rituals of the various grades superposed on 
the three symbolic degrees. But returning to Gould's statement about the Essenes, 
where did his idea that they had secret signs for recognition come from? 


They were a sect of the Hebrews at about the time of the beginning of the Christian 
era, but they were more than a sect, for they were organized in an ascetic or monastic 
fraternity. This at least seems quite clear. Also they had apparently a form of 
initiation, including a baptism and an oath. They wore a white garment, by Masonic 
writers freely called an apron, but which was probably a loin cloth, and carried a 
paddle or hatchet. This latter was probably very small and easily portable; its use (for 
the curious who do not know) is given in the Book of Deuteronomy in Chapter 23, 
verse 13, though there it is described as being part of the spear, the weapon of the 
nomad herdsmen, probably an enlargement of the butt. Besides this they had grades; a 
secret teaching imported "figuratively," which is of course taken to mean by 
allegories and symbols; and finally they aided and assisted each other, and strange 
members were welcomed and greeted as if well known. 


The combination of all these points is too attractive an analogy to Freemasonry not to 
have found supporters; and in the manner only too frequently exemplified, inferences 
were drawn and glosses freely inserted in the text, which were then copied as if it all 
came from the original. 


Let us now consider the peculiar attitude or gesture described by the author of A 
Defence of Masonry; his interest in it is evidently that he supposed it to have some 
ritual significance (as perhaps it did) and that it might have been used as a sign for 



recognition, like the bending of the ankle by which Lucius in the Golden Ass 
recognized the priest of Isis. Add to this the statement of Porphyry that 


. . . though meeting for the first time, the members of this sect at once salute each 
other as intimate friends (6), 


and the thing was done. Nothing more was needed than to put the two together and 
we have evidence conclusive— to the uncritical— that the Essenes had signs and tokens 
just the same as Freemasons. The trouble is that the second statement quoted says 
nothing whatever about the means of recognition but is confined solely to the way in 
which stranger members were received. It does not exclude such private means of 
course, but neither does it imply them or require them; while if there were such signs, 
there is no reason whatever to suppose that one of them was the attitude taken in the 
assembly, squatting Oriental fashion, on the ground, the knees drawn up, the left arm 
under the outer garment down by the side, and the right hand up near the left 
shoulder— if anyone doubts the description let him try it by sitting down on the floor 
with a dressing gown wrapped round cloak wise. Whether a ritual posture or not, it is 
a very natural one. 


In spite of all this we cannot dismiss the Essenes entirely, as at least a subject of 
interest to Masonic students. Though it is really impossible to make out any direct 
connection between them and Freemasonry— an institution indigenous to 
Northwestern Europe so far as anything is certainly known of it— nevertheless Essenic 
sect has the twofold interest of being a fraternity possessing certain mysteries and of 
being native to the country in which Masonic traditions and myths are centered. The 
Essenes come on the stage for a little while and then vanish. It cannot be said 
dogmatically that they existed before we first hear of them, but it would be very 
improbable that they had no antecedents. Even if their organization was not much 
older than the record we have, we may yet on socio-psychologic grounds almost 
certainly postulate some previous institution on which it had been modelled, and from 
which a tradition had filtered down more or less directly. To pursue this speculation 
would exceed the limits of the present article, but it may be recalled that the late Bro. 
W. Simpson in a work (7) published nearly thirty years ago, advanced the hypothesis 
that the Book of Jonah was based on the myth or narrative version of an initiatory 
rite, and collected references that tend to show that such rites may have existed from 



early times among the Hebrews. Whatever may be the final judgment on this 
hypothesis, it is at least a very interesting one, and as the book in question has been 
long out of print the subject might well form the basis of some future article. 


In conclusion it may be pointed out that the final reasons for disbelieving in any 
connection between the Freemasons and the Essenes lies in the very considerations 
which have been taken by the advocates of the theory as pointing to its probability. 
The traditions of the Craft all point to the Holy Land, Jerusalem, the Temple, to 
Jewish rites and sacred teachings, while its mythical heroes bear Biblical names. If all 
this were a real inheritance it would be impressive. Unfortunately, the further back we 
can trace the mysteries of Masonry, the poorer they become in this material and the 
richer in elements that belong to ritual survivals of a Western European type. The 
conclusion is obvious that the Hebrew element is largely adventitious, and it is almost 
completely demonstrable that by far the greater part of it has been borrowed and 
adapted during the strictly historical period of Freemasonry, or more precisely since 
1730. This however can only be dogmatically asserted here, the proof must be sought 
in the story of the evolution and development of the Masonic and quasi-Masonic 
rituals and their symbolism, whenever that can be written. 


NOTES 


(1) As the Defence of Masonry is professedly a reply to Masonry Dissected, the best 
seller of the day (it had run through four editions in the preceding three months) we 
may suppose that Martin Clare so framed this passage as to administer a sound slap to 
Samuel Prichard, who describes himself on the title page of his pamphlet as "late 
member of a Constituted Lodge." The curious story told by Laurence Dermott of the 
fate of one Tom Tadpole, whom he asserted to be the author of The Three Distinct 
Knocks, and the unhappy end of the "learned gentleman that wrote the pamphlet 
entitled Boaz and Jackin" who "in a fit of jealousy cut his throat on Thursday, the 8th 
day of September, 1763," seem to have been actuated by similar motives. These are 
related in a note to the "Address to the Reader" in Ahiman Rezon. 

(2) For the text of this passage and the translation the writer is indebted to his friend 
(and brother) Prof. F.G. Vial. B.D., D.C.L., who has made an especial study of the 
works of Clemens Alexandrinus 



(3) The passage intended is apparently in chapter 3, but it gives very little 
information. 

(4) Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics v. Therapeutae. 

(5) A.Q.C., Vol. 28, p. 73. 

(6) Gould, History of Freemasonry, Vol. 1, p. 28, note 5 (Yorston Edition). 

(7) Simpson, The Jonah Legend 


— o — 


Joshua ben Joseph 


BY BRO. L.F. STRAUSS, Massachusetts 


THIS article has already appeared in the "Banner of Israel," but Bro. Strauss regards 
it as an important link in the development of his researches as set forth in the two 
articles on the Essenes which appeared in THE BUILDER for May and July 
respectively, and has obtained the permission of the publishers of the above- 
mentioned periodical to reproduce it here. It will, we believe, be interesting as it 
views familiar things from a point of view that is probably unfamiliar to many of our 
readers. 


Sabbath morning. 


The congregation is assembled in the synagogue at Nazareth. The law, the books of 
Moses are laid on the altar. The adult members of the congregation are called up by 
their names to assist according to custom in the reading of the law. Now the name of 



Joshua ben Joseph resounds clear and distinct, and there steps forward a figure in 
human form, clad in the garments of the men of his time. 


What did he look like? What was the outward appearance of that figure which came 
forward at the call of Joshua ben Joseph ? Thousands of artists have exercised their 
imagination trying to conjure up a figure, a face that would correspond to the 
conception in the minds of millions of the being which has become their guide, their 
model, their hope and refuge and which when on earth answered to the call of Joshua 
ben Joseph. 


His parents were pious Jewish people. Mary, his mother, presented herself at the 
Temple in Jerusalem for purification according to the prescribed ceremonies after the 
birth of a son; she presented her son for redemption within the prescribed period. At 
the time of his "harmi z fa"— a ceremony scrupulously observed by orthodox Jews in 
our own day— the boy is brought to the Temple in Jerusalem. After this ceremony 
which in a way corresponds to the Christian practice of confirmation, a boy is 
recognized as a member of the congregation; he has a vote, a voice in the assembly; 
from now on he is responsible for his own actions. This fact readily explains the 
silence of the Gospels in regard to the parents of Jesus when relating the subsequent 
career of Joshua ben Joseph, the Messiah, or Jesus, the Christ. 


Where were spent the years between his twelfth year, the time of his "barmizfa," and 
his thirtieth year, which marked the beginning of his career as teacher, as guide of the 
human race and the Light of the World ? Traditional Jewish lore makes him join the 
Order of the Essenes. 


If the knowledge of the whereabouts of Jesus between his twelfth and thirtieth year 
were necessary to the sons of men, it would have been given. 


The annals relating the life of Jesus deal mainly with his acts that took place between 
his thirtieth and thirty-third year. In these annals we are presented with a most graphic 
account of the sayings and doings of a most extraordinary being who was walking up 



and down the hills and valleys of Judea, "doing good," healing the sick, exhorting to 
righteousness and proclaiming the glad tidings that the Kingdom of God is at hand, 
that it has come. 


In answer to the question, "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another ?" 
he points to the fulfillment of the signs that w ere to mark his coming. In answer to 
the definite question, "Art thou the Messiah ?" the answer is, "I am." 


The annals given to the world of the life of Joshua ben Joseph, known the world over 
as the Lord Jesus, or Jesus of Nazareth, give us a very brief account of his career. 
While we have four separate records, these present in but a slightly differentiated 
form a few details in the life of the most wonderful being that ever visited our earth in 
human form. There are some things in connection with these records that will strike a 
thinking man as strange, very strange even when considered from the human 
standpoint. 


The nature of man is selfish; our own personality projects itself often unconsciously, 
sometimes even against our will, into our thoughts and works. The writer of a book 
wants first of all to impress his personality upon the minds of others. Now, the very 
opposite attitude do we find in the writer or writers of the Gospels, the biographies of 
Jesus. In place of self-glorification we find self-depreciation and a self-effacement 
that has no analogy in human history. It matters not whether the Gospels are the work 
of his immediate disciples or the work of their followers. Disciples or followers sink 
completely into the background before a great luminous figure that has stood, and 
stands today, as the Light of the World. 


How high Joshua ben Joseph must have towered above his contemporaries can be 
seen in the self-related actions of his chosen disciples. How little they could 
understand. How crude, how small, was their mental, moral and spiritual capacity 
when placed by themselves alongside their Master ! The much praised Peter— what a 
braggart! The sons of Zebedee thinking most of all of their own place in the coming 
Kingdom ! 



There is no reason to suppose that this self-depreciation was intended, or that the 
writer was conscious of any self- depreciation. One aim can be distinctly recognized, 
and that is, to present the Master in as truthful a light, in as graphic a manner as 
possible. 


This self-depreciation is not natural, is not human, and must be looked upon, when 
considered from a human standpoint, as a factor in a super-human that is a divine 
guidance in the giving of the narratives which we call today the Gospels. 


In connection with this, I wish to emphasize the fact that "the things of the Spirit" are 
"spiritually discerned." The natural man receiveth them not, is utterly incapable, 
unfitted, to grasp the inner meaning of life, the essence of religion, the relation of man 
to his God. From this it follows that in order to derive any benefit from, or to have an 
insight into the message revealed in the Gospel, spiritual discernment is an absolute 
prerequisite. 


Rabbi A. Levi once said before the Congregation Keneseth Israel: "About 1 897 years 
ago (it is not known at what part of the year) there was born in Nazareth, to humble 
Jewish parents, one Joshua ben Joseph, or Latinized, Jesus. At the age of twelve he 
appeared in Jerusalem and saw enough to leave an indelible impression on his mind. 
Nothing is later heard of him till the age of about thirty. He then appears in the role of 
a reformer opposed to the formalism of the Pharisees and the materialism of the 
Sadducees. He traveled around after the manner of teachers in Israel, preaching his 
belief in Moses and the prophets and his conviction that heaven and earth might pass 
away but no jot or tittle of the law would. He appeared to have been a believer in the 
mission of Israel to be a blessing to humanity." 


Human intellect sees in Joshua ben Joseph an ideal man. We use once more the words 
of Rabbi Levi, who, after referring to the execution of Joshua, or Jesus, for which he 
blames the Roman governor, declares: "Thus thro' the hatred of the Roman governor 
there was condemned to an ignominous death, one of the noblest teachers in Israel, 
one of the brilliant glories of the Jewish people; but he was a man, an ideal man, he 
was not God, he was godly. He was not the Son of God, but the son of God as all men 



are. ... Do we reject him? Never as a pious reformer, as a conforming Jew, as a 
brother worthy of profound esteem, respect and love. Do we then accept him ? Never 
as a God, the Son of God, or the Messiah." 


Rabbi Levi here states the position of millions of Jews. It is the position based on 
human reason, the conclusion formed by human intellect unaided by the spiritual eye. 
Yet even human intellect can see, or can be made to see and in fact has seen 
something more. 


Let us look with the mental eye at the successive visible scenes following the 
execution of Joshua ben Joseph. 


"Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." How well do these words of 
Zachariah describe the situation. The Rabbi has suffered a most ignominous death. 

No miraculous interference had prevented the execution of the Great Teacher as some 
of his disciples had confidently expected. Their cause was irretrievably lost. The man 
in whom they had so much confidence was defeated. 


Hope, the last human anchor, was gone. Despair, black despair, filled their hearts. We 
read, "The disciples fled," eager to seek a place in which to hide their shame and 
confusion. 


And then there took place a miracle, the only undisputed miracle in all annals of 
human history, indisputable, on account of its visible effects in our own day. A 
coward is changed into a hero, a small band of trembling fugitives into a troop of 
heroes, who went fearlessly to the four comers of the earth and conquered a hostile 
world. What power had wrought this miracle ? Let us give the explanation and 
conclusion formed by Jewish intellect: "That the movement did not end with the 
cmcifixion, but gave birth to that belief in the risen Christ which brought the scattered 
adherents together and founded Christianity, is due to two psychic forces that never 
before had come so thoroughly into play. First: the great personality of Jesus which 
had so impressed itself on the people of Galilee as to become a living power even 



after his death. Second: the transcendentalism or other- worldliness in which these 
penance doing saintly men and women, of the common classes in their longing for 
godliness, lived. In entranced visions they beheld their crucified Messiah expounding 
the Scriptures for them, and breaking the bread for them at their feasts, or even 
assisting them when they were out on the lake fishing (1). 


