POETRY, MASONIC
Where Masonic poetry can be found, and what Masonic poetry is, are questions answerable onlyWafter the phrase is defined. If by Masonic poetry is meant verse written by a Mason about a symbol or about the Lodge or the Ritual, there is little of it, and in Masonic literature is no poem which a literary critic of competence would recognize as a masterpiece. Rob Morris wrote a volume of Masonic verse but had the misfortune not to be a poet; and those who have followed him have had a still larger share of the same misfortune. But there is no reason to limit Masonic verse so narrowly; there are great themes in Freemasonry in addition to its Landmarks and its Rules and Regulations; great themes in its history, its teachings, its spirit. If defined in this more inclusive sense there is much Masonic poetry, and of the very highest quality; much more in fact than Masons themselves can easily believe because it has never been collected in anthologies.
Of the poetry thus more broadly defined Robert Burns is the acknowledged laureate; second after him, and not far removed, is Rudyard Kipling—both were active and earnest Masons, and each held Lodge office; and after Kipling, though at a farther remove, is Edwin Markham, who acknowledged Masonry to have been the inspiration of many of his pages. Goethe, the greatest of poets since Shakespeare, performed the almost impossible feat of writing a poem on the philosophy of the Craft in his "A Mason's Ways." If Knighthood and Crusades are included in the Masonic purview, Scott and the French and Italian epic writers wrote thousands of pages.
But it is not so much among the classics, the standard writers, or in a whole corpus of work by any one writer, that the best and largest number of Masonic poems are found, but rather as a single poem, or only one or two, here and there among hundreds of poems. Longfellow's series of sonnets on Dante are in artistic skill his masterpiece; one of them is the description of a cathedral, and of perfect beauty.
Edna Millay's masterpiece is her sonnet on "Euclid." The theme of Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner" is brotherhood, a brotherhood so inclusive that it gathers into its embrace animals, plants, "all things both great and small"; and the same theme animates Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, a great work with an appeal in it for American Masons that our English Brethren may have difficulty in finding.
Scottish Rite Masons read Tennyson's Idylls of the Ring because in some pages those Vergilian leaves read almost like a gloss on certain of the High Grades; and the verse by Tennyson and a host of other poets on the Legend of the Holy Grail are a commentary of large and moving eloquence on the text of That Which Was Lost. And work, the Masonic theme par excellence, is being sung by a whole generation of Russian poets—and if they continue as they have begun they will yet find a way to bring the Fraternity back into their country because so many of them are Masons in spirit. And it is not to be forgotten that the oldest Masonic document in existence is itself a poem, composed in rhyme. If there were a Francis Palgrave in the Fraternity he could compile a Golden Treasury in many volumes
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POETRY OF FREEMASONRY
Although Freemasonry has been distinguished more than any other single institution for the number of verses to which it has given birth, it has not produced any poetry of a very high order, except a few lyrical effusions. Rime, although not always of transcendent merit, has been a favorite form of conveying its instructions. The oldest of the Constitutions, that known as the Halliwell or Regius Manuscript, is written in verse; and almost all the early catechisms of the Degrees were in the form of rime, which, although often doggerel in character, served as a convenient method of assisting the memory.
But the imagination, which might have been occupied in the higher walks of poetry, seems in Freemasonry to have been expended in the construction of its symbolism, which may, however, be considered often as the results of true poetic genius.
There are, besides the songs, of which the number in all languages is very great, an abundance of prologues and epilogues, of odes and anthems, some of which are not discreditable to their authors or to the Institution. But there are very few poems on Masonic subjects of any length. The French have indulged more than any other nation in this sort of composition, and the earliest Masonic poem known is one published at Frankfort, 1756, with the title of Noblesse des Franc-Maçons ou Institution de leur Sociéte avant le deluge universel et de son renouvellement apres le Deluge, Nobility of the Freemasons, or the Institution of their Society before the Universal Deluge and of its Renovation after the Flood. It was printed anonymously, but the authorship of it is attributed to M. Jartigue. It is a transier to verse of all the Masonic myths contained in the Legend of the Craft and the traditional history of Anderson Neither the material nor the execution exempt the author from Horace's denunciation of poetic mediocrity.
A selection of poems that are of sufficient merit to be notable exceptions to the above criticism by Doctor Mackey, are here inserted.
The Lodge-room Over Simpkins' Store
The plainest lodge-room in the land was over Simpkins' store
Where Friendship Lodge had met each month for fifty years or more.
When o'er the earth the moon full-orbed, had cast her bnghtest
beams,
The Brethren came from miles around on horseback and in teams.
And O! what hearty grasp of hand, what welcome met them there,
As mingling with the waiting groups they slowly mount the stair.
Exchanging fragmentary news or prophecies of crop,
Until they reach the Tyler's room and current topics drop,
To turn their thoughts to nobler themes they cherish and adore
And which were heard on meeting night up over Simpkins' store.
To city eyes, a cheerless room, long usage had defaced,
The tell-tale lines of lath and beam on wall and ceiling traced.
The light from oil-fed lamps was dim and yellow in its hue
The carpet once could pattern boast, though now 'twas lost to
view.
The altar and the pedestals that marked the stations three,
The gatepost pillars topped with balls, the rude-carved Letter
G.
Were village joiner's clumsy work, with many things beside,
Where beauty's lines were all effaced and ornament denied
There could be left no lingering doubt, if doubt there was before
The plainest lodge-room in the land was over Simpkins' store.
While musing thus on outward form the meeting time drew near
And we had glimpse of inner life through watchful eye and ear.
When Lodge convened at gavel's sound with officers in place
We looked for strange, conglomerate work, but could no errors
trace.
The more we saw, the more we heard, the greater our amaze
To find those country Brethren there so skilled in Masons' ways.
But greater marvels were to come before the night was through,
Where unity was not mere name, but fell on heart like dew
Where tenets had the mind imbued, and truths rich fruitage bore
In plainest lodge-room in the land, up over Simpkins' store.
To hear the record of their acts was music to the ear,
We sing of deeds unwritten which on angel's Scroll appear.
A Widow's Case—for Helpless Ones—lodge funds were running
low,
A dozen Brethren sprang to feet and offers were not slow.
Food, raiment, things of needful sort, while one gave load of
wood
Another, shoes for little ones, for each gave what he could.
Then spake the last:—"I haven't things like these to
give—but then,
Some ready money may help out"—and he laid down a Ten
Were Brother cast on darkest square upon life's checkered floor
A beacon light to reach the white—was over Simpkins' store.
Like scoffer who remained to pray, impressed by sight and sound
The faded carpet death our feet was now like holy ground.
The walls that had such dingy look were turned celestial blue.
The ceiling changed to canopy where stars were shining through.
Bright tongues of flame from altar leaped, the G was vivid blaze,
All common things seemed glorified by heaven's reflected rays.
O! wondrous transformation wrought through ministry of love—
Behold the Lodge-room Beautiful!—fair type of that above
The vision fades—the lesson lives! and taught as ne'er before,
In plainest lodge-room in the land—up over Simpkins' store.
—Lawrenee N. Greenleaf, Past Grand Master of Colorado, died
October 25, 1922.
What Came We Here To Do?
Foot to foot, no matter where,
Though far beyond my destined road
If Brother needs a Brother's care,
On foot I'll go and share his load.
Knee to knee, no selfish prayer
Shall ever from my lips ascend
For all who act upon the square,
At least, henceforth, my knee shall bend.
Breast to breast, and this I swear,
A Brother's secrets here shall sleep
If told to me upon the square,
Save those I am not bound to keep.
Hand to back, oh type of love!
Fit emblem to adorn the skies,
Be this our task below, above
To help poor falling mortals rise.
Cheek to cheek, or mouth to ear,
" we all like sheep have gone astray,"
May we good counsel give and bear
'Til each shall find the better way.
—I. M. Jenkins, Brotherhood, January, 1920.
The Temple of Living Stones
The temple made of wood and stone may crumble and decay
But there's a viewless Fabrie which shall never fade away;
Age after age the Masons strive to consummate the Plane
But still the work's unfinished which th' immortal Three began;
None but immortal eyes may new, complete in all its parts
The Temple formed of Living Stones—the structure made of
hearts.
