UPON the conclusion of the Revolution a
strong spirit was manifested for independence of the Mother Country
in all matters pertaining to the Craft. This disposition had been
apparent in many ways prior to the commencement of hostilities,
and at the close of the war was openly advocated. Most of the
Brethren had been actively engaged in the conflict, and all its
horrors, sufferings, and bloodshed but accentuated the bitterness
of the Colonists. It was natural, therefore, with the return of
peace, that an effort should be made in this direction.
Appropriately, Massachusetts, the birthplace of the Revolutionary
spirit and the scene of the first encounters, assumed the lead.
Its Grand Lodge declared for absolute independence. The Grand
Lodge of Pennsylvania followed, and its voice was soon supplemented
by that of others. The proposition was advanced to form a Masonic
Union patterned after that of the States, wherein every Grand
Lodge should have representation. It was intended to confer upon
GEORGE WASHINGTON the distinctive honor of General Grand Master,
but opposition to the plan soon developed. Unfortunately for the
success of the plan many of the Tories, who had remained loyal
to the crown, were active members of the Craft and exerted their
influence to overcome the tendency of the time. Several Grand
Lodges were thereby placed in opposition to the scheme, and it
was abandoned, although not until the seed thus sown had borne
fruit which eventually emancipated the Craft and established the
existing American system of independent Grand jurisdictions. The
death of WASHINGTON was largely instrumental in repressing temporarily
the active movement for a General Grand Lodge. A few years later
the plan was attempted to be revived, but failed to evoke the
support anticipated. One of the strongest factors to this end
was the jealousy of the various Grand Lodges of their jurisdictional
rights, which they had now fully learned and thoroughly appreciated.
During the dark period of the Revolutionary strife, the labors
of the several Lodges had been slight and indifferent except for
the work performed by the Army Lodges. With the cessation of the
sanguinary struggle the work was resumed, but it found the Lodges
mostly disorganized and dispirited. The conditions prevailing
were exact reflections of the status of the people and Colonies
during the experimental period from the distrusted Confederacy
to the formation of the Federal Government under the Constitution.
But with the return of confidence in the stability of the Republic,
under its written organic law, came a renewal of hope in the Masonic
Institution, and thence its career became a progressive march
toward the full consummation of its glorious purposes, unhindered
save by the MORGAN episode, and demonstrating by its works its
right to endure as the exemplar of principles at once gracious
and divine.
The renewal of interest in Freemasonry induced the formation of
many new Lodges throughout the Atlantic Slope, every portion feeling
the effect of the revival, and the altar fires, new and old, dotting
town and hamlet from the driven snows of the extreme north to
the glowing warmth of the south. Then the Great Lights, like the
sun in its course, began to tip the crests of the Alleghany and
the Appalachian range of mountains, which were then the Western
boundary of civilization, and soon thereafter to dart their beaming
rays down the western slopes and across the lakes, the fountains
of the St. Lawrence River, and the broad Valley of the Mississippi,
"The Father of Waters," and its tributaries, and thence
up the steep sides of the rugged and rocky granite piles of the
Far West, dipping at length, across peaceful vales, into the broad
and peaceful western sea. The Masonic and patriotic spirit and
memories of the Masonic fathers of American Independence accompanied
the Great Lights wherever the altars of Freemasonry were set up
in the then vast wilderness filled with hostile tribes of Indians.
The first Lodge to be opened for work was at the town of Lexington
in Kentucky under a charter issued by the Grand Lodge of Virginia,
November 17, 1788, as Lexington Lodge, No. 25, the town and Lodge
having been named after Lexington in Massachusetts, where the
first blood was shed in the American Revolution. The next in order
was American Union Lodge, the charter having been granted to it
by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, February 15, 1776, as a Military
Lodge in the Connecticut Line of the American army during the
Revolutionary War, which found lodgment at Marietta, Ohio. It
was opened by the Master, Lieutenant JONATHAN HEART, with Colonel
BENJAMIN TUPPER and General RUFUS PUTNAM as Wardens. There were
several Brethren who had been members of the Military Lodge, No.
10, also warranted by the St. John's Grand Lodge of Massachusetts,
and in all there were ten of these officers and soldiers of the
Revolutionary army who met and elected their officers and opened
this Lodge June 28, 1790. The Grand Lodge of South Carolina chartered
Parfait Union Lodge at New Orleans, Louisiana, March 30, 1794,
to French refugee Brethren from the Island of Hayti, while the
Grand Lodge of North Carolina granted a charter to St. Tammaity
Lodge, No. 29, at Nashville, Tenn., December 17, 1796.
From the altars of these first Lodges planted on the western slopes
of the Alleghany Mountains the lights of Masonry began to burn
like blazing beacons, lighting up the Mississippi Valley and its
tributaries from the lakes to the gulf and casting over the barren
wastes and stony sentinels of the plains and the sun - kissed
shores of the Pacific a flood of golden light. Their united glow
spread a sheen of effulgent brilliance over the vast expanse and
started the flames upon new Masonic altars set up in every direction
by the pioneer torch - bearers of the Craft. The French traders
of St. Louis and St. Genevieve in the then French Territory of
Louisiana, who purchased their goods at Philadelphia, were initiated
into Masonry in the old French Lodges L'Amerite, Nos. 71 and 73,
on the roll of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. Those Lodges had
been formed chiefly of officers and soldiers who had volunteered
and served under Bro. LAFAYETTE in the American Revolution, and
becoming imbued with the spirit of Freemasonry, awaited with patience
the negotiations between THOMAS JEFFERSON, President of the United
States, and NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, the Consul of France (both Masons),
for the purchase and cession of Louisiana to the United States,
which took place April 30, 1803. As their numbers became augmented
from time to time, they at last made application in the year 1807
- 8, for a warrant of Constitution, which was granted by the Grand
Lodge of Pennsylvania, for Louisiana Lodge, No. 109, to be held
in the town of St. Genevieve, Territory of Louisiana, OTHO STRADER
being its first Master, and Dr. AARON ELLIOTT and JOSEPH HERTICH
its first Wardens.
It numbered among its members PIERRE CHOUTEAU and BARTHOLOMEW
BERTHOLD, the founders of the great American Fur Company, and
many others, who subsequently became prominent merchants of St.
Louis. This was the first Lodge established in what is now the
State of Missouri.
The war with Great Britain in 1812 - 14 greatly disturbed the
progress of Freemasonry in the valley of the Mississippi as well
as elsewhere in the United States. For several years thereafter
but little advance was made by the Craft in this region, but on
November 29, 1818, the Grand Lodge of Kentucky granted a dispensation
for Arkansas Lodge at the Post of Arkansas, but when Little Rock
became the capital of Arkansas it surrendered its dispensation
by reason of the removal of the seat of government. And thus Freemasonry
on the west bank of the Mississippi River was established in its
infancy. The first meeting of the Convention for the organization
of the Grand Lodge of Missouri was held on WASHINGTON's birthday,
February 22, 1821, and adjourned to April 21St of that year,,
when it was duly organized. It may also be noted as of general
interest that among the famous Masons of the Mississippi Valley,
HENRY CLAY became the Grand Master of Kentucky and ANDREW JACKSON,
the hero of the battle of New Orleans, became the Grand Master
of Tennessee.
The Freemasonry of the Mississippi Valley was not hide - bound,
nor were the strict rules and regulations which now generally
govern it then enforced.
Non - affiliation and suspension for noii
- payment of dues were not then in vogue, nor were they considered
Masonic crimes, nor was membership then altogether confined to
one Lodge; but whenever and wherever one brother could render
a kind office to another it was freely given, even life for a
life in defense when rendered necessary. Not a party of hunters,
trappers or traders or any expedition set out from the Western
Mississippi cities or towns toward Texas, New Mexico, the Rocky
Mountains, to Oregon as then known, or California, but there were
the Brethren of the Mystic Tie to a greater or lesser extent to
be found among them, and the Grand Lodge of Missouri was their
lenient, fostering, protecting, and indulgent mother. In those
early days she did not invoke the stern rigor of the statutes
of her sovereignty, but allowed the elasticity of human nature
some recognition in the administration of her government. It is
true that there was a great laxity for want of a perfect system
and regularity at 'her Grand East in those early times but for
men of moral courage, stern integrity, fidelity to principles,
and Masonic obligations, and with physical strength, pluck and
daring, even to the risking of life itself, the material of the
jurisdiction of the then frontier Grand Lodge of Missouri was
the peer of any Grand Lodge.
While new altar fires were set aflaming in the West, those of
the East were kept glowing. The progress along the Atlantic seaboard
was constant and inspiring.
Many of the disputes arising from conflicts of authority were
settled and the Craft placed upon a harmonious basis. In Massachusetts
the two Grand Lodges ended their contentions by uniting on March
5, 1792, thereby restoring concord, encouraging labor, and assuring
prosperity to the fraternity. St. Andrew's Lodge, which refused
to acquiesce in the Union, finally united its fortunes with the
new Grand Lodge, and thus completed the Masonic circle.
If the claim that the Massachusetts Grand Lodge was of the "Ancients"
be true, then the coalition mentioned antedated the union in England
of 1813 by twenty-two years. Immediately after the uniting of
the Grand Lodges, a new "Book of Constitutions" was
published, dedicated to GEORGE WASHINGTON, and this has since,
with minor changes, been the manual of Massachusetts. The Grand
Lodge officiated at the laying of the cornerstone of the Bunker
Hill Monument, June 27, 1835, General LAFAYETTE being present
and assisting as a brother Mason. The MORGAN excitement affected
the prosperity of the Craft in the State, as elsewhere, to great
degree, the utmost bitterness prevailing, and leading eventually
to the surrender of the Grand Lodge incorporation, but it was
probably due to this Grand Lodge and one of its members that the
utter idiocy of the agitation then prevailing was made patent
to the people at large, who thereupon moderated their views and
at length completely changed their ideas regarding the institution,
so much so that the Legislature of the State has since been extremely
considerate of Masonic interests, and has enacted many laws in
its behalf.