"It was not the living but the departed Jesus that founded the church (2)." 


The question now arises, what produced these "psychic forces that never before [or 
ever afterward] had come so thoroughly into play?" Could these "psychic forces" 
which revolutionized the world, and overcame the Roman Empire, have been 
generated through hallucination ? 


Human mind, the unspiritualized intellect, cannot help but recognize a force which 
"never before had come so thoroughly into play." What generated this force? What 
answer has the rationalist to this question ? The effect of hallucination ? But not even 
a Hindu yogi tries to satisfy hunger through conjuring up a picture of food. 


Again: "It was not the living but the departed Jesus that created the Church." The 
"departed" Jesus ! How could the "departed" Jesus have done this when "dead," if he 
had been a man, a dead man ? Will some rationalist answer this question? 


At another place in the Jewish Encyclopedia we read: "There are utterances of 
striking originality and wondrous power, which denote great genius. He certainly had 
a message to bring to the forlorn, . . to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (3), to the 
outcast, to the lower classes, to the 'Amharez,' to the sinner, to the publican; and 
whether the whole life is in reality a poetic imagination, in him the Essenic ideal 
reached its culmination." 



We might agree with the writer in the Jewish Encyclopedia when he says: "To explain 
the mental and moral greatness of Jesus, his wonderful career, the logical thinker need 
not recur to the hidden ways of mysticism; a careful study of his historical 
environment will readily account for that extraordinary phenomenon." We must not 
forget that he was the child of an extraordinary people, a people that had been set 
aside thousands of years before for a great specific purpose; a people at whose start its 
legislator held up the ideal: "Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy 
nation. Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy." 


As already stated, up to the time of his execution, there is nothing in the life or career 
of Joshua ben Joseph that human reason cannot explain, or explain away. 


The pivotal point, the crux of the question comes when the unprejudiced and sincere 
mind considers the situation that took place after his execution. These scenes cannot 
be explained away from the rationalist's standpoint because their effects are clearly 
visible, not only in the nineteen hundred years which have passed and gone, but they 
are seen and felt all around us, they are manifest in the hundreds of millions of human 
beings to whom no name is dearer and sweeter than the holy name of the Lord Jesus, 
whose profane pronunciation they call blasphemy. 


As I am writing these lines I wonder what it was that caused the writer in the Jewish 
Encyclopedia to say, "It was not the living but the departed Jesus who created the 
Church." Now if such were the case could there be any other explanation than that he 
had triumphed over death and was at the seat of power? Must not then his mission 
have been from God? Must he not have been the Messenger promised to our 
ancestors thousands of years ago; must he not have been in truth the Messiah who 
was to become the Light of the World? 


NOTES 


(1) Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 51. 



(2) Ibid, Vol. 3, p. 169. 

(3) Matt. Ch. 10, V. 6. 


— o 


A Curious Masonic Watch 


Communicated by BRO. G. M. READE, Minnesota 


PROBABLY a good many brethren have had their attention drawn to "Masonic" 
watches that are now being supplied by those firms that manufacture and supply 
Masonic charms, jewels and so on. The advertisements would lead anyone to suppose 
that this was an entirely new idea; and perhaps so far as the designers and 
manufacturers are concerned it may be. However, this is not so. Our eighteenth 
century brethren were very partial to these Masonic watches. In those days mass 
production was yet unknown, and each watch was an individual work of art and craft, 
made entirely by hand. Many of these designs were most elaborately wrought. The 
old watch and clock makers spared no pains upon their work, and it made no 
difference whether it was on the exterior or the interior working parts. In some old 
clocks the very wedges that keyed the frame together were filed into ornamental 
curves, and engraved with designs almost too small to be seen without a glass, while 
the wheels instead of having straight and plain spokes were cut out into beautiful and 
fanciful patterns of pierced work, filed out with the true artist's care. 


This tradition still persisted in the eighteenth century, and in watches of the period the 
covering plate, or "cock" that protected the movement was highly ornamented with 
pierced designs and engraving. It was only natural that some should receive Masonic 
designs, either specially to order, or to attract Masonic purchasers. The second of the 
illustrations gives a good idea of a watch of this type. There are hundreds of such 
movements to be found in museums. 



The first illustration shows a watch which is perhaps now quite unique, though 
originally it had a mate. It is in the possession, or rather in the care, of one of the 
lodges in Belfast, Ireland. The present owner is the great-grandson of the man for 
whom it was made, a Bro. Edwards who was an aide de camp to General Stopford in 
the Peninsular War. It was made by a watchmaker named Bannerman, who 
apparently had left his work bench and listed for a soldier. Whether he made it during 
the campaign or not does not appear, but it is possible. Nor do we know if he was a 
Mason. Bro. Edwards designed the face himself, and gave Bannerman the order to 
make the watch for him to this design. 


It happened after their return home, that Bro. Edwards was at a Masonic banquet at 
which the then Duke of Suffolk was also present, and the latter happened to see the 
watch and said, "Halloo, Edwards, what have you there?" Bro. Edwards handed it to 
him and told him about it and at the Duke's request a second watch was made 
identical in every respect. These two were the only ones. Whether the second is still 
in existence is unknown. 


The arrangement of the emblems is very skilfully and appropriately done, and the 
putting the sun in the place for "high twelve" is very ingenious, while outside the 
minute circle below "low" six is the crescent moon and stars. 


The description is as follows: In the center is the circle and parallel straight lines. The 
point is represented by the main pivot for the hands. Below is the letter "G" and above 
the volume of the Sacred Law. The first figure is a single column of the Doric order, 
with what appear to be flames issuing from the capital. This may refer to the pillar of 
fire in the wilderness. In the margin above it is the trowel. Two is represented by the 
two brazen pillars of the porch of the Temple, adorned with network and surmounted 
by globes. Above it is the square ashlar. The enamel has been chipped and cracked 
here and the ashlar is not easy to make out. Three is made of the three burning tapers 
or lesser lights. The margin has here been broken away so that the emblem above is 
lost. Four is made of a Doric column and a pair of calipers. The object above is 
unrecognizable. Five is the square, and in the margin are the "emblems of mortality." 
Six is composed of the Charter or Warrant in a roll, a dagger or sharp instrument and 



a Corinthian column. Below is the moon and stars. Seven is ingeniously formed from 
the compasses and ladder with "three principle rounds." The margin is broken here, 
too, so that the second emblem is missing. Eight consists of the folding twenty-four- 
inch rule or gauge, and a two-legged derrick from which is suspended a perfect ashlar 
by means of a lewis. Though partially broken, we can see plainly the sprig of Acacia 
and the hill top. Nine is made of three columns, Doric, Ionic and Corinthian, the two 
latter crossed. The two black marks in the margin are indecipherable and appear to be 
injuries or holes in the enamel. Ten is built up out of a long-handled "setting maul," a 
gavel and a chisel. The emblem above appears to be the beehive. Eleven is composed 
of the square, level and plumb, and above them the 47th Proposition of Euclid. 
Twelve, as before mentioned, is symbolized by the sun, above which is the All-seeing 
Eye. 


If the second emblem at figure ten is really intended for the beehive, and it looks 
much more like it in the original than in the reproduction, we have two symbols now 
no longer in use in Great Britain but which have always been in use in America, the 
second being the trowel. On the other hand there are the lewis and chisel which are 
still explained in the former country but which seem never to have been known in 
this. 


— o — 


The Land of Behest 


By Bro. F. BENSON, Illinois 


AT this season of the year the thoughts of all Christians are directed toward a little 
country on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It is scarcely two hundred 
miles long and from East to West probably does not average more than seventy-five. 
Not only does the Christian world revere this almost insignificant area on the Earth's 
surface, but it is the Holy Land for the Jew, Greek, Moslem and Christian alike. 



Geographies call it Palestine, our Old Charges or Manuscript Constitutions refer to it 
as "The Land of Behest" and add that it is now called the Country of Jerusalem. 


It is indeed remarkable that one of the world's smallest countries should have been the 
battlefield of so many nations for thousands of years, and that for its possession has 
been shed the blood of countless multitudes. All this has been done for religion, not 
one faith, but many. The paradox lies in the fact that, in spite of its gory history, this 
country was the birthplace of the Prince of Peace. To this event do modem Christians 
owe the fact that their eyes are turned toward the Holy Land during the present 
season. Whether Jesus the Christ was actually bom on Dec. 25 we do not know, and 
after all does it make any difference? The Nazarene lived and died for humanity 
Modern Freemasonry should be existing for the same cause. The feast of Christmas 
has come to be considered an occasion for rejoicing and for the exercise of good will 
toward all. It is the time of year when we dream of Brotherly Love, of peace on earth 
and good will towards men. It should not be necessary for the Mason to have such a 
season since the practice of this virtue should be a part of his endeavor the year round, 
but it hurts no man to be reminded occasionally that there are others on this mundane 
sphere and that a part of his thought should be directed towards them. 


"The little town of Bethlehem," the birthplace of Christ, and so the birthplace of 
Christianity, lies a short five miles to the southward of the Jaffa Gate to the Holy 
City. A splendid road passes through the Plain of Ephraim, and suddenly the well, 
where tradition says the "three wise men" stopped to water their camels and saw 
reflected in the water the star which led them to the manger of the Christ-child, comes 
into view. Farther along is the Tomb of Rachel, the wife of Jacob and the daughter of 
Laban. This spot is one revered by Jew, Christian, and Mohammedan alike. Then 
comes Bethlehem, which means "House of Bread," and which besides being the scene 
of the Nativity was the childhood home of David and the scene of the beautiful story 
of Ruth, his great-grandmother. 


The accompanying illustration is somewhat deceptive, as at a casual glance 
Bethlehem seems to lie in a valley. In reality it is upon a hill in the center of a 
gigantic cup, and the "Little Town" overlooks several valleys, one of which is still 
known as the Field of the Shepherds. 



An interesting feature of a visit to Bethlehem is the Church of the Nativity, built 
about 330 A. D. over the cave reputed to be the very stable in which Christ was bom, 
and on which spot the Romans had formerly built a Temple to Jupiter. The outside of 
the church is very simple and plain, but on the inside there are forty- four huge 
Corinthian columns, taken from the pagan temple that earlier stood on the site. The 
building has the appearance of being very old and the pagan columns lend dignity and 
simplicity to the whole. Steps lead down to the grotto now called the Chapel of the 
Nativity, and where the manger is still shown. The cave is about forty feet long by 
twelve wide and ten high. It has stone walls and a marble pavement. Near the altar is 
a silver star in the pavement with the Latin inscription Hie de Virgine Maria Jesus 
Christus natus est. It was in this cave, so the tradition says, that the angel warned the 
Holy Family to flee to Egypt. 


Not far from Bethlehem are the pools of Solomon which, as the picture indicates, are 
fairly well preserved, though the masonry shows indications of their great age. The 
mgged nature of the country is plainly visible in this illustration. 


Jerusalem itself is sufficiently interesting to warrant an article of its own. It was 
originally named Salem, and later Jebus. Doubtless its present name is derived from a 
combination of the two. It is built on two hillsides and the valley between, with deep 
gorges all about it. 


The present site has seen some eight cities, so that the streets upon which Christ 
walked are in some places a hundred feet or more below the present level but the old 
street lines remain. The two hills on which the city stands are Mount Moriah and 
Mount Zion, each about 2500 feet above sea level. The place is a natural fortress. Its 
present population is about seventy thousand, of which probably forty-five thousand 
are Jews, ten thousand Moslems, and fifteen thousand Christians, the great majority 
of whom are Greek Orthodox. All of the modern section, more than half of the city, 
both in extent and population, is outside the walls which fenced the "Old City." These 
walls are in splendid condition and built of a yellow limestone, which is as well the 
material for most of the old houses of the city. The walls are about forty feet high and 
from twelve to fifteen feet thick, level on top with watch towers at short intervals. 



Some of the rocks were actually put in place by the masons of Solomon, Herod and 
Agrippa. Of the eleven gates only six are open, the others having been walled up 
many years ago. 


Through the gate called "Golden," one finds his way to the holiest of the many holy 
places in the city. Mount Moriah is venerated by the three religions which are 
prevalent among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Surrounded by a rock wall and 
containing about thirty-six acres it composes about one-sixth the area within the city 
walls. It has been a place of religious sanctity for thousands of years. Here Abraham 
was about to sacrifice his son Isaac when he was shown the ram caught by its horns in 
the thicket; here David built his palace and erected an altar unto the Lord; and here, 
too, King Solomon built that Temple, which has been marveled over by succeeding 
generations. To this spot was conveyed the cedar from Lebanon which formed so 
large a portion of the structure and which was floated down the sea coast to Joppa, 
thence carried overland to the seat, of building operations on the Mount. 