'Neath every form of government, in every age and clime:
Amid the world's convulsions and the ghastly wrecks of time.—
While empires rise in splendor, and are conquered and overthrown
And cities crumble into dust, their very sites unknown,—
Beneath the sunny smiles of peace, the threatening frown of strife,
Freemasonry has stood umnoved, with age renewed her life.
She claims her votaries in all climes, for none are under ban
Who place implicit trust in God, and love their fellow man;
The heart that shares another's woe beats just as warm and true
Within the breast of Christian, Mohammedan or Jew
She levels all distinctions from the highest to the least,—
The King must yield obedience to the Peasant in the East.
What honored names on history's page, o'er whose brave deeds we
pore,
Have knelt before our sacred shrine and trod our checkered floor
!
Kings, princes, statesmen, heroes, bards who square their actions
true,
Between the Pillars of the Porch now pass in long review
0, Brothers, what a glorious thought for us to dwell upon,—
The mystic tie that binds our hearts bound that of Washington!
Although our past achievements we with honest pride review
As long as there's Rough Ashlars there is work for us to do
We still must shape the Living Stones with instruments of love
For that eternal Mansion in the Paradise above;
Toil as we've toiled in ages past to carry out the plan,—
'Tis this;—the Fatherhood of God, the
brotherhood of Man !
—Lawrence N. Greenleaf.
Great Source of Light and Love!
Great Source of light and love
To Thee our songs we raise!
Oh, in Thy- temple, Lord, above,
Hear and accept our praise!
Shine on this festive day!
Succeed its hoped design;
And may our Charity display
A ray resembling Thine!
May this fraternal Band,
Now consecrated, blest
In Pinion, all distinguished, stand,
In Purity be dressed!
May all the Sons of Peace
Their every grace improve,
Till discord through the nations cease,
And all the world be Love!
—Thaddeus Mason Harris.
Felloweraft's Song
His laws inspire our being—
Our light is from His sun;
Beneath the Eve All-Seeing,
Our Mason's work is done
His Plumb line in uprightness
Our faithful guide shall be
And in the Source of Brightness
Our willing eyes shall see.
Thou, Father, art the Giver
To ever. earnest prayer!
O. be the Guide forever
To this, our Brother dear!
By law and precept holy,
By token, word and sign,
Exalt him, now so lowly,
Upon this Grand Design.
Within thy Chamber name him
A Workman, vise and true!
While loving Crafts shall claim him
In bonds of friendship due;
Thus shall the w alls extol Thee,
And future ages prove
what Masons ever call Thee,
The God of Truth and Love!
___ Rob Morris
For Auld Lang Syne
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to min'?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne.
We twa hae rin about the braces,
And pu'd the gowans fine
But we've wandered monie a weary fit
Sin' auld tang syne.
We twa hae paidl't i' the burn,
Frae mornin' sun til dine
But scas between us braid hae roared
Sin' auld lang syne.
And here's a hand, my trusty fiery
And gie's a hand o' thine
Ane we'll tak a right guid willie-waught
For auld lang syne.
And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I'll be mine
And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne!
—Robert Burns.
The verses sometimes called the Freemasons health and the Entered Apprentice's Song are found under the latter title in this work (see also Morris, Rob); Pike, Albert; Kipling, Rudyard, and Songs of Freemasonry).
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POINSETT, JOEL R.
Joel Roberts Poinsett introduced from Mexico the plant with crimson bracts which has become the national Christmas flower Poinsettia pulcherina. He was born in Charleston S.C., in 1779, like Paul Revere being of Huguenot descent, of parents who were able to send him to school in England, employ private tutors after his return, and finally to send him to Scotland for his education in law. He studied military sciences at Woolwich. After nearly four years of traveling about Europe, President Madison called him home for a-mission to South America to make the first of a long series of endeavors to create there a Good Neighbor policy. He served in the South Carolina legislatures then served as Minister to Mexico; once, in Chile, he led one of those small, but critical naval battles (with Spain, then on the verge of a war with us) which so often decided our national destiny but are forgotten by Americans. While in office as Secretary of War during President Van Buren's administration he pioneered the way for what was to become the National Guard system, a scheme adopted from Eighteenth Century England for having an army without having professional soldiers.
Brother Poinsett w as a member of Solomon's Lodge, No. 1, Charleston; filled a succession of offices including Grand High Priest, and was elected Grand Master but could not serve because of his appointment as Secretary of War. It was as Minister to Mexico that he made a place for himself in Masonic history when he introduced Masonry into Mexico City; and could the Lodges there have resisted invasion by the Church from one side and politics from the other, the Mexican Craft would have developed into one of great strength along with the Craft in the United States and Canada.
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POINTED CUBICAL STONE
The Broached Thurnel, which see, mentioned by Doctor Oliver and others in the Tracing-Board of an Entered Apprentice, and known to the French Freemason as the pierre cubiquc, has an ax inserted in the apex. Brother William S. Rockwell considered this feature in the Tracing-Board remarkable and suggestive of curious reflections, and thus reasoned: The cubic stone pointed with an axe driven into it, is strikingly similar to a peculiar hieroglyphic of the Egyptians. The name of one of their gods is written with a determinative sign affixed to it, consisting of a smooth rectangular stone with a knife over it; but the most singular portion of the circumstance is, that this hieroglyphie, which is read by Egyptelogists, Seth, is the symbol of falsehood and error, in contradistinction to the rough, or brute, stone, which is the symbol of faith and truth. The symbol of error was the soft stone, which could be cut; the symbol of truth, the hard stone, on which no tool could be used.
Seth is the true Egyptian name of the god known afterward by the name of Typhon, at one time devoutly worshiped and profoundly venerated in the culminating epoch of the Pharaonic empire, as the monuments of Parnac and Medinet-Abou testify.
But in time his worship was overthrown, his shrines desecrated, his name and titles chiseled from the monumental granite, and he himself, from being venerated as the giver of life and blessings to the rulers of Egypt, degraded from his position, treated as a destroying demon, and shunned as the personification of evil. This was not long before the exode of the children of Israel. Seth was the father of Judaeus, and Palestinus is the god of the Semitic tribes who rested on the seventh day, and bears the swarthy complexion of the hated race. Seth is also known by other names in the hieroglyphic legends, among the most striking of which is Bar, that is Bal, known to us in sacred history as the fatal stumbling block of idolatry to the Jewish people (see Triangle and Square).
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POINTS
In the Old Constitutions known as the Halliwell or Regius Manuscript, there are fifteen regulations which are called points. The fifteen articles which precede are said to have been in existence before the meeting at York, and then only collected after search, while the fifteen points were then enacted. Thus we are told—
Fifteen artyculus they there sougton,
bald fifteen poyntys there they wrogton.
The word sougton, means sought or Soured out; the word wrogton, wrought or enacted. The points referred to in the ritualistic phrase, arts, parts, and prints of the hidden mysteries of Masonry" are the rules and regulations of the Inntitution- Phillips's New World of Words (1706 edition) defines point as "a head or chief matter." It is in this sense that we speak of the points of Freemasonry.
A rather significant use of the word is where it means to correct and complete the openings left between the stones in a wall, a meaning applied by the operative craftsmen that is very old and still very apt.
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POINTS OF ENTRANCE, PERFECT
In the earliest lectures of the eighteenth century these were called Principal Points. The designation of them as Perfect Points of Entrance was of a later date. They are described both in the English and the American systems. Their specific names, and their allusion to the four cardinal virtues, are the same in both; but the verbal explanations differ, although not substantially. They are so called because they refer to four important points of the initiation. The Guttural refers to the entrance upon the penal responsibilities; the Pectoral, to the entrance into the Lodge; the Hanusl, to the entrance on the Covenant; and the Pedal, to the entrance on the instructions in the northeast.
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POINTS OF FELLOWSHIP, FIVE
There are duties owing by every Freemason to his Brethren, which, from their symbolic allusion to certain points of the body, and from the lesson of brotherly love which they teach, are called the Five Points of Fellowship. They are symbolically illustrated in the Third Degree, and have been summed up by Doctor Oliver as "assisting a Brother in his distress, supporting him in his virtuous undertakings, praying for his welfare, keeping inviolate his secrets, and vindicating his reputation as well in his absence as in his presence" (Landmarks i, page 185).