The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts strongly advocated the establishment
of a General Grand Lodge, the feeling against English domination
of the Craft being very emphatic. The same spirit permeated the
Craftsmen of Pennsylvania, probably the earliest home of Freemasonry
in the United States. The propriety of severing official relations
with the Grand Lodge of England was considered at the quarterly
communication of the Pennsylvania Grand Lodge, held at Philadelphia
in September, 1786, when it was formally declared that all ties
except those of brotherly love and affection were determined.
Thereupon the Grand Lodge, acting under the British warrant, was
closed forever, and an independent sovereign body called the Grand
Lodge of Pennsylvania was created. This action was concurred in
by thirteen Lodges, which had theretofore worked under the authority
of the English warrant. The former Grand Officers were continued
in their positions with full powers. From this later Grand Lodge
were issued warrants authorizing the creation of subordinate bodies
in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia,
Louisiana', Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Haiti, Trinidad, Cuba, and
Mexico, in addition to army Lodges and two in South American countries.
From these various bodies several Grand Lodges were subsequently
organized. As illustrative of the extent of the Lodge powers and
the freedom then prevalent in the conferring of various degrees
which had not yet been separated into different orders, it may
be observed that under the warrant of the Lodges, Nos. 2 and 3,
the Knight Templar degree was conferred by these bodies during
the period from 1783 to 1787. In 1782 - 1783 the Ahiman Rezon,
containing the Constitutions of Pennsylvania, was published, the
dedication being inscribed to WASHINGTON as General of the American
armies and as a distinguished brother.
Originally, the Pennsylvania Brethren favored the establishment
of a General Grand Lodge, having in view the selection of WASHINGTON
as General Grand Master, but with his demise this sentiment changed
and strong opposition to the plan developed. The Craft in Pennsylvania
manifested a sincere affection for WASHINGTON at all times, and
at his death mourned his loss as personal. On several public occasions
WASHlNGTON attended the Grand Lodge, which is possessed of one
of his Masonic letters. His legatees also presented to the Grand
Lodge one of his Masonic aprons, and the Grand Lodge in turn voted
$1,000 for the erection of a monument over his remains at Mount
Vernon, and contributed a block of marble for the great WASHINGTON
Monument in Washington, D. C.
LAFAYETTE, the associate of WASHINGTON in the gloomy days of the
Revolution, was also cherished by the Pennsylvania Brethren both
as patriot and brother, and upon his return to the United States
was received with many manifestations of love and reverence. He
was honored with membership in the Grand Lodge, and was received
everywhere by the Brethren with every mark of esteem. The loyalty
of the Pennsylvania Brethren has ever been pronounced, and every
demand of the Government has been met promptly. When Great Britain
in 1812 provoked its second war with the Americans, the Grand
Lodge immediately offered its services in defense of the Quaker
City, and upon the call for aid, five hundred and ten members
responded. The same devotion to the flag inspired the organization
of a relief association for Masonic soldiers enlisted in the Union
cause during the Rebellion, but this help was not confined to
members of the Craft, and gradually extended to all of the soldiers,
and eventually resulted in the formation of hospital and other
corps for the alleviation of the troubles incident to war. By
enactment of the Grand Lodge in 1799, one - third of its receipts
were devoted to charity, and these, with the accumulations from
a bequest of $20,000 made by STEPHEN GIRARD, and of $50,000 donated
by THOMAS R. PATTON, former Grand Treasurer, aggregate about $200,000.
Through the loving efforts of the Brethren, a shelter for the
aged, decrepit, and forlorn Mason, his wife, widow, and orphan
has been established at Philadelphia, and in the beneficence of
its work will rival the magnificence of the Temple, said to be
the finest in the world, which has been erected in the same city
by the same exalted spirits.
All of the New England Jurisdictions were nurtured by Massachusetts
and she proved a worthy mother to all, giving of her substance
and earnestness much that contributed to the early and permanent
success of the Craft. The same spirit of independence which led
the Colonies to throw off the yoke of the mother country, early
induced the Craftsmen in the various portions of New England to
establish their own Grand Lodges and year after year discovered
them setting up their own altars. The first of the offshoots to
erect its own Grand Lodge was Connecticut. St. John's Lodge, of
which PAUL REVERE was at one time Grand Master, had chartered
a number of Lodges in this territory of which six survived. A
similar number had been warranted by the Massachusetts Grand Lodge,
and four Lodges had received authority from the Provincial Grand
Master of New York.
American Union, an Army Lodge, chartered by St. John's Lodge and
attached to a Connecticut regiment was also working. These bodies,
although working under different dispensations, labored in concord
and eventually convened for the purpose of forming a Grand Lodge.
The first meeting to this end was held in April, 1783, and the
second in January, 1784, but the work was not consummated until
May, 1789, when a Constitution was adopted and officers were elected.
The Grand Lodge was formed by twelve of the Lodges and it was
noted as remarkable that all of these Lodges were still in existence
and represented at the centenary observance of the Grand Lodge
in 1889. Under the Grand Lodge the Fraternity prospered and at
the commencement of the nineteenth century the membership had
grown to 3,000 - Some trouble was experienced from the establishment
of spurious Lodges by JOASH HALL about the year 1800, but this
was soon remedied.
Out of Connecticut came charters for Erie Lodge and New England
Lodge which, with American Union, the Army Lodge before mentioned,
assisted in the formation in 1808 of the Ohio Grand Lodge. The
Grand Lodge was incorporated by act of the Legislature in 1821
and five years later voted $500 for a monument to WASHINGTON.
In common with other Masonic Bodies, the Grand Lodge felt the
effects of the MORGAN crusade, and it created such demoralization
that in 1831 the Grand Treasurer was the only officer who did
not refuse to continue in office.
Although new officers were elected at that session all but the
Grand Master and Grand Treasurer failed to appear at the convocation
the following year.
New Hampshire was the second of the Massachusetts branches to
form a Grand Lodge. The first Lodge in this colony was warranted
about 1737 and it remained the sole Lodge for forty-five years
when another was constituted, but the latter did not long survive.
During the period immediately following the cessation of hostilities
between Great Britain and the colonies, several other Lodges were
consecrated to the cause of Masonry. The first movement toward
the creation of a Grand Lodge was a meeting of deputies at Keene
in July, 1789, at which a resolution to that end was adopted.
A second meeting was held the same month, but the Grand Master
was not installed until April, 1790. For several years the Grand
Lodge celebrated ST. JOHN's Day by parading to a church and there
commemorating by appropriate services the recurrence of this Masonic
patron's festival. The organization of Washington Lodge at Exeter,
July 22, 1801, was marked by rather novel ceremonies.
The Grand Lodge was opened by the Grand
Master who thereupon summoned the officers of the new Lodge. These
were then severally examined and ascertained to be worthy and
well skilled in the Ancient Art. The Grand Lodge, headed by a
band of music, marched to the meeting - place of the new subordinate
where the Lodge was opened, the Grand Officers taking their official
positions. The Master was then obligated and inducted into the
Oriental Chair in the presence only of all attending Past Masters.
Then the procession was reformed and proceeded to a near - by
church where the ceremonies were enlivened by the music of a male
and female choir. After the consecration of the Lodge, investiture
of the Master, proclamation and prayer, the Brethren again formed
in procession and marched to a hostelry where a sumptuous banquet
had been provided by the stewards. Later the Lodge was closed.
This Grand Lodge was probably the first to establish a form of
application for the degrees. The form was adopted in 1802, the
first half being substantially the declaration now set forth upon
all of the petitions. The second half was a formal recommendation
of the applicant by two members of the Lodge who attested the
moral and other qualities necessary to constitute him a fit member
of the Craft, and two other members vouched for the petitioner.
In 1807 the Grand Lodge appointed a delegate to represent it in
a Grand Masonic Convention at Washington, D. C., authorizing him
to propose and agree to a systematic method of working and lecturing
in the United States, but it also expressed its opposition to
the formation of a General Grand Lodge as had been proposed.
The Grand Lodge of Rhode Island was organized on June 25, 1791,
by two Lodges - one located at Newport and the other at Providence.
The Constitution adopted provided for annual sessions, alternating
between Newport and Providence. A memorial service was adopted
in 1797. In this jurisdiction the Lodges were required to work
under dispensations for several years before charters were issued,
a practice which has since become general. It was not until the
year 1800 that the Lodges of this State were numbered. New Lodges
were usually constituted and the installations of officers held
in public. Originally the Lodges had no authority to confer the
Third or Master's degree, which was worked by a separate Masters'
Lodge. Another strange regulation was that which declared that
an Entered Apprentice did not become a member of the Lodge which
conferred it.
This was supplemented by another requiring Fellow Crafts to apply
by petition for, advancement. St. John's Lodge of Providence was
the home Lodge of THOMAS S.
WEBB, who in 1813 - 1814 was Grand Master, and whose chief celebrity
in the Masonic Institution is as the revisionist of the rituals
of the several bodies. During WEBB'S mastership in 1814 the Grand
Lodge fortified the harbor of Providence against the British,
and he named the defenses Fort Hiram. An application was made
to this Grand Lodge in 1811 for a warrant to open a Lodge on the
Island of St. Bartholomew, but it was refused, the Grand Lodge
placing its denial upon the ground of want of jurisdiction. The
Grand Lodge in 1826, and again in 1848, revised its Constitution,
and also in 1863 adopted a revision of the ritual. All of the
Lodges but one acquiesced in the latter changes, and that one
for continued contumacy was suspended.
Vermont was the next of the Massachusetts Masonic progeny to build
its own household. Duly accredited delegates from three Lodges
assembled at Manchester in August, 1794, and several preliminary
meetings were held at which the necessary formula for the formation
of a Grand Lodge were pursued and adopted. Eventually, on October
13, 1794, a Constitution was adopted and officers chosen. The
growth of the Order was rapid, and many charters were granted.