Much of the enclosed area is now open, but it is all paved, and there are beautiful 
colonnades standing in the open court. A magnificent marble pulpit is erected in the 
court which is used for services on certain feast days when the mosque is wholly 
inadequate for the accommodation of the vast crowds, sometimes numbering more 
than twenty thousand. These buildings and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre suffered 
much damage in the recent earthquake. The Mount is some 2400 feet high and still 
rises in three separate terraces as it did in Solomon's time, and these are yet 
designated the Court of the Gentiles, the Court of the Israelites and the Court of the 
Priests, though it is centuries since the Temple worship ceased. 


Near the northwest corner of the enclosure stands a beautiful minaret on the site, it is 
said, where the Roman soldiers rescued St. Paul from the mob. This spire is plainly 
visible in the left and to the rear of the accompanying illustration. At the opposite 
corner is a subterranean structure now known as the "Stables of Solomon." It is 
reached by a short stairway, and has over a hundred massive stone columns. If built 
by Solomon, it was probably used by him as a storehouse, but there is no doubt that it 
was actually used as a stable by the Crusaders. Inside this area is the Mosque El Aksa. 
It was formerly a Christian Church and is the largest single structure in Jerusalem, 
measuring 272 by 184 feet. 



The object of greatest interest on Mount Moriah at this time is this Mosque of the 
Caliph Omar. It is built over the rock which was probably used as a threshing floor in 
ancient times by Orman the Jebusite, and which marks the site of offering on this 
sacrificial hill. The rock is directly under the great Dome of the Mosque, and still is in 
its original position and natural state, being in fact the apex of Mount Moriah. It is 
about six feet high and sixty feet long by twenty to forty feet wide. Although the rock 
is fenced off by a high wooden railing and a circular grill or screen of iron erected by 
the Knights Templar, which no one is permitted to enter, the grooves across the face 
to carry the blood from the sacrificial offerings of olden times are still visible. It was 
from this rock that the Prophet Mohammed, sitting on his favorite horse, ascended to 
heaven, horse, rider and all. The Mohammedans vouch for the veracity of this 
statement. It is also believed by the followers of the Prophet that Gabriel will stand on 
this rock and blow his trumpet on Judgment Day and that all souls will immediately 
rush there to be judged by Mohammed and Christ. Under it is a cave, in which is a 
well, called by the Moslem the Well of Souls. 


The Mosque was built about the year 700, but it was enlarged by the Crusaders who 
thought it was King Solomon's Temple. It was while occupying the Temple that some 
of the Crusaders formed the Order of Knights Templar. It was again enlarged by the 
Moslems about 1600. The Dome of the Rock stands on an irregular platform some ten 
or fifteen feet high, with marble steps leading up from the Cardinal Points, and 
terminating in beautiful arcades, over a pavement of marble mosaics and flagstones. 
The building has eight sides and is a perfect octagon set in a circle 177 feet in 
diameter. Each side measures sixty-six feet seven inches in length. The lower portion 
of the building is covered with marble slabs and the upper with glazed and colored 
porcelain tiles in the Persian style of the sixteenth century, while on the frieze are cut 
verses from the Koran. The dome is one hundred fifteen feet high, nearly as large as 
the dome of the United States Capitol, and is of a greenish copper color; it is 
surmounted by a crescent of gold. The building on the inside, on account of the iron 
grill work, gives one the impression of being circular. The roof and walls on the 
inside are covered with glass mosaics and beautiful arabesque carvings. The roof is 
supported by marble columns, probably taken from the temple built by Herod, and the 
floor is of marble, but covered with very rich Turkish rugs. There are also beautifully 
carved arches over the metal doors, and the light filters in through stained glass 
windows, which gives a soft and mysterious illumination to the interior, and 
especially is this light pleasing as it falls on the marble pulpit. 



The Dome of the Rock is regarded as a perfect specimen of Byzantine Architecture 
and has been copied in many parts of the world. In the Temple area there are, in 
addition to the buildings mentioned above, Moslem schools and dwellings, and there 
are several altars in the open court. 


The area is regarded by the Moslems as so sacred that neither dogs nor smoking is 
permitted within it. It is said that no Jew will enter this section lest he might walk on 
the sacred ground which the sanctum sanctorum of King Solomon's Temple once 
occupied. One is inclined to think of this spot on the day that the Queen of Sheba, 
from the Southland, with her great retinue, paid a visit to the wise and sometimes 
wicked King Solomon. She presented him with 120 talents in money, many precious 
stones, and great stores of spices, but the wily old King only put a little more gold 
dust in his flowing hair to make it sparkle in the sunshine, poured a little more 
perfume on his robe of state, exhibited proudly his gold chariots, diamond crown, 
many warriors and servants, gave the "old lady" a big feast, wished her a pleasant trip 
back home, and bade her a fond farewell, for with his seven hundred wives and three 
hundred concubines he was as satisfied to spend his last years on the throne wickedly 
as he had been to pass his first years as a ruler wisely. That is, judged by our modern 
ideas concerning morality. 


The Holy City, in fact the entire country of Palestine, is rich in Biblical lore. There is, 
perhaps, no more interesting place in the world, but above all the interests of modern 
Palestine the fact that it was the birthplace of Christianity, with all that that means, 
stands out most forcibly. 


— o — 


EDITORIAL 


R.J. MEEKREN, Editor in Charge 



E.E. Thiemeyer, Research Editor 


BOARD OF EDITORS 

LOUIS BLOCK, Iowa 
ROBERT I. CLEGG, Illinois 
GILBERT W. DAYNES, England 
RAY V. DENSLOW, Missouri 
GEORGE H. DERN, Utah 
N.W.J. HAYDON, Canada 
R.V. HARRIS, Canada 
C. C. HUNT, Iowa 
CHARLES F. IRWIN, Pennsylvania 
A. L. KRESS, Pennsylvania 
F. H. LITTLEFIELD, Missouri 
JOSEPH E. MORCOMBE, California 
ARTHUR C. PARKER, New York 
J. HUGO TATSCH, Iowa 
JESSE M. WHITED, California 
DAVID E. W WILLIAMSON Nevada 

THE STUDY CLUB AGAIN 



A CERTAIN brother, who shall be nameless, being sufficiently familiar with the 
Editorial Staff to treat it with undue levity, insists that it is pure waste of time to write 
editorials as nobody ever reads them. At times we fear there is more painful fact than 
jest in the assertion. Another brother recently complained of the change in the Study 
Club Department, saying that from a sort of post-graduate course it had descended to 
the kindergarten level, apparently not having read what we said about it last month. 
Surely the advanced students owe a fraternal duty to those brethren who are in the 
kindergarten class, to use his term, and to assist them to obtain further light by easy 
stages. At least, we frankly admit, without the financial support of those in the 
kindergarten and the elementary grades we should not be in a position to do much for 
the post-graduate students. 


As we said last month, the new departure is an experiment, and if not successful will 
not be continued. In fact the department would probably be eliminated. The proper 
place for advanced articles is in the body of the. magazine. We may add, for the 
benefit of those who were interested, that the authors of the Study Club articles 
during the past two years intend to continue the series. The next subject to be taken 
up will be the Lights of the Lodge. We gladly forgive our critic in this case because of 
our gratification in finding that there was one member of the Society who read the 
Study Club articles with interest and appreciation. 


* * * 


"THE SHADOW OF THE VATICAN" 


IT may be as well to explain once more what these articles are and what the purpose 
of the author is in publishing them. He is, as we have said, a priest of the Roman 
Church. He is one of those - of many, so he believes - who are dissatisfied with the 
administration of the affairs of his Church in this country, with the autocratic methods 
of its rulers, and the abuses and intrigues to which they give rise. He is writing 
primarily for the members of his Church with the hope that perhaps some redress may 
be found. His criticisms must therefore be read as those of a friend however severe 



they may seem. It may be well to repeat that we are fully satisfied that he has no 
personal motives, no axe to grind, no grudge to satisfy. He is not one who has had 
reason to feel that he has been passed by in preferments, or that he has suffered any 
personal injustice. We have no hesitation in saying that we believe that his object is 
simply what he says it is, the faint hope (for it is very faint) that his open criticism 
may lead to some crystallization of the latent discontent that he believes to exist 
among the members of his Church in the United States, which will lead to a 
relaxation of the present Italian domination, to something more of self-determination 
and to a reform of the worst of the abuses of which he complains. 


The articles, then, being addressed to members of the Roman Church by one of 
themselves, what have we to do with it? 


The author would have greatly preferred to publish them in some Roman Catholic 
periodical; but unfortunately that was out of the question. He, therefore, tried the 
secular press and found that that was equally impossible. He was given to understand 
that it would not do to offend the Church, of which it seems the press of the United 
States is mortally afraid. It is a serious allegation, but one that has been made before, 
more than once. And we can say that facts have come to our knowledge, since the 
manuscript was first submitted to us, that go to show that not only are the daily 
newspapers afraid to publish anything that might offend the Roman Church, no 
matter how true it may be nor how much the interests of the public might demand it, 
but that even the more weighty and serious magazines and reviews have the same 
fear. Furthermore, the author found that it would be difficult to publish it in book 
form unless he took all the expense and risk upon himself and acted as his own 
publisher. That was the situation so far as he was concerned, and he bad practically 
given up hope of his work ever seeing the light of day. 


Now a man can write an article or a book criticizing the Methodist, or the Episcopal 
Church, or Christian Science, or the system of public education, or the Army, or the 
Navy, or the Government, and he will have no special difficulty in finding an editor 
or a publisher to accept it. Any institution in the country, and the country itself, can 
be freely criticized - but the agents of publicity fear to touch one favored 
organization. Why? 



The answer is fairly simple. Leaving aside those periodicals and publishing houses 
that are controlled by Romanists, there is a fear, justified or not, that the members of 
the Church in question will act as a unit to injure the business of such publicist in any 
and all of the many ways that this can be done by concerted action. There is no need 
to enumerate them here, it is enough to say that it needs little imagination to see that 
the financial effects might be serious. 


It may be that in certain quarters religious intolerance still survives. There may be 
Protestants in this country who still believe Romanism to be idolatry, and who apply 
to it all the prophetic denunciations of the Old Testament, and the Apocalyptic ones 
of the New concerning the Scarlet Woman, and Babylon the Great, but truly we do 
not think there are very many, or that they have much weight. If there be any 
uneasiness in the minds of non-Romanists, and there is evidently a good deal, it is due 
precisely to such situations as the one just described. It is not religious antagonism or 
intolerance that exists, the Roman Church is not viewed with apprehension as a 
church or a religion, but as a potential political power with aims quite alien, even if 
not necessarily opposed, to those of the state. 


Let us say here as distinctly as possible, for the benefit of those who read hastily, that 
we are not here asserting that it is so, all we say is that many believe it to be so. That 
is the situation from the public point of view. 


What then is our position in the matter as Masons, as an organ of Masonic research? 


We stated editorially last May that 


. . . numbers of Masons in this country think and take for granted that Freemasonry is 
an anti-Roman Catholic institution. 



We repeat it. Regardless of the fact that there is no warrant for such an opinion in any 
ritual, code or constitution in any Grand Lodge in the United States, regardless of the 
fact that every Mason who has any knowledge of what Masonry is or stands for, 
knows that it is not so, it is yet true that a very large number of the members of the 
Fraternity simply take it for granted that it is anti-Roman. And this brings the matter 
within the purview of any organization engaged in Masonic education. And that is the 
situation from THE BUILDER'S point of view. 


Yet perhaps not quite all. It may be objected that it would have been sufficient to 
have merely repeated once again that Freemasonry in religious matters as in politics 
is neutral, that tolerance of all opinions and beliefs is incumbent on the Mason. But 
this has been done scores and hundreds of times. Every Masonic orator says it on 
almost every occasion; every Masonic journal repeats it every so often; and, such is 
the working of the human mind, often enough the very brethren who in one situation 
believe that Masonry is antiRomanist will in another applaud these same sentiments 
or even give utterance to them. 


When a man seeks medical advice concerning some symptom, a persistent pain in the 
eyes, let us say, or a sore that will not heal, the physician is not content to give him an 
opiate or a salve. He makes a full examination of his patient's physical condition. It 
may be the symptoms betoken the advance of some serious disease. It is evident that 
merely repeating that Masonry is tolerant and neutral has only a narcotic effect. The 
underlying causes of the situation need inquiring into. 


THE BUILDER takes no sides in the discussion, nor are we responsible for the 
opinions of the writers of the articles we have published. Our part was merely to 
make reasonably sure that they knew what they were talking about and kept within 
the limits of courtesy and fair criticism. We have rejected a number of other articles 
that did not in all respects meet these requirements or were not relevant to the 
problem. The address of Theodor Masaryk that appeared in the October number did 
in places verge on the savage, and is perhaps also not entirely just, but it is at least by 
a man brought up in the church he attacked, and who, by his own confession, sought 
to remain in it. Our chief reason for reproducing it was to exhibit how largely this 
forecast of twenty years ago has been falsified in the event. He thought the Church 
was in a decline, that the then comparatively recent formulation of the dogma of 



Papal Infallibility was going to be increasingly detrimental to it. Instead there has 
been a revival, especially since the war; the Church is becoming, it would seem, more 
aggressive; and internally, Ultramontanism, the Italian dominance, seems stronger 
than ever. It is precisely that centralization, that autocracy of Rome, that gives rise to 
the abuses and tyranny which Dr. Cadius (and others) hold to be detrimental to the 
spiritual activity of his Church, and that also inspires many non-Romanists with the 
fear that the Roman Church is a sort of army of occupation controlled from a foreign 
country. A revival of nationalism, of some measure of self-government of the Church 
in different countries, would seem to be calculated to remove the complaints of the 
one party and the apprehensions of the other. 