Cole, in the Freemasons Library (page 190) gives the same ideas in extended language, as follows:
1. When the necessities of a Brother call for my aid and support, I will be ever ready to lend him such assistance, to save him from sinking, as may not be detrimental to myself or connection, if I find him worthy thereof.
2. Indolence shall not cause my footsteps to halt nor wrath turn them aside- but forgetting every selfish consideration I will be ever swift of foot to serve, help, and execute benevolence to a fellow-creature in distress, and more particularly to a Brother Freemason.
3. When I offer up my ejaculations to almighty God, a Brother's welfare I will remember as my own; for as the voices of babes and sucklings ascend to the Throne of Grace, so most assuredly fill the breathings of a fervent heart arise to the mansions of bliss, as our prayers are certainly required of each other.
4. A Brother's secrets, delivered to me as such, I will keep as I would my own; as betraying that trust might be doing him the greatest injury he could sustain in this mortal life; nay, it would be like the villainy of an assassins who lurks in darkness to stab his adversary, when unarmed and least prepared to meet an enemy.
5. A Brother's character I will support in his absence as I would in his presence: I will not wrongfully revile him myself, nor will I suffer it to be done by others, if in my power to prevent it.
The enumeration of these Points by some
other more recent authorities differs from Cole's, apparently,
only in the order in which the Points are placed. The latter order
is given by Doctor Mackey:
1. Indolence should not cause our footsteps to halt, or wrath
turn them aside; but with eager alacrity and swiftness of foot,
we should press forward in the exercise of charity and kindness
to a distressed fellow-creature.
2. In our devotions to almighty God, we should remember a Brother's welfare as our own; for the prayers of a fervent and sincere heart will find no less favor in the sight of Heaven, because the petition for self is mingled with aspirations of benevolence for a friend. 3. When a Brother intrusts to our keeping the secret thoughts of his bosom, prudence and fidelity should place a sacred seal upon our lips lest, in an unguarded moment, we betray the solemn trust confided to our honor.
4. When adversity has visited our Brother, and his calamities call for our aid, we should cheerfully and liberally stretch forth the hand of kindness, to save him from sinking, and to relieve his necessities.
5. While with candor and kindness we should admonish a Brother of his faults, we should never revile his character behind his back, hut rather, when attacked by others, support and defend it.
The difference here is apparently only in the order of enumeration, but really there is an important difference in the symbols on which the instructions are founded. In the old system, the symbols are the hand, the foot, the knee, the breast, and the back. In the new system, the first symbol or the hand is omitted, and the mouth and the ear substituted. There is no doubt that this omission of the first and insertion of the last are innovations, which sprung up in 1843 at the Baltimore Convention, and the enumeration given by Cole is the old and genuine one, which was originally taught in England by Preston, and in the United States by Webb.
*
POINTS, THE FIVE
See Chromatic Calendar
*
POINTS, TWELVE GRAND
See Twelve Original Points of Masonry
*
POINT WITHIN A CIRCLE
This is a symbol of great interest and importance, and brings us into close connection with the early symbolism of the solar orb and the universe, which was predominant in the ancient sun-worship. The lectures of Freemasonry give what modern Monitors have made an exoteric explanation of the symbol, in telling us that the point represents an individual Brother, the circle the boundary line of his duty to God and man, and the two perpendicular parallel lines the patron saints of the Order—Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist.
But that this was not always its symbolic signification, we may collect from the true history of its connection with the phallus of the Ancient Mysteries
The phallus was among the Egyptians the symbol of fecundity, expressed by the male generative principle. It was communicated from the Rites of Osiris to the religious festivals of Greece. Among the Asiatics the same emblem, under the name of Miriam, was, in connection with the female principle, worshiped as the symbols of the Great Father and Mother, or producing causes of the human race, after their destruction by the deluge.
On this subject, Captain Wilford (Asiatic Researches) remarks "that it was believed in India, that, at the general deluge, everything was involved in the common destruction except the male and female principles, or organs of generation, which were destined to produce a new race, and to repeople the earth when the waters had subsided from its surface. The female principle, symbolized by the moon, assumed the form of a lunette or crescent; while the male principle, symbolized by the sun, assuming the form of the lingam, placed himself erect in the center of the lunette, like the mast of a ship.
The two principles, in this united form, floated on the surface of the waters during the period of their prevalence on the earth; and thus became the progenitors of a new race of men." Here, then, was the first outline of the point within a circle, representing the principle of fecundity, and doubtless the symbol, connected with a different history, that, namely, of Osiris, was transmitted by the Indian philosophers to Egypt, and to the other nations, who derived, as is elsewhere shown, all their rites from the East.
It was in deference to this symbolism that, as Godfrey Higgins remarks (Anecalypsis ii, page 306), circular temples were in the very earliest ages universally erected in cyclar numbers to do honor to the Deity.
In India, stone circles, or rather their ruins, are everywhere found; among the oldest of which, according to Moore (Pancheon, page 242) is that of Dipaldiana, and whose execution will compete with that of the Greeks. In the oldest monuments of the Druids we find, as at Stonehenge and Avebury, the circle of stones. In fact, all the temples of the Druids were circular, with a single stone erected in the center. A Druidical monument in Pembrokeshire, called Y Cromlech, is described as consisting of several rude stones pitched on end in a circular order, and in the midst of the circle a vast stone placed on several pillars. Near Keswick, in Cumberland, says Doctor Oliver (Signs and Symbols, page 174) is another specimen of this Druidical symbol. On a hill stands a circle of forty stones placed perpendicularly, Of about five feet and a half in height, and one stone in the center of greater altitude. Among the Scandinavians, the hall of Odin contained twelve seats, disposed in the form of a circlers for the principal gods, with an elevated seat in the center for Odin. Scandinavian monuments of this form are still to be found in Scania, Zealand, and Jutland. But it is useless to multiply examples of the prevalence of this symbol among the ancients. Now let us apply this knowledge to the Masonic symbol.
We have seen that the phallus and the point within a circle come from the same source, and must have been identical in signification. But the phallus was the symbol of fecundity, or the male generative principle, which by the ancients was supposed to be the sun, they looking to the creature and not to the Creator, because by the sun's heat and light the earth is made prolific, and its productions are brought to maturity. The point within the circle was then originally the symbol of the sun; and as the lingam of India stood in the center of the lunette, so it stands within the center of the Universe, typified by the circle, impregnating and vivifying it with its heat. And thus the astronomers have been led to adopt the same figure as their symbol of the sun.
Now it is admitted that the Lodge represents the world or the universe, and the Master and Wardens within it represent the sun in three positions. Thus we arrive at the true interpretation of the Masonic symbolism of the point within the circle. It is the same thing, but under a different form, as the Master and Wardens of a Lodge. The Master and Wardens are symbols of the sun, the Lodge of the universe, or world, just as the point is the symbol of the same sun, and the surrounding circle of the universe.
To the above observations by Doctor Mackey, Brother Charles T. McClenachan adds these two paragraphs:
An addition to the above may be given, by referring to one of the oldest symbols among the Egyptians, and found upon their monuments, which was a circle centered by an A U M, supported by two erect parallel serpents; the circle being expressive of the collective people of the world, protected by the parallel attributes, the Power and Wisdom of the Creator. The Alpha and Omega, or the will representing the Egyptian omnipotent God, surrounded by His creation, having for a boundary no other limit than what may come within his boundless scope, his Wisdom and Power. At times this circle is represented by the Ananta (a Sanskrit word meaning eternity), a serpent with its tail in its mouth. The parallel serpents were of the cobra species.
It has been suggestively said that the Masonic symbol refers to the circuits or circumambulation of the initiate about the sacred Altar, which supports the three Great Lights as a central point, while the Brethren stand in two parallel lines.
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POINT WITHIN A CIRCLE
As knowledge of the customs of gilds, fraternities, churches, and of popular customs in the Middle Ages is increased it becomes ever more evident that the two Sts. John Days were in everybody's mind the two fixed points of the year, and that where we measure time in our minds from New Year's Day (St. John the Evangelist's Day was equivalent to it) they measured it from two extremes, one the shortest day in winter, the other the longest day in summer.
