It was in the latter part of the gloomy
1786, that Robert Burns, the poet and the Mason, gathered up his
thoughts, he Mad but little else to gather up, preparatory to
leaving Scotland forever. Forever! terrible word to the expatriated
terrible to the poor exile, who turns toward his country as the
Jews turned themselves three times a day praying with their faces
toward Jerusalem. Terrible in the highest degree to such a man
as Burns, who to the most exalted patriotism added the keenest
appreciation of home joys and social pleasures. Disappointment
had set its mark upon Robert Burns. The indulgence of passions
that raged within him as the pentup fires rage beneath the sealed
crater of the volcano, had brought to him its legitimate consequences
in the upbraidings of conscience, the forfeiture of friendship,
and, worst of all, the loss of self respect.
The restraints of Freemasonry had been neglected, while its social
joys were most keenly relished; in other words, our tenets had
been faithfully sustained, while our cardinal virtues were neglected.
The use of the Compasses had never blessed his hands. The fine
genius, the unequalled gifts that enabled Robert Burns to conceive
and execute The Cotter's Saturday Night, could not confine him
into the ordinary channels of prudence, and even then he was a
doomed man. Heavy debts had accumulated upon him, such as in that
barren, unenterprising country there was but little chance of
his ever being able to cancel. He had been summoned to find security
for the maintenance of two children, whom he was forbidden to
legitimate by a lawful marriage, and as he disdained to ask, or
tried in vain to find pecuniary assistance in this his hour of
need, there was no other alternative remaining for him but a Scottish
jail or a flight from Scotland. He had chosen the latter. After
much trouble the situation of assistant overseer on an estate
in Jamaica had been secured for him by one of his few remaining
friends. In his own bitter language, "He saw misfortune's
could northwest Lang mustering up a bitter blast; A jillet brake
his heart at last ill may she be! So, took a birth afore the mast
An awre tne sea.' He had said farewell to all the friends, they
were not many, and to the scenes very many and very dear to their
poet's heart. This he did while skulking from covert to covert
under all the terrors of a Scottish jail. His chest was on the
road to Greenock. He had composed the last song he should ever
measure in Caledonia. It is fraught with solemn thoughts and words,
as the reader will see:
"The gloomy night is gathering fast,
Loud roars the wild inconstant blast,
Yon murky cloud is foul with rain,
I see it driving o'er the plain;
The hunter now has left the moor,
The scattered coveys meet secure,
While here I wander, prest with care,
Along the lonely banks of Ayr.
The autumn mourns her ripening corn,
By early winter's ravage torn;
Across her placid azure sky,
She sees the scowling tempest fly:
Chill runs my blood to hear it rave,
I think upon the stormy wave,
Where many a danger I must dare,
Far from the bonny banks of Ayr.
'Tis not the surging billows' roar,
'Tis not that fatal deadly shore;
Tho' death in every shape appear,
The wretched have no more to fear:
But round my heart the ties are bound,
That heart transpierced with many a wound;
These bleed afresh, those ties I tear,
To leave the bonny banks of Ayr.
Farewell old Coila's hills and dales,
Her heathy moors and winding vales.
The scene where wretched fancy roves,
Pursuing past, unhappy loves!
Farewell my friends, farewell my foes,
My peace with these, my love with those;
The bursting tears my heart declare;
Farewell the bonnie banks of Ayr."
And now, all other remembered subjects having
been marked by the tears of the poet, the poet himself being on
the road to the port of Greenock to the ship that should witness
his last glance at his native land, his heart turned lovingly,
involuntarily, towards Masonry. For Robert Burns was a Freemason,
prepared first in heart. In none of the vast folios where stands
the vast catalogue of our brethren, ancient or modern, is there
a character shaped more truly by Masonic skill than his. No where
one, who in the expressive language of the Ancient Constitutions
would "afford succor to the distressed, divide bread with
the industrious poor, and put the misguided traveler into the
way," more cheerfully than Burns. He understood right well
"that whoever from love of knowledge, interest, or curiosity
desires to be a Mason, is to know that as his foundation and great
corner stone, he is firmly to believe in the eternal God, and
to pay that worship which is due to him as the great Architect
and Governor of the Universe;" and Robert Burns governed
himself accordingly. There is many a record in the Lodge books
of Scotland that gives prominence to his Masonic virtues; and
in the higher Lodge, the Grand Lodge of heaven, we have reason
to hope the Grand Secretary's books also bear his name.
None lament the weaknesses in his character more than his brethren,
but be those defects in number and in extent what they may, his
brethren protest in the name of their common humanity, against
the inhuman judgments that have been pronounced against him. If
the royal dignity, the divine partiality, the unlimited wisdom
of a Solomon, First Grand Master of Speculative Masonry, could
not preserve that prince of peace from the errors of the passions,
who shall dare too cruelly to judge the son of an Ayrshire cotter,
nurtured in penury and debarred the most ordinary relaxations
of his age.
"Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."
Lovingly then turned the heart of Brother Burns towards Freemasonry.
The happy hours, the honest friends, the instructive lessons,
the lofty desires! let the brother who reads this sketch endeavor
to place himself in the condition of the poor exile, self expatriated
and almost friendless, and he will understand the keenness of
his pangs! There came up a vision of his last Masonic night. The
presence of the Grand Master and his noble Deputy; of a gallant
array of gentlemen, the chiefest in all the land; and himself
with them first among the equals of those who "meet upon
the level" to "part upon the square" there was
the cue it was enough sitting down by the roadside, he penciled
upon the back of an old letter his Masonic farewell. How many
a remembrance of Grand Lodges and Subordinate Lodges and social
meetings among Masons, is attached to these well known lines:
"Adieu! a heart warm fond adieu
Dear Brothers of the mystic tie!
Ye favored, ye enlightened few,
Companions of my social joy!
Though to foreign lands must be
pursuing fortune's sliddry back.
With melting heart and brimful eye
all mind you still though far away.
Oft have I met your social band
And spent the cheerful festive night;
Oft honored with supreme command
Presided o'er the sons of light;
And by that hieroglyphic bright,
Which none but craftsmen ever saw!
Strong memory on my heart shall write.
These happy scenes though far away!
May freedom, harmony, and love
Unite you in the grand design
Beneath the Omniscient eye above,
The glorious Architect divine!
That you may keep the unerring line
Still rising by the plummet's law
Till order bright completely shine S
hall be my prayer when far away.
And you farewell! whose merits claim
Justly that highest badge to wear!
Heaven bless your honored, noble name,
To Masonry and Scotia dear!
A last request permit me here,
When yearly ye assemble,
One round, I ask it with a tear,
To him, the bard, that's far away.
It pleased God at this crisis to turn the destination of Robert Burns and to spare to Scotland and the world, this affectionate heart.
By a train of circumstances, almost miraculous, certainly unprecedented, he was brought unexpectedly to the notice of the literary circles of Edinburgh, then as now, the most classic and critical in the world, and with one consent that society placed him foremost in the ranks of his country's poets. Fame and profit then flowed nightly unto him. His pen was put into constant requisition, his company everywhere sought after, and his talents met with their due appreciation. The Masonic order added its judgment to that of an approving nation.
The Most Worshipful Grand Master Charters,
with every member of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, visiting a Lodge
in which Burns happened to be present, graciously gave as a toast,
"Caledonia, and Caledonia's bard, Brother Burns! "which
rang through the whole assembly with multiplied honors and repeated
acclamations. But he is gone. On the 21st of July, 1796, Robert
Burns died. More than ten thousand persons accompanied his remains
to the grave. "It was an impressive and mournful sight,"
writes a spectator, "to see men of all ranks and persuasions,
and opinions, mingling as brothers, and stepping side by side
down the streets of Dumfries, with the remains of him who had
sung of their loves and joys, and domestic endearments, with a
truth and tenderness which none perhaps have since equalled."
I the fifth verse unworthy of the connection and highly unmasonic,
which is appended to the above in some of our American Manuals,
was not written by Burns.
He is gone, and here in a distant land, an humble admirer of his
genius, addresses his memory in the following lines:
AMERICA'S MASONS TO ROBERT BURNS
The sun is uprising on Scotia's far hills
Day's labor is opening, the Grand Master wills,
But Lodge lights are gleaming in cheerfulness yet,
Afar in the west where we Masons have met.
There's song for the tuneful, kind words for the kind,
There's cheer for the social, and light for the blind:
But when we uprising, prepare us to go,
With one heart and feeling, we'll sing thy Adieu.
A melting farewell, to the favored and bright,
A sorrowful thought, for the sun set in night,
A round to the bard whom misfortunes befell,
A prayer that thy spirit with Masons may dwell.
When freedom and harmony bless our design,
We'll think of thee, Brother, who loved every line:
And when gloomy clouds shall our Temple surround
Thy brave heart shall cheer us where virtues were found.
Across the broad ocean two hands shall unite,
Columbia, Scotia, the symbol is bright!
The world one Grand Lodge, and the heaven above.
Shall witness the triumph of Faith, Hope and Love
And thou sweetest Bard, when our gems we enshrine,
Thou jewel the brightest, most precious, shalt shine,
Shall gleam from the East, to the far distant west,
While morning shall call us, or evening shall rest.
THE REASON
Brother Rodd, who has been presiding officer of his Lodge ever since Morgan's time, complaining in his good natured way that the brethren wouldn't pay sufficient attention to Masonry, declared "that charity impelled him to this conclusion; his brethren were so afraid the world would acquire a knowledge of their Masonic secrets, they were afraid to learn them themselves!"
AIR "Flow gently, Sweet Mason "Masonic
Lyrics, No. 14, by the Author
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