Archives for March 2009

The Old Past Master and Lodge Foreclosure

March 23, 2009 by Fred Milliken

The Old Past Master left the house for Lodge extra early this night. The meeting tonight would be a lively discussion that he hoped would not become a three-ring circus. He would like to arrive early before anybody else to see if he could be of assistance to the new Worshipful Master. He was a good fellow but so young and inexperienced. But he was working hard and always seemed to arrive very early to a meeting of the Lodge to prepare his program and greet every Brother at the door.

The Master had sent out notice in the Summons that tonight he would be discussing the future of the Lodge and its financial situation. The topic all seemed to stem from a series of articles the Master called “blogs” which had appeared on the Internet titled “Preventing Lodge Foreclosures.” It seems two Brothers were debating back and forth on the proper action that a Lodge could take in the wake of tough economic times. Last month the Master had shown him these articles and after reading them they had only time for a very short discussion on what the ramifications might be for our Lodge.

I guess I am just going to have to break down and buy a computer, The Old Past Master thought to himself. Lord knows how I am going to learn how to use it. They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Well we have a number of young dogs in the Lodge now. Surely they will come to my aid.

As he rounded the corner and pulled into the Lodge parking lot he spied the Master’s car in its usual spot. Upon entering the building he proceeded to the office where he found the Master at the computer with papers flying out of the printer in rapid succession.

“Good evening, Worshipful,” he called out. “Getting ready for tonight’s donnybrook are we?”

“I’m afraid so,” replied the Master. “It looks to me that this will be a tough meeting.”

“How can I be of assistance,” offered The Old Past Master.

“Well I’m not sure how to broach the subject nor how deep into it we should get tonight,” queried the Master.

“Try placing the problems as you see them on the table and then let the Brethren draw their own conclusions and come up with their own solutions.”

“Ah, I see. Don’t try to ram the whole deal down everybody’s throat. State the case and sit back and listen. I think I’m getting the hang of this leadership thing thanks to you.”

“Every Mason should lead his Lodge once in his lifetime. It teaches him how to command by building a consensus.”

“Well I doubt if we will get a consensus tonight. I am worried about the whole situation getting out of hand. Maybe I should just downplay this whole thing.”

“Now is not the time to second guess yourself. Part of good leadership is not shying away from the tough problems and decisions of the Lodge.”

“I know you are right but I would feel a bit more comfortable if you would be in my corner tonight and soften any harsh words. It always helps to have backup.”

Don’t worry, Worshipful, I’ll help keep us on an even keel.”

Just then a few Brothers could be heard entering the building. The Worshipful Master went out to greet them. Soon more and more were pouring in. The Old Past smiled to himself. Here they come he, thought, all the old fogies who never come to Lodge until the talk of money becomes serious.

Lodge opened and the Master, after breezing through the Minutes, Bills and Correspondence, got right down to brass tacks.

“Brethren it is time to discuss our future and I have allotted most of this meeting having previously informed all the Brethren via The Summons. Our nation is in deep economic distress and we are barely hanging on here. Our building has no other tenets and its maintenance, upkeep and repair are an ever-increasing burden that presently consumes 90% of our budget. With Cap & Trade taxes and significant inflation coming our electricity and heating costs could double. We have already received notice that our property taxes are going to be increased by 10% next year. The paint is starting to peel on the outside of the building. We have gotten estimates on having it repainted and the lowest bid is $8,0000. But the worst news of all is that the Building Inspector recently made an inspection of the Lodge and he has told us that the electrical wiring in the building no longer meets code and it will have to be replaced. And I am not even counting the increased taxes you all will individually soon be paying. Now Brethren I am open for suggestions.”

“Well I hope you didn’t call us all together to raise our dues,” a voice bellowed from the sidelines.

“Yeah, because we’re going to vote that down, right quick,” came another anonymous voice from the crowd.

RAP!

“Brethren I am going to ask you to rise and wait until I recognize you before speaking,” commanded the Master.

“The day I have to ask permission to speak in this Lodge is the day I find another Lodge”, roared Brother Clarke

“Well that’s your choice,” replied the Master. “But for tonight you will rise and wait until I call on you.”

“Worshipful Master I just done told you I ain’t going to do no such thing, “repeated Brother Clarke. “Did you or did you not call us here in order to raise dues?”

“Brother Senior Deacon”

“Worshipful Master”

“You will pick up the Junior Deacon and the Stewards and proceed to escort Brother Clarke out of the Lodge room.”

“Are you really going to throw me out of my Lodge, “ screamed Brother Clarke?

“It’s our Lodge,” replied the Master, “and nobody is above the law or in this case the rules. We will see you another night, Brother Clarke.”

“You will never see me again. Who wants to belong to a bankrupt Lodge anyway,” screamed the now red faced Brother Clarke

‘If he goes I go,” said a voice. “That goes for me too.” “And me” “And Me”….”Me,” “Me,” “Me,”

The Old Past Master rose and the Worshipful Master immediately recognized him.

“Looks like we can get that dues increase passed now, Worshipful” he said with a smile.

“I guessed I changed my mind,” “Yeah, I might as well stick around,” “Same for me,” “And me,” “And me,” …….”Me,” “Me,” “Me”

After Brother Clarke was removed and order restored, the Brothers stood and were called on one by one by the Master. Suggestions and ideas abounded. One Brother suggested that the Lodge merge with Fidelity Lodge on the other side of town. But an argument ensued whether Fidelity should join us at our building or we should sell ours and join them at their building. Many Brethren wondered if Fidelity would be amenable to any of this and so offered that we should sell the building and just rent our own space somewhere else. Still others asserted that nothing drastic really needed to be done. Things would find a way of working themselves out like they always did. A number of Brethren suggested that we find paying tenants for our building. Still others suggested a series of fundraisers. Yet another wanted to ask Grand Lodge for a loan. And the last thought for the day came from a Brother who thought maybe we could get some corporate sponsorship in the form of charitable write off relief.

After two hours of what seemed like exhaustive exchange, Past Master Crowley rose and was recognized. “And what do you think we should do, Worshipful,” he asked?

The Master rose and slowly and deliberately replied, “I don’t think I have enough information yet nor does really anybody. The way I see it we can elect one of four choices:

1) Do Nothing

2) Give up our Charter and return the Lodge to Grand Lodge

3) Sell the building and property and rent elsewhere

4) Increase our revenue substantially – make it work.

The problem has developed into such a magnitude so quickly that I will automatically rule out dues increases, fund risers and loans as acceptable solutions. But what I will do is petition Grand Lodge for an outright gift. The next Grand Session is a little over a month away. For now I will also rule out choices #1 and #2. That leaves us with two choices and for those I will appoint two committee heads who will choose the rest of their committee and research and investigate their appointment and report back to the Lodge for further discussion. I will ask the Old Past Master to chair the choice #3 committee and Brother Findler, our Treasurer and a CPA, to head the choice #4 committee. Do both of you Brothers accept your appointment? Seeing two heads nodding I so declare it done.”

RAP

“I will charge both committees to be ready to report in detail three months from now at our monthly business meeting and I will so note it in the Summons. I will also be ready to report to you what Grand Lodge will do for us. Now if there is no further business to come before this Lodge I will proceed to close.”.

TO BE CONTINUED

England Around 1717

March 21, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

The Foundation of the First Grand Lodge in Context

It is difficult to imagine the way of life of our early Masonic ancestors. It is equally difficult to understand the social milieu in which the founders of the premier Grand Lodge acted, but such understanding is essential if we want to understand the motives that led to the creation of that body and its later development.