The early prominence of these two Days in Masonic customs need not there fore mean that the days were chosen for their religious significance; it rather may mean that they were chosen for their convenience as a calendar. It is doubt ful if Masons ever thought of the Sts. John as their Patron Saints until a late period; from the records of the Mason Companies (as noted on another page in this Supplement), some of them took St. Thomas as their Patron.
The Monitorial Lectures make it plain that the two Parallel Lines represent the Sts. John Evangelist and Baptist, not in their theological significance but in their sense as a calendar; the days named after those, Saints, rather than the Saints themselves, are denoted.
Since those days were the two extremes of the year, the sun is correctly represented as swinging in its circuit between them, for it cannot move south this side of the fixed point of the day named for the Evangelist nor go north beyond the fixed point of the day represented by the Baptist. The two days are the limits of its circle, therefore the circle is shone set between the lines. The Point Within the Circle represents the year, a year of work, a year out of a man's life; at least it does if the history of its use is a true guide to its symbolic meaning. To follow that guide is not to narrow the symbolism down to a mere fact in the calendar, but is to canalize it, and to hold it fast to its Masonic meaning, lest commentators wander off into regions that have no connection with Freemasonry.
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POLAND
Lodges were held in Poland quite early in the eighteenth century, but the Bull of pope Clement XII in 1739 stopped all activities. In 1742, however, a Lodge was again at work in Volhynien and others soon revived. The Three Brothers Lodge was opened at Warsaw in 1766 by Count Augustus Moszynski and on June 24, 1769, it was declared a Grand Lodge. In 1770 Brother Moszynski was recognized by England as Provincial Grand Master for Poland. In 1772 owing to political affairs Masonic doings ceased. By 1780 however there were again three Lodges at work. The Good Shepherd Lodge reorganized as Catherine of the Polar Star, was in August, 1780, granted a Warrant as a Provincial Grand Lodge -' England with Count Hulsen as presiding officer. On March 4, 1784, it became an independent Grand Orient of Poland with Brother Andrew Mocranowski as Grand Master.
Activities again ceased in 1789 but were resumed in 1810. Eleven years later the Lodges were again closed by order of Czar Alexander. The freedom of action brought about in Masonic affairs during the World War encouraged the promotion of Lodges and a Grand Lodge was formed on October 1, 1921, independently of the Grand Lodge of Italy which had taken the preliminary steps at organization on September 11, 1920.
Brother Oliver Day Street, in his Report on Correspondence to the Grand Lodge of Alabama, 1922, days, "The Grand Lodge of Poland with seat at Warsaw, has been recently organized, but we possess little information concerning it. A brief item in the Fellowship Forum of March 17, 1922, says that it bids fair to become the center of a vigorous Masonic movement in Central Europe."
A Supreme Council of Poland, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, was established in 1922 under the sponsorship of the Supreme Councils of Switzerland, Netherlands, and Italy.
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POLITICS
There is no charge more frequently made against Freemasonry than that of its tendency to revolution, and conspiracy, and to political organizations which may affect the peace of society or interfere with the rights of governments. It was the substance of all Barruel's and Robison's accusations, that the Jacobinism of France and Germany was nurtured in the Lodges of those countries; it was the theme of all the denunciations of the anti-Masons of America, that the Order was seeking a political ascendancy and an undue influence over the government; it has been the unjust accusation of every enemy of the Institution in all times past, that its object and aim is the possession of power and control in the affairs of state. It is in vain that history records no instance of this unlawful connection between Freemasonry and politics; it is in vain that the libeler is directed to the Ancient Constitutions of the Order, which expressly forbid such connection; the libel is still written, and Freemasonry is again and again condemned as a political club.
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POLITICS AND MASONRY
The first Book of Constitutions of Freemasonry (1723) has as its second part The Charges of a Free-Mason, which begins on page 49. The second of these charges is "Of the Civil Magistrate Supreme and Subordinate."
The paragraph consists of two long sentences, but both are nothing more than an elaboration of the opening clause of the first of the two: "A Mason is a peaceable Subject of the Civil Powers ...." The elaboration of this straightforward, unambiguous statement makes clear what the new Grand Lodge had in mind; there are Mayors, it said, with their council in towns and cities, Sheriffs with their staffs in the counties; each of these "magistrates" is charged to enforce the ordinances of the town or laws of the realm governing gilds, associations, assemblies of craftsmen; Masons do not rebel against these magistrates or make trouble for them; they keep the peace.
It did not occur to the Freemasons then, as it had never occurred to their Masonic forebears, that they were living under a "political system" that other political systems were possible; that a different political system might be better than the one they had; they did not discuss such questions, or debate them, or propagandize their members in support of one system as against another. Such abstract and general political theories as democracy, monarchy, feudalism, republicanism, communism had never crossed their minds.
Throughout the Middle Ages theologians and philosophers might theorize about "the prince" or raise abstract questions. At a later time Coke, Bacon, Blackstone, Mr. Locke could discuss the merits of a constitutional system as against personal monarchy. But craftsmen knew nothing of such subjects, took their rulers and laws for granted, and raised no questions except on such matters of practical detail as their rights to hold assemblies, the carelessness of Royal Administrators, the scale of wages, etc.
Is Freemasonry democratic, republican, monarchic, etc.? Neither the words nor the ideas denoted by the words are found anywhere in the customs, rules and regulations, Constitutions, Landmarks, or the Ritual. The Craft has never interested itself in political philosophies, creeds, crusades; and does not now, because, like theology, they lie outside its province. Don't make trouble for magistrates; don't indulge in street brawls; don't hold illegal assemblies; be peaceable and law-abiding, this was as far as the Masons went; they did not even include such non-partisan, universal words as patriotism and citizenship in their Ritual.
The Craft began in a period of unadulterated feudalism, when a Lord owned the land, or a portion of it, and the men, women, fields, animals, and everything on it.
To be free was an exceptional status which the lord granted, and almost always for a consideration, and this freedom was granted to a man, a town, a corporation, a body of men, a trade by means of a charter or dispensation.
Men not freed or manumitted were the private property of the lord, and could be bought and sold with the land. Feudalism was never banished in toto (Hungary still has it), but broke up one portion at a time, here and then there, now and then, piecemeal. It was succeeded by a dynastic system of personal rulers. A country, or county, or estate, or principality, or "crown" belonged to its ruler; if he married a woman possessing the crown of another "country," perhaps across the sea, he became ruler of both. He could divide countries among his sons. In Italy and France cities belonged to lords, and a great center like Venice, or Genoa, or Florence might belong to one "kingdom" today, another tomorrow because of a marriage.
This dynastic system gave way, piecemeal, to the national system; there came into existence countries with permanent boundaries, and in the process many lords and dynasties were swallowed up by one lord and he became king of a country: and his family was the only royal dynasty. The power of these personal dynastic rulers was eaten into by the ever-increasing powers, first, of their own counselors and under-lords, second, by the citizens at large represented by committees-of-the-whole called parliaments. The United States was the first country to adopt the last named exclusively, and to abandon the old barbaric notion that a man can "own" a country and a people, and the Medieval notion that any one man can rule and govern a people. The proof that Freemasonry is wholly non-political is furnished by the fact that it has perpetuated itself and preserved its own Landmarks unaltered in each and every one of these political systems; and the corollary fact that as a fraternity it has never taken part in overthrowing one system in favor of another. Its members can espouse any political theory or party they wish, can be monarchists, or communists, but they cannot act or speak in such matters in the name of Masonry or commit the Craft to any political dogma.
The American Revolution was in reality two revolutions: the military revolution for political independence was brought successfully to an end with the surrender of Yorktown; the social revolution, by which the titles, classes, privileges, etc., of the old aristocracy were abolished, came to its final end in the administration of Andrew Jackson.