In fact, so great was the progress and so numerous the applications
for warrants, that the Grand Lodge passed a number of measures
tending to protect the Fraternity from imposition. Among other
regulations it required the petition of five known Master Masons
for a charter, the examination of the Master and Wardens as to
their knowledge of the Masonic art, the approbation of the two
nearest Lodges, and a distance of at least twenty miles between
Lodges, unless at certain seasons of the year the Brethren would
be obliged to travel round creeks and bays to get to the Lodge
to which they belonged, in which case the Grand Lodge was authorized
to dispense with the rule enforcing, distance. In January, 1802,
the Grand Lodge adopted a standard work for the Lodges, and in
January, 1804, it ordered the discontinuance of the chisel as
a working - tool of the Entered Apprentice degree. In 1805 the
Grand Lodge adopted a law conferring upon Master Masons the sole
right to vote in the Lodges, and also conferred upon the Lodges
the power to hear and determine all disputes between their members
and to suspend, expel, and restore them, all without right of
appeal. It may be noted as curious that the Grand Lodge, in 1807,
directed the publication in local newspapers of the expulsion
of members, to which was added a request to the publishers throughout
the Union to reprint the item. Some years later the Grand Lodge
provided the correlatively curious rule that all restorations
to membership should be likewise printed in the public journals.
This Grand Lodge also appropriated various sums in the first quarter
of the nineteenth century for the distribution, gratuitously,
of the Bible, and also aided several Bible societies. A sum of
money was donated in 1824 to a Craftsman who had been deprived
of his place and emoluments as an elder of a Christian church
because he had become a Mason. This Grand Lodge also early expressed
its disapproval of the use of ardent spirits, and also frowned
upon public dinners at its communications, adopting a resolution
to this effect in 1826, and in the following year it recommended
to all subordinates to exclude the use of ardent spirits on all
public occasions. It seems to have been the disposition of both
the Grand and Subordinate Lodges of Vermont to aid all public
movements, contributing moneys' freely toward the same, and in
this manner advancing the interests of educational, colonization,
and other projects. This jurisdiction suffered from the intense
feelings aroused by the anti-Masonic agitation, 'the bitterness
engendered thereby being almost beyond conception. Most of the
Brethren held resolutely to their principles, and, though sore
tried, the justness of their cause eventually triumphed, and since
the progress of the Fraternity has been more than satisfactory.
In this State the Legislature, during the height of the MORGAN
excitement, passed a law making it a public offense to administer
what were termed "extra - judicial" oaths, the law being
aimed directly at the Masonic fraternity, and being designed to
abolish all forms of obligations, but, as was to be anticipated,
the law was ineffectual to accomplish the end desired.
The Craft had become a well - known and thriving institution in
Maine at the date of its admission to Statehood, there being thirty-one
Lodges, all of which had been chartered by Massachusetts. The
State was admitted to the Union in 1819, and later in the same
Year a convention of the Lodges was held to promote the organization
of a Grand Lodge, twenty-nine of the Lodges being represented.
In June, 1820, the representatives of twenty-four Lodges met,
adopted a Constitution, and elected officers, the first Grand
Master being WILLIAM KING, Governor of the State. The Mother Grand
Lodge donated the sum of one thousand dollars to its youngest
Masonic child, as the basis of its charity fund, and helped it
in many ways. At the session of 1820 a proposition was made to
the Grand Lodge to set apart one - tenth of all moneys to be received
thereafter from charter and initiatory fees for the purpose of
translating the Bible into various tongues and distributing the
same without note or comment, but it was decided that as the funds
of the Grand Lodge were devoted to other objects of charity, such
as supplying the temporal wants of the needy, no part thereof
could be applied, to such purpose. This Grand Lodge in 1824 adopted
the report of a committee favoring the admission of candidates
by solemn affirmation in all cases in which applicants had conscientious
scruples against taking an oath. This invasion of one of the most
sacred of the Landmarks of the Craft raised a cloud of protests
throughout the United States, and eventually the Landmark was
restored.
All of the Lodges in New York, with one exception, had been chartered
by the English Grand Lodge of "Moderns" when the Revolutionary
outbreak occurred, and all but one suspended labor until the close
of the war. Many of the regiments stationed in New York City during
its occupation by the British had attached to them so-called Army
Lodges, which were exceedingly active, and in these Lodges Whigs
and Tories, Federalists and Royalists, were accustomed to meet,
forgetful for the nonce of the bitterness aroused by the conflict
between the Crown and its Colonies. A Provincial Grand Lodge having
been established in New York City in December, 1782, upon the
evacuation of the British troops, it was decided to leave the
Grand Warrant for use of the successors of the incumbent Grand
Officers, most of whom, being British soldiers, were obliged to
depart. The first American Grand Master of this body was WILLIAM
COCK, who was succeeded by ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON in 1784. Two years
later all Lodges in the State were ordered to deposit their warrants,
so that the rank of all might be determined. In the same year
a committee was appointed to consider the propriety of holding
the Grand Lodge under its then warrant, and to effect a change
if it should be thought expedient. This committee afterward reported
that no change was necessary. The festivals of the two SAINTS
JOHN were observed by the Grand Lodge in 1785 and 1789 with much
ceremony. In August, 1790, the Grand Lodge declared in favor of
a Supreme Federal Grand Lodge. Owing to conflicts between the
"Moderns" and "Ancients" and a number of clandestine
Masons, a check - word was adopted by the Grand Lodge in 1793,
but the next year it was changed. The use of this safeguard was
continued for several years. In 1796 it was resolved by the Grand
Lodge to refuse to grant any dispensation or charter for a Lodge
to any persons residing out of the State and within the jurisdiction
of another Grand Lodge. JACOB MORTON was in 1801 inducted into
the Grand Orient as successor of ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON with elaborate
ceremonials, Knights Templar officiating and the Grand Master
delivering a felicitous address.
The second war with England caused an emergency convocation of
the Grand Lodge, September, 1814, seventeen Lodges responding,
and the members, with other Brethren, devoted several days' labor
toward the erection of a fort on Brooklyn Heights as a defense
of the city. The Grand Lodge on June 5, 1816, prohibited the use
of distilled spirits in Lodge rooms. For many years the jurisdiction
was torn by dissentions arising from attempts to establish a second
Grand Lodge.
Three Lodges of Albany in December, 1801, issued a circular to
the country Lodges advocating the formation of another Grand Lodge.
The Lodges divided upon the proposition, some of the country Lodges
uniting with the city Lodges in opposition. Action was postponed
until 1823, when it was discussed with much bitterness. Before
this was settled the subordinates in ten of the western counties
convened and petitioned the Grand Lodge for the formation of a
second Grand Body in the western portion of the State. In June,
1822, another proposal was made to erect a new Grand Lodge in
the country. Many objections were made to the Grand Lodge by the
interior Lodges, the principal ones being in regard to payment
of mileage and expenses of representatives, the right to vote,
and representation of country Lodges by proxies to the Grand Lodge.
The Grand Lodge was in many respects purely a city organization,
and gradually excited the opposition of the country members. It
was fast becoming discredited, and in June, 1822, the dissentions
culminated in the organization of another, or country, Grand Lodge,
which was known as St. John's Grand Lodge. Five years later the
country and city Grand Lodges under a compromise treaty coalesced,
it having been agreed that there should be but one Grand Lodge,
that the records should remain in New York City, that the Grand
Secretary and Grand Treasurer should be elected from that city,
that the other officers should be chosen alternately from city
and country, that Past Masters should not be represented by proxies,
and that no Master or Past Master should represent more than three
Lodges. New York State was the home and hotbed of the anti-Masonic
crusade brought about by the MORGAN incident, and so intense was
the excitement that all but seventy-two of the 502 Lodges surrendered
their charters. For seven years no work was done. The Grand Lodge,
to help allay the feeling of opposition, prohibited all public
parades. Despite this inhibition and in the face of special notifications
York, Hibernia, Benevolent, and Silentia Lodges, under the leadership
of HENRY C. ATWOOD, resolved to appear in public to celebrate
ST. JOHN's Day, 1837. The parade was held, three hundred joining
in the same. In July succeeding ATWOOD was expelled, the specific
charge being disobedience to the mandate of the Deputy Grand Master,
who had warned him against proceeding with the march and celebration.
The Lodges participating met and on September 12, 1837, established
a Grand Lodge under the name of St. John's. This body and its
subordinates were refused recognition by the American and European
Grand Lodges, being declared clandestine, and so continued until
1850, when the St. John's Grand Lodge was merged with the Grand
Lodge of New York and its members healed. In June, 1853, the St.
John's Grand Lodge drew away from the Grand Lodge of New York,
basing its action upon four grounds, the first being to the Grand
Master, REUBEN H. WALWORTH, for his claimed disloyalty to the
Masonic Institution; the second, that large amounts of money had
been squandered; the third, that Lodges had been inordinately
taxed, and the fourth the inquisitorial exercise of power over
subordinate Lodges and individual members.
When the term of Grand Master WALWORTH expired, three years later,
the St. John's bodies returned to the regular Grand, Lodge and
the schism was finally closed. The St. John's Grand Lodge at this
time had about one thousand members enrolled in its subordinates.
The Grand Lodge of New York has ever been liberal in its charities
and consistent in its help to the needy. In 1810 it provided instruction
to fifty poor orphan children. In 18l2 the destitution and suffering
of the people at Buffalo was relieved by the citv Lodges. Moneys
were raised in 1815 for the presentation to each scholar in the
Fraternity's free school of an outfit of clothing.
The movement to erect a building for the Grand Lodge in New York
City and an asylum for Masons, widows, and orphans was started
in 1843, and has since seen fruition in the magnificent Temple
of the Craft in New York City and the more useful and gracious
home at Utica. The Grand Lodge is the possessor of one of the
finest Masonic Libraries in the world, and is adding to it constantly.
Six of the original Lodges still exist, their antiquity not having
impaired their vigor or usefulness.
Closely following the termination of the War of Independence,
the various Lodges in New Jersey united to establish a Grand Lodge.