Let us make an imaginary journey back in time to the London of 1717. That was a city without sewers, the streets filled with dung from the thousands of horses and wet with sewage thrown out of the window. The houses were black with the soot blowing out of numberless chimneys. Some children died asphyxiated while being used as live chimney brushes. It was dangerous to walk about in the streets after dark (some street lamps were installed beginning in 1677, but public lighting with gas started only in 1786). Criminality was rampant, punishment brutal, prison for debt was common.

Witchcraft was still believed. The Scottish teenager Patrick Morton was allegedly bewitched in 1704. [1] The last execution for witchcraft in England took place in 1712.

Autos-da-fe were still held in other countries, the public burning of recanting Jews forcibly converted to Christianity. The last burnings in Portugal took place in 1781 (17 persons in Coimbra and 8 in Evora).

The industrial revolution had not yet started – that would come in the course of the 18^th and 19^th centuries – but a numerous class of have-nots already existed, homeless, beggars, criminals of every kind.

This brings us to the marked class differences. The aristocracy and the land owners, generally the same, whose wealth was based on the land, were on top. Below them came the bourgeoisie, merchants, lawyers, doctors, educators, shippers, men of arms. All these constituted a small minority. And then the vast mass, those who would eventually be called the proletariat. There were no factories as yet, but numerous workshops, craftsmen of many trades, and many, masses of servants, butlers, footmen, cooks, housemaids, porters, gardeners, and also farm workers, shepherds, miners, fishermen, all of them completely separated from the upper classes by their lack of education, their language, customs, with no possibility of moving up the social scale.

This was also the time when the increase of wealth of the upper classes created the beginnings of what would later be known as the “consumer society”. [2]

There was a parliament, and there were elections, but the vast majority of Englishmen had no right to vote, that would take another hundred years to become true for the men, and two centuries for women (only in 1918). Common law allowed marriage at fourteen for boys and at twelve for girls. Only in 1929 legislation was introduced for the first time, prohibiting marriages under the age of sixteen. [3]

The Christian religion, which had dominated the life of the people during the Middle Ages, codifying in the least detail the way of life, the practice of trades, the separation of classes, was only now recovering from the sanguinary wars caused by its internal divisions. The various reformers, though rejecting the dominion of Rome, were different, but no more liberal.

Inside this stratified society, voices began to be heard proposing changes, making appeal to reason instead of subservience to dogma; these thinkers regarded society as a living organism, they were aware of its defects and wanted to find solutions to improve it.

Science and philosophy, which were then almost indistinguishable, were the tools in the hands of the intellectuals to implement their aspirations. The Rosicrucian manifests, published a century earlier (1613-1615) had made a strong impact on European intelligentsia, announcing the political and social revolution to come. In 1690 John Locke published his Essay Concerning Human Understanding, maintaining that all our knowledge is derived from what we receive through the senses, that our will is determined by our mind, guided by the desire for happiness, and defending the possibility of studying the world rationally, without being shackled by dogmas or preconceived ideas.

This was the Age of Reason. Rationalism and science would open the way to make a perfect society. The 17^th century had marked a turning point in the interests of scholars, who now began to focus their attention on the natural sciences and started researching nature, making experiments in all its areas. Astrology gradually gave way to astronomy, alchemy to chemistry; the study of anatomy and physiology revolutionized medicine, for long the province of barbers and quack doctors. New fields of study opened every day.

This is reflected in the creation of numerous scientific academies which joined the literary and philosophical ones, such as the French Academy, founded in 1635.

Already in 1621 Cósimo de Médici established in Florence the Platonic Academy, while in Rome the Academia dei Lincei, dedicated to scientific research, especially astronomy, was founded in 1603; one of its members was Galileo Galilei. And in 1607 Florence saw the creation of the Academia del Cimento, likewise destined to serve as forum for experimenters. Later, in 1666, the Royal Academy of Sciences was created in Paris, while four years earlier, in 1662, the Royal Society had started meeting in London, providing a platform for researchers and scholars. Some of the most prominent founders of the premier Grand Lodge were also active in it.

The Society of Antiquaries, which had been organized originally in 1572 by Archbishop Parker, and had been disbanded in the reign of James I, was revived in 1717 owing to the efforts of William Stukeley, a prominent Mason. The Society received a charter in 1751. [4]

We must remember, however, that sciences were in their early stages of development. Robert Boyle died in 1691, Leibnitz in 1716 and Newton in 1727, but Priestly was born only in 1733, Cavendish in 1731 and Faraday seventy years later. Lavoisier was born in 1743 and Alexander Humboldt even later, in 1769.

England still used the Julian calendar dating from the time of Julius Caesar. The Gregorian calendar was adopted only in 1752, almost 200 years after being established by Pope Gregory XIII.

European thought was strongly influenced by esoteric thinking, the Rosicrucians, the Cabbala, alchemy and tarot. Hebrew was highly regarded, as the sacred language of the Bible, and also as the language spoken by God when addressing man. Some scholars believed that all other languages were derived from Hebrew.

In 1684, Knorr von Rosenroth published Kabbalah Denudata (Kabbalah Unveiled), a translation of passages from the Zohar and essays on the meaning of Kabbalah (including portions of Cordovero’s Pardes Rimonim) examined from a Christian point of view. Rosenroth’s work was the most important non-Hebrew reference book on the Kabbalah until the end of the 19th century and it became the major source on this subject for non-Jewish scholars.

After Cromwell allowed — unofficially — the return of Jews, a small community began to assemble in England, integrated almost exclusively by Sephardic Jews, mainly immigrants from the Netherlands, where many Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal had found refuge and freedom to practice their religion openly. The strength of the Jewish community in Amsterdam can be judged by the fact that the first Hebrew newspaper appeared in that city in 1728 (5488), edited by a Sephardic Rabbi, Shlomo Salem. It was a religious newspaper called Pri Etz Hayim (Fruit of the Tree of Life). British lodges, too, opened their doors and Jewish Masons appear in lodge registers as soon as the Grand Lodge was founded, and it is almost certain that some Jews were accepted in the lodges even earlier.

The study of nature was still based on the treatises of the Greek philosophers, which began to be translated. The evolution to more scientific studies was driven by the development of technology and changes in the economic structure of the country. The beginnings of the industrial revolution are linked with the mechanization of the textile industry. For centuries, spinners and weavers worked together at home. Four spinners were required to keep a weaver supplied with cotton yarn, and ten spinners were required to keep a wool weaver busy. In 1733 John Kay patented his “flying shuttle” and suddenly the productivity of each weaver was multiplied several-fold, creating unprecedented demand for more yarn. The first spinning machine was invented as early as in 1738, but it was unsuccessful. In 1764 Hargreaves patented his “spinning jenny” (named, according to legend, for his daughter), a machine based on the spinning wheel but with several spindles working in tandem; the machine, however, was slow and inefficient. Only in 1769 Arkwright built his roller-spinning machine (the “water frame”) and the first industrial spinning mill was established, using horses for power, and in 1779 Samuel Crompton patented his “spinning mule” combining the principles of the water frame and the spinning jenny, a ten-yard long machine with hundreds of spindles working simultaneously. These machines, with some improvements, were still in use until the middle of the 20^th century.

In 1712 Thomas Newcomen patented the atmospheric steam engine, designed to pump water from the coal mines. James Watt, the inventor of the double-action steam engine, was born in 1736, when the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster (its original name) was less than 20 years old.

As we can see, the principal discoveries and inventions of science and technology were unknown in 1717, and only in the course of that century and the next were the developments made which set the foundation for modern science. Explorers, too, were still operating at full sail. Easter Island was discovered only in 1722, by Dutch seamen. Africa was largely unexplored.