In the American way of life a man counts as one, never more or less than one; he is a citizen by virtue of birth (or naturalization), and no one man can be less or more of a citizen than another; each one is free to attend school, walk the streets, work, speak, think; his government deals with him solely as a man; it has never required that he belong to any given party, religion, or class. This is not a political system, but the absence of one, and absent because none is needed. The country is not governed according to a theory; the names "democratic" or "republican," etc., and if properly defined, are mere verbal labels, and mean nothing. A man is an American; there is no requirement for him to be anything additional. But he is "American" only because he lives in the country called America. It is because a man himself, any man, and by virtue of his nature, must thus count as one man, be dealt with as a man and in no other capacity, that America has its way of life, and for no other reason; we did not at a people begin by adopting some particular political theory or program, and then set about putting it into practice. Men in any country can have the same way of life for and of themselves without thinking of it as borrowed from America, because it is not American but belongs to man as man.
Freemasonry fitted happily into this way of life, though it had, as an organization, nothing to do with making it (there were as many Masons on one side in the Revolution as on the other); the only point at which it chanced to correspond beforehand with the American way was its ancient Landmark of treating each candidate solely on his merits as a man, of compelling him to meet his fellows on the level, and of forcing him to leave his privileges, titles, etc., outside; but it did this not because it had adopted the theory called "democracy"—a word which, like socialism, may mean anything—but because its members were workers engaged in the same work together.
In the paragraphs on RELIGION ONLY FREEMASONRY elsewhere in this Supplement it is stated that Freemasonry never had a theology of its own because Masonry was the art of architecture, and that art, like the other arts and sciences, can never be altered by any theology, church, or religion but is self-same everywhere and always. The same fact is true of Masonry and politics. The principles, formulas, and tools of architecture were the same in feudal Europe as in "democratic" America. If Hitler and Stalin had any need to solve the Forty-seventh Proposition of Euclid they both had to solve it in the same way, because geometry is irrelevant to political regimes. So is astronomy, geology, farming, navigation, music, chemistry, physics, etc.; an automobile cannot be fascist, communist, democratic any more than it can be Jewish, Christian, or Buddhist.
Politics are of highest importance inside their own province; outside it they have no say about anything. Freemasonry stands outside that province. Such Lodges in Europe, especially in Italy and under the Grand Orient of France, as went into politics went out of Masonry in the act of doing so; and the Grand Bodies of more than ninety per cent of the world's Masonry proclaimed the fact by withdrawing fraternal recognition. When the Duke of Wharton tried to bring the young Mother Grand Lodge over to his political crowd of Jacobites the Grand Lodge put him out. If the National Association of Mathematicians were told by one of their members that henceforth mathematics must be Republican, or Protestant, or Anti-Semitic, they would do the same thing and for the same reason. Even the form of organization of a Lodge, its rules of order, its order of business, its regulations, its offices, its etiquette, cannot be described by any one of the labels used by politicians; it is uniquely Masonry's own; as the way of life in America can only be described as American, so with it; its way can only be described as Masonic.
Note. Apropos of what was said above about the second. or social, revolution, so many Americans refused to give up the usages of aristocracy that, under the name of United Empire Loyalists, 35,000 of them moved up to Nova Scotia. and 15,000 moved up into Ontario, most of them—and not always voluntarily!—in the years 1783-4; and still later so many moved up from Vermont that in the War of 1812 the majority of Vermonters refused to enlist in a war against Canada, because they had relatives there. Martha Washington herself was socially a Tory— to her a " democrat " meant very much what " bolshevist " was to mean a century and a half later. A Washington D. C. daily newspaper referred to Mrs. Dolly Madisor; the President's wife, as "Her Majesty."
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POLKAL
A significant word in the advanced Degrees, which means altogether separated, in allusion to the disunited condition of the Masonic Order at the time, divided as it was into various and conflicting rites. The word is corrupted from palcol, and is derived from the Hebrew radical pal, which, as Gesenius says, everywhere implies separation, and the adverbial kol, meaning Wholly, altogether.
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POLYCHRONICON
Ranulf Higden, a monk of Chester, wrote, about 1350, under this title a Latin chronicle, which was translated into English in 1387 by John Trevisa, and published by William Caxton, in 1482, as The Polychronicot; "conteynyag the Berynges and Dedes of many Tymes." Another edition was published, though, perhaps, it was the pane book with a new title by Wynkyn de Woorde. in 1485, as Policronicon, in which booke ben comprysed bryefy many wonderful hystoryes, Englished by one Trevisa, vicarye of Barkley, etc., a copy of which sold in 1857 for £37. There was another translation in the same century by an unknown author. The two translations made the book familiar to the English public, with whom it was at one time a favorite work. It was much used by the compiler or compilers of the Old Constitutions now known as the Cooke Manuscripts Indeed, there is very little doubt that the writers of the old Masonic records borrowed from the Polychronicon many of their early legends of Freemasonry. In 1865 there was published at London, under the authority of the Master of the Rolls, an edition of the original Latin chronicle, with both the English translations, that of Trevisa and that of the unknown writer.
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POMEGRANATE
The pomegranate, as a symbol, was known to and highly esteemed by the nations of antiquity. In the description of the pillars which stood at the porch of the Temple (see First Kings via, 15), it is said that the artificer "made two chapiters of molten brass to set upon the tops of the pillars." Now the Hebrew word caphtorim, which has been translated chapiters and for which, in Amos (ix, 1), the word lintel has been incorrectly substituted, though the marginal reading corrects the error, signifies an artifical large pomegranate or globe. The original meaning is not preserved in the Septuagint, which has nor in the Vulgate, which uses sphaerula, both meaning simply a round ball. But Josephus, in his Ardiquities, has kept to the literal Hebrew.
It was customary to place such ornaments upon the tops or heads of columns, and in other situations. The skirt of Aaron's robe was ordered to be decorated with golden bells and pomegranates, and they were among the ornaments fixed upon the golden candelabra. There seems, therefore, to have been attached to this fruit some mystic signification, to which it is indebted for the veneration thus paid to it. If so, this mystic meaning should be traced into Spurious Freemasonry; for there, after all, if there be any antiquity in our Order, we shall find the parallel of all its rites and ceremonies.
The Syrians at Damascus worshiped an idol which they called Rimmon. This was the same idol that was worshiped by Shaman before his conversion; as recorded in the Second Book of Kings. The learned have not been able to agree as to 'he nature of this idol, whether he was a representation of Helios or the Sun, the god of the Phenicians, or of Venus, or according to Grotius, in his Commentary on the passage in Kings, of Saturn, or what, according to Statius, Feems more probable, of Jupiter Cassius. But it is sufficient for the present purpose to know that Rimmon is the Hebrew and Syriac for pomegranate.
Cumberland, the learned Bishop of Peterborough (Origines gerLtium antiquissimae, or Attempts for discovering the Times of the First Planting of Nations, page 60), quotes Achilles Statius, a converted Pagan, and Bishop of Alexandria, as saying that on Mount Cassius, which Bochart places between Canaan and Egypt, there was a temple wherein Jupiter's image held a pomegranate in his hand, which Statius goes on to say, "had a mystical meaning." Sanconiathon thinks this temple was built by the descendants of the Cabiri. Cumberland attempts to explain this mystery thus: "Agreeably hereunto I guess that the pomegranate in the hand of Jupiter or Juno, because, when it is opened, it discloses a great number of seeds, signified only, that those deities were, being long-lived, the parents of a great many children, and families that soon grew into nations, which they planted in large possessions, when the world was newly begun to be peopled, by giving them laws and other useful inventions to make their lives comfortable." Pausanias (Corinthiaca, page 59) says he saw, not far from the ruins of Mycenae, an image of Juno holding in one hand a scepter, and in the other a pomegranate; but he likewise declines assigning any explanation of the emblem, merely declaring that it was a Greek expression meaning a forbidden mystery. That is, one which was forbidden by the Cabiri to be divulged.
In the Festival of the Thesmophoria, observed in honor of the goddess Ceres, it was held unlawful for the celebrants who were women to eat the pomegranate. Clemens Alexandrinus assigns as a reason, that it was supposed that this fruit sprang from the blood of Bacchus.
Bryant (Analysis of Ancient Mythology in, page 237) says that the Ark was looked upon as the mother of mankind, and on this account it was figured under the semblance of a pomegranate; for as this fruit abounds with seeds, it was thought no improper emblem of the Ark, which contained the rudiments of the future world. In fact, few plants had among the ancients a more mythical history than the pomegranate.