Accordingly, the representatives of the different subordinates
met at New Brunswick, and on December 18, 1786, organized the
Grand Body, most of those participating having been actively engaged
in the conflict. A number of the military Lodges connected with
the forces operating in New Jersey joined in the creation of the
Grand Lodge, accepting later the warrants of the new governing
body. New Jersey was the theater of many of the notable encounters
of the Revolution, and during the interims of warfare the members
of the several Army Lodges and those Masons whose membership was
in regularly located Lodges, availed themselves fully of the opportunities
thus afforded to meet their Brethren of the Mystic Tie, and many
strong and in some cases romantic attachments were formed which
outlasted hostilities. Although the Grand Lodge was organized
in 1786, it was four years later before its Constitution was formally
promulgated and adopted. As might be expected, General WASHINGTON,
during his prolonged stay in and about New Jersey, was a frequent
attendant upon the Masonic communications, and his presence and
inspiring words were always keenly welcomed. This jurisdiction,
while consistently opposed to the creation of a General Grand
Lodge, was nevertheless favorable to the appointment of WASHINGTON
as Grand Master of the United States, and even went so far as
to receive a favorable report from a committee, but the proposition
meeting with no general favor, owing to the objection that it
would create a precedent that might prove injurious to the Craft
in general, was permitted to lapse. The anti-Masonic crusade affected
this Grand Lodge to some extent, but not as much as the other
jurisdictions to the north and east. After the gradual decline
of prejudice growing out of the MORGAN trouble, the Lodges began
to prosper, and their course has since been pleasant and beneficial.
Two months after peace had been proclaimed the Lodges meeting
on the Eastern Shore of Maryland assembled at Talbot Courthouse
to establish a Grand Lodge, representatives from five Lodges being
present to forward the project. At the meeting when it was proposed
to elect officers for the Grand Lodge, some question was made
as to the right of the convention to do so. It was then decided
to appeal to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania which had warranted
most of the Maryland bodies for authority to set up an independent
Grand Lodge. No definite reply to this request appears to have
been given, probably for the reason that the supplicating bodies
possessed the inherent right to establish their own Grand Lodge
when they so determined. The convention met in July, 1783, for
the second time, the Masters and Wardens of the Lodges being present
instead of deputies. At this session the indisputable right of
the Lodges to form an independent Grand Body was strongly declared
and the assembly also elected a corps of officers. It was also
decided that the Grand Lodge should meet quarterly and should
sit at different places at its various communications. There were
some members of the Grand Lodge who continued of doubtful belief
as to their power to constitute a new Grand Body without the sanction
of the Pennsylvania Grand Lodge, and the Grand Master of Maryland
endeavored to obtain the final opinion of the Pennsylvania body,
but without success, although a committee for the purpose of determining
the question was appointed by the latter, but this committee does
not appear to have made any report concerning the matter. Eventually
the Maryland body concluded the matter by a declaration recognizing
its right to form a Grand Lodge and the incident was considered
closed. Thereafter there was no representation in the Grand Lodge
of Pennsylvania from Maryland. To settle all questions concerning
the regularity and validity of the organization of the Grand Lodge
in April, 1787, the officers of the different Lodges were summoned
and the Grand Lodge was then formally reorganized and this date
is generally accepted as that of the formation of this body. The
three Lodges on the Western Shore, being two at Baltimore and
one at Joppa, did not join in the establishment of the Grand Lodge
but later submitted to its authority. With the settlement of the
questions affecting the regularity of the organization of the
Grand Lodge, the subordinates increased rapidly, twenty warrants
being issued in the period to 1800, but of these seven became
dormant.
For twenty years thereafter very little progress was made, but
in 1820 interest in Masonry revived and for a decade there was
great activity, no less than eighteen charters being issued for
the establishment of new Lodges or the rejuvenation of old ones.
In the following decade, however, there was a cessation of activity
and the Fraternity lapsed to such extent that the entire membership
did not exceed 300 and it was distributed among thirteen Lodges.
This remarkable decrease in Lodges and membership was due wholly
to the anti-Masonic excitement, but this decadent condition was
of comparatively short duration and by 1845 interest was revived
and the Craft began to prosper again and in the ensuing five years
ten new Lodges were formed and many others revived. The Grand
Lodge in 1797 Petitioned the Legislature for an Act of Incorporation
which was granted finally in 1822. Under this Act the Grand Lodge
continued to exercise its corporate powers for forty-four years
when the Act was so amended as to enable the Grand Lodge to acquire
additional property. A curious tribunal existed in this State
up to 1872 called the "Grand Stewards' Lodge," composed
of the Masters of the Baltimore Lodges and a Past Master from
each Lodge in the State. Originally this Lodge was composed of
the Deputy Grand Master and eight Brethren appointed annually
by the Grand Lodge to which body was delegated the charge of the
Grand Lodge Charity Fund. In time this Lodge extended its power
and in addition to managing the financial interests of the Grand
Lodge, received authority to act as an intermediate appellate
court with power of discipline. After an existence of seventy-five
years this Lodge was abolished, the Grand Lodge assuming its proper
authority. This Grand Lodge on September is, 1793, in conjunction
with the Lodge at Alexandria, Virginia, laid the cornerstone of
the Capitol at Washington, D. C., the ceremonies being performed
by GEORGE WASHINGTON, then President. This body also on July 4,
1815, laid the cornerstone of the WASHINGTON Monument in Baltimore,
the Grand Master officiating and being the first monument erected
to the memory of the distinguished patriot. On many occasions
the Grand Lodge has been called upon to lay the corner - stones
of public and private buildings and to participate in many public
ceremonies. In 1845 a charity fund was established and much money
was donated, ultimately reaching the sum of $54,000 which was
invested in a new Temple which for many years was a losing venture.
Many valuable records were destroyed Christmas Day, 1890, by a
fire which consumed the old Masonic Hall on St. Paul Street.
Although the first warrant for a Lodge in Virginia was issued
in 1741, a Grand Lodge was not formed therein until 1777. A number
of Lodges were warranted by other Grand Bodies, but all were either
united afterward to the Virginia Grand Lodge or surrendered their
authority. Alexandria Lodge, No. 39, which was constituted by
the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, February 3, 1783, in April, 1788,
surrendered its warrant and obtained one from the Grand Lodge
of Virginia, and in 1804 gained permission to change its name
to "Alexandria - Washington Lodge, No. 22." The Grand
Lodge in 1798 declared against any member of the Virginia Lodges
visiting the Lodges of the "Ancients," under penalty
of expulsion, and this penal statute had the desired effect. WASHINGTON
was made a Mason in this State on November 4, 1752, receiving
the degrees in Fredericksburg Lodge. A monument to his memory
was dedicated in 1858 by the Grand Lodge on the anniversary of
his birth, with imposing ceremonies. The Grand Lodge also laid
the cornerstone of the monument to commemorate the surrender of
Yorktown, which the United States erected at the latter place.
The Grand Lodge of Virginia was the parent of the Grand Lodge
of West Virginia, which was formed in 1865, having chartered most
of the Lodges which engaged in the formation of the latter, and
also furnishing the form of Constitution which was used for several
years. The prosperity of the Lodges in Virginia and West Virginia
was sadly affected by the War of the Rebellion, but upon its culmination
all again became successful and useful.
Among the earliest of the Colonies to receive the Masonic Institution
was South Carolina, in which as early as 1735 a Lodge was constituted,
known as Solomon's Lodge, located at Charleston, under a warrant
issued by Lord WEYMOUTH, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England.
At the same time that the warrant was granted to this Lodge, another
was granted for a Lodge bearing the same name and located at Wilmington,
North Carolina. The Charleston Lodge thus formed is still in existence.
The Provincial Grand Lodge which had existed in South Carolina
since 1737, declared itself in 1787 independent of England, and
organized as a regular Grand Lodge. All the Lodges under this
Grand Lodge were "Ancients." The "Moderns"
in the same year formed a second Grand Lodge. For many years these
bodies maintained a most unfraternal rivalry, the "Ancients"
being particularly energetic, while the "Moderns" sedulously
adhered to the old regulations that required the uninitiated to
voluntarily seek them. In December, 1808, the two Grand Lodges
united as the "Grand Lodge of South Carolina," but dissentions
soon arose over the eligibility of the "Moderns," the
"Ancients" holding that the former could not become
"Ancients" except by submitting to the ceremonies of
the latter. The dispute raged bitterly and other Grand jurisdictions
interdicted the members. At length the "Ancients" revived
their Grand Lodge and the civil tribunals were appealed to for
relief. In 1817 the two Grand Lodges were again united upon terms
mutually satisfactory and the Brethren have since abided together
in peace and harmony. In this jurisdiction Orange Lodge, No. 14,
has maintained a continuous existence since May 28, 1789.
In North Carolina the first Grand Lodge was formed in 1771 and
it met alternately at Newbern and Edenton. Its records were destroyed
during the Revolution. The Grand Lodge suspended its labors during
the war, but it was reorganized in 1787 when new officers were
elected and installed, all Lodges renumbered and new charters
issued. In 1797 the Legislature enacted a law for the incorporation
of the Grand Lodge, under which it has since acted. In 1856 the
Grand Lodge established ST. JOHN'S College, a Masonic educational
institution, at Oxford, and in 1872 converted it into an orphan
asylum, which has been recognized by the people and State in many
substantial ways.
The first Lodge in Georgia was known as Solomon's, 139, and was
warranted by Lord WEYMOUTH, Grand Master of England. This Lodge
existed until the close of the Revolution, when it ceased to exist.
In 1786 the Grand Lodge was formed. The progress of the Fraternity
thereafter was marked in the city of Savannah, but the country
Lodges failed to prosper and in 1818 most of the interior bodies
had ceased to exist. To remedy this condition of affairs a new
Constitution was adopted in 1820 providing for quarterly meetings,
those of March and June at Savannah and those of September and
December at Milledgeville, and for the election of Grand Officers
annually at the March meeting at Savannah. These changes did not,
however, meet with the approval of the members generally and a
conflict arose between the country and city members, the former
vacating the work of the latter. At length a meeting was held
in December, 1826, to correct the evils growing out of this condition
of affairs, and a new Constitution was adopted abolishing the
quarterly meetings and fixing the regular meeting - place at Milledgeville.
The Savannah session of the Grand Lodge repudiated these acts
of the Milledgeville communication and elected Grand Officers
as usual. At the December meeting of the Milledgeville Grand Lodge,
Grand Officers were elected, the March session at Savannah was
declared illegal and the Brethren espousing the cause of the latter
were expelled. As might be expected the bitterest feelings were
engendered by this action, intensified by the course of one of
the Savannah Lodges in adhering to the Milledgeville Grand Lodge.
While these factional controversies were waging, the anti-Masonic
crusade was begun and this served more than any other cause to
reunite the warring partisans, and all Lodges but Solomon's, No.