Let us now examine other aspects of society at the time we are studying, starting with the situation of arts and letters.

In music, string orchestras began to be formed. Stradivarius (1644-1737) was building his famous violins. The clarinet had been invented in 1690, and in 1709 the Italian Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the piano. The Englishman John Shore invented the tuning fork in 1711. Dance masters still played the pochette, the miniature fiddle that could be held in a pocket while not in use.

Purcell had died in 1695, but Bach, Haendel, and Domenico Scarlatti were 32 years old in 1717 (all three had been born in the same year: 1685). Haendel’s Water Music, was played for the first time on July 17, 1717, celebrating the sail of George I’s royal barge on the Thames, only a few weeks after the foundation of the Grand Lodge. Corelli wrote his 12 Concerti Grossi in 1712, and died a year later.

In the theater, Congreve and Racine were the current star playwrights. Molière had died in 1673 and Corneille in 1684. In Japan, the Kabuki theatre was in its infancy, replacing the more conservative No.

In literature, John Dryden had died in 1700, but the satirist Jonathan Swift, the novelist Daniel Defoe and the poet Alexander Pope were well known and productive. Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe was published in 1719. A few years later, some thirty unsigned pamphlets, ballads, plays and other pieces were published about the lives of a criminal called John Sheppard and his nemesis, Jonathan Wild, which can be considered the first popular biographies written about contemporary subjects. Five of the pamphlets were attributed to Defoe, published between 1724 and 1725.

The poet and artist William Blake was 60 years old in 1717. The novelist Henry Fielding and Dr. Samuel Johnson on the other hand, were only 10 years old.

All the great Russian novelists belong to a later age. In Spain, Calderón de la Barca had died in 1681, and then Spanish letters, after its brilliant Golden Age (17^th century), became strangely poor.

D’Alembert, the immortal creator of the Encyclopedia, was born in the same year as the Grand Lodge, 1717.

In painting, Gainsborough was born only in 1727, but Hogarth was in his most productive epoch. His etching “Night”, published in 1727, is justly famous for showing the tipsy Master of the lodge walking on the street supported by the Tyler while a disgruntled housewife throws water or some other liquid (!) from an upper floor window.

Rembrandt had died in 1669, closing a brilliant era of Flemish painters. In France, Watteau (1684-1721) and Boucher (1703-1770) enchanted the court of the Sun King, while in Venice, Canaletto (20 years old) and Tiepolo (21) would achieve fame later. Spain, after a 17^th century plethoric of great artists had an 18^th devoid of masters. An artistic disaster took place in 1718, when a fire destroyed all thirty-nine ceiling paintings by Van Dyck in the Jesuit church in Antwerp. Those were “the only secure touchstone for Van Dyck’s work in collaboration with Rubens” [5]

Let us now turn to the political developments in England. The 17^th century was a time of endless struggles and tragedies. The Turks had failed to conquer Vienna in 1683, but the memory of that siege and the threat of Moslem advances in Europe were still fresh in 1717. London had suffered the scourge of the Black Death, the bubonic plague, which reached its peak in 1665; a year later the great fire devastated the city, but at the same time extirpated most of the rats that transmitted the plague. Reconstructing the capital city gave great impulse to the building trades, and was perhaps one of the antecedents for the development of masons’ lodges.

The religious wars between Catholics and Protestants which desolated Europe for a century resulted in England’s civil war, the execution of Charles I (in 1649) and the Commonwealth presided by Oliver Cromwell, the “Protector”. England then had its single period as a republic, which lasted only 11 years. And then, in 1660, the Stuart king Charles II, son of Charles I, returned to power. He was followed by his brother James II until Parliament, fearing that the Catholicism of the king would result in renewed warfare, deposed him in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, offering the British throne to protestant William, Prince of Orange, born in Holland, but grandson of King Charles I.

James II did not accept his dethronement with grace. He continued plotting his return, gaining the support of Catholic Spain. His military aspirations, however, suffered a dramatic defeat at the battle of the Boyne, in Ireland, on July 12, 1690. James fled back to France putting an end to the Stuart dynasty. William III reigned together with his wife Mary II until her death in 1694, and continued ruling alone until 1702.

The Stuart king and his son, in exile in Europe, continued dreaming of recovering their lost kingdom. In fact, a Spanish force supporting the Stuarts landed in Scotland in 1719 (two years after the foundation of Grand Lodge), but the invaders were roundly defeated in the battle of Glenshiel. That was not the end of Stuart ambitions, which continued plotting throughout the period that interests us.

Some Stuart supporters, mainly Scots, followed him in exile and were involved in the creation of the first Masonic lodges in the continent. Here they received the influence of the mystic trends current in Europe, and they created the additional degrees which, not surprisingly, were called “Scottish.” In later years, after a long evolution, the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was born.

King William was not much loved by his subjects. He was a Dutchman at heart, and his willful character did not win him popularity. However, he accepted the Act of Consent, which banned any Catholic from ever becoming king. During his reign the first insurance company was formed (1699). At his death was crowned Anne, the second daughter of James II, who ruled only from 1702 to 1714. Her short reign was marked, however, by several important developments. During her reign Scotland and England became finally united in 1707, which for the Scots meant the loss of their Parliament. This situation continued until a few years ago, when Scotland recovered a measure of autonomy. Anne’s reign also marked the issue of the Copyright Act (1708-09) which gave absolute control on all printed matter to the Stationers’ Company in England, later extended to Scotland, Ireland and the American Colonies, thus abolishing in fact freedom of the press. However, this also gave limited-term protection on the “literary property”, for the first time anywhere in Europe. [6]

A postal system was instituted in England in her time, and a Prime Minister was appointed for the first time (1710).

This was the “golden age” of piracy in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. [7] Roughly between 1716 and 1726 there would be between 1,000 and 2,000 pirates in the Atlantic at any time. “Nearly half of them were by origin English, about a tenth Irish, and another tenth combined from Scotland and Wales. The remainder came from British North America or the West Indies, with a scattering from Holland, France, Portugal and other European countries, and Africa…. Over the ten years on which Rediker focuses, pirates probably captured and plundered about 2,400 vessels…” [8]

A radical change in the British throne came about in 1714, when George I, ascended to the throne. Although he was the son of a German princess, and had only a distant relationship with the English royal line, he was the closest Protestant candidate.

George I, founder of the House of Hanover, was a stolid German soldier without imagination, who never learned to speak English and preferred to continue living in Hanover rather than London. He allowed his English ministers to run the country, while he devoted himself to hunting and ruling with iron hand his German subjects.

The British government was left in the hands of ministers like Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of England. During his term of office the financial scandal known as the South Sea Bubble broke out. A stock company established in 1710 called the South Sea Company engaged in triangular trade, sending ships with English merchandise (mainly whiskey, weapons and textiles) to western Africa, buying there African slaves, transporting them to America, and returning home with goods like sugar and tobacco. This commerce was so profitable that the company could give its stockholders enormous dividends, reaching 100% in a year. Frenzied speculation followed, the company issued additional shares without any control, and many copycat companies were formed, some of them existing only on paper. Finally, the soap bubble burst in 1720, the price of the stock dropped 98.5% and the unfortunate investors were left penniless. It is said that Dr. James Anderson, the author of The Constitutions of the Freemasons (1723, 1738) also invested in the Bubble and lost heavily. The memory of this scandal lasted for many decades.