From the Hebrews, who used it mystically at the Temple, it passed over to the Freemasons, who adopted it as the symbol of plenty, for which it is well adapted by its swelling and seed-abounding fruit.
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POMMEL
A round knob; a term applied to the globes or balls on the top of the pillars which stood at the porch of Solomon's Temple. It was introduced into the Masonic lectures from Scriptural language. The two pommels of the chapters is in Second Chronicles (iv, 13). It is, however, an architectural term, thus defined by Parker (Glossary of Architecture, page 365): ''Pommel denotes generally any ornament of a globular form.''
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POMME VERTE
This in French means the Green Apple. An androgynous (of both sexes) Order instituted in Germany in 1780, and afterwards introduced into France as we are told by Thory (Acta Latomorum i, page 333).
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PONTIFES FRERES
See Bridge Builders
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PONTIFEX
See Bridge Builders
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PONTIFF
In addition to what has been said of this word in the article on the Bridge Builders of the middle Ages, the following from Athanase Coquerel, in a recent essay entitled The Rise and Decline of the Romish Church, will be interesting.
What is the meaning of pontiff? Pontiff means bridge maker, bridge builder. Why are they called in that way? Here is the explanation of the fact:
In the very first year of the existence of Rome, at a time of which we have a very fabulous history and but few existing monuments, the little town of Rome, not built on seven hills, as is generally supposed—there are eleven of them now, then there were within the town less than seven even—that little town had a great deal to fear from an enemy which should take one of the hills that were out of town—the Janiculum—because the Janiculum is higher than the others, and from that hill an enemy could very easily throw stones, fire, or any means of destruction into the town.
The Januculum was Heparated from the town by the Tiber. Then the first necessity for the defense of that little town of Rome was to have a bridge.
They had built a wooden bridge over the Tiber and a great point of interest to the town was, that this bridge should be kept always in good order, so that at any moment troops could pass over. Then, with the special genius of the Romans, of which we have other instances, they ordained, curiously enough, that the men who were a corporation, to take care of that bridge shouid be sacred; that their function. necessary to the defense of the town, should be considered holy; that thev should be priests, and the highest of them was called the High Bridge Maker. So it happened that there was in Rome a Corporation of Bridge Makers— pontifices—of whom the head was the most sacred of all Romans; because in those days his life and the life of his companions was deemed necessary to the safety of the town.
Thus it is that the title of Pontifex Maximus, assumed by the Pope of Rome, literally means the Grand Bridge Builder (see Bridge Builders of the Middle Ages).
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PONTIFF, GRAND
See Grand Pontiff
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POOR FELLOW SOLDIERS OF JESUS CHRIST
This title is in Latin Pauperes commilitones Jesu Christi. This was the title first assumed by the Knights Templar.
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POOROOSH
The spirit or essence of Brahma in the Indian religious system.
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POPE, ALEXANDER
Son of a Roman Catholic linen-dealer at London. Born May 21, 1688, died May 30, 1744. the body being buried in the parish church of Twickenham. Many of his satires took up the cause of this or that political question and Pope's associates and friends numbered among them men high in the public life of England at that period. Deformed by disease in childhood, he was for life an invalid, yet a busy man of letters whose prose and verse, original and translated, were clever, keen, abiding. Devoted to his mother, his quarrels elsewhere were equally earnest, lasting, thorough. Probably the venom of his literary attacks was in part due to great sensitiveness over his crippled, unhealthy condition. His verse is particularly smooth in flow, bright of allusion, phrases neatly framed, apt for quotation, as in the following familiar lines from his Essay on Man:
Know then thyself, presume no God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is man.
An honest man s the noblest work of God
Chaos of thought and passion, all confused;
Still by himself abused and disabused
Created half to rise, and half to fall
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled
The glory, jest and riddle of the world!
The same work is equally striking in what is said f woman:
Our grandsire, Adam, ere of Eve possesst
Alone, and eten in Paradise unblest
With mournful looks the blissful scenes survev'd,
And wander'd in the solitary shade.
The Maker saw, took pity, and bestow'd
Woman, the last, the best reserv'd of God.
Several of his intimates were reputed to be members of the Craft. He is quoted as being a member of the same Masonic Lodge in London which enrolled on its books his life-long friends, Dean Swift and John Arbuthnot, by Brother J. H. Edge in the Builder, May, 1924- One therefore hunts through his writings or some reference to the Fraternity or its instruction. Strange but true is it that the Four Cardinal Virtues, Fortitude, Temperance, Prudence, and Justice exactly as they are enumerated in the Monitors, are given in that order by Alexander Pope:
In clouded Majesty her dulness shone;
Four guardian Virtues round, support her throne
Fears champion Fortitude, that knows no fears
Of hisses blows, or want, or less of ease:
Calm Temperance, whose blessings these partake
Who hunger, and who thirst for scribbling sake
prudence, whose glass presents the approaching jail
Poetic Justice, with her lifted scale
Where. in nice balance, truth with gold she weighs
And solid pudding against empty brays.
Brother W. Wonnacott, late Grand Librarian of England, personally assured us that in his belief it is the name of Alexander Pope that is in the 1730 list of the members of the Lodge held at the Goat, a Tavern at the foot of The Haymarket, London, and our good Brother called attention to the above lines as probably pointing to some knowledge on Pope's part of the moralization that is impressed by us on our only admitted Brethren. The Universal Prayer, oft quoted in Masonic instruction, was written by Pope in 1738 and is given below:
Father of all! In every age
In every clime adored,
By saint, by savage, and by sage,
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord!
Thou Great First Cause, least understood
Who all my sense confined
To know but this, that Thou art good
And that myself am blind.
Yet gave me, in this dark estate,
To see the good from ill;
And. binding Nature fast in fate
Left free the human will.
What conscience dictates to be done
Or warns me not to do
This teach me more than Hell to shun,
That more than Heaven pursue.
What blessings Thy free bounty gives
Let me not east away
For God is paid when man receives:
To enjoy is to obey.
Yet not to earth's contracted span
Thy goodness let me bound
Or think Thee Lord alone of man,
When thousand worlds are round.
Let not this weak, unknowing hand
Presume Thy bolts to throw,
And teach damnation round the land
On eaeh I judge Thy foe.
If I am right, Thy grace impart
Still in the right to stay
If r am wrong, oh, teach my heart
To find that better way l
Save me alike from foolish pride,
Or impious discontent
At aught Thy wisdom has denied,
Or aught that goodness lent.
Teach me to feel another's woe
To right the fault I see
That mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me.
Mean though I am, not wholely so,
Since quickened by Thy breath;
Oh lead me nvheresoe'er I go
Through this day's life or death.
This day be bread and peace my lot;
All else beneath the sun
Thou know'st if best bestowed or not
And let Thy will be done!
To Thee NVhose temple is of space,—
Whose altar earth sea skies—
One chorus let all beings raise!
All Nature s incense rise.
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POPE, FREEMASONS AUK HORIZED BY
See Freemasons authorized by Pope
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POPPY
In the Mysteries of the Ancients, the poppy was the symbol of regeneration. The somniferous qualities of the plant expressed the idea of quiescence; but the seeds of a new existence which it contained were thought to show that nature, though her powers were suspended, yet possessed the capability of being called into a renewed existence. Thus the poppy planted near a grave symbolized the idea of a resurrection. Hence, it conveyed the same symbolism as the evergreen or sprig of acacia does in the Masonic mysteries.
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PORCH OF THE TEMPLE
See Temple of Solomon
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PORTA, GAMBATTISTA
A physicist of Naples, who was born in 1545 and died in 1615. He was the founder of the Segreti, or Academy of Ancients, which see. He devoted himself to the study of the occult sciences, was the inventor of the camera obscura, and the author of several treatises on Magic, Physiognomy, and Secret Writing. De Feller (Universal Biography) classes him with Cornelius Agrippa, Cardan, Paracelsus, and other disciples of occult philosophy.
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PORTER, A. K., ON MEDIEVAL MASONRY
After a long and specialized training, Arthur E. Porter, Harvard University, devoted the whole of his career to Gothic Architecture, and for many years studied the still-existing buildings at first hand, and while doing so studied the history of the period in which the buildings were erected and existing documents connected with them.