1, of Savannah renewed allegiance to the Milledgeville Grand Lodge.
In November, 1889, Solomon's, No. 1, was received into the Grand
Lodge and the sentence of expulsion was removed, thereby completely
restoring the harmonious relations of the Craft. The most notable
event in the career of the Grand Lodge was its participation March
21, 1824, in the laying of the corner - stones of the monuments
erected to the memory of Generals GREENE and PULASKI, in which
ceremonies LAFAYETTE participated.
The early Lodges in Florida had ephemeral existence, all constituted,
for one cause or another, surrendering their charters or becoming
extinct. This condition of affairs continued until the organization
of several subordinates in the early years of the nineteenth century.
Three of these Lodges met in July, 1830, and formed a Grand Lodge.
This Grand Lodge "has the distinction of being the first
Grand Body erected in a territory, Florida not being then admitted
to Statehood. Its career has been harmonious and the Craft has
prospered under its wise administration.
Although possessing a comparatively small enrollment, the members
of this jurisdiction have worked in unison to promote the principles
of the Fraternity and have a proud record for genuine charity.
Lodges have been chartered in all of the principal cities and
towns and the future of the Craft is bright indeed. The records
of the Grand Lodge were unfortunately destroyed by fire in 1888,
together with much other valuable property.
The Grand Lodge of Delaware was organized in 1806 under circumstances
of such doubtful character, that for many years sister Grand Lodges
refused it recognition. There seemed to be no concerted action
by the Lodges as such for the formation of a Grand Body. A number
of Brethren, said to have been nine, held a meeting at Wilmington,
and decided to create a Grand Lodge for the better government
of the Fraternity. A committee was accordingly selected to prepare
the necessary articles, and in June, 1806, the same were received
and approved, and temporary officers appointed. The Grand Lodge
was then formally consecrated and established.
The distinctive events in the history of the Grand Lodge of the
District of Columbia were its participation in the laying of the
cornerstone of the new Capitol of the United States, and its dedication
of the Great WASHINGTON Monument.
The cornerstone of the first Capitol was laid on September 18,
1793, by WASHINGTON, who was then President, assisted by the Craft,
and the ceremonies were entirely those of the Fraternity. The
Grand Lodge was in charge of the ceremonies attending the laying
of the commemorative stone of the new Capitol, on July 4, 1851
- More recently the Grand Lodge placed the cap - stone of the
WASHINGTON Monument, and performed the dedicatory services. Five
Lodges united in establishing this Grand Lodge in February, 1811,
the only subordinate not joining being Alexandria - Washington
Lodge, which continued under the Virginia Jurisdiction.
The first Grand Lodge organized in the Mississippi valley was
that of Kentucky, which was formed in October, 1800, by the Masters
of five Lodges all under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of
Virginia. Among these Lodges was Lexington, No. 25, which is said
to be the first Lodge organized west of the Alleghanies. The preliminary
meeting of the representatives of these five Lodges was held in
September, 1800, at Lexington, at which the inspiring cause for
the setting up of a separate authority was declared to be the
impossibility of extending the charities of the Virginia Grand
Lodge to the Brethren and their families in Kentucky, and the
difficulty of attending the Grand Lodge and receiving visits from
the Grand Master. The Masters of the several Lodges participating
exhibited the charters under which they were acting, and their
own authorities as representatives whereupon the Grand Lodge was
created in accordance with the customary forms.
Six years later the Grand Lodge Articles of Constitution were
drafted by a convention of delegates. These were based upon the
Virginia code and were adopted, and were in 1808 amended and then
published. In 1802 the Grand Lodge established a charity fund,
the moneys for the same being procured by a tax of one dollar
for every subordinate initiation, and five dollars for every Grand
Lodge initiation, and in this manner a large fund was accumulated.
In 1867, a home for widows and orphans - the first of the Masonic
homes - was incorporated, and the Grand Lodge evidenced its favorable
consideration of this praiseworthy charity by levying a special
tax upon the entire membership, and the funds thus derived were
devoted to extension and maintenance of the home. The high - spirited
denizens of Kentucky gave the State a reputation for dueling that
reached to every quarter of the globe, and the tendency among
them to resort to this means of satisfying their honor penetrated
even beyond the lines guarding the Masonic Brotherhood. It accordingly
early became necessary for the Grand Lodge to act upon several
such incidents involving Brethren of the jurisdiction. A Brother
who bore a challenge from one Brother Mason to another was in
1814 suspended by his Lodge, but on appeal to the Grand Lodge
this sentence was modified and reduced to reprimand.
Four years later the Grand Master himself engaged in a duel with
a member of his own Lodge, and was summoned by the Grand Lodge
to answer for his conduct.
After considerable debate both Brethren were suspended from all
Masonic privileges for one year.
The second of the Grand Lodges formed in the territory west of
the Alleghanies was in Ohio. The first Lodge opened in that district
was American Union Lodge at Marietta, being the same Lodge for
which a warrant was issued by the St. John's Grand Lodge of Massachusetts
as an army Lodge connected with the Connecticut Line. This Lodge
held its first communication June 28, 1790, JONATHAN HEART being
Master. In December, 1794, Nova Cesarea Lodge was organized at
Cincinnati. In 1803 warrants were issued by the Connecticut Grand
Lodge for Lodges at Warren and Worthington; in 1805 the Pennsylvania
Grand Lodge issued authority for a Lodge at Zanesville, and in
1806 the Kentucky Grand Lodge warranted a Lodge at Cincinnati.
Delegates from five of these Lodges met at Chillicothe in January,
1808, and decided to form a Grand Lodge, and fixed on January
2, 1809, for the first meeting. General RUFUS PUTNAM was the first
Grand Master. At the session in January, 1809, but four Lodges
were represented, and the question was at once raised whether
or not four Lodges could form a Grand Lodge. According to the
DERMOTT Constitution five Lodges were necessary to form a Grand
Lodge. It was finally determined, however, to proceed with the
organization of the body, which was accordingly formed. The validity
of the formation of the Ohio Grand Lodge has never been attacked,
though it did not conform strictly to the ancient usage in respect
to the number required to constitute it. The Kentucky Constitution
was adopted temporarily for the guidance of the Grand Lodge. Although
American Union Lodge was represented at the preliminary convention
it declined to submit to the authority of the Grand Lodge, asserting
superior prior rights. Afterward the Lodge was declared clandestine,
but on petition of several of the Brethren a new charter was issued
to them in 1816, and since 1842 the Lodge has been extremely active.
The Grand Lodge has no fixed meeting - place, the sessions being
held annually at such place as has been previously chosen. The
same effects were produced in Ohio by the anti-Masonic crusade
as were noted in the other jurisdictions. The membership fell
away in every direction, and the number of Lodges decreased from
ninety-four to seventeen.
Since 1840 the progress of the Craft in Ohio has been steady,
uniformly harmonious, and eminently satisfactory to the Fraternity
at large. In all that makes for the betterment of the Fraternity
and in the living exposition of its vital principles, Ohio has
ever been foremost and is a worthy exemplar of beneficent acts
well done.
The Masonic Institution was introduced to the territory now known
as Louisiana by LAURENT SIGUR, who, with a number of Gallican
refugees from the West Indian Islands, formed a Lodge in 1793
known as Parfait Union. The original authority of these Brethren
being doubtful, they applied to the South Carolina Grand Lodge
for a charter, which was granted. In the following year several
discontented Brethren obtained from the Provincial Grand Lodge
of Marseilles, France, a warrant for a Lodge called Polar Star,
and in 1803 it was finally chartered by the Grand Orient of France.
Several Lodges were also warranted by the Pennsylvania Grand Lodge,
and one by the New York Grand Lodge. All of these Lodges were
located in New Orleans, and all but Louisiana Lodge, which had
been authorized by New York, and Harmony Lodge, worked in the
French language. The Grand Lodge was formed in 1812 by seven of
the Lodges, Louisiana and Harmony Lodges, the only bodies working
in English, refusing to participate. The non-concurrence of these
two Lodges did not, however, stay the organization of the Grand
Body, which elected officers, adopted a Constitution and regulations
and re-chartered the participating Lodges, and was subsequently
recognized and greeted by the other Grand Lodges. For many years
differences existed among the Lodges over the various rites worked
by the different bodies, and these differences were the subject
of much consideration and action by ONE of the difficulties which
beset the writer of history is well illustrated by the fact that
although the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine,
in the form in which we know it in America, is only about one
- third of a century old, although it was organized by men who
are still living, and although both of the two men who may justly
be styled, so far as America is concerned, its founders, have
written upon the very subject of its origin, yet no man now living,
except one of the two already referred to, its first Imperial
Potentate, Dr. WALTER M. FLEMING, can sit down to recount the
origin of the American Shrine or its connection, if any there
be, with an older with any assurance that his narrative will stand
the test of time, when the capricious hand of Fortune shall have
cast up to the light letters, diaries, minutes, and other documents
which are as yet carefully and, it seems to us, unnecessarily
and unwisely buried in darkness. To the present writer it seems
as though Brother FLEMING in what he has written concerning the
Shrine, has attempted to reveil rather than reveal the true origin
of the American Order; and that a few distinct words from him
concerning the particular local society to which RIZK ALLAH HASSOON
EFFENDEE belonged, the nature of the latter's authority, and,
perhaps, a copy of the "authority" which Brothers FLEMING
and FLORENCE received to "introduce the Order" into
America would have been of more historical value than the interesting
account of the Bektash with which he has favored us. And this
must not be considered harsh or even uncomplimentary criticism;
for few qualities have ever been more highly esteemed among Masons
than "silence and circumspection." And if the reader
should think that, in his journey back to Mecca and the days of
KALIF ALEE, and the Past Imperial Potentate occasionally strayed
intentionally or inadvertently from the arid sands which mark
the dry road of history, into the cool groves and beside the perfumebreathing
fountains of the garden of Romance, yet must we admit that he
had ample Masonic precedents for doing so. Indeed, for at least
five hundred years from the day that the Brethren, at the behest
of good King ATHELSTAN or some other ruler for whose now forgotten
name that of the king is an honorable even if pseudepigraphus,
substitute, comoiled the lonly legendary romance which we find
in the Masonic "manuscript constitutions, down to within
the memory of men still young partly perhaps on account of a lack
of full knowledge of the real facts, it was deemed an act of Masonic
piety, in an historian, to interweave with the thread of Masonic
history and circumstance, however fictitious, which seemed to
reflect honor or dignity on the Fraternity. The example of such
romancing may have influenced Dr. FLEMING and others who have
written concerning the Shrine; for we see results of that method
of writing "history" and see them everyday not merely
when an innumerable cloud of writers repeat the old fictions handed
down or invented by an ANDERSON, a PRESTON, a LAURY, an OLIVER,
a MITCHELL, or a MACKEY, but as often as our Masonic Knight Templar
imagines that his organization is descended from that of DE PAYENs
and DE MOLAY; our Scottish Rite Brother prates of FREDERICK the
Great and "The Constitutions of 1786"; or our Royal
Arch Mason or Royal and Select Master confounds the beautiful
allegory of the Temple with history. "Such digressions as
these," to quote the quaint apology of honest old PLUTARCH
in his life of ALEXANDER, "the nicest reader may endure,
if they are not too long."