France, too, had been rocked by scandal, the rash of accusation and convictions for poisoning which gripped Versailles in 1679-80, culminating in suspicion that the king’s mistress, Mme. De Montespan, had made at attempt to poison Luis XIV.

When George I died of a stroke in 1727, his son George II succeeded him. The young king was a soldier like his father, his morals were uncertain, but his reign lasted longer, until 1760. Canada was conquered during this period, the last rebellion of the Stuart pretender was suppressed, and the foundations of the Indian empire (later developed by Disraeli) were established. These also were the years when Freemasonry flourished amazingly both in Great Britain and in the European continent, especially in France and Germany. A second Grand Lodge was formed in London, known as the “Antients”, founded mainly by Irish immigrants who disliked the innovations introduced by the older Grand Lodge, which they designated disrespectfully as the “Moderns”. Possibly, another factor leading to the creating of a competing Grand Lodge was the poor reception given by the British to the Irish Masons.

To conclude this survey, I’ll broaden the scope to look at the world in general at the beginning of the 18^th century. In France, King Louis XIV, the Roi Soleil governed until 1715. During his reign he revoked the Edict of Nantes (1685), leading to the emigration of many Huguenots, some of whom became active in the creation of the Grand Lodge of London, and in formulating its principles of tolerance. His attempt to annex Spain to create a joint Bourbon kingdom led to the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713), in which France fought the armies of the Grand Alliance (England, the United Provinces and the Habsburg empire), finally being defeated. He was succeeded by his great-grandson, who was only 5 years old, so France was governed for many years by a regent, starting with the Duke of Orleans.

In Russia, Peter the Great was building Saint Petersburg (which celebrated the third centenary of its foundation in 2003). The Turks declared war on Russia in 1711, defeating the Tsar. King Phillip IV, the first Hapsburg, reigned in Spain, while in India the Mogul rulers (descendants from Tamerlan) completed their conquest and Mohammed Shah was the Grand Mogul. In 1722, Pathan tribesmen under Mahmud Ghilzai destroyed the Safavid Empire. In China, Emperor Kangxi was nearing the end of his reign (1662-1722). He was the first of the Three Emperors of the Qing dynasty (1662-1795) of Manchu invaders, who had overthrown the Ming dynasty of Han Chinese. [9]

Although the great wars of religion of the 17^th century had concluded, military spending did not drop; on the contrary, about 1700, countries like France, Austria and Sweden devoted between 75 and 90 percent of total government expenditure for military purposes. Britain became the most highly taxed nation; between 1688 and 1815, taxes increased sixteen-fold and borrowing 240 fold. [10]

Let us now return to the way of life of London citizens at that time, the early 18^th century. Their world lacked any fast means of communication. The fastest transport was by horse. No daily newspapers existed – the first English papers were weeklies, and the first daily was born only in 1769, and had very small circulation. Mass journalism came about only in 1811 when the rotary press was invented.

High society met at home, of rather, in their mansions. The well-to-do gentry lived mostly in the country, and came to the capital only for the “season” of balls and soirées, focused on the royal court. Garden design was the newest fashion in all Europe. Germans were building Chinese pavilions in 1707, before the English did the same.

William Kent, born in 1685, was an interior designer and architect. In the 1720’s he made popular the Palladian style for the houses of the rich, later he invented the “Gothick”, and then caused a revolution in the design of English gardens, freeing them from the straightjacket of formality.

Which were the public meeting places? The word public indicates it: the pub (from “public house”), an inn where people gathered to drink, eat, sing, and exchange ideas. It was at the same time hostel, restaurant and club.

The clubs played an important role in the social life of the upper classes. One of the most famous, or infamous, was the Hellfire Club, widely believed to be a secluded heaven for secret rituals and orgiastic sex. The club was officially known as The Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe, the Monks of Medmenham or The Order of the Knights of West Wycombe. It was organized by Sir Francis Dashwood (1708-1781), who was initiated in a Masonic lodge while sojourning in Florence. [11]

The first London lodges logically met in pubs, in a separate room or a second floor, where they conducted their ceremonies between one course and another or else, as practiced in some lodges to this day, had dinner after the ceremony. [12]

According to what we know of the manner of operating the lodges in that period, we can infer that the ceremonial part of the meeting was very brief, symbolism was limited to the lodge panel, the brethren wore gloves and – a very important point -were armed with swords.

The room where the ceremony was conducted had no special furniture. The symbols of our tools and other lodge implements were drawn on a panel or board, the well-known Tracing Board, or else they were drawn on the floor with chalk and coal, to be erased after the ceremony using bucket and mop. Hogarth’s engraving mentioned earlier shows a mop being carried by one of the lodge brothers.

Masonic meetings were marked by conviviality. As stated, dinner was an important, in fact an integral part of the ceremony. Music and singing were in order. It is only necessary to open the first book of Anderson’s Constitutions (1723) to confirm this fact. Sixteen of its 90 pages are dedicated to the songs of the Master, the Wardens, the Fellow-Craft and the Apprentices, all of them with the corresponding music scores.

The second edition of the Constitutions, of 1738, much more extensive, also has 16 pages of songs, more numerous but only with the words. Apparently the music was too well knows to waste good paper reproducing it.

More impressive in this connection is the Book of Constitutions of the “Ancients” Grand Lodge, Ahiman Rezon, written by its Grand Secretary Lawrence Dermott; the volume contains almost 100 pages of songs; and probably the most popular Masonic book of the 18^th century, William Preston’s Illustrations of Masonry – a work that enjoyed numerous printings from the 70’s of the 18^th until the first decades of the 19^th centuries – held no less than 44 pages of odes, hymns and songs.

A last remark concerning the songs; when mentioning the Master’s Song in the first edition of the Constitutions, that of 1723, this refers to the Master of the Lodge, not a Master Mason. As we know, the split of the Second Degree creating the two degrees known today dates from a few years later.

The Masonic lodge was a refuge of peace and tranquility at a time of political uncertainty, when the memory of religious warfare was fresh in the memory of all men, when the first discoveries and inventions were transforming the economy, and opening new perspectives of progress, when the hope that rationality and humanism would banish from the hearts of men the evils of fanaticism and intolerance. This was the fertile ground on which early speculative Freemasonry germinated and grew, spreading its branches throughout the western world.

The editors and authors on the Masonic Central podcast

March 21, 2009 by Greg Stewart

This Sunday on Masonic Central, its time to take a time out. Not from the fun and exciting program, but from talking to guests and instead talk a bit about ourselves. Its time to talk about what’s been going on, where things are going, and who’s been working on it.

This weeks program is about: Masonic Central – the pod cast for Freemasons by Freemasons.

Missed the program, listen to it now!

Join is this Sunday March 22nd at 6pm PST / 9pm EST to find out about the new Masonic Central pod cast on FreemasonInformation.com.

As a side note, I know there were some technical troubles on the last program, and they are being looked into. We hope to have a new home soon and make use of some new technology. Check back for updates!

Look for us this Sundays, March 22nd, at 6PM PST/9PM EST. Listen to the program live stream player widget on Freemason Information, or dial into the show to listen and interact with the hosts. Join our interactive show chat from our application site on talkshoe. To join the conversation live, dial the number 724-444-7444 and enter the show I.D. 19162, fifteen minutes before the program or during the call.

We don’t recommend using the shoephone application from talkshoe at this time.

Famous or anti-famous?

March 21, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

I want to gush a little.

I got my first piece of Anti-Masonic fan mail today, and what made it all the better, it came in a plain white envelope, wrapped in a plain piece of white notebook paper, with only a three initials, and a P.O. Box from Northern California.

The intiails were J.S.W.