His knowledge of Medieval architecture was encyclopedic. Near the end of his career he published in two volumes his great Medieval Architecture, illustrated throughout not by pictures for sake of pictures but by photographs and drawings essentially a part of the text, and with exhaustive bibliographies. This work stands in contrast to other histories of the Gothic style on three fundamentals: it makes clear that the Gothic style was a single, organic formula, not a collection of separate elements, or a revision of previous styles; it sees in each building a document of its times, and therefore itself a chapter in history; more important still, and for the first time with any adequacy, it begins not with the buildings but with the builder, and finds in the building something thought out, designed, and constructed by them, and for their own purposes.
Historians before Porter had written—though it is hard to believe—as if a Gothic cathedral had been built by a pale abstraction called the Gothic style; as if the masonry had built itself. Medieval Architecture is the most useful of books for students of Medieval Freemasonry. The early Gothic Freemasons emerge from it as living and breathing men, easily understandable, men who in character, mind, education, and skill towered unapproachably above other men in their period; and it is easy to see that it was they, and not the village stone masons, who found out for themselves and transmitted that set of truths which was carried on century after century and into Speculative Lodges. Porter's work and C. G. Coulton's Art and the Reformation, if placed together, comprise the most encyclopedic and the clearest account of Medieval Freemasonry now in print. (Medieval Architecture: Its Origin and Development, by Arthur Kingsley Porter, Baker & Taylor; New York; 1909; two volumes.)
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PORTIFORIUM
A word used in England during the Middle Ages to mean a breviary, a book containing the daily offices or prayers for the canonical hours. Doctor Mackey also found the name had been applied to a banner like unto the gonfalon, used as an ensign in cathedrals, and borne at the head of religious processions.
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PORTRAIT PAINTER, GRAND
The Grand Lodge of England created this position in 1785 when the Rev William Peters was appointed, due to his painting and presenting to the Grand Lodge a portrait of I ord Petre Past Grand Masters Brother Peters w as the only holder of this office. The Provincial Grand Lodge of Sussex, England, 1801, created the office of Provincial Grand Portrait Painter.
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PORTUGAL
Claims that Freemasonry flourished in Portugal as early as 1727 may or may not be true but according to the Minutes of the Grand Lodge of England it is certain that a Dispensation was granted to Brethren at Lisbon on April 17, 1735.
Continuous opposition to the Craft culminated in 1743 in the issue of an edict of death against Freemasonry by Hing John V. The Craft revived in 1761 only to be crushed in 1776 by the Inquisition. Lodges were held in ships in the harbor amid the most unusual surroundings. These dangers it seems only made the Craft grow stronger for a Grand Lodge was actually organized during this period. This was closed by the Grand Master in 1807 to prevent its coming under the rule of the Grand Orient of France.
In the absence of any central control several small Jurisdictions sprang up and in 1849 five of them met to form a Grand Orient, but trouble arose and on January 31,1859, another Grand Orient was instituted.
These two Grand Orients, combined with some Lodges on the Irish list, formed ten years later the Grand Orient of Lusitania, comprising a Symbolic Grand Lodge, a Supreme Council, a Supreme Rose Croix Chapter for the French Rite and a Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Brethren. Therefore, as Brother Oliver Day Street says; "It thus appears that Freemasonry of all Rites is united in one Supreme governing body."
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PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA
Lodges chartered by the United Lusitanian Grand Orient of Portugal are located at Beira, Chai-chai, Ibo, Mozambique and Quilimane
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PORTUGUESE WEST AFRICA
In this district the Grand Orient of Portugal has chartered eleven Lodges, two at Loanda and one each at Bie, Cabinda, Landana, Luxares, Mossamedes, Quibanda, Liumbale, Qussol and San Antonio de Zairo.
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POSTULANT
The title given to the candidate in the Degree of Knight Radosh. From the Latin word postulans, meaning asking for, Wishing to have.
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POTIER, MELCHIOR
Published a history of the Lodge of Nine Sisters at Paris, 1839.
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POTOCKI
Polish family of nobility, the following members being Freemasons: Ignaz Potocki, Grand Master, 1781-3; Stanislas Felix Potocki, Grand Master, 1789, and Stanislas Kostka Potocki, Grand Master, 1812-23.
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POT OF INCENSE
As a symbol of the sacrifice which should be offered up to Deity, it has been adopted in the Third Degree (see Incense).
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POT OF MANNA
See Manna, Pot of
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POUND, ROSCOE
Roscoe Pound, born in 1870, Dean of the Law School of Harvard University, became famous for the variety as well as for the vastness of his learning; in legal erudition he had no superior in America and possibly no peer, but at the same time he was an extraordinary linguist (he learned his English and Latin together in childhood), an authority on field botany on which he wrote a text-book used in colleges, an authority on Medieval law and history, and also was one of the most learned of American Masons.
He published two works of permanent value on Masonry, Philosophy of Freemasonry, and Jurisprudence of Freemasonry, after the larger part of the two had first been published in The Builder. In A Bibliography of the Writings of Roscoe Pound; Harvard University Press; 1942; Franklyn C. Setars devotes Part III, Section 2, page 127, to a bibliography of his writings on Freemasonry.
Dean Pound was Past Master of Lancaster Lodge, No. 54, A. F. & A. M., Lincoln. Neb.; was a member of Belmont Lodge and also of Beaver Lodge, in Belmont, Mass., and of The Harvard Lodge, Cambridge, class, and Past Deputy Grand Master, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts- He was a member of the A. & A. S. R., at Lincoln, Neb.; was crowned 33 , Northern Jurisdictions September 16, 1913. His two works on Masonry are contributions to Masonic thought rather than to either history or practice; he was the first to interpret Krause to the American Craft; he gave a newts fresh appraisal of the work of Preston (a welcome contrast to the harsh and misleading portrait painted by Gould in his History); and when in his Philosophy he devoted a chapter to a "pragmatic" philosophy of Freemasonry he established in American Masonic thought for the first time what in substance is the true distinction between "Instituted" and "Constituted" as applied to the Fraternity.
(It was a happy coincidence that Sir Frederick Pollock who occupied in legal scholarship in England a position corresponding to Pound's in the United States, also was an active Mason and a Masonic writer; author, among other things, of a memorable essay on Masonic ranks in The Builder. He was the Pollock of the published [Judge Oliver Wendell] Holmes—Pollock Correspondence.)
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POURSUIVANT
More correctly, Pursuivant, which see.
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PRACTICUS
The Third Degree of the German Rose Croix.
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PRAXOEANS
The followers of Praxeas in the second century, who proclaimed a unity in God, and that He had suffered upon the cross.
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PRAYER
Freemasonry is a religious institution, and hence its regulations inculcate the use of prayer "as a proper tribute of gratitude," to borrow the language of Preston, "to the beneficent Author of Life." Hence it is of indispensable obligation that a Lodge, a Chapter, or any other Masonic Body, should be both opened and closed with prayer; and in the Lodges working in the English and American systems the obligation is strictly observed. The prayers used at opening and closing in the United States differ in language from the early formulas found in the second edition of Preston, and for the alterations we are probably indebted to Webb. The prayers used in the middle and perhaps the beginning of the eighteenth century are to be found in Peston (1775 edition) and are as follows:
At opening - May the favor of Heaven be upon this our happy meeting: may it begun , carried on, and ended in order , harmony, and brotherly love: Amen.
At Closing.—May the blessing of Heaven be with us and all regular Masons, to beautify and cement us title every moral and social virtue: Amen.
There is also a prayer at the initiation of a candidate, which has, at the present day, been very slightly varied from the original form. This prayer, but in a very different form, is much older than Preston, who changed and altered the much longer formula which had been used previous to his day. It was asserted by Dermott that the prayer at initiation was a ceremony only in use among the Ancient or Atholl Freemasons and that it was omitted by the Moderns. But this cannot be so, as is proved by the insertion of it in the earliest editions of Preston. We have moreover a form of prayer into be used at the admission of a brother, " contained in the Pocket Companion, published in 1754, by John Scott, an adherent of the Moderns, which proves that they as well as the Ancient observed the usage of prayer at an initiation. There is a still more ancient formula of "Prayer to be used of Christian Masons at the appointing of a brother," said to have been used in the reign of Edward IV from 1461 to 1483, which is as follows:
The might of God, the Father of Heaven, with the wisdom of his glorious Son through the goodness of the Holy Ghost, that hath been three persons in one Godhead be with us at our beginning give us grace to govern in our living here, that we may only come to his bliss that shall never have an end.