Bro. A. J. M., whose letter appears in the correspondence columns, is inclined to 
question the relevance of the two articles on schools and marriage in the Province of 
Quebec. This rather brings home the fact that THE BUILDER is to an extent not 
always realized an international journal. We must grant that from the Canadian point 
of view they are not particularly et propos, because conditions are rather different 
there. We believe that it is those who have the least contact with Romanists who fear 
them most, and who are most intolerant. There is no doubt that Protestants and other 
non-Romanists in the Province of Quebec are less concerned about alleged intrigues 
and far-reaching plans to dominate the country than those of Ontario, where they do 
not live so intimately with their Roman Catholic fellow-citizens. And there is a moral 
to be drawn from this fact. Familiarity is said to breed contempt, but it also leads to 
friendliness. One cannot well go on suspecting and fearing people whom one finds in 
daily life to be kind and honest neighbors - at a distance one can imagine anything. 
Furthermore, as the two articles mentioned show incidentally, and it could easily be 
confirmed with a wealth of evidence, the non-Romanist in Quebec feels perfectly 
secure. The Roman Church does not interfere with him or his concerns, he is perfectly 
free in the pursuit of happiness and well being in his own way. Whether it would 
continue so if Quebec was a sovereign state or not is another question, but a purely 
academic one, and communities are not, as such, interested in academic questions. 


Another difference between Canada and the United States is that the Roman Church 
is in the former country practically identified with the French Canadian people. 
Canada is engaged in the difficult and idealistic experiment of harmonizing two races 
and two cultures and two languages, each of which necessarily must modify the 
development of the other, but neither of which has any right to dominate or obliterate 
the other, nor yet the power to do so. It is doubtful if the British statesmen, who a 



hundred and more years ago were responsible, had realized the difficulties whether it 
would have been attempted; but whether blundered into or not the experiment was 
worth making. 


In a Roman Catholic country, the state must inevitably in some way recognize the 
church. In recognizing it, it to some extent controls it. Even in republican France the 
government makes reciprocal arrangements with the Church, and it has a real power 
of influencing and modifying the temporalities of the Church, which is all that the 
state is interested in. But in such a democracy as the United States the position is 
quite different. The state cannot recognize any church, and therefore cannot exert any 
control over its affairs. If, therefore, and the whole question lies in this "if," the 
members of any church or any society, act as a disciplined unit under their leaders in 
all public affairs they may easily obtain the influential position of holding the balance 
of power. It was precisely the apprehension of such an eventuality that led in many 
quarters to condemnation of the Ku Klux Klan quite as much as alleged acts of 
overriding the laws and usurping quasi-judicial powers. But if a purely American 
organization may be judged and condemned on this ground, why not one that is 
governed and controlled by a foreign authority? It all depends on the "if," on a 
question of fact; do the members of the Roman Church act as a political unit? 


It is on this question of fact that Dr. Cadius will, we believe, throw some light. He 
presents a picture of the working of the Church from within. Such an account will 
give much more direct information than any amount of observation from without. The 
question of course will still remain how far it is an accurate picture, and just what 
bearing it may have on the problem as a whole. We are not judging or thinking for 
members of the N.M.R.S. nor for Masons generally. All we can do is to provide such 
material as seems relevant to the question, and to exercise such care as we can that the 
authors are responsible. 


A final question may be asked. Supposing that on investigation it is found that the 
apprehensions and the disquiet felt by so many have some real justification, will any 
advance have been made towards removing that erroneous opinion existing among 
ill-informed members of the Craft that Masonry is as an institution hostile to 
Romanism? It must be confessed, the issue in that event would appear doubtful. But 
that cannot be helped. If a man's eyes are troubling him, his physician may find that it 



is not new glasses he needs but a course of treatment for indigestion. Clear thinking 
will solve the question; but it is necessary to think before one can think clearly. 
American Masons must learn to distinguish between their obligations as Masons and 
their duties as citizens, and not lay the burden of the latter upon Freemasonry as some 
seem inclined to do. 


It had been our original plan to begin the publication of this series of articles in the 
October number of THE BUILDER. It would seem that a word of explanation is due 
to our readers. Certain obstacles arose, and the date was set on to November. 
Unfortunately the hindrances were not all removed in time to get it into that issue. It 
then seemed better to defer it to the beginning of the coming year, for the obvious 
reason that the whole series would thus be in one volume. 


We regret this delay very much, but it may be that some advantage will arise from it. 
The series will all be in one volume, and it has been decided to make the several 
installments longer than was originally planned so that the conclusion will appear not 
much, if any, later than was originally intended. 


* * * 


PROPER OBJECTS 


CANDIDATES for the mysteries of Freemasonry are supposed to be men of mature 
age, of reasonable intelligence, of good character, and sufficient ability to at least earn 
their own living and expend their earnings at their own discretion for themselves and 
their families, if they have families. Seeing that these are qualifications necessary for 
the candidate, one would suppose that Freemasons in general form a body of mature 
men, of reasonable intelligence, and so on, down to being able to spend their own 
money at discretion. Very quaintly, however, it is being asserted in various quarters, 
and the chorus seems to be growing, that when these mature men of average 
intelligence, etc., etc., are gathered, organized, or congregated into a lodge that they 
no longer have these qualities, and that consequently their powers of discretion 



should be limited by new laws, regulations, decisions and rulings in addition to those 
we already have. In other words, we are in the presence of a new Landmark in the 
making. Lodge funds are to be used only for Masonic purposes. 


One argument advanced sounds very well. Money paid into the lodge treasury in the 
way of dues and fees is "in the nature of a trust fund." If it be dissipated by payments 
for non-Masonic purposes, however innocent or worthy in themselves, what is to 
happen when a need arises for the exercise of relief - when some brother falls ill and 
requires assistance - when he dies and his family are left destitute? Some lodges, very 
few unfortunately, like the wise virgins in the parable do make preparations for future 
contingencies. Some put aside all initiation fees, others a percentage of their receipts, 
others budget a certain sum each year to go into a reserve for such purposes. But here 
is the amazing thing. Masonic funds being as it is said in the nature of trust funds 
cannot be used except for Masonic purposes. A contribution to a hospital, to a local or 
national charity, to a fresh air fund is not Masonic. But banquets, entertainments, 
cigars, furniture, fixtures are Masonic. A lodge may spend all its money without 
reproach for these and their like. It may even go into debt for them, and the surveyors 
of Landmarks say not a word. But imagine their outcry if any misguided lodge were 
to borrow money to contribute to some charitable or benevolent cause. 


After all, what business is it of anyone else what the members of a lodge choose to do 
with their own money? They are free to fix what amount they please for annual dues. 
A minimum sum they must have to meet the amount due to the Grand Lodge, what 
more they may choose to add to that is their own affair. And it being their own money 
it is equally their own affair how they spend it - whether on Masonic suppers and 
cigars or un-Masonic charities. Has the exercise of benevolence to those in distress 
become an un-Masonic action? Is it un-Masonic for a group of Masons to collectively 
engage in a charitable action? 


The question of lodge reserves is another matter entirely. If a Grand Lodge enacted 
that its constituent lodges should set aside a certain amount annually for every 
member of the lodge, or so much for every candidate initiated, that would be a 
different matter. Most Grand Lodges, however, have deemed it better to have a 
collective reserve under Grand Lodge control. But outside of such specific enaction it 
really seems an unwarrantable interference with the plain rights of a lodge to rule how 



it shall expend its own money; especially to forbid it to spend it for charitable or 
benevolent purposes. 


Nowhere else in the world but in America has such dictation ever been dreamed of. In 
all other countries Masonic lodges frequently contribute to such objects, and it is 
considered most proper that they should. A lodge whose members collectively act in 
this way will not be likely to fail in its obligations to distressed brethren. 


— o — 

THE NORTHEAST CORNER 

Bulletin of the National Masonic Tuberculosis Sanatoria Association 

Incorporated by Authority of the Grand Lodge of New Mexico, A.F.&A.M. 
MASONIC TEMPLE, ALBUQUERQUE, N. M. 

OFFICERS AND BOARD OF GOVERNORS 

HERBERT B. HOLT, Past Grand Master, President 
RICHARD H. HANNA, Vice-President 
JAFFA MILLER, Vice-President 
FRANCIS E. LESTER, Vice-President 
WILBUR L. ELSER, Executive Secretary 



ALPHEUS A. KEEN, Secretary 
JOHN W. BOWMAN, Treasurer 

ROBERT J. NEWTON, Editor, Manager N.M.T.S.A.. Las Cruces, New Mexico 


Masonic Tubercular Relief 


(Concluded) 


IN my Annual Address to the Grand Lodge of New Mexico in February last, in 
discussing this movement I made the following observations: 


My faith in our Fraternity is strong enough to cause me to believe that if given the 
opportunity, through the sanction and cooperation of the Masonic leaders of the 
several Grand Jurisdictions and the officers of all other Masonic bodies, every 
American Freemason will gladly contribute at least $1.00 per year for the relief and 
hospitalization of our brethren and the members of their families who are afflicted 
with tuberculosis. 


The responsibility for the financing of this work and for salvaging Masonic lives and 
homes in such manner, rests primarily upon the Grand officers and leaders of 
American Grand Jurisdictions, and upon the officers of all Masonic bodies. 


In the name of our sacred and binding obligations, and in the name of our afflicted 
brethren from whom is emanating the Grand Hailing Sign of Distress, 1 implore the 
Masonic leaders of thought and action to extend to our brethren this opportunity to 
practice the great teachings of our Fraternity and to aid in financing this humanitarian 
movement. 



Millions of dollars are garnered in the treasuries of Grand Lodges and constituent 
Lodges; and more millions in the treasuries of other Masonic bodies, and in those of 
organizations affiliated with or claiming some connection with Freemasonry. These 
millions are growing into more millions. Why this great accumulation of wealth? For 
what useful purpose is it designed? Is it for the construction of costly Temples or to 
enable the Craft adequately to finance some great work for the relief of, and genuine 
material service to, the Fraternity and humanity? 


Shall we continue to levy assessments for the erection of great Masonic edifices and 
Memorials, while closing our purses and shutting our eyes to the distress of our sorely 
afflicted brethren and turning a deaf ear to appeals for funds in aid of a relief program 
designed upon a National scale, the financing of which would require the contribution 
of but the insignificant sum of $1.00 per annum by each American Freemason? Shall 
not a comparatively small portion of the accumulated and hoarded wealth of the 
Fraternity be annually contributed to a general fund to be administered as a sacred 
trust by the Sanatoria Association, organized by the Masons and controlled and 
directed by representatives of each Masonic Grand Jurisdiction, for the benefit and 
relief of our afflicted brethren and their families? Are not the lives of Freemasons, 
and those of their wives and children, more valuable to the Fraternity and to America 
than mere wealth alone? Aye, are they not wealth itself? 


I quote the words of the poet, Gray, in his beautiful "Elegy in a Country Churchyard": 


"HI fares the land, to hastening ills a prey. 
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay." 


Following the Chicago Meeting, acting under authority there conferred, an appeal was 
made for contributions, upon the basis of fifteen cents per capita of Masonic 
membership. Before Masonic bodies had time to act upon the appeal, we had an 
opportunity to purchase a Sanatorium in El Paso, Texas, in first-class condition, for 
about fifty cents on the dollar of its real value. 



The cost, including furniture and equipment, would have been $75,000.00. Our first 
appeal was immediately supplemented with a full statement concerning the 
opportunity to acquire a "going hospital, wherein immediately to commence our work 
of relief." 


These appeals were made to every Masonic Grand body, including the Scottish Rite, 
the Shrine, the Grotto, and the General Grand Chapter of the Order of Eastern Star. 
The response was negligible. 


Shortly thereafter the great Mississippi Flood became a menace, and the brethren of 
the states directly affected were compelled to make plans for the relief of those who 
were, or would be, in distress. More than $500,000.00 was contributed to Flood 
Relief, and the Cause of Masonic Tubercular Relief was lost sight of in this dramatic 
disaster. Freemasons contributed liberally to aid flood sufferers and to replace 
property losses, but would not or did not visualize the necessity and duty and 
obligation to respond to an appeal for aid in the effort to save Masonic lives, Masonic 
families and Masonic homes. 


In my aforesaid address to the Grand Fodge of New Mexico, in discussing our first 
appeal the following observations were made, to-wit: 


The economic phase of our problem affords an interesting study, and provides 
convincing and conclusive evidence of the importance and value of salvaging the 
health, the lives and homes of our tubercular brethren; but the controlling and 
actuating motive is and should be OUR OBFIGATION. 


Our appeal for funds with which to finance the work will demonstrate, during the 
present year, whether or not American Freemasonry has a soul. It will demonstrate 
whether or not we observe the letter or the spirit of the law; for: "Faith without works 
is dead." 



Our first appeal for funds, upon the basis of fifteen cents per capita, calls upon each 
American Freemason to contribute at least the price of one good cigar for the 
assistance and relief of his sick brethren. The cost of attempting to collect this sum 
from each individual would be prohibitive. Hence we ask that each Masonic body 
contribute that amount from its treasury, in which event there will be no expense of 
collection. If there are no available funds in the treasury, we ask that each Masonic 
body circularize its membership, either constituent Lodges or individual members, 
asking for voluntary contributions. We believe that such action will provide average 
contributions far in excess of fifteen cents per capita. 