Thanks J.S.W., I appreciate the anonymous envelope addressed to Freemason Information with the notebook paper wrapped gift. In a weird way, its a gift that I’ve wanted fro some time but never knew how to find, short of ordering it from the manufacturer. although, I have to admit, I was hoping for another gift by the same author that I wrote about in 2006 on Why Freemasonry is Satanic, but I don’t think it’s in print anymore.

What was the gift you may ask?

It was my very own Jack Chick comic, The Long Trip

You can read “The Long Trip” on line.

Seriously, if your going to send me something like this, make it less creepy and send a note with it. Say hello, tell me I’m loved, tell me you think I’m wrong, tell me anything, just say something. Because the only way to find the sites address is to dig into the site registration, and J.S.W., that starts to stink of stalking…

On a separate note, I also found that a few of the bits originally published on the Masonic Traveler blog and on Freemason Information on several anti Masonic sites as bits of their arguments for what ever point it is they are trying to make. And, in the case of one of the bigger anti masonic sites (it ends with Watch and starts with Freemasonry) whole original articles have been copied. At least he gave me name credit but the link is, ahem, out of date.

So, I’d like to accept my badge of Anti-Masonic honor and step up to the plate of other brothers who have been bestowed this award.

But I have to say, sending the Chick comic has taken it to a whole new level.

Count your Blessings

March 20, 2009 by TimBryce

It’s difficult to maintain a positive perspective in these troubling economic times. People are frustrated, despondent, even angry. But I have learned over the years, that no matter what disaster I may be faced with, there is always someone in worse shape than I am, such as a starving, uneducated third-world child who doesn’t have a roof over his head, or his father who earns pennies a day to support his family. So, we should actually count the blessings we have got as opposed to banging our heads against the wall.

If you’ve got a job, thank your lucky stars you do, and renew your effort to make your company as successful as possible. Now is the time for cooperation as opposed to petty competition, teamwork as opposed to individualism. And by all means, take nothing for granted. Otherwise you might be the next one in the unemployment line.

If you are unemployed, be grateful we have unemployment programs to lend you a helping hand. But remember, there is no honor in becoming a ward of the state. Sharpen your skills, change with the times, and hustle for the next job.

If you are married, be thankful you are not going through a costly divorce now (which is horrible timing for doing so). Perhaps it is time to renew your devotion to your spouse and improve your family relationships.

If you have any savings, remind yourself there are many others out there without a safety net. Now is the time to wisely invest your money. It’s hard to say who to trust in this regard, but perhaps a loan to a family member or neighbor who needs a helping hand is in order.

If you have a good credit record, consider the millions who do not. Try to keep your record as clean as possible, you will undoubtedly need it some day.

If you have some free time to participate in nonprofit organizations, consider yourself lucky, but remember, such groups will probably need more support as people’s obligations are shifting and their participation declining.

If your Masonic Lodge building is structurally sound and in good condition, be grateful you are not looking at a major repair bill, such as a new roof or replacing the heating and air conditioning system. Consider there are Lodges out there that are in need of major repairs or, even worse, are closing their doors. It might be wise to start tucking a few dollars away for a rainy day so your Lodge doesn’t end up in the same condition.

If you have people wanting to join your Lodge, make sure they are welcomed warmly and made to feel an important part of the Craft. There are some Lodges desperate for new members and are dying on the vine. Encourage the young Masons and challenge them to participate; the effect of a young man’s enthusiasm can be contagious and a powerful agent for future growth.

If the administrative processes of your Lodge are performed like clockwork, thank your officers for making this a natural part of the Lodge’s culture. There are some Lodges operating in organizational disarray, where paperwork and finances can be easily misplaced. This creates distrust and suspicion between the officers and the Craft.

If you have harmony in the Lodge, be grateful you are among men where their word is their bond, who believe in teamwork and cooperation as opposed to personal glory and political maneuvering. We have all seen enough of this in the outside world. Let us be men and let us rejoice in the spirit of Brotherhood.

If there is a silver lining in our current economic recession, I believe it is we will emerge from this mess stronger, more resilient, and hopefully smarter. Now is the time to stop whining and start believing in ourselves. The government is not going to solve all of our problems, nor is it their job to do so. To paraphrase Bro. Winston Churchill,

Nothing can save us if we will not save ourselves. If we lose faith in ourselves, in our capacity to guide and govern, if we lose our will to live, then indeed our story is told.

I admonish you not to despair; but to stay positive instead, to stay connected, to stay tuned in to what is going on, and become more proactive as opposed to reactive in our future. Just remember, the glass is half full, not half empty. Positive thinking is just as contagious as negative thinking, maybe more so. As we said back in the 1970’s, “Keep on truckin’.”

Keep the Faith!

by W:.Tim Bryce, PM, MPS, MMBBFMN
timb001@phmainstreet.com
Palm Harbor, Florida, USA
A Foot Soldier for Freemasonry

NOTE: The opinions expressed in this essay are my own and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of any Grand Masonic jurisdiction or any other Masonic related body.

As with all of my Masonic articles herein, please feel free to reuse them in Masonic publications or re-post them on Masonic web sites (except Florida). When doing so, please add the following:

Article reprinted with permission of the author and Freemason Information

Please forward me a copy of the publication when it is produced.

Non-Masonic Education

March 19, 2009 by The Euphrates

A hot topic in the on-line Masonic community is lodge education. Many ideas are presented for educational subjects or how to implement educational programs. Most of this discussion is limited to Masonic topics such as Masonic symbolism or history. There is no shortage of information on these subjects available through the Internet or in hard copy. However, I was asked an interesting question about preparing an educational presentation a couple of weeks ago. A Brother had been tasked with developing an educational segment for the next lodge meeting. The Brother was a relatively new Mason and was not particularly comfortable about presenting on a Masonic topic. Unsure of what subjects he could or should address, he asked the lodge “What should I talk about?”

At this point, every member of the lodge could have given him an idea. He could have presented on the symbolism of the square and compasses or read a short story about George Washington. These are all very predictable subjects. Throughout a Mason’s fraternal experience, he will doubtlessly hear several anecdotes about Mr. Washington and will probably see several extemporaneous speeches given on various symbols taken verbatim from the ritual with a little bit of discussion. The problem with these options is that they are viewing lodge education as a course of instruction which must be exclusively Masonic in its nature. This can make lodge education a redundant process which constantly covers one subject. Imagine going back to high school and discovering that every single class that you were taking was on the subject of geometry. That curriculum would bore anyone to death.

Luckily, we don’t have to limit our lodge education to Masonic symbolism, history, and ritual. If we look at the charge of the Fellowcraft degree, we discover that we are admonished to study the liberal arts. The seven liberal arts consist of grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. In other words, the Mason is taught to study a wide array of subjects in order to improve himself. As one of my previous columns suggested, balance is an essential concept to a Mason’s life. Therefore, it is important that a Mason balances his education so that he gains knowledge in all areas of the arts and sciences and what better place to promote this idea than within the lodge? If you take a look at your lodge’s membership, you will probably be surprised to discover that the Brethren have expertise in a variety of subjects.

What we can develop using these individual talents is non-Masonic education. This is as important to a lodge’s growth as Masonic education. Our lodges are populated with men from a variety of backgrounds. Freemasonry is home to doctors, lawyers, engineers, historians, clergy, mechanics, farmers, and construction workers. All of these men have the ability to impart useful knowledge on one another. For instance, perhaps one of your lodge’s Brothers is a mechanical engineer which has just patented a new invention. A presentation on the purpose and development of that invention would provide an interesting topic for an educational session.