The reticence, already alluded to, of the writers from whom we
might have expected most light, makes it possible to say little
with absolute certainty concerning this Ancient Arabic Order,
so favored of Masons, except that it is no part of Masonry and
probably has no present connecting link with Arabia. Yet, on the
other hand, there may be danger that a healthy revolt from the
fictions administered by the pseudo - historians of the credulous
ages may result the pendulum swinging too far in our jumping at
the conclusion that the Shrine had no ancestor, but was invented,
in New York in the eighth decade of the last century, out of whole
cloth.
That conclusion we may reject with confidence. That the Shrine,
as we have it, was greatly modified perhaps we should say reconstructed
in New York about 1871 may be freely conceded; but that it was
not then evolved, and that it had an ancestor, is no less certain.
What its ancestry was is the unsolved riddle.
In a letter written in 1882 by Bro. WILLIAM J. FLORENCE, 32°
- the well-known actor that writer claims to have met that ancestry
at Marseilles, France, in 1870. At that time, says the letter,
he was introduced by a banker's clerk who "knew him to be
a Mason" into what Bro. FLEMING styles "Bokhara Temple
of the Arabic Bektash." What was the Bektash? It is usually
stated and this is the view of Dr. FLEMING that the Bektash was
an Order instituted by KALIF ALEE, "cousin - German and son-in-law"
of MOHAMMED at Mecca, Arabia, A. D. 644, though others say "in
the year of the HEJIRA 25, A. D. 656." It was organized,
we are told, "as an Inquisition or Vigilance Committee, to
dispense justice and execute punishment upon criminals who escaped
their merited deserts through the inability or tardiness of the
courts of justice." "The original secret intention was
to form a powerful alliance among prominent, sterling men who
would, upon a valid accusation, proceed to a trial ignoring all
fear or favor, judge and execute, if it were merited, and within
the day or hour inflict the death penalty, at the same time observing
every precaution as to secrecy and security." Another purpose
of the organization is said to have been "to promote religious
toleration among cultured men of all nations." Its organization
was perfected "and did such prompt and efficient service
that they (sic) speedily excited the alarm of all the criminal
classes throughout the domain of the Star and Crescent."
It derived its name, "Bektash," "from the peculiar
tall, white hat or fez which was always worn by the highest officials
in the Mosque or during services and devotions in the Shrine."
It is not to be confounded with that warlike sect, the Bektash
Dervishes, although the latter are said to be "in alliance
with the Bektash or Shrine" and are "counted among its
most honorable patrons." Notwithstanding this disclaimer
by Bro. FLEMING, it will be found that much that he and those
who have followed his accounts have to say about "Shrines"
in Cairo, Jerusalem, Constantinople, etc., seems to relate solely
to the Shrines of the Bektash Dervishes and not to what we may
style the Bektash proper.
The ceremonial of the latter is declared to be, or to have been
originally "crude, membership being acquired on taking the
'Arab oaths.' The Order is said to have had a continuous existence
in Oriental countries, and now gathers around its Shrines the
best educated and most cultivated classes among Mohammedans, Hebrews
and Christians."
Thus far we have been able to follow Bro. FLEMING and our other
authorities with entire complacency, both on account of our implicit
confidence in their sincerity, and because we are in possession
of no information which conflicts with what they have told us.
But when they go a step further and not only claim the Rosecrucian
WEISHAUPT as a member of the Bektash but assert that he revived
that Order, in Bavaria, in 1776, and identify it with the Illuminati;
or when evidently identifying the Shrine with nearly every Hermetic,
Kabalistic or Rosecrucian Fraternity known to Western Europethey
claim Lord BACON, FREDERICK THE GREAT, GOETHE, SPINOZA, KANT,
MIRABEAU and a long list of other occultists as members of the
Bektash, we come to "the parting of the ways." We can
go with them no further; nor do we think there is anywhere a single
Masonic scholar who would, without new and convincing evidence,
acquiesce in those statements which are inconsistent with all
the evidence yet known to students at large.
Passing that point, then, and coming to more recent times leaving,
it must be confessed, a considerable hiatus in the pedigree of
our Order we are told by Bro. FLEMING that: -
"As to the Shrines or Bektash prevailing as independent bodies
throughout Oriental Europe, their numbers reach away into the
thousands. They are formed in all the large cities, after leaving
Paris: Marseilles boasts no modest one; thence, to Rome, Naples,
Cairo, Alexandria, Malta, Damascus, Tunio, Algiers, Tangier, and
on and on through the endless territories of Arabia, Egypt, Turkey,
Morocco, and Syria, comprising vast thousands of Shrines, or Bektashheeyeh,
and its (sic) millions of Disciples, all characterized by the
same insignia, all derived from Mohammedan faith, and robed in
steel, gold, and glory, and exemplified in a pomp and power unknown
to any other institution on the globe."
Surely a brilliant and striking picture! Perhaps it may be as
well to consider at this point, though it slightly interrupt our
narrative of the origin of the American Shrine, to what extent
recognition would be accorded by a Bektash at, say, Damascus,
to a Noble of the Mystic Shrine hailing from America, or even
to a Disciple from a Bektash at Paris or Marseilles. On that point
Bro. FLEMING says:
"An European, or a member from the Western Hemisphere, coming
into any of the Shrines of the East, must, primarily, be vouched
for by reliable authority or by one or more of the Moslems, who
are satisfied that the stranger is entitled to enter. This endorsement
having been received, the visitor or foreign member is escorted
into the ante - chamber of the Shrine, where he is catechized
through an interpreter that he is duly and truly qualified to
enter. After such sanction is rendered, he is required to perform
the ablution of purification from all sordid intentions; then,
to take a preliminary obligation; and then, requested to kiss
or salute the Holy Black Stone, a symbol of the same in the Mosque
at Mecca; and, after burning the incense, as a purification of
all siti and forbidden purposes, he is clothed in a garment or
gown of pure white and a white fez. He is guided into the inner
sanctuary or sacred Shrine, there conducted before the altar,
and caused to subscribe to the Moslem oath, which is administered
by an interpreter, and (is) then led to the Potentate, who proceeds
to administer the secret obligation of the Holy Bektashheeyeh,
which comprises the ceremonials of such as are permitted to make
the Holy Pilgrimage to Mecca. This ceremony is both complicated
and intricate, and not admissible to repeat or put in matiuscriptal
form. It varies somewhat from our own form of ceremonies, but
adheres closely to our own text of Mohammedan Attributes. The
regalia, jewels, and general paraphernalia conform to such as
we use in our own Temples, except, perhaps, more elaborated and
more permanent in their texture; the insignia, jewels, and special
badges of the Order are very similar to our own, only, perhaps,
more gorgeous. The degree, as conferred, differs greatly from
our usual ceremony, more particularly by containing all the ceremonies
of the dancing, whirling, and howling Dervishes, which is (sic)
simply impossible to the European. This is followed by the Muezzin
cry to prayer. The degree of 'Kaabahil Allah,' or the entrance
into the Holy Sanctuary of the Mosque, is then conferred, the
details of which I am not qualified to explain. But it is an elaboration
of our present degree of the Shrine, particularly adapted to the
Mohammedan rule, and difficult to adapt to a Christian country."
From this quotation which we have extended somewhat further than
strictly essential to the point immediately under consideration
assuming the correctness of its statements, we may infer that
"an European or member from the Western Hemisphere,"
however well vouched for, would at best be received but as one
imperfectly initiated. He would be re-obligated according to the
"Moslem oath," and would take "the secret obligation
of the Holy Bektashheeyeh" exactly as though he had never
taken it before. In other words, he would in Masonic parlance
be "healed." But, owing to a fact very honorable to
the occultism of the far East, the circumstance that an American
Shriner may gain admission to an Asiatic Bektash, is not absolutely
conclusive evidence that the two Orders are identical, or even
related.
In the Orient, especially in Central and Southern Asia, the occult
Fraternities, though fairly numerous, are not of mushroom growth,
or designed primarily to promote financial, social, or insurance
ends. They are depositaries of the most sacred mysteries of religion
and the profoundest teachings of philosophy. They are, to the
initiate, the most sacred of all human institutions; but are so
only because the ends at which they aim are the most important
to which the human soul can aspire. In some of them, so broad
a conception of humanity is developed in the minds of the greatest
of their adepts, and so profound an appreciation of the sacredness
of the search for truths by means of the occult initiation, that
instances are not unknown where initiates of one cult have extended
a most appreciative and sympathetic welcome to those whom they
had come to recognize as sincere seekers after the same "Lost
Word" through an entirely different initiation. It may be
safely stated as a general rule that, owing to racial differences
of temperament between the Asiatic and the European, almost any
Oriental Fraternity would extend to an Occidental Fraternity of
similar ends and aims, irrespective of any connecting link between
the two far more consideration than it would ordinarily receive
from the other, were matters reversed.