If, during the ensuing year, contributions from all Grand Lodges average fifteen cents 
per capita, the total sum contributed will equal $487,500.00. With this amount it is 
proposed to construct an initial or first hospital unit of one hundred bed capacity, at 
an estimated cost of $250,000.00; to set aside $100,000.00 for the first year's 
operating expense; and an equal amount for home relief work, and hospitalization in 
existing sanatoria, pending completion of the Masonic Sanatorium; to continue the 
educational and publicity campaign and to carry on the administrative work. 


My remarks upon this subject concluded as follows, to-wit: 


Some Grand Jurisdictions are wealthier than others and are financially able to care for 
their own members, whether they do or not. According to our conception of Masonic 
obligations, they are binding upon us, no matter where a needy brother may be found; 
our obligations are not limited by State lines or by any other boundaries. We are, or 
we should be, one common brotherhood. Shall we continue as forty-nine separate 
organizations, not interested in each other's problems, and not interested in our own 
brethren if they wander from their homes? Or shall we unite as one family to care for 
those who have fallen by the wayside, who are down and out through no fault of their 
own? 



A national organization has been perfected and a plan outlined, a Design has been 
placed upon the Trestleboard, whereby succor and relief may be afforded to our 
tuberculous brethren. If they are longer neglected their blood will be upon our hands. 


It has fallen to our lot to speak for these brethren of our "Grand Lodge of Sorrow." 
They are a great, inarticulate mass, scattered in thousands of homes throughout this 
great, free and wealthy land of ours. They cannot personally make their plea to the 
Fraternity. Therefore, in their name we have made a plea to the Masons of America, 
to stretch forth their hands to aid our fallen brethren and to assist in raising them 
again, to stand among us as men and Masons. 


In the great true heart of American Freemasonry is to be found the answer to our 
appeal. 


Many and varied have been the reasons assigned by the various Grand Jurisdictions 
which have declined or failed to join the organization or to respond to the appeals for 
cooperation and financial assistance. 


There has been borne in upon our minds the conviction that jealousy upon the part of 
certain leaders of the Masonic Service Association has engendered a spirit of 
antagonism, or lack of sincere, genuine cooperation. It has also been demonstrated 
that numerous Masonic leaders are fundamentally opposed to a national organization 
of this or any other character, and believe in zealously safeguarding the sovereignty 
of each Grand Jurisdiction, and limiting Masonic relief work of every and any 
character strictly within the confines of their several jurisdictions, coupled with the 
assertion that they will take care of their own tuberculars within their own borders if 
they will stay at home and that they will even take care of their own, thus afflicted, 
who may migrate to more favorable climates in the hope of obtaining relief; but as to 
the latter assertion, our experience has demonstrated that its fulfillment is the 
exception rather than the rule; and I am confident that this statement can be 
corroborated by the experience of other Grand Jurisdictions within the confines of the 
great "Tuberculosis Triangle." It is contended by some opponents of the association 
that the admittedly superior climatic advantages of the arid and semiarid Southwest 



are not essential to the treatment and cure of tuberculosis; but it is a noteworthy fact 
that statistics have revealed that by far the larger percentage of tuberculars who have 
migrated to those regions were advised so to do by their local physicians. 


It is not my purpose to discuss or argue with reference to the two schools of thought 
upon this subject. Suffice it to say that the basic and primary purpose and object of 
the association was not the establishment of Sanatoria in any particular section of the 
country, but to arouse the Fraternity to a realization of the impelling obligation and 
imperative necessity to organize upon a broad national scale to deal with the great 
problem. It should be remembered that tuberculosis is an infectious and 
communicable disease, wherein it differs from certain other diseases to which the 
human flesh is heir and the death toll from which is great; and it should also be 
remembered that tuberculosis is a great menace to the children of the adult brethren or 
parents who may be afflicted with the disease and that it is highly important to 
educate the public as to the best means not only of prevention but for cure. 


Other opponents of the project urge that the movement is a departure from the 
fundamental teachings of the Order, chief among which is training the individual 
Mason to practice individual charity. 


It seems to me that one of the fundamental teachings is service; and that the character 
of the service demanded by the magnitude of the tuberculosis problem is such as to 
render it imperatively necessary to organize upon a basis and scale commensurate 
with the magnitude of the situation now confronting the Masonic Fraternity. 


One of the greatest difficulties encountered has been that incident to the succession in 
the leadership of the various Grand Jurisdictions. Grand Master Charles F. Roberts, of 
the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, aptly said: 


Times change and men change with them. Grand Masters come and go, with varying 
ideas of the relative values of matters in which our Fraternity is concerned. What 
seems important to me may not be so regarded by my successors, but we have the 



comforting assurance that the policies and ultimate purposes of Freemasonry are 
fixed, and that necessarily the efforts of all are directed towards the same worthy end. 


It is not my purpose here to challenge the sincerity of any brethren whose opinions 
differ from mine or from those entertained by my intimate associates in the conduct 
of the affairs of the association. For them as men and Masons I entertain the highest 
respect and fraternal regard but from my viewpoint it seems deplorable that American 
Freemasonry cannot unite in this great cause, and contemplation of the apparent 
apathy and indifference, and inability or unwillingness to envision the cause from a 
broad national standpoint, "maketh the heart sick." 


The sanatorium which we had an opportunity to purchase in El Paso and which 
should now be in operation as the "First National Masonic Sanatorium," was 
purchased by a Catholic Nursing Order, and is now rendering service as a Catholic 
Sanatorium. It was financed in short order, without fuss or feathers; there was an 
immediate and adequate response to the call for the requisite funds. 


It has been said that the establishment of such a Masonic Sanatorium would constitute 
a standing invitation for migratory consumptives. The answer is: suppose this were 
true; are we not organized for the great fundamental purpose of contributing as 
largely and expeditiously as possible to the relief of our tubercular brethren and 
members of their families afflicted with the dread disease, in the effort to salvage and 
restore them to health, activity and economic production at the earliest possible date? 
Time will not permit an elaboration of the economic features of the problem. Suffice 
it to say that upon the basis of statistics of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company 
of New York the total economic loss from the death of 4,309 American Freemasons 
who die each year is over $93,000,000.00. 


The foregoing observations indicate that the prospects for the successful 
consummation of our work of organization are not encouraging at the present time; 
but "Rome was not built in a day" and it may well be that several years must elapse 
before our hopes are fully realized. 



However, as a result of the campaign of education, there has been stimulated in many 
jurisdictions a marked degree of activity in the line of tubercular relief work. 


Defeat is not recognized or admitted. The facts are thus laid before your organization; 
and your advice and counsel are solicited as to the best method for attaining the great 
objective. Your members have studied and worked upon relief problems, and by 
virtue of their knowledge and experience should be able to offer invaluable 
suggestions. 


The abandonment of the movement would be tantamount to admitting that 
Freemasonry cannot function outside of Jurisdictional lines, or upon a national scale; 
that its protestations are as "sounding brass and tinkling cymbal"; that it does not 
practice what it preaches; that it has been "weighed in the balances" and found 
wanting, and that it is incapable of that degree of cohesion and coordination essential 
to dealing efficiently and effectively with the existing situation. American 
Freemasonry is on trial, and will stand or fall according to the final answer to our sick 
brethren, standing in the Northeast comer, pleading for help, which has been so long 
withheld and the failure to render which has resulted in the death of so large a number 
while we have debated among ourselves. 


How many more Masonic lives will be sacrificed, how many more Masonic homes 
will be destroyed before the sleeping giant of American Freemasonry arouses to meet 
the need and to fulfill our sacred obligation? 


What is your answer, what do you advise and what will you do? 


— o — 


THE STUDY CLUB 



A pamphlet on "How to Organize and Maintain a Study Club" will be sent free on 
request, in quantities to fifty 


An Educational Committee and Its Work 


THE Grand Lodge of Saskatchewan, through its Committee on Masonic Study and 
Research, has been bringing to the attention of the Craft in that jurisdiction various 
matters relating to the Craft degrees. The last year was devoted to the Second Degree, 
the preceding one to the Entered Apprentice ceremony and the present season is to 
carry the work through the Third Degree. 


The program for the current year is quite comprehensive and is reprinted below to 
enable our readers to know what is being done in that locality as well as to assist 
existing Study Clubs in the arrangement of programs. References, as recommended 
by the Study and Research Committee, are included for convenience. 


NOVEMBER - Opening Third Degree. Review of previous degrees. 
Ward's M. M. Handbook, p. 16. 

Meaning of Masonry, p. 124. 


DECEMBER - Preparation, Exception, Prayer, Circumambulation. 
Sanderson's Examination, p. 79. 

Mackey's Symbolism, p. 141. 

Street's Symbolism, p. 144. 



J ANUARY - Obligation, Points of Fellowship. 

Sanderson's Examination, p. 81. 

Street's Symbolism, p. 155. 

FEBRUARY - The Legend of the Degree. 

Ward's M. M. Handbook, p. 74. 

Mackey's Symbolism, p. 228. 

Haywood's Symbolism, p. 268. 

Address of M. W. Bro. Thornton given in full in the book of Essays published by the 
Regina Masonic Research Club. 

MARCH - Sprig of Acacia, Eccl. xii, The Lost Word. 

Sanderson's Examination, p. 91. 

Mackey's Symbolism, p. 249. 

Street's Symbolism, pp. 157-161. 

Haywood's Symbolism, p. 256. 

Ward's Moral Teachings, p. 57. 

APRIL - Apron, Working Tools. 

Ward's M. M. Handbook, p. 62. 

Street's Symbolism, p. 145. 



MAY - The Completed Temple. The qualifications of a M. M. or when is a man a 
M.M. 

Ward's M. M. Handbook, p. 106. 

Mackey's Symbolism, p. 86. 

JUNE - Closing Third Degree. Summary of the Symbolism of the Third Degree. 
Ward's M. M. Handbook, pp. 101 and 106. 

Sanderson's Examination, p. 58. 

The Committee further recommends that each of the above subjects be consulted in 
Mackey's Encyclopaedia. 


The following books are kept by the Grand Lodge and are recommended by the 
Committee: 

The Builders. 

Sanderson's Examination of the Masonic Ritual. 

Ward's Handbooks. 

Street's Symbolism. 

Mackey's Symbolism. 

Haywood's Symbolical Masonry. 

Wilmhurst's Meaning of Masonry. 

Moral Teachings of Masonry. 



As a guide to the method of treating the various subjects the Committee has supplied 
the following outline covering the November topic: 


"The opening of a lodge in any degree is of the greatest importance, for, depending 
entirely upon how well that duty is performed will the work of the degree be 
appreciated and become of personal benefit. Although lodge work is carried on by the 
assembled brethren we should not forget that the meaning is personal and individual, 
each degree only adding to and strengthening that of the former degree, reaching its 
climax when the candidate passes through the valley of the shadow of death to behold 
that bright and shining morning the meaning of which the Master is at some pains to 
make plain to the Master Mason who henceforward is expected to follow that light 
implicitly. 


"Going back then to the First Degree we discover that: The candidate is prepared 
without the lodge - is admitted to a lodge already opened by the method used in that 
degree. He is in darkness (without knowledge) and is to be trained or taught that the 
degree is only a preparatory school in which is exhibited symbolically all things that 
he must avoid, and also those he must practice and emulate in order to be in a fit and 
proper state to be advanced to the Second Degree and permitted to explore into the 
secrets and hidden mysteries of nature and science; and it may be here asserted by the 
experience expressed by all ancient initiates - without true preparation the laborer 
labors in vain, for nature does not give up her secrets for any purpose less noble than 
for the highest benefits of mankind. 


"Having learned that the purpose of all nature is for the benefit of mankind and that 
even man must sooner or later pass through another great and mysterious change to 
another life the opening ceremony of the Third Degree prepares all his mental 
processes to pass through the ordeal; an ordeal that is beautifully told but of its real 
significance the raised or resurrected Master Mason alone can tell for no two receive 
quite the same impression yet once assembled with their brethren the result would 
apparently be the same. 



"It will at once be apparent to the student who analyzes the motive of each degree that 
a detailed opening of the lodge in each degree is the only one that can be of value to 
the 'seeking' Mason, for the reason that the mind is raised by complete and successive 
stages to an appreciation of the final epoch and transition to another life. 


"To come out of the turmoil and strife of our everyday life, to rush into a serious 
contemplation of the higher and sacred truths which Masonry attempts to unfold to its 
members is impossible without the three steps of opening which are the means of 
inducing that peaceful, quiet and contemplative attitude necessary to Divine union." 


References: Any brother preparing a paper on this subject should first read one or 
more of the following books: The Meaning of Masonry by Wilmshurst; The Magic of 
Masonry by Powell; Ward's M. M. Handbook. 


The circular letter sent to all lodges by the Committee on Masonic Study and 
Research embodies the following suggestions for arousing interest in the programs. 


"It might be possible for neighboring lodges to adopt similar programs and then on 
one or two meetings arrange a fraternal visit, the visiting lodge giving the paper and 
the home lodge leading in the discussion. 


"After a paper is given it is important to get a discussion on the topic as it is generally 
acknowledged that this does as much if not more good than the paper itself. In order 
to facilitate this work it is suggested that a copy of the paper be given to the Brother, 
who is to lead the discussion, a few days before the actual meeting. This gives him a 
chance to emphasize the points that appeal to him, to look up any references he may 
wish, and be in a position to offer the friendly criticism that causes a general 
discussion. 