Likewise, you may have a Brother who is a mechanic trained to maintain hybrid or fuel-cell vehicles and could discuss the challenges facing the automotive industry to provide service to these new alternative fuel models. Everyone in the lodge would benefit from these subjects and an educational program utilizing the knowledge of individual Brothers can develop the same enthusiasm as a well planned lecture circuit.

The main character of the Brother mentioned at the beginning of this article turned out to be a middle school teacher and it was suggested that he present on educational techniques currently being used at that age level. The entire lodge was surprised to discover that current educational techniques differed significantly from those used in the past. Several questions were asked on subjects ranging from how teachers were currently disciplining children to the effectiveness of these new educational methods. Every Brother gained a new understanding from the lesson and left the lodge more enriched than when they had entered. Of course, there is always a place for education pertaining to the ritual, furniture, and customs of the lodge. However, properly supplementing traditional Masonic education with non-Masonic subjects will provide a more well- balanced education program and keep lodge members engaged.

Dover Masonic Lodge and the Kybalion

March 19, 2009 by Greg Stewart

This came in as a post in the series I published on the Kybalion in the previous Masonic Traveler Blog.

What was posted was an announcement to visit the website and upcoming pod cast for Dover lodge #489 under the Grand Lodge of Ohio. The pod cast is in its 8th episode, and on its 5th installment of lodge education on the reading of the Kyablion.
First, I think that it is fantastic that the Kyablion is being studied in a lodge education. And I won’t go into details here on the Kybalion, but I thought that the work coming out of Dover is OUTSTANDING and the reading (with audio overlay) is an excellent way to work through this sacred text.

If you have the time, or the space on the Ipod or Mp3 player, I STRONGLY recommend downloading the pod casts and listening to the book being read.

Fantastic work.

Further Adventures of the Paul Revere Colonial Degree Team

March 19, 2009 by Fred Milliken

So here I am sitting in the East in a two-year line of a Lodge with significant resources and a great budget. I had just taken the Paul Revere Colonial Degree Team to hometown Lexington. What to do next? Think big Fred, I thought, think big! After all that was one of the decisions that led you to affiliate with Paul Revere Lodge in the first place, its ability to provide the means to facilitate those who wanted to do great things.

So the first time around I thought of my heritage and how that fit with the Colonial Degree Team going to Lexington. Now once again I turned to what I knew and where I had been before and how that fit in with the Colonial Degree team and with my family and its origins.

I had just gotten my first computer a year before being installed as Master of Paul Revere Lodge. And one of the first things I did with that new toy was to explore cyberspace for signs of the Craft. The most active areas at that time seemed to be New York and Indiana. I joined the GFN and made some interesting friends such as Ian Donald and Ellis Mills. I also latched onto an enterprise launched by Jeff Naylor out of Indiana, a Masonic forum and discussion Board, Masoniclight that was very active and interested in the betterment of the Craft. Such later notable Freemasons as Chris Hodapp, Nathan Brindle, Roger Van Gorden, Bill Hosler, Tom Fellows and Eric Schmitz who I was later to meet in person hung their hat there. Plus others I am sure these old brain cells just can’t conjure up. This group became very reform minded and later formed The Knights of The North, which I also associated with, and wrote Laudable Pursuit.

My wife’s hometown was not Lexington, MA but Bloomington, Indiana and I had been there a few times and also north of Indianapolis to visit the other side of her family. So why not take the Paul Revere Colonial Degree team to Bloomington, Indiana? It wasn’t England but then I didn’t know anybody in England and maybe that would be carrying thinking big just a bit too far. But heck Indiana was only a thousand miles away. When I looked up the Lodge in Bloomington I found out that it was Monroe Lodge #22. And I was William Munroe on the Colonial Degree Team. Those who know me well know that I don’t believe in coincidences.

I broached the subject in a sort of trial balloon to the members of the Degree Team and to a certain few well-placed members of the Lodge. Many said that nobody had ever tried something that ambitious and they doubted it would fly. But I am not one to be easily discouraged. I took the founding head of the Colonial Degree Team, now its Historian, and a revered Past Master of the Lodge out to lunch. I told him what I wanted to do and I said to him that if he did not there and then approve and be willing to openly say so, that I would drop the idea. Quite frankly without his approval the idea was going nowhere. When he gave his full blessing to the project and actually brought it up in open Lodge we got the go ahead on our end of the line.

I had meanwhile already gotten in touch with Monroe Lodge and struck up a conversation with its Master. Soon I was pushing for him to have the Colonial Degree Team out to his Lodge. The conversation lasted over many months as he liked the idea but working out all the incidentals of actually doing it was no small project. First and foremost were the financial arrangements. We would pay for our airfare out there and back for approximately 18 Degree members. They would have to pick up the bill for our meals and board. That looked like no easy task. Before we could even think of making this trip we had to have prior approval from The Grand Master of Indiana and our own Grand Master. Some states had locked us out, refusing to allow Massachusetts’s ritual to be exemplified in their state. That really seemed so petty to me and was later to influence me into becoming an advocate of more cooperation among the various American jurisdictions and the crafting of some sort of American Masonic identity.

After eight months of negotiations the talks broke down and the trip seemed to be just a dream never to be actualized. The Master in Indiana was enthusiastic about having us out but he just couldn’t seem to work out the logistics of accomplishing it on his end. Now it was time for him to step down and turn over the East to a new Master. It was also time for me to step down and do likewise at Paul Revere Lodge. As a famous Mason once said, “The best laid plans of mice and me, oft go awry.”

Many, many other wonderful things were going on in the Lodge during all this time and I stepped down knowing that it had been a wonderful two years in the East. Still I was despondent and sulking over what could have been.

Months went by when all of a sudden the new Master of Monroe Lodge #22 E-Mailed me. He had solved the problems on his end and wanted to know if we were still interested. WERE WE INTERESTED!!!

We flew out of Boston on a Friday afternoon in October of 2001 just four weeks after 9/11, eighteen members of the Degree Team making the trip. My biggest laugh was seeing our Marshall a Past Master and a retired Boston cop get patted down and practically stripped search before our eyes. They had him down almost to his birthday suit right there in the open in the terminal.

Upon arrival in Indianapolis Past Grand Master MW Richard Hickham and the Master of Monroe Lodge #22 , Wor. Gary Denson met us with a mini bus with a bunch of bedding in the back. We drove about 75 miles south and stopped at a Shrine Club just outside of Bloomington where we were treated to a great steak dinner and some beers and MW Hickham announced our arrival to all gathered. Afterward we were driven to the place where we were going to stay. They had us billeted at the state DeMolay chateau about 20 miles east of Bloomington in a rural area. The bedding in the back of the bus was for us to make up own bunks (we brought our own towels and toiletries). The Chateau was a beautiful two story natural wood building, somewhat like a giant log cabin. The top floor had a large wrap around deck. The bottom floor consisted of eight bedrooms each with two bunk beds (upper and lower) and a bathroom. Upstairs was a bathroom and huge living/dining area with a small kitchenette. In the kitchenette refrigerator was two cases of beer.

Saturday morning MW Hickham and Wor. Denson were back with the bus and we went down to the Lodge where they had breakfast prepared for us, eggs and bacon and sausage and grits and fruit and biscuits and honey. Then we took a tour of Bloomington and Indiana University, I being able to stop at my wife’s grandmother’s old house. We had lunch out and then it was back to the Chateau to shower and change clothes for the Degree. We arrived back at the Lodge around 5:00 PM for a tour, set up and pre- dinner fellowship. The Lodge prepared a wonderful meal after which we retired to the Lodge room for the ceremony we had come 1000 miles to perform.