In this connection it remains only to add that, while in earlier
years of the American Shrine its members might have been received
in the Bektash Bodies in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean
bodies of which those at Marseilles and Algiers, respectively,
are perhaps the best known if not also the oldest with some hesitation,
and rather as initiates of a similar than of an identical Order,
and were, no doubt, subjected to the "healing" procedure
already mentioned, yet, since rumors of the phenomenal growth
of the American Order during the last two decades of the nineteenth
century, and of its influence and magnificence in the New World,
spread through Northern Africa and the Levant especially through
the return of Orientals from the World's Fair at Chicago in 1893,
there has been a very noticeable disposition, on the part of those
bodies, to fully identify the American Shrine with their own Order,
and to recount with pride the tale of the splendors with which
it has pleased ALLAH to endow the Bektash in its new home beyond
the pillars of Hercules. As a result, the American Noble of the
Mystic Shrine unquestionably has a more exalted standing in what
we may call the Bektash Bodies, in the countries about the Mediterranean
than he had twenty years ago.
On the fact that those bodies are numerous, influential, and scattered
over a wide district, the evidence seems ample. When, in their
modern form, they originated, or under what circumstances, has
not been told. That they trace from ALEE, the Kinsman of the Prophet,
we may think neither proven nor disproven by any accessible evidence.
Let us, then, pass their former history, as an enigma to be solved
when future generations shall find out the right, and consider
the rise of the New Temple in the Occident.
The genesis of our American Order dates from the visit of Brother
WILLIAM J. FLORENCE to the Temple of the Arabic Bektash at Marseilles,
already mentioned. In that Temple, FLORENCE tells US he found
many distinguished visitors and members who seemed absorbed in
learning "how the French of Marseilles had succeeded in getting
possession of such interesting secrets." If they found out,
it is a pity our informant did not tell us what they found. It
is also tantalizing to be told of the existence of "interesting
secrets," and augments any doubt one may have as to the exactness
with which the American Shrine is a reproduction of the Marseilles
or other Bektash; for we think it will be readily admitted that,
however "interesting" the American Shrine may be, the
possession of any particularly remarkable "secrets"
is the very last feature it would arrogate to itself.
Of Brother FLORENCE'S visit to the body at Marseilles, and of
his subsequent movements, Brother FLEMING speaks as follows:
"He at this time simply witnessed the opening session of
the exoteric ceremonials which characterize the politicoreligious
Order of Bektash of Oriental Europe. A monitorial historic and
explanatory manuscript he also received there. It did not embrace
the esoteric Inner Temple exemplification or obligation, nor the
'Unwritten Law,' which is never imparted to any one except from
mouth to ear. Shortly afterward Mr. FLORENCE was similarly favored
in Algiers and Aleppo. Through letters and commendations he finally
secured the manuscript monitor history and descriptive matter
from which sprang the Order in this country. It was in Algiers
and Aleppo that he was received into the Inner Temple under the
domain of the Crescent, and first became possessor of the esoteric
work, the Unwritten Law,' and the Shayk's obligation. Subsequently
he visited Cairo, Egypt, and was admitted and collected more of
Oriental history and the manuscript of 'Memorial Ceremonials.'
But Mr. FLORENCE was never fully recognized, or possessed of authority,
until long after his return to America. All he possessed was a
disconnected series of sheets in Arabic and French, with some
marginal memoranda made by himself from verbal elucidation in
Aleppo. Through Professor ALBERT L. RAWSON, these with others
received afterward through correspondence abroad, comprised the
translations from which the Order started here."
Another account states that FLORENCE returned to the United States
in 1871 and suggested to Dr. FLEMING that they establish "the
Shrine" in New York; that FLEMING had already received "detached
and mutilated sections of a translation of the ritual" which
had been "brought to America by a member," together
with some vague history and ritualistic sections brought from
Cairo by SHERWOOD C. CAMPBELL of New York; but that, as the FLORENCE
ritual "came from Oriental Europe" and was "marked
with certain sections of the Koran for notes and allusions which
facilitated revision, Dr. FLEMING, with the assistance of Professor
RAWSON, compiled the work which became the foundation of the Order
in America.
Dr. FLEMING states that, "Mr. FLORENCE and myself received
authority to introduce the Order here"; and elsewhere we
are informed that that authority or, rather, that "Jurisdiction
over the Order for America" was given to Dr. FLEMING by "the
Arabic scholar, RIZH ALLAH HASSOON EFFENDEE"; but whence
the latter's authority was derived, or in what manner he transmitted
it, we are not told.
It is stated that the ritual now in use in America is "a
translation from the original Arabic" found "in the
archives of the Order at Aleppo," and carried thence to London,
in 1860, by RIZH ALLAH HASSOON EFFENDEE, who afterwards placed
it in the possession of Dr. FLEMING. In Arabic this ritual is
known as the "Pillar of Society" and called the "Unwritten
Law," in distinction from the Koran, or "Written Law."
On June 16, 1871, at the Masonic Hall, at No. 114 East Thirteenth
Street, New York City, Brothers FLEMING and FLORFNCE conferred
the "new Order" upon the following named Scottish Rite
Masons: EDWARD EDDY, 33°; OSWALD MERLE D' AUBIGNE, 32°;
JAMES S. CHAPPELL, 32°; JOHN A. MOORE, 32°; CHARLES T.
MCCLENACHAN, 33°; WILLIAM S. PATERSON, 33°; GEORGE W.
MILLAR, 33°; ALBERT P. MORIARTY, 33°; DANIEL SICKLES,
33°; JOHN W. SIMONS, 33°; and SHERWOOD C. CAMPBELL, 32°;
and, with these and ALBERT L. RAWSON, 32°, "Arabic Translator,"
they, on September 26, 1872, instituted Mecca Temple, Ancient
Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine the first of present
Temples in the United States. As the "next session"
was not held until January 12, 1874, it will be seen that the
Order did not grow rapidly at first. But on January 4, 1875, a
Temple called Damascus was organized at Rochester, N. Y.; and
Dr. FLEMING, Potentate of Mecca Temple from 1871 to 1886, invested
the following thirty-third degree Masons with the rank and prerogatives
of Past Potentates, to enable them to act in establishing Temples
throughout the country, to wit: ORIN WELCH, Syracuse, N. Y.; CHARLES
H. THOMSON, Corning, N. Y.; TOWNSEND FONDEY, JOHN S. DICKERMAN
and ROBERT H. WATERMAN, Albany, N. Y.; JOHN F. COLLINS, N. Y.
City; JOHN L. STETINUS, Cincinnati; VINCENT L. HURLBURT, Chicago;
SAMUEL H. HARPER, Pittsburgh, Pa.; and GEORGE SCOTT, Paterson,
N.J.
By what has been said, attention is attracted to two important
facts: First, that in America, membership in the Order has from
the beginning been limited exclusively to Masons. This is probably
not always the case in the allied Temples in the Orient, to which
we have alluded, and cannot always have been the case with them
if the Bektash is of any such antiquity as is claimed for it,
for it is the merest romance to claim that any Freemasonry existed
in Asia or Africa between the twenty-fifth year of the Hejira
and the same year in the eighteenth century of the Christian Era.
The second fact which attracts our attention is, that in earlier
years of the Shrine in this country the Order was conferred upon
Scottish Rite Masons only. Later, the rule was relaxed; the Royal
Arch Masons, who were also Knights Templar, were also made eligible.
Cogent reasons both for and against that innovation could be presented.
It must have tended to weaken, to some degree, the very exalted
opinion formed of the American branch of the Order by what we
may, by way of distinction, call the Bektash Bodies, in the Orient;
for, around the Mediterranean, "Masonic" Knights Templar
were practically unknown, and the Royal Arch ranks only as a fourth
or fifth degree. It may be conceded, also, that it was unfortunate
that, if no knowledge of "Ineffable Masonry" was to
be demanded of candidates for the Shrine, the change did not either
render all worthy Master Masons eligible or else limit membership
to Scottish Rite Masons of the 32°, and Masons of the "American
Rite" who had taken the whole of that Rite, Royal and Select
Masters. The Select Master has had an opportunity to complete
the study of one of the allegories of Masonry, while the Knight
Templar who had taken neither the Scottish Rite nor the Cryptic
degrees has seen but a broken pillar. But, on the other hand,
had the Shrine been reserved for Scottish Rite Masons exclusively,
it would have augmented the popular error that the Shrine is a
Masonic Body, an error based solely on the fact that its membership
is confined exclusively to Masons and, in particular, the further
error that the Shrine is "the highest degree in Masonry."
Indeed, in connection with that error, it is not improbable that,
in time, the degree of the Shrine would have been regarded as
a rival of the 33', and the Order might thus have aroused the
ill - will and hostility of the Supreme Councils of the 33°.
But perhaps the strongest vindication of the step taken when the
standard of admission was lowered is found in the resultant experience
that it has made the Shrine a "center of union and the means
of conciliating true friendship" between Brethren who, separating
at the door of the Lodge, had traveled different paths, the one
in the Scottish Rite and the other in the so-called American Rite;
and who might, therefore, but for the Shrine, "have remained
at a perpetual distance," but who, in it, find themselves
once more under a common rooftree.
In June, 1876, an Imperial, that is, governing Council of the
Order was organized in New York City, with the following officers,
all of them, except where otherwise stated, belonging to Shrines
in the State of New York: WALTER M. FLEMING, Imperial Potentate;
GEORGE F. LODER, Deputy Potentate; PHILIP F. LENHART, Chief Rabban;
EDWARD M. L. EHLERS, Assistant Rabban; WILLIAM H. WHITING, High
Priest; SAMUEL R. CARTER, Oriental Guide; AARON L. NORTHROP, Treasurer;
WILLIAMS. PATERSON, Recorder; ALBERT P. MORIARTY, Financial Secretary;
JOHN L. STETINUS, Cincinnati, First Ceremonial Master; BENSON
SHERWOOD, Second Ceremonial Master; SAMUEL HARPER, Pittsburgh,
Marshall; FRANK H. BASCOM, Montpelier, Captain of the Guard; and
GEORGE SCOTT PATERSON, Outer Guard.
Meetings of the Imperial Council have been held annually ever
since, and its officers elected, at first triennially, but in
later years annually. As early as the beginning of the year 1877,
it was announced that the Imperial Council had perfected its "ritual,
statutes, history, diplomas, dispensations, and charters";
and within the next two years the foundations were laid for the
elaborate ceremonial, gorgeous scenic effects and realistic dramatic
renditions of the ritual which are now characteristic of the Order.