"It is essential too to have a 'question box' at each meeting and your Committee are 
prepared to take care of any questions that come up which cannot be answered by any 
brother present." 


The work of Masonic Education in the Jurisdiction of Saskatchewan seems to be most 
ably handled. The above outline of their program for the coming year is 
comprehensive, and the material furnished with it seems to carry a number of 
concrete suggestions which might be adopted to advantage by many American Grand 
Lodges. 


— o — 


THE LIBRARY 


The books reviewed in these pages can be procured through the Book Department of 
the N.M.R.S. at the prices given, which always include postage. These prices are 
subject (as a matter of precaution) to change without notice; though occasion for this 
will very seldom arise. Occasionally it may happen, where books are privately 
printed, that there is no supply available, but some indication of this will be given in 
the review. The Book Department is equipped to procure any books in print on any 
subject, and will make inquiries for second-hand works and books out of print. 


FREIMAURERISCHES LESEBUCH, Eine Einfuhrung in das Freimaurerische 
Schriftum Band II, by Dr. August Horneffer. Published by the Verein Deutsches 
Freimauer, Leipsig. Boards, analytical table of contents, 183 pages. 


THIS "Freemason's Reader" is highly interesting and instructive. In it we are given 
enlightening glimpses into the German Weltanschauung, there is no real equivalent 
for the word in English; the German world-view, way of looking at things, may serve. 
The work is made up of a selection of speeches and addresses made by leaders in the 



realm of German thought and life, by scientists, philosophers and statesmen. Of 
course a statesman may speak like a scientific philosopher, and conversely a 
philosopher may be scientific and even statesmanlike. 


The student of psychology will find much valuable material, material that constitutes 
a striking body of evidence for the supremacy of the subjective over the objective 
world - "things are not what they seem"; that is, things exist for the individual as they 
impress themselves mediately through his prejudices, predilections, and according to 
his understanding, upon the inner man, the ego, or, according to Prof. Freud, the 
superego. 


Of quite special interest are two addresses, the one by Kaiser Wilhelm I in 1853, 
when he was fifty-three years old, and the other by his son, Kaiser Frederic I, in 1883, 
at the age of fifty-one. What a contrast! The latter is sufficiently brief to be quoted in 
full: 


We must not rest in our search, our examination and exploration. We ought not to 
maintain or support the traditional simply because it has become valuable, and dear to 
us, as a heritage, because it has become a cherished habit. As far as we are concerned 
we should ever be mindful of the principle, not stagnation but progress. 


A similar contrast is presented to the reader in an address by Johan Gottlieb Fichte in 
1803, and a discourse by Dr. Horneffer, the editor of the book, in which he enunciates 
a set of ideas or doctrines. Fichte says: 


Just as, in the eyes of a Freemason, the earthly purpose is to the eternal, the heavenly 
purpose, so is the profit, interest and advantage of the state in which he (the Mason) 
lives to the profit and advantage of the whole of humanity. ... In his (a Mason's) 
inner being, patriotism and internationalism are inwardly united, the two are in a 
definite relation. Patriotism actively constitutes internationalism, humanity constitutes 
the idea, the ideal. The first is appearance, the second the inner side of the 
appearance, the invisible in the visible world. 



The ideals presented by Dr. Homeffer are very widely different: 


Germanization and Humanization are one and the same thing. There is no abstract 
humanity. . . . 


The Master of Nazareth stood above patriotism as an ideal only in so far, and because, 
he was more than human. In so far as he was human he was a child of his time. For 
every people internationalism must be conformed to patriotism. . . . 


For this reason we German Freemasons are opposed to political equalization just as 
we reject human equalization. God has made us Germans. . . . 


Our author here represents, mirabilissime dictum, the general attitude, the standard, 
the ideal of a large majority of the human race, but in the opinion of the present writer 
this was not the ideal of the founders, the pioneers of our organization, the Fraternity 
and Society of Freemasons; and it was not the ideal of, nor is it in accord with the 
teachings of Him from whom we learned to say, "Our Father, Who art in Heaven." 

For if He is our Father, then all human beings are brothers in fact; and of this He gave 
us one great lesson, one great example when He washed His disciples' feet. 



AN OUTLINE INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS. By T. H. 
Robinson, D. D. Published by the Oxford University Press (Milford). Cloth, 244 
pages. Price, $2.15. 


THIS is an admirable book for those interested in the origins and the comparative 
study of religions. There is an increasing body of seekers after true knowledge as 
opposed to the knowledge of dogmatic assertion. The latter of course has its value 
which varies in proportion to the truth it contains. But a true student cannot remain 
satisfied under any tutelage which precludes investigation and discussion. 


Fortunately, Dr. Robinson is not dogmatic. He is meticulously careful in avoiding 
statements of preference. One feels that he is bent only on eliciting facts, allowing 
them to speak for themselves. 


But there is more in the book than facts; there is the correlation of them. The 
arrangement of material follows a plan that is both logical and natural. One cannot 
claim that it is also chronological because, in dealing with the primitive ages of 
human development, it is not always possible from the evidence to state the time- 
order of religious progress; in the strictly historical periods other considerations carry 
more weight than mere chronology. In order to illustrate this latter point, let us turn to 
the concluding chapters of the volume (vii-ix). Chronologically, Islam is the latest 
monotheistic phenomenon. Yet it is not by any means the most significant in wealth 
of content, or in evolutionary power. Islam is a static religion. Accordingly the author 
treats of Islam first, and reserves the place of honor to Christianity as the climax in an 
age-long spiritual pilgrimage (pp. 178-207; 208-244). No one nurtured in the bosom 
of Christian civilization will quarrel with him for that. 


Those who have browsed among the pages of Frazer's Golden Bough and read 
carefully Otto's Idea of the Holy will be interested in the author's treatment of the 
feelings and beliefs which group themselves about such words as mana, psyche and 
pneuma, anima and spiritus. The discussion arises in the course of a masterly review 
of the various types of theory which are based on the available facts of primitive 
religion (pp. 30-46). In this section the author also separates clearly the belief in the 



prolongation of life after death from the religion of primitive man. Monotheistic 
faiths exhibit the two in close conjunction, belief in the continuity of life here and 
beyond the grave depending upon belief in God. But the evidence seems to indicate 
that originally these two lines of thought, or better, instinct, were collateral and 
independent of one another. 


Although Hebrew history and prophecy are the special province of Dr. Robinson, his 
statement of the monolatrous conditions of pre-exiled Israel does not appear 
convincing. While many scholars will accept his affirmation as descriptive of the 
religion of the masses, the teaching of Amos and Hosea is undiluted monotheism (pp. 
102-3; 167-171). 


Nevertheless it may be said that the book is lucid, eminently readable (with 
occasional gleams of humor) and strongly to be recommended not only to beginners 
in the study of religion, but also to more advanced students who desire to see the 
subject of their investigation presented in a concise yet panoramic form. 


F. G. V. 


* * * 


HOW TO WRITE: A Book of Helpful Suggestions on Various Phases of Writing. 
Published by the Corona Typewriter Company, Inc., Groton, New York. Price, $1.25. 


“THIS book, if you follow its suggestions carefully, will make money for you." 
Indeed a most enticing sentence with which to open a volume! 



Yet truth compels me to admit that it is one of the best little books I have ever read on 
the subject. Above all, it is intensely practical; it tells in simple and well chosen 
words just what you wish to know. It is the sort of book which every magazine editor 
prays his contributors will read before burdening him with manuscripts such as I have 
seen in my day. 


Brae Barton contributes a chapter on "Developing a Style." It is as terse and to the 
point as his own well-read editorials. Ray Long, now vice-president and editor-in- 
chief of the International Magazine Company, which publishes, among others, such 
magazines as "Good Housekeeping," "Harper's Bazaar" and the "Cosmopolitan," 
presents a chapter, "The Writing of Fiction," which prompts one to drop his work and 
start right out on one of those fine ideas which come in the silences of the night but 
which fall so flat after the next morning's breakfast. Mr. Long's articles are illustrated 
by practical examples, and leads one to the chapter on "How to Prepare a 
Manuscript," so that it will possess the ear marks of a professional writer and have a 
better opportunity of acceptance. 


The little book closes with a bibliography of literature on writing. The titles are 
excellent ones, really selected with care, and not put in merely to fill the space. 


The volume is recommended to all writers, especially to those of the Masonic Craft, 
even though contributions to Masonic literature are not productive of the money 
which is promised in the introduction of How to Write. But perhaps efforts to produce 
Masonic literature may be good practice for manuscripts of a more remunerative 
nature, for, after all, it is continuous practice which develops a writer. Even Masonic 
scribes are paid occasionally for their labors; I speak from experience! 



THE ROYAL ROAD TO ROMANCE. By Richard Halliburton. Published by The 
Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis. Cloth, table of contents, illustrated, 3,99 pages. 
Price, $5.25. 


THE fact that Mr. Halliburton's first book was published two years ago may be reason 
enough for not noticing it in review columns of the press. It would doubtless be more 
timely to make mention of his later work, but it is of so little importance compared to 
the earlier effort that the preference is given to The Royal Road to Romance, an 
interesting and thoroughly enjoyable book. 


Mr. Halliburton, a Princetonian, enjoys the plague of the wanderlust. The choice of 
words may be criticised in the above sentence, particularly by those who are plagued 
by the same desire for wandering, but in this case the word "enjoy" describes the 
sensation more nearly than any other. The author had the craving for travel and 
actually satisfied it and therein does he differ from most of us. 


The story can be told in few words, but the author consumes a volume of almost 400 
pages and not one of them should be omitted. The present writer would not object if 
the narrative were carried to twice its length. It is no more than the adventures of a 
young collegian filling the interval between school and the business world with a 
"vagabond voyage around the world," to use a phrase of his predecessor, Harry A. 
Franck. 


The trips of Franck and Halliburton differ in many ways. Their itineraries are not the 
same, and their observations show marked differences in character. Franck is a 
student of life and his tale palls at times because of his minute descriptions of 
customs, though the tale is interesting nevertheless. Halliburton, on the other hand, is 
a romanticist and revels more in the beauty of a landscape than in the peculiarities of 
its people. Both are keen observers; both are college men, and both gained their 
desired ends. Their aims were different and their tales vary accordingly, but this is not 
the time for such comparison. 



To enumerate all of the bright spots in the journey of Halliburton would require more 
space than is available. It is impossible to forget his ascent of the Matterhorn, 
possibly because when the summit was reached Halliburton was awed by the scenery 
while his companion was engrossed in the more prosaic thought that there was one 
place in the world where it was possible to spit a mile. Paris is interesting primarily 
because it recalls places and events and not for any unusual happenings in the tale. 
The visit to Andorra, a little republic in the heart of the Pyreness, is a fascinating bit 
of narration, and Gibraltar furnishes anecdotes enough to satisfy anyone. 


All of this is overshadowed by the night spent on top of the Pyramid of Cheops. A 
foolish prank you may think, but none the less a stopping place on the Road to 
Romance. It is no more than a way station however, because we are enthralled by the 
beauty of the Taj Mahal and a night spent in its gardens. Romance must have been in 
the air that night, but for the satisfaction of a craving for romance could anything 
have been more healing than the Valley of Kashmir? There is the romantic ballad, one 
of the Indian Love Lyrics, you must know it, the Kashmiri Song, it is one of the most 
romantic bits of music I know, and from Halliburton's descriptions the country lives 
up to its reputation. 


The narrative follows the established rules of story telling, and leads to a climax in 
Japan, but not before the author has had many interesting adventures in the South 
Seas. The midwinter ascent of Fujiyama alone is the most thrilling adventure of all 
and in some ways the, most romantic. 


So far as the book itself is concerned there is little to say, except that it is up to the 
standard set by the narrative. It is well bound and printed on a good quality of paper. 
The illustrations are well done and copious in quantity. The Royal Road to Romance 
is a book everyone should read and it is suitable for presentation purposes. 


E. E. T. 


* * * 



RESEARCH TRANSACTIONS 


ARS QUATUOR CORONATI, Vol. xxxviii, Parts I and II [1925]. 


THE Quatuor Coronati Lodge and its Secretary and Editor, Bro. W. J. Songhurst, are 
to be congratulated on the progress being made in catching up with the arrears in 
publication, due to the war and the consequent period of depression. At the present 
rate of progress the normal state of affairs may soon be looked for. During the year 
1925 W. Bro. J. Heron Lepper was Master of the lodge, which, it is needless to say, is 
one of the highest honors in the select circles of Masonic scholarship. We trust that 
many of our readers will make the acquaintance of the valuable History of the Grand 
Lodge of Ireland, recently reviewed in THE BUILDER, of which he and Bro. Philip 
Crossle are the joint authors. 


The first paper in the two parts under review is one by Bro. Boris Telepneff on 
Russian Freemasonry in the reign of Alexander I. The history of the Craft in Russia is 
very obscure, and any new light upon it is very welcome. The first definite historical 
starting point seems to be the Provincial Grand Mastership of Gen. James Keith. He 
was appointed in 1740 by his brother, the Earl of Kintore, then Grand Master. He had 
been in the service of Russia for some years at the time of this appointment. 