We marched into Lodge to the beat of our drummer, all in costume with tri- cornered hats. The degree went flawlessly and we raised three Indiana Masons to the sublime degree of a Master Mason. William Munroe gave the “Canadian Charge” and the Historian his usual patriotic message. Afterward we presented the Lodge with an engraved Paul Revere bowl and they gave us all presents. Many visitors were there including one Massachusetts Mason from the Plymouth district who was visiting IU. After many introductions and good cheer all around we retired to downtown Bloomington for some real cheer.

We all gathered at an Irish pub for celebration and a continuation of Masonic fellowship. As it was a warm night we all sat out on the outdoor sidewalk café of the pub. There is nothing like sitting on the sidewalk of a big college town on a warm night. The sights were something that sent the blood of old men bubbling. I have a picture of Wor. Denson, Master of Munroe Lodge #22 and me at the pub included here and also Past Master Eric Schmitz with MW Richard Hickham – the last two pictures at the bottom.

Sometime after midnight, I can’t quite remember when, we all piled into the Chateau. Sunday morning the bus was there to take us to the Lodge for another great breakfast. We all told many Masonic stories over breakfast including how much we enjoyed their company and all they had done for us. We said our goodbyes and the bus brought us back to the Indianapolis airport for a Sunday afternoon flight home. Monday morning we were all back to work with memories of a time we shall never forget.

And that’s what can happen when you think big! 1000 miles and back – all in one weekend!

Everything Comes Back To Lexington

March 15, 2009 by Fred Milliken

I have always thought that my interest in Freemasonry came from my interest in DeMolay that was triggered by my love of history. And my love of history was triggered by the rich Revolutionary War history of the town in which I was born and grew up in, Lexington, Massachusetts. It was here that Paul Revere galloped into town with the message “The British are coming, the British are coming.” And it was here that the first battle of our war for independence was fought on April 19, 1775.

April 19^th is a holiday in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. It’s Patriots Day and every year on that date Lexington does a recreation of Paul Revere’s ride and the battle on the Lexington Green in the morning followed by a huge two-hour parade in the afternoon.

When I was five years old my father died. My mother took on three jobs to support my two sisters and me. It was the 50s and you didn’t take welfare then even though it was available. By day she was secretary for the First Parish Church, our church, which sat on the Southwest corner of the Green. By night she was Secretary and Recorder for the town Planning Board Sessions. And on the weekends she was tourist guide at the Buckman Tavern. The Buckman Tavern was there on the Northeast corner of the Green in 1775. Here The Minutemen gathered in response to the call because British soldiers were marching into the countryside. I can remember as a boy of about 8 sitting on the steps to the Buckman Tavern and listening through the screen door to my mother recounting the tale of Paul Revere’s ride and the ensuing battle to groups of tourists.

“Listen my children and you shall hear,

Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere”

Much later at my public installation as Master of Paul Revere Lodge AF & AM, having been so installed by The Colonial Degree Team in full regalia, I would introduce my mother and remind her and all assembled of her days at the Buckman Tavern. But that is getting ahead of this story.

On the Northwest corner of the Lexington Green sat the Masonic Temple and in that Temple met Battle Green Chapter, Order of DeMolay. My best friend Ron invited me to become a DeMolay in the late 50s. He was later to tell me that he sat in homeroom behind a very nice girl he thought I should ask out. This year that girl and I celebrated our 43^rd wedding anniversary.

Battle Green DeMolay was a very active Chapter. Most meetings one could count forty or more members present. We had a basketball team and a bowling team. I was a bowler. We sold ice cream at the Patriots Day parade but our main fund raiser was the production and sale of a town wide community events calendar, listing all the important dates for all the groups in town – social, religious, governmental, fraternal, educational and specialty organizations like The Women’s club and garden clubs. Armed with a hefty bank account we did much, such as special dinners, BBQs and trips. The highlight of our social season was the annual DeMolay/Rainbow Sweetheart’s dance. It was to that dance that I escorted my future wife on our second date.

When I was senior Councilor in the West we once again entered the state ritual competition at the State Conclave. Previously we had been able to garner some honorable mentions and a third place finish. Some years we didn’t enter at all. This particular year was the largest participation ever recorded and after a semi final and a final competition we came home with first place. That gave Battle Green Chapter a tremendous amount of statewide prestige especially among the Rainbow girls who flocked from all over to our many social events.

The work that went into that state wide ritual competition, the camaraderie that it produced and the pride and enthusiasm that it generated among us were things I never forgot. It influenced me years later when I became Worshipful Master at Plymouth Lodge and then Paul Revere Lodge, for the themes of my tenures in the East was always “Let’s Celebrate Our Masonry.” I was always thinking of ways to put on some big bash by bringing together large numbers of Masons in some special exemplification of our heritage and our philosophy. But that was much later.

The next term I became Master Councilor and it became my turn to lead the Chapter from the East. Once again that experience was to have a profound effect on my future choices in Freemasonry.

Soon I was off to school earning a BA in government & history and blazing new trails, leaving my fraternal childhood as nothing more than a memory. What followed was marriage, a child, and many years of overwork and bad choices. When I finally got my head screwed back on right, the first thing I did was petition a Masonic Lodge.

I was raised in historic Plymouth Lodge also steeped in American History where I cut my teeth working my way up the chairs. I was installed as Master in a public installation by 5 Past Master Councilors of Battle Green DeMolay who were also all Past Masters of Simon W. Robinson Lodge of Lexington, MA. Needless to say they were old friends also.

When I became Senior Warden I affiliated with Paul Revere Lodge in Brockton where I actually lived. Almost immediately I joined the Paul Revere Colonial Degree Team which performed the second and third sections of the Third Degree in colonial costume while adding a patriotic message at the conclusion. And then upon assuming the East in Plymouth I also took the chair of Senior Deacon at Paul Revere. I can remember doing First Degree ritual as Master in Plymouth on a Monday night and then on the very next night, Tuesday, doing the middle chamber lecture at Paul Revere on the second degree. That spring in the East at Plymouth Lodge I invited the Paul Revere Colonial Degree Team to perform. I also invited everybody else in the world I could think of including a large contingent from Rhode Island. We had 5 District Deputies present that night and such a packed house I had to hire a policeman to direct traffic out front. We did celebrate our Masonry that night including a well-attended dinner.

The Paul Revere Colonial Degree Team was formed in 1975/76 to celebrate our country’s bicentennial. It was such a huge success that the team continued to perform anywhere a Lodge would invite them and is still working to this day. We marched into Lodge to the beat of our drummer in the dress of the 1700s with tri-cornered hats and conducted ourselves in the Lodge room like a precision military drill team. After raising the candidates, giving the Third Degree lecture of the Emblems and a Charge our Historian would take the floor. He first would give a message about our flag. The team used the Betsey Ross American flag. Then he would describe the hardships that colonial Masons endured. After that he would have each member of the team rise and identify who they were as each one of us took the name of a famous Revolutionary War Mason.

When I joined the team it had already been functioning for 17 years and all the “good” or most recognizable names had already been taken, like George Washington, Ben Franklin, Israel Putnam, Paul Revere, John Hancock, Benedict Arnold etc. I ask the director if I could choose my own team name and he gave his assent. I thought back to my days in Lexington to the battle of April 19, 1775. I wondered if any of the 70 odd Minute Men who stood against the British that day were Masons. There was no Masonic Lodge in Lexington at that time. So I wrote to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, the Grand Lodge library and asked them that question. Back came a letter that listed 26 Masons who fought the British in that battle on April 19, 1775. From those 26 names I chose one whom I would represent.