In 1877 there were four Temples represented in the Imperial Council;
and the Nobles regarded the progress of the Order as eminently
satisfactory when the close of the year 1879 showed thirteen Temples,
with a total membership of 438. But, satisfactory as was that
progress, it sinks into insignificance when compared with the
growth of the Order during the last dozen years, which, indeed,
has exceeded all precedents among similar societies. On May 1,
1901, its total membership was 60,422, distributed among eighty-three
Temples in as many cities; and its present net increase of membership
is at the rate of nearly five thousand per annum. The Order was
introduced into the Pacific Northwest by the establishment of
Al Kader Temple, at Portland, Oregon, January 3, 1888; Algier
Temple, at Helena, Montana, March 23, 1888; Afifi Temple, at Tacoma,
Washington, August 1, 1888; El Katif Temple, at Spokane, Washington,
June 10, 1890; and El Korah Temple, at Boise, Idaho, June 23,
1896. Some accounts of these Temples will be given in later pages.
The annual sessions of the Imperial Council have been held in
the following cities: In New York, in 1876, 1878, 18801885; in
Albany, N. Y., 1877, 1879, 1880; in Cleveland, 1886, 1896; in
Indianapolis, 1887; in Toronto, 1888; in Chicago, 1889; in Pittsburgh,
1890; at Niagara Falls, 1891; in Omaha, 1892; in Cincinnati, 1893;
in Denver, 1894; at Nantasket Beach, 1895; in Detroit, 1897; in
Dallas, Texas, 1898; in Buffalo, 1899; in Washington, D. C., 1900;
in Kansas City, 1901; and in San Francisco, 1902.
Its Imperial Potentates have been: WALTER M. FLEMING, of New York;
SAM BRIGGS, of Ohio; WILLIAM B. MELISH, of Ohio, elected 1892;
THOMAS J. HUDSON, of Pennsylvania, 1893; WILLIAM B. MELISH, again,
1894; CHARLES L. FIELD, of California, 1895; HARRISON DINGMAN,
of Washington, D. C., 1896; ALBERT B. McGAFFEY, of Colorado, 1897;
ETHELBERT F. ALLEN, of Missouri, 1898; JOHN H. ATWOOD, of Kansas,
1899; Louis B. WINSOR, of Michigan, 1900; PHILIP C. SHAFFER, of
Pennsylvania, 1901; and HENRY C. AKIN, of Nebraska, 1902.
It is not allowable to convey to the reader who is not a Noble
of the Order any conception of the peculiar forms and ceremonies
which are found within the zealously guarded doors of its Temples,
nor would it be easy to do so were it permissible; for there are
some things which can be apprehended by the eye alone, or by the
reason; but others which require no less than the action of all
the five senses at one time, and these, aided by a mind rendered
receptive and a body duly prepared in accordance with the most
approved formulae, as well as by a conscience void of offense.
It may be mentioned, however, that the same respect for justice,
and the same disapproval of the lawbreaker, which led the KALIF
ALEE to found the original Bektasb, still flourish in all their
pristine vigor within the precincts of the Shrine, but, of course,
without the punitive feature which characterized the KALIF'S sodality.
Moreover, because the Nobles are all Masons, and because the overwhelming
majority of them are Masons who appreciate to the highest degree
the incomparable value of Masonry and Masonic principles, and
for this reason chiefly, and not because the ritual expressly
undertakes to reiterate Masonic principles, as such the basic
virtues upon which Masonry itself is established Temperance, Fortitude,
Prudence, and justice; Faith, Hope, and Charity; Brotherly Love,
Relief, and Truth, not only permeate every precinct of the Shrine,
but are there practically exemplified to a degree known to few
other societies.
The ritual and ceremonies in which the precepts of the Shrine
are clothed, unlike those of most other societies, are not taken
from the Jews or from those who worshiped the gods of Greece,
Rome, or Egypt, or from Knightly Orders of the Middle Ages, but
are those which characterize the followers of Mohammed. Being
Masons, the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine cannot conceive that there
can be more than one God, by whatsoever name He be called. In
this Shrine He is called upon under His name, ALLAH; but neither
Mohammedanism nor any other sectarianism is taught in the Shrine.
The frequent appearance of the Nobles in public procession, clad
in gorgeous apparel, accompanied by strange music, and often traveling
with elephants, camels, dromedaries, and other Asiatic animals,
has rendered the public so familiar with the general appearance
of their regalia and the general conduct of the Nobles when journeying
on missions of peace and charity, and conducting candidates on
their way to the happy Gates of Initiation, that no more would
seem necessary to be said under this head. These public appearances
have also conveyed to the outer world the impression that there
is much jollity and gaiety among the Nobles of this Order. The
impression is a correct one. The Temple of the Mystic Shrine is
not a house of mourning. Though the neophyte may travel across
the hot sands of the desert with a calm dignity that inspires
the admiration of all beholders; though he may ascend to the loftiest
heights to grasp the mystic cord which, like the mighty sheet
seen by PETER in his vision, seems to be let down from the seventh
heaven to sustain and support him; and though he may hold on to
the rope, as it were, "amid the crash of matter and the wreck
of worlds," with a devotion which inspires the most profound
emotion, yet there are, within the Shrine, other scenes than these.
It is not well that man should forever climb, without rest or
refreshment, in his search for that which is high. The mind, as
well as the body, may lose its balance. Even old OMAR KHAYYAM,
the Poet Laureate of our Order, tells us:
"You want to know the secret, so do I;
Low in the dust I sought it, and on high,
Sought it in awful flight from star to star;
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
My soul went knocking at each starry door,
Till, on the stilly top of heaven's stair,
Clear - eyed I looked and laughed and climbed no more."
And therefore - few, we think, who have entered its portals will
deny it - there are descents within the Shrine as notable as any
other feature in it. In some Temples it has been shown that even
the ceremonies of the "whirling Dervishes" are not -
pace Dr. FLEMING, whom we have quoted to the contrary - impossible
to the European. These occasional descents from "the stilly
top of heaven's stair" are, for reasons before assigned,
not without benefit. Their tendency is to restore men to that
level upon which, it is the boast of the Craft, Masons should
always meet. Then, too, LULU is rarely absent, and the "traditional
banquet" never!
For:
"He may live without love - what is passion but pining?
But where is the man that can live without dining?"
"To relieve the distressed is a duty incumbent on all men;
but particularly on Masons. On this theme we contemplate, and
by its dictates endeavor to regulate our conduct." Indeed,
so indispensable a feature is "the traditional banquet,"
that in connection with the fact that the Order usually initiates
a large sum of money in fees, it has been held by some of the
most learned Sages of the Order that "The Mystic Shrine has
but one Landmark: There must never be any money left in the treasury."
However this may be, in all Temples where the principles of the
Order are properly respected, the banquet - board invariably groans
with the best the market affords, the wines are the rarest that
money can buy, and camel's milk is as abundant as the sands of
Arabia. Hence it is that the assemblies of the Nobles of the Mystic
Shrine are known far and wide as the meeting place of -
"Jest and youthful jollity,
Quips and Cranks and harmless Wiles,
Nods and Becks with wreathed Smiles.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Sport that wrinkled Care derides,
And Laughter holding both his sides."
Two peculiarities of American life and American Masonry, in connection
with, what has been said concerning the nature of Shrine meetings,
throw light on the extraordinary popularity of the Order, and
help to answer the question as to what its future will be. The
strenuous, restless, nerve-destroying life led by the American
of our day; the wild, mad, unceasing struggle for wealth and business,
political or professional success, mean destruction, both for
the individual and for the race, unless the tension of almost
incessant strife be broken, now and then, by periods of complete
change of life and thought, through entire substitution of scene
or environment.
Were Masonic Lodges conducted now and in America as they were
conducted everywhere in the eighteenth century, and as some of
them are, to a certain extent, in England yet were an hour of
every meeting set apart to "talk Masonry," and the Lodge
made a place for social intercourse, gay diversion, and complete
mental relaxation a place to bring the latest story and the jolliest
song, while, as in olden times, the punchbowl was always full,
and the brimming glass went round the American Mason would probably
find in the Lodge itself, as his fathers did, a sufficient release
from the cares of life, and the only tonic needed to keep him
invigorated for even the exhaustive life of today. But, changed
as our Lodges are unavoidably changed, both by mutation in public
sentiment as to certain social pleasures, and by an apparently
unavoidable necessity of devoting nearly all their time to the
single matter of conferring degrees; compelled, as the Lodges
seem to be, to almost totally neglect the social side of Masonry,
and the same being equally the case, and for the same reasons,
with the so-called High Degree Bodies it is inevitable that the
Mason should now look elsewhere for that relaxation and recreation
which, in olden time, he found in the Lodge. Most fortunately
by a happy accident, it would almost seem the Shrine came into
American life just at the right time to supply that want, one
of the most important needs of the age. And it is no reflection
on the Lodge that the Mason goes from it to the Shrine to supply
the demands of his social nature, to recuperate both mind and
body by wisely becoming, for a few hours, as nearly a boy again
as he possibly can. On the contrary, it is no doubt a benefit
to the Lodge to relieve it from some of the lighter features,
which our fathers, in the absence of social clubs, engrafted upon
it, and permit it to devote itself uninterruptedly to the more
important purposes for which Masonry exists. The Shrine would
not be what it is did not its members carry into it the noble
lessons which they learn at the sacred altar of Freemasonry; and
the Mason returns from the Shrine to the Lodge, refreshed and
recuperated, and with a new zeal to learn and teach the grand
old truths of which the Lodge is the custodian.
We have never known a Shriner who was disappointed in the Shrine.
Her features are so many and so varied that they are never exhausted
and never tire. As was said of Egypt's Queen: "Age cannot
wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety."
When, in connection with this, we consider as has been suggested
above that the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine
supplies a real need of the age, and especially of the life of
the American Mason as he finds life in the twentieth century,
we must draw the conclusion that its future is bound to be one
of continuing and increasing prosperity, and that its popularity
or usefulness cannot wane as long as American life and American
Masonry remain similar to what they are today.
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