During the reign of Catherine II, Masonry seems to have flourished greatly, in the 
higher social circles especially. There are rumors that Paul I, who succeeded 
Catherine in 1796, was a Mason, but they are unsupported by any real evidence. It 
was at this time that the Knights of St. John were driven from Malta (1798) by 
Napoleon and an attempt was made to reestablish them in Russia. Paul I took up their 
cause, and is said to have made all the Masters of Lodges in Russia promise him 
personally never to open a lodge without his permission, and in return made them 
Knights of Malta. Freemasonry thus became dormant, or at least concealed any 
activity that may have existed. When Alexander followed Paul there were great hopes 
that the lodges might be permitted to resume their labors because of the new 
Emperor's known liberal tendencies. In 1803 the prohibition against secret societies 



was relaxed in the case of the Masonic Fraternity, and Alexander himself became an 
initiate. 


There were two tendencies manifested in the Craft. One towards Christian mysticism, 
the other following French liberalism, and presumably also the scepticism that went 
with it. To these were added the Swedish system, which derived directly from the 
Rite of Strict Observance. This, as is well known, was an exclusively Christian 
system, and still is for that matter. The government found this apparently a useful 
instrument and favored it accordingly while the lodges under French influences were 
regarded with suspicion. 


However even those lodges which were approved were under strict supervision; all 
were required to furnish lists of members, times of meetings, and so on. Bro. 
Telepneff thinks that this had the effect of driving some of the more liberal lodges 
underground. 


The Swedish Strict Observance, with its absolute subordination, enslavement it might 
almost be called, of the Craft degrees to the higher grades did not appeal to the 
German and Germanophile element, with the result that Schroeder's rite was 
introduced. This and Fessler's rite were at one in seeking to return to the "original 
plan" of Masonry and restoring directive power to the Craft proper. The result was 
much dispute between the opponents of the "High Grades," and those who supported 
them in their privileged position. The disagreement reached such a pitch that in 1815 
two Grand Lodges were formed out of the members of the Directorial Grand Lodge 
Vladimir, which before this was at least nominally the ruling body of the Craft. It is 
impossible to give even a sketch of the story of these two bodies. The one holding by 
the Swedish Rite was more cohesive, but much the weaker numerically. The other 
attempted no supervision of its constituents, who were free to work as they saw fit. 
Bro. Telepneff points out the gradual deterioration that set in, both in spirit and in the 
quality of membership. The final result was that many Masons became thoroughly 
dissatisfied with the developments and some even communicated their fears to the 
government and advised the suppression of the whole organization. It would seem 
that the lodges did not actually become political centers, but they did, apparently, in 
many cases, serve as stepping stones or antechambers to secret societies of a 
revolutionary type. The Emperor, after much hesitation, finally issued a decree 



closing all the lodges, and in August, 1822, the last meeting was held to hear the edict 
read and to act upon it and thus pass out of existence. The real reason for this was not 
the decree, but the fact that the spirit had departed from the Russian Craft and only 
the shell remained to crumble at the first shock. 


Students of the ritual will be interested in a very full account that is quoted from the 
Russian author A. P. Stepanov of the form of admission in 1817 in a Russian lodge. It 
tallies closely with the briefer accounts given by Tolstoi in some of his works, and is 
parallel to French forms of the same period. 


The following paper was one by Bro. Geo. W. Bullamore on the Antiquity of the 
Third Degree. This was pretty severely handled in the ensuing discussion, especially 
by Bro. Daynes. In his method, however, there does seem to be some justification for 
Bro. Bullamore. The facts are all pretty well known by this time to all students of 
Masonic origins, and those new ones that have occasionally turned up in recent years 
are nearly all of the same kind as some one or more of those previously known. The 
problem is very much that of the archeological expert who tries, for example, to 
reconstruct a Greek vase from a miscellaneous heap of pottery fragments. In 
museums such reconstructions can sometimes be seen where the pieces are fastened 
to a core of plaster or other material, and many of the fragments perhaps do not even 
touch the surrounding ones. We have a number of isolated scraps of evidence and the 
problem is, to find some pattern into which they will all fit. Items that really connect 
exist, but there are many that stand by themselves; and presumably reconstruction 
will always be hypothetical, and depend on the imagination and preconceptions of the 
individual. 


The bias that Bro. Bullamore exhibits, and it has affected many besides him, is that of 
trying to find evidence for things that developed later than 1730 before that date. 
Leaving aside his suggestions regarding the Knights Templar, he seems quite 
seriously to hold that "Mark" Masonry existed, at least in the form of a class of 
Masons he denominates "Mark Fellows," and he quotes Bro. Viberf s surmise: 



That in operative days the mark was not selected or conferred without some sort of 
formality conducted in open lodge. 


Some formality we may indeed surmise, as the minutes of Mary's Chapel and other 
like records indicate. The newly entered Mason selected his mark, and it was 
"booked," and a fee was paid to the Clerk for doing so. As the author of the 
Confession remarks: 


The day that a prentice comes under the oath he gets his choice of a mark to put upon 
his tools, by which to know them. . . . Hereby one is taught to say to such as ask the 
question, where got you that mark? A. 1 laid one down and took up another. 


Which, cryptically, alludes to the fact that the fee for registration was "one mark 
Scots." Here we have a simple formality, but hardly a ceremony. The most probable 
hypothesis to account for the use of "Mark Masonry" is that it was a deliberate 
attempt to preserve the custom of choosing a mark, once universal and as much a 
matter of procedure as registering the apprentice's name, but which with changed 
conditions had gradually lapsed. 


Bro. Bullamore's theory seems to be that there were three kinds of Masons, each with 
a fraternity and ceremonies and secrets of its own, the plain Masons, who seem to be 
the same as the layers; the Mark Fellows, who were stone-cutters and carvers; and the 
Masters who were architects. By an amalgamation of these elements he would 
account for our present three degrees. To revert to our illustration of piecing broken 
pottery, it seems rather like increasing the size of the core in order to find places for 
all the fragments far enough apart so that no one could say positively that some 
intervening part is not conceivable that would connect them. Naturally the only way 
to disprove such a reconstruction is to find some other arrangement that brings the 
pieces closer together, and perhaps puts some of them in actual contact. 


Rather much is made in the paper of the introduction of the chisel in the 12th century. 
This undoubtedly marked an epoch in technique, but the use of the chisel does not 



mean that the axe or gavel-hammer was discarded. It continued to be used for 
roughing out the work and would form part of every mason's kit. Early ornament was 
not worked with the axe but with the pick, and in effect the pick was chisel and mallet 
in one - only it needed far greater manual skill, just as the adze needs far more skill 
than the plane. On the other hand work could be done with the chisel that would be 
practically impossible with the pick, so that, as has happened in other crafts, a new 
tool lessened the skill of hand necessary but opened new avenues of development. 


One more thing only can be touched on: in his reply at the end of the discussion Bro. 
Bullamore advanced some evidence that seems on its face to indicate that the "book" 
mentioned in most of the Old Charges, upon which the oath was taken, was not the 
Bible, nor even the Gospels, but the book or roll of the Charges itself. This opens up a 
new question altogether, and one that needs further discussion. 


In Part II there is a paper by Bro. W. J. Williams on Alexander Pope, and another by 
Bro. J. Heron Lepper on Irish Ambulatory Warrants with the rather romantic title of 
"The Poor Common Soldier." Both are of very great interest. It may surprise most 
people to learn that Pope was a Roman Catholic and even more to learn that in 
addition he was a Freemason. However, as Bro. Lepper stated in the discussion up till 
about a hundred years ago, the majority of Masons in Ireland were Roman Catholics, 
and Bro. Williams pointed out in his paper, the Grand Master was himself a Roman 
Catholic in the year that the name "Alexr. Pope" first appears in the list of members 
of the lodge at the "Goat at the Foot of the Hay Market." 


It was the late Bro. Chetwode Crawley who first suggested that the Alexr. Pope of the 
list referred to was the well known poet. Bro. Daynes, who always proves himself a 
most vigilant critic, points out that Bro. Williams has not brought us at all nearer to 
certitude on the point. Pope is not a rare name, nor yet is Alexander. There is no proof 
that the Freemason was also the poet. But Bro. Williams, in his reply, said he had 
merely taken the suggestion for whatever it might be worth, and showed from Pope's 
writings that, whether a Mason or not, he freely satirised the Craft and its members. 



Bro. Lepper's paper adds a lot of new information regarding military lodges, many of 
which came to America at one time or another, and were very influential in shaping 
the form that Freemasonry took in this country when it declared itself independent. A 
very interesting argument is offered that the lodge Parfaite Egalite registered under 
the Grand Lodge of France, as belonging to "the Regiment of Walshe" may have had 
some documentary proof of its claim to have been constituted in 1688. Originally this 
was an Irish regiment in the service of James I and which later fought for James II 
against William of Orange in Ireland. From thence what was left of it went to France 
and entered the service of the French King. As Bro. Lepper says if students of Trinity 
College in Dublin were joining the Fraternity in 1688 why not (and indeed a fortiori) 
the soldiers? 


This part concludes with the account of the annual summer outing of the lodge in 
1925 by Bro. Lionel Vibert. This time the visit was made to Dorset, which is a 
country rich in antiquities of all periods, from prehistoric times to those that in 
comparison are but of yesterday. The members of the lodge who made the pilgrimage 
seem, as usual, to have had a very interesting and enjoyable time. 


* * * 


IN THE PILLORY. By John Bond. Published by the Fellowship Forum, Washington, 
D. C. Cloth, illustrated, table of contents, 76 pages. Price $1.10. 


IT seems strange that anti-Catholic propaganda so often falls into the same errors as 
pro-Catholic publicity. That such is the case is strikingly illustrated in the present 
volume. There is no need to go into great detail, but the underlying principle of all 
propaganda seems to be the publication of facts, expurgated to meet certain needs. In 
other words it is generally impossible to say that a bit of pro-something or anti- 
anything publicity is fallacious in its premises if the propagandist knows his business. 
The facts may be absolutely correct, founded upon the best of historical evidence, and 
yet be so written as to give a false impression. This is, of course, not deliberate lying, 
but it is the very essence of the science of propaganda. 



In the Pillory is clearly an illustration of this type of publication. The book is well 
written, devilishly clever in its construction, and doubtless will succeed in its purpose. 
John Bond is by far the best writer on the staff of The Fellowship Forum. He has a 
way of telling the truth, as far as he goes, and the result is far more effective than the 
blatant criticism so often seen in the pages of some periodicals. The book deals with 
the Pope Alexander VI, Roderigo Borgia. The reputation of the family is too well 
known to require much comment. Their dissoluteness is known on every hand and 
when it is expressed in modem English the effect is enormous. The impression is 
gained immediately that any organization which permitted such license and 
immorality is, and cannot help but be, as immoral at the present time. That is 
precisely what Bond wants to convey. 


Before more is said I should like to make the statement that I hold no brief for the 
Roman Church, but I do like to see fairness in criticism. 


It has been said that we cannot understand a man until we know the times in which he 
lived. There is the secret of Bond’s book. Instead of telling anything about the moral 
standards of the fifteenth century, he proceeds to allow us to judge by modern rules of 
conduct. That Alexander VI was worse than even his times seems possible, but it does 
not appear that he was very much worse. There have been other churchmen who had 
illegitimate children, others who poisoned those who stood in their way, and 
doubtless others who indulged in the Bacchanalian orgies which characterized 
Alexander VI. These were not so severely criticised, and their escapades are not so 
we known. The mediaeval period was steeped in this sort of thing. 


The book should be read by everyone. It is interesting, but it needs an historical 
background of the period to modify the effect of the horrors depicted. It must also be 
remembered that the "Counter-Reformation" was really a great reformation in the 
Roman church, even if not on lines that Protestants would approve. It would also be 
possible to argue that if it had occurred earlier there would never have been any 
Protestants. However, in the nature of things, when the corruption had so completely 
affected the central organization, the impulse to reform could only be supplied from 
without, which made the revolt labelled "the Reformation" a necessary antecedent. 



THE SON OF MAN AND THE NEW NATIONS. Published by the Danite 
Publishing Co. Paper, 24 pages. 


WE are not familiar with the precise creed of the Danite organization, and it is not 
easy to fathom the meaning of this pamphlet. It seems to be rather eclectic, based 
upon the Bible, especially the apocalyptic parts, Revelations and the more obscure 
prophets. But with this is apparently material drawn from the Kabbalah, Alchemy and 
other mystical schools, including Astrology. Vegetarianism seems to be also part of 
the creed which would there parallel Buddhism. The end of the world, or day of 
judgment, seems also to be looked for, though not exactly in the traditional way 
apparently, while California it seems is to be the center of a new world order in the 
millennium to come. 


* * * 


THE FOUNDERS OF THE REPUBLIC. By Claude G. Bowers. Paper, 36 pages. 
Twentieth Century American Novels, by William Lyon Phelps. Paper, 28 pages. The 
Foreign Relations of the United States, by Paul Scott Mowrer. Paper, 34 pages. A 
Study of English Drama on the State, by Walter Prichard Eaton. Paper, 32 pages. 
Published by the American Library Association, Chicago. Price, 35c each. 


THESE are reading courses, each prepared by a recognize authority in the special 
field. They are component part of a much larger group of pamphlets published by the 
American Library Association under the general heading Reading With a Purpose. It 
is the design of each of these courses to sketch briefly the field to be covered and to 
suggest certain books which will enable one to gain a working knowledge of the 



subject without following the haphazard practice so common among readers 
generally. There is no intention upon the part of the compilers of these reading 
curricula to limit the list to those books of which mention is made, but merely to 
suggest a point from which to begin a systematic study of any particular subject. It is 
only natural to suppose that anyone who read the books prescribed will find 
references to other works which will encourage him to delve deeper into the subject 
he has chosen. A strong recommendation for following these courses is the moderate 
price of each of the books recommended and the fact that all of them will be found in 
any good public library. It is not necessary to buy the texts, though it does seem likely 
that anyone having a real interest in any of the subjects will want to own those books 
which are mentioned in the course, as well as others which may suggest themselves. 
The average total cost of the books to which reference is made is between $20.00 and 
$25.00 for each course. 