I chose William Munroe who was stationed on an all night watch on the Lexington Green the night of April 18, 1775. He was a sergeant in the Lexington Minute Men and proprietor of the only other tavern in town, the Munroe Tavern. It was William Munroe who received Paul Revere into the town of Lexington on the wee hours of the morning of April 19, 1775 with his message, “The British are coming.” It was William Munroe who helped Paul Revere rouse Hancock and Adams who were sleeping overnight in Lexington and tell them they best get out of town. And it was William Munroe who sent out the alarm to the rest of the Lexington Minutemen and to units from all the surrounding towns. Most units outside Lexington did not arrive until the British had already marched onto Concord and “fired the shot heard around the world.” But they were ready for them on the return trip where the British took heavy losses.

Later William Munroe would form Lexington’s first Masonic Lodge and I went into the Grand Lodge Library and read the minutes of 1791 when one William Munroe was escorted to the East with his petition for a Charter. And he was received by the Grand Master who was pleased to shake his hand — Most Worshipful Paul Revere. Hiram Lodge met for 40 years in especially constructed back rooms of Munroe Tavern until it moved to the neighboring town of Arlington.

Munroe Tavern still stands today a stones throw away from The Scottish Rite National Heritage Museum where you can visit a lighted display and a historical recounting of the Battle of April 19, 1775 called “Lexington Alarmed.”

I performed the Charge for The Paul Revere Colonial Degree Team and utilized many different charges but the one I liked the best and used the most we called “The Canadian Charge.” It went by many other names, so much so that my correspondence with Ian Donald about it caused him to research the charge and write a paper on it called “A Charge By Any Other Name Is Still A Charge” and which can be read on www.phoenixmasonry.com

I was installed as Master of Paul Revere Lodge in a public installation by the members of the Paul Revere Colonial Degree Team in full costume. The soloist sang “God Bless The USA” and I recited 4 stanzas of Longfellow’s poem, “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.” As I have said I introduced my family and honored my mother by telling the story of her third job at The Buckman Tavern. And the Historian did also take the floor and give his usual talk followed by team members introducing the Colonial Mason they represented.

One day I got a call from the oldest member of my church. She was in her 90s and was selling her home to go into assisted living. The house had been in her family for generations but neither she nor her sister who was now in a nursing home had ever married. So the old homestead was on the market and a group of church members had just helped her pack up what she could take with her and sell or discard what she couldn’t. Down in her basement was found a Masonic diploma dating from 1840 and she did not recognize the name of the person and she asked if I would like it.

Colonial Degree Team before the altar is at Simon W. Robinson Lodge in Lexington, Massachusetts

When I picked it up I noticed it was issued from a Lodge in Connecticut so I felt it should be returned to them. Later that week I phoned the Grand Lodge of Connecticut and got the contact information for the Secretary of that Lodge. And before you know it I had a bus full of Lodge members and the District Deputy rolling down the highway to make a visit to Putnam Lodge in CT and officially return this man’s Masonic diploma to the Lodge. We had a dinner and a nice presentation and before we all left I informed Putnam Lodge about our Colonial Degree Team. Six months later we were back with the whole team performing before the Junior Past Grand Master, three District Deputies and a packed house.

Right from the start as Master of Paul Revere Lodge I set out to take the Colonial Degree Team to Lexington. So I called the Secretary of Simon W. Robinson Lodge who was the Master Councilor when I was Senior Councilor and we won the state DeMolay ritual competition. He got with the Master and after much discussion and preparation we scheduled a gala event for the nearest Communication to

Presenting Paul Revere bowl to the Master of Simon W. Robinson Lodge Lexington, MA

April 19^th. The Paul Revere Colonial Degree Team was to perform followed by a tri Table Lodge, the Frank W. Thompson Lodge , the District Deputy’s Lodge, of neighboring Bedford, MA being invited in on the festivities. No one I knew had ever heard of a tri Table Lodge but all three Lodges shared in the ritual of that occasion. We marched into the Lodge to the beat of our drummer before a packed house. We performed the degree after which William Munroe gave “The Canadian Charge” and the Historian delivered his patriotic message. Then one by one we introduced ourselves with the name of the Revolutionary War Mason that we each represented. I was very proud to announce that I represented Lexington’s William Munroe. Afterward we presented the Master of Simon W. Robinson Lodge an engraved Paul Revere Bowl commemorating the occasion. We started on a Saturday afternoon at 4:00 PM with the Colonial Degree Team and we finished the Table Lodge at 11:00 PM. We had the usual 7 course meal with 7 toasts and much merriment and brotherly love and affection. Over 100 Masons gathered that day for what was truly a memorial Celebration of the Craft.

I had published a special Lodge notice for that month with a colored front to back page of the American Patriot Rebels picking off the British as they marched back to Boston from Concord. In it were extra stories of Paul Revere and April 19^th.

And so I can truly say that for me everything comes back to Lexington.

Masonic History and Scholarship

March 14, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

This piece comes from deep in the archives about a guest on the Masonic Central podcast. It was originally assembled for episode 30 (circa 2009), yet remained unpublished.

Some say that history is written by the victors. That triumphs are in fact triumphant, and the losses are only momentary set backs in a progressive path to the eventual story that you read in the history books.

But at times some histories run concurrently with others, and that there isn’t really a victor or vanquished, but instead parallel paths where points merge and blend together. Freemasonry, it would seem, is just one of these histories where its various paths of existence seem to weave in and out of society and with other branches of itself.

For many years the fraternity has sprouted its own cadre of story tellers, its own historians. From Anderson’s early mythologies of its existence, to Yarker and Pike to name only a few, none have ever really stepped out of the box to understand the intricate workings as it relates to society. Robinson tried to do some justice, as did Ridley in his historical work, but neither brought the study of the Freemasons out of the realm of the speculative and in to academia, at least not in any meaningful way.

It wasn’t until the last decade or two that the study of Freemasonry took on a more meaningful study where today the craft stands at a turning point in the broader study of civil society. At the helm of that change is the scholarship of UCLA professor, Dr. Margaret C. Jacob.

Jacob, at the time of the interview, was one of the eminent scholars of Freemasonry, studying the role of the fraternity looking for its context within the world it inhabited. One of the interesting subjects covered was the Masonic ephemera horde amassed by the Nazis in WWII, and confiscated by Russian allied troops and taken back to Moscow and recovered in the post Cold War era, a topic Jaconb covers in her book Strangers Nowhere in the World.

Masonry still has its arm chair and library historians, but Dr. Jacob has elevated the speculative history of our gentle craft to the hallowed halls of the university, and its from this study that our understanding of the fraternity today has far exceeding beyond what our understanding was of it before.

In this episode of Masonic Central, Dr. Jacob explored with us how she become the eminent Masonic scholar that she is today. And in that conversation we look behind the veil of time to learn about her ideas on the past, present, and future of Freemasonry. This was a unique opportunity to hear from the top American scholar on the subject, and a program I strongly recommend that you listen to. Give a listen to this 2009 interview with Dr. Jacob and decide for yourself how far Freemasonry has stretched from the armchair into academia.

You can read more on Dr. Jacob on her UCLA biography.

Works concerning Freemasonry by Dr. Margaret C. Jacob:

Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Europe – 1991
The Origins of Freemasonry: Facts and Fictions – 2005
The Radical Enlightenment – Pantheists, Freemasons and Republicans – 2006
Strangers Nowhere in the World: The Rise of Cosmopolitanism in Early Modern Europe – 2006