— o — 


THE QUESTION BOX 
and CORRESPONDENCE 


THE WAYFARERS' CLUB IN ARIZONA 


The Wayfarers' Club, located at Whipple, Ariz., was organized Dec. 1, 1920. Its 
membership consists of Master Masons who are patients at this U. S. Veterans' 
Bureau Hospital, and who are suffering from tuberculosis, ex-patients, physicians at 
the hospital and a few subscribing members from brethren who reside in Prescott. 
Patients in this hospital come from all states of the Union, and only about 5 per cent 
from the State of Arizona. 


Initiation fee is $1 and dues are 50 cents per month. Patients not drawing 
compensation or those whose financial conditions will not permit, pay no dues. 



The assistance of this club is extended to all sick or disabled Master Masons, whether 
members of the club or not. 


The purpose of this club is to care for their more unfortunate brethren, distribute 
flowers, speak words of cheer and perform those acts of kindness and brotherly love 
which their home lodges are unable to do on account of their distance from the 
brethren. 


To accomplish this, it is necessary to have funds with which to work. The various 
Masonic bodies in this state and from afar have contributed from time to time to this 
work. At present our funds are low, and we are taking this method of appealing to you 
for assistance. 


There are no salaried officers in this club and the following statement for the fiscal 
year, July 1, 1926, to June 30, 1927, will give you an idea of bow our funds are used: 


Receipts 


Balance carried over $1 18.79 
Dues collected 163.00 
Donations 228.51 
Dividends from defunct bank 130.18 


$640.48 



Expenses 
Flowers $187.85 
Stationery and printing 46.75 
Entertainment, charities, etc 388.91 
Balance 16.97 
$640.48 


This club is sponsored by Aztlan Lodge, No. 1, Prescott, Ariz., and has upon various 
occasions been given the approval of the Grand Lodge of Arizona, whose officers are 
honorary members of this club. 


To soothe the unhappy, to sympathize with their misfortunes, to compassionate their 
miseries, to relieve the distressed, and to restore peace to their troubled minds, is the 
great aim we have in view. 


If this work appeals to you, if you believe in it, if you want it to be done, may we not 
hear from you at an early date? 


C. W. BANGS, President. 

W. H. MARSHALL, Secretary. 


* * * 


THE TEUTONIC CROSS 



In your July issue W.B.S. asks in regard to the origin of the Teutonic Cross, which he 
finds used in the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. 


The Teutonic Cross is known in heraldry as the Cross Potent. It is also known as the 
Cross of Jerusalem, although the latter is usually shown with four small crosses 
added, one in each angle. 


The Cross Potent acquired the name Teutonic Cross through its use by the German 
pilgrims. The Teutonic Order was organized in Jerusalem about 1 190. Their dress 
was a mantle with a Cross Potent embroidered in gold. Emperor Henry VI gave them 
the black Cross Potent. Later King John, of Jerusalem, added to this a Double Cross 
Potent, gold. Then Emperor Frederick II added an Imperial Eagle in an escutcheon in 
the center of the cross. 


This cross is described in heraldry as "A Cross Potent, sable (black) charged with 
another Cross Double Potent, or (gold) and surcharged with an escutcheon argent 
(silver) bearing a Double-Headed Eagle sable (black)." 


J. H. Logie, California. 


* * * 


SOME CRITICISM 


I do not see what object is to be gained by "attacking" the R. C. Church. I feel that the 
Masonic Order and the R. C. Church are so diametrically opposed that there can 



never be any rapprochement between them, and the antagonistic attitude of recent 
articles will do much to disturb that neutrality which has existed between the R. C's 
and Anglo-Saxon Masonry for some years. I cannot help expressing the fear that 
politics may possibly be at the bottom of this anti-Catholic campaign and, if such is 
the case, then it strikes me as not only a very dangerous movement, but contrary to 
the principles of the Order as a non-political institution. 


You will not, I am sure, think that I would bar all references to Roman Catholicism in 
a Masonic journal. In a research magazine I think that they should be confined to the 
contacts made between the two organizations in their historical aspect, or in the 
exposition of divergence in their respective dogmas. 


I do not see what the article on the Quebec school question or that on the Quebec 
marriage laws has to do with Masonic research, though, of course, of great general 
interest. I think the first article dealt very fairly with the subject, but the second seems 
dangerously critical of the Quebec Bench. To attempt to deal adequately with the 
paper would necessitate looking up some of the recent annulment cases, and would be 
much better handled by a lawyer, but I will make a few general observations. 


The paragraph headed "The Limits of Ecclesiastical Authority" is a true statement of 
the case, but I do not agree with the writer's conclusions that the decisions have 
gradually acquired quasi-civil authority. 


There is a tendency among those unfamiliar with the Code - particularly amongst 
newcomers to the Province - to criticise it in other particulars besides marriage, but 
familiarity with it engenders respect. This has been my own experience. 


The article in the Code concerning impediments to marriage reads . . . the other 
impediments recognized according to the different religious persuasions . . . remain 
subject to the rules hitherto followed in the different churches and religious 
communities. 



I recall that a very recent decision annulled a marriage between two of the Jewish 
faith because of an impediment recognized by their Church. 


The solemnization of marriage confers certain civil rights upon the parties contracting 
it, which remain, even if the marriage is not, recognized by the various religious 
communities (not necessarily R. C.). For example, unless a contract is made before 
marriage, the parties become common as to property (i. e., on the death of one of the 
consorts, the other takes half of the estate. This is putting it roughly). Surely, if 
persons find themselves married in the eyes of the law by a marriage unrecognized by 
their Church, it is but equitable that they should be able to sue for an annulment of 
that marriage, and the civil rights created by it. 


The practice of declaring marriages null and void ab initio has always existed in 
Quebec, certainly since the promulgation of the Code in 1 866, and the grounds, as I 
have shown above, are not confined exclusively to Roman Canon law, nor is it true to 
say that "the Courts still occasionally grant annulments of marriage for reasons other 
than those recognized by the State." Further 1 find no reference in the Code to "undue 
influence" or "duress" as grounds for annulment. 


What objections can be raised to a marriage being annulled “on a number of grounds 
other than those recognized by the rest of the Dominion?" Quebec is a sovereign state 
in matters of marriage, the provinces retaining control at the time of confederation. 
Art. 185 of the Civil Code reads: "Marriage can only be dissolved by the natural death 
of one of the partners; while both live, it is indissoluble." Consequently no action for 
divorce can lie in the Quebec courts. If a petition for divorce goes to the Federal 
House, it is granted on division only, the R. C. members voting against every petition. 


I have developed criticism of this article more than I intended, and am afraid that my 
comments are not very well ordered. 



A. J. M., Canada. 


The above is part of a letter to the Editor. As our correspondent suggests that perhaps 
the author of the article referred to may not fully appreciate the situation, we may say 
that Prof. Vial is a native of the Province of Quebec; that he was bom and educated in 
Quebec city, where the English speaking residents are a very small minority, and that 
he has a very wide acquaintance with French Canadians both in town and country, 
and that there is no one who is less likely to "attack" the Roman Church. Neither is 
THE BUILDER attacking it, as we have once more explained in the editorial 
columns. At the same time Bro. A. J. M. gives another point of view that requires 
consideration. 


* * * 


THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA 


Since THE BUILDER has given to its readers a good deal of information about the 
Knights of Malta and since one branch of Masonry confers this degree, it may be of 
interest to Masons to know the correct way to address the Master of the parent stem 
of the Knights of Malta. This is especially true since recently the Pope of Rome has 
introduced into this country this most exclusive order which in Europe admits only 
nobles of high and long degree. 


Up to the 17th century the members of the college of cardinals were addressed as 
"Most Illustrious" and "Most Reverend." In the forepart of the 17th century Pope 
Urban VIII ordered that the cardinals (princes of the church), the electors of the Holy 
Roman Empire and the Master of the Order of Malta, should have the title of 
"Eminence" and should be so addressed. 



In 1 806 the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved as it was feared that Napoleon would 
make himself Holy Roman Emperor. This left this title of honor only to the members 
of the Sacred College and to the Master of the Knights of Malta. 


As the Knights in this country belonging to the Roman branch are mostly millionaires 
and considered equal to the members of the oldest European nobility, should their 
Master, and themselves by courtesy, personally be addressed as "His Eminence"? 
Burton E. Bennett, Washington. 


A further letter has reached us from Bro. Bennett containing a newspaper clipping of 
an Associated Press report describing the marriage of Princess Anna of France to 
Prince Amedo of Savoy on Nov. 5 of this year. The point of interest in the present 
connection is that the bridegroom is said to have been in the uniform of a Lt.-Col. of 
Artillery and "wearing his many decorations, chief of which was the Order of 
Annunciata and the Order of Malta." 


In regard to the question raised as to the proper title of address of the members of the 
Order in the United States we have no information at hand. If any of our readers 
knows the answer we should be pleased to insert it as a matter of curiosity. 


* * * 


MASONIC FUNDAMENTALS 


It would seem that in my recent articles I have failed to make my position clear. Bro. 
R. J. Meekren on page 304 of the October BUILDER says: "It would seem in fact that 
Bro. Briggs really holds that only those professing belief in the creed of one of the 
Protestant denominations are properly eligible to Masonry." 



Permit me to say I do not hold any such opinion. Freemasonry has nothing to do with 
the creeds - we leave these to the churches. All I insist upon is that a man shall accept 
Masonic fundamentals. 


Before I was initiated in Cooper Lodge, No. 36, at Boonville, Mo., in December, 
1879, 1 had stated in my petition that I was a firm believer in the one living and true 
God. Early in my Masonic career I was taught that no man, especially a Freemason, 
should ever engage in any great or important undertaking without first invoking the 
aid and blessing of Deity. I was told that in the beginning God created the heaven and 
the earth, that the Holy Bible was one of the Great Lights, that it was God's 
inestimable gift to man, and it was commended to be the rule and guide of my faith 
and practice. Since then I have served as Worshipful Master, High Priest and 
Commander. I was elected Grand High Priest in 1 894, Grand Master in 1 899, and am 
now Grand Prelate of the Grand Commandery of Missouri. I have been President of 
the Convention of Anointed High Priests of Missouri and Sovereign of St. Andrew's 
Conclave, No. 11, Red Cross of Constantine, have been a Royal and Select Master 
since March, 1888, and a member of Ararat Shrine since June, 1889, and for a 
number of years a 32 degree Scottish Rite Mason. I have attended five Convocations 
of the General Grand Chapter of the United States, have visited Grand Lodges of 
other states and seen the Masonic degrees conferred in other Grand Jurisdictions and 
have yet to learn that the instruction given me when I was initiated has become 
obsolete. 


But on the contrary the Grand Lodge of Missouri has always stood by these 
fundamentals. During the past year I installed the officers of seven lodges. In each 
instance I required the Master-elect to admit "that it is not in the power of any man or 
body of men to make innovations in the body of Masonry.” The man who does not 
accept these fundamentals ought not to petition a lodge for admission. 


There may be many good men who do not believe what Freemasonry teaches. Let 
them make fraternities of their own. Let them found the Grand Imperial Order of 
Snollygosters and take in every good fellow who does not like to retain God in his 
knowledge, but Freemasonry is good enough and broad enough for me. I am not 
willing to accept any doctrine of Human Brotherhood which has not as its basis the 
Fatherhood of God. On that rock Freemasonry builds and stands secure. 



C. H. Briggs, Missouri. 


* * * 


THE HOLY CROSS 


It is a striking coincidence that the college fraternity to which I belong bears a strong 
similarity in symbolism to the Lodge of the Holy Cross, of the Island of St. Croix, 
Danish West Indies. The fraternity "Sigma Chi" founded in 1855 at Oxford, Ohio, 
uses a white cross as its main emblem. This without its academic and fraternal 
symbols is a facsimile of the main emblem of Lodge of the Holy Cross, instituted at 
the aforesaid location in 1779. 


G. N. Black, Ontario. 


While the coincidence is certainly striking and perhaps Bro. Black is entitled to draw 
the conclusion that there may be some connection between the lodge and his college 
fraternity, I am inclined to thi nk that he is carrying the symbolism a bit too far. I too, 
am a fraternity man, though not a member of Sigma Chi. I recollect several years ago 
hearing Dean Thomas Arkle Clark of the University of Illinois, one of the best known 
and most thoroughly posted men in the field of college fraternities, make reference to 
the fact that a great many colleges used a cross in one form or another as a part of 
their emblem. It was his opinion that the cross almost always symbolized the 
crucifixion. A student of symbology will agree that this is most likely in a Christian 
country. Perhaps Bro. Black is as familiar with college fraternity badges as the writer 
and it will not be necessary to mention more than Alpha Tau Omega, Sigma Nu, Phi 
Delta Theta, the last uses a sword which is no more than a modified cross, to call to 
mind the similarity. It is perhaps coincidental that the Sigma Chi cross and that of the 
lodge are the same, but I am firmly convinced that a better and more likely source for 
the symbolism would be the New Testament and not the lodge at St. Croix. 



E. E. T