The custom of commencing and ending labor with prayer was adopted at an early period by the Operative Freemasons of England. Findel says ( History, page 78), that "their Lodges were opened at sunrise, the Master taking his station in the East and the Brethren forming a half circle around him. After prayer, each Craftsman had his daily work pointed out to him, and received his instructions. At sunset they again assembled after labor, prayer was offered, and their wages paid to them.
" We cannot doubt that the German Stone Masons, who were even more religiously demonstrative than their English Brethren must have observed the same custom. As to the posture to be observed in Masonic prayer, it may be remarked that in the lower Degrees the usual posture is standing. At an initiation the candidate kneels, but the Brethren stand. In the higher Degrees the usual posture is to kneel on the right knee. These are at least the usages which are generally practiced in the United States.
We may add to the above comments by Doctor Mackey a few items of interest. Brother L. P. Newby (Sidelights on Templar Law, 1919, pages 96, 130) says:
Who is responsible for having two different versions of the Lord's Prayer in our Services, I am unable to state. It is a mistaken assumption that the Committee on Revision of 1910 (Grand Encampment Knights Templar of the United States) prepared a Lurial Service containing the Lord's Prayer, in which the words "Tres pass and Trespasses"' were used. The committee did prepare and present a short form of Burial Service. but it was not acted upon by the Grand Encampment in 1910, the further consideration of it was postponed, and it has never been acted upon (see Proceedings, 1910, middle and perhaps the beginning of the eighteenth page 203). The proper words to be used with the Lord's Prayer in the Asylum of the Commandery are debts and Debtors," and at Burial Services "Trespass and Trespasses (see Proceedings, 1916, pages 36-8 Brother Newby also says of the two expressions:
Our Savior upon two occasions instructed His people how to pray, first in His Sermon on the Mount, and second. about two years afterward; but in neither prayer did He use the words "Trespass and Trespasses" (see St. Matthew vi, 12; St. Luke xi, 1-13). In His Sermon on the Mount He did say to the people: "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father wil also forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Heavenly Father forgive your trespasses." These statements were made in a sermon and not in a prayer. As the form of the Lord's prayer used by the members of other Churches contains the words "debts and debtors," it is not for a layman to determine the question as to which form is correct, yet it is rather remarkable that those who prepared our Ceremonies did not agree upon the Lord's Prayer.
The Lord's Prayer should also be examined in the light of the translation by Professor Edgar J. Goodspeed, University of Chicago, whose English of the New Testament aims to reproduce the ease, boldness, and unpretending vigor of the original Greek, in the common language of everyday life during the era of one Savior.
The frequently observed expression "for Thine is the power and glory for ever," is a conclusion not to be found in any of the oldest manuscripts but in most of the later copies of Matthew only. It occurs the Didache, the teachings of the Apostles, a disvery at Constantinople in early Christian literature which a copy finished by the writer, Leo, on June 1, 1156, was found in the Library of the Jerusalem Jonastery.
Of the prayer itself several points have aroused discussion. Daily bread, for example, was given various interpretations by the old authorities. Hastings dictionary of the Bible (page 553) suggests for consideration the two aspects, "the word bread may be taken in an earthly or a heavenly sense. The fulness of Scriptural language justifies the widest application of the term, whatsoever is needed for the coming day, to be sought in daily morning prayer—"give us today" or whatsoever is needed for the coming days of life. The petition becomes a prayer for the presence of Him who has revealed Himself as "the Bread." The clause "as we forgive our debtors" is by some old authorities read "as we have forgiven our debtors." The conclusion of the prayer is usually repeated as "deliver us from evil" but the Greek ending is indefinite and Hastings says this may be read "the evil one," or "the evil," or "whatsoever is evil." However, as to these variations, they can be heeded in the spirit of the poet, Coleridge (Ancient Mariner, Part vii):
He prayeth best who loveth best
All things, both great and small.
And as to forms we have Brother Kipling's Song of Kabir:
My brother kneels, so saith Kabir
To stone and brass in heathen-wise,
But in my brother's voice I hear
My own unanswered agonies.
His God is as his fates assign
His prayer is all the world's—and mine.
Madame de Stael has in Corinne (Book x, chapter v) commented earnestly and with precision on the benefit of praying with one another.
To pray together in whatever tongue or ritual, is the most tender brotherhood of hope and sympathy that men can contract in this life.
An old prayer was given in the Printing Art, and was contributed by us to the American Freemason, June, 1910. Appearing in the Wolangerichtete Buchdruckerei of Ernesti it is a reminder of the pronounced religious fervor of craftsmen. The sentiment of loyalty and respect to the craft was so commonly observed that when a German traveling workman entered a town and found his way to the local place of his trade the usual salutation was "God bless the Art," Gott grus die kunst. Here is the prayer:
Oh Lord, Almighty God, printing is a glorious and a noble art—a blessing Thou hast reserved for mankind in these latter days, an art by which all conditions of men, and especially Thy Holy Church, are greatly nourished. And since, good Lord, Thou hast of Thy free grace given me an opportunity of exercising an Art and Craft so exalted, I pray Thee to guide me by Thy Holy Spirit in using the same to Thy honor. Thou knowest, dear Lord, the great diligence, continual care and accurate knowledge of the characters of many languages are needful in this Art, therefore I call to Thee for help; that I may be earnest and careful, both in the setting up of types, and in printing the same. Preserve my soul in the constant love of Thy Holy Word and truth, and my body in sobriety and purity, that so, after a life here befitting a printer, I may hereafter, at the last coming of my most worthy Savior, Jesus Christ, be found a good workman in his sight, and wear the everlasting crown in His presence. Hear me, dearest God, for Thy honor and my welfare, Amen.
Another Masonic prayer, one used by the Worshipful Master, Henry Pears, Tyrian Lodge, No. 370, Cleveland, Ohio, is here submitted as when first heard there by us many years ago:
Almighty and Eternal God—there is no number of Thy days nor of Thy mercies. Thou has sent us into the world to serve Thee, but we wander from Thee in the paths of error. Our days are but a span in length, yet tedious because of calamities that surround us on every side. The days of our pilgrimage are few and full of evil. our bodies are frail, our passions violent and distempered, our understanding weak and our will perverse. Look thou, Almighty Father, upon us with pity and with mercy. We adore Thy majesty, and trust like little children in Thy infinite goodness. Give us patience to live well; and firmness to resist evil. even as our departed Brother resisted. Give us faith and confidence in Thee, and enable us so to live that when we come to die, we may lie down in the grave like one who composes himself to sleep, and may we hereafter be worthy to be held in the memories of men. Bless us, O God, and bless our fraternity throughout the world. May we live and emulate the example of our departed Grand Master, and finally may we attain in this world a knowledge of Thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.
Heartiness of invocation is not necessarily any measure of the length of a prayer, an effectual prayer recorded by Saint Luke (xviu, 13) was "Lord, be merciful to me a sinner." At Royal Arch Chapter dinners in Europe we noted that the grace as given in our hearing on several occasions was even less lengthy than the one just mentioned and had but a couple of Latin words, "Benedictus, Bened at," meaning May the Blessed One bless. After the dinner there was an equally brief prayer, also in Latin, "Benedicto Benedicatur," May the Blessed One be blessed.
*
PREADAMITE
A Degree contained in the Archives of the Mother Lodge of the Philosophic Scottish Rite.
*
PRECAUTION
In opening and closing the Lodge, in the admission of visitors in conversation with or in the presence of strangers, the Freemason is changed to use the necessary precaution, lest that should be communicated to the profane which should only be known to the initiated.
*
PRECEDENCY DF LODGES
The precedency of Lodges is always derived
from the date of their Warrants of Constitution, the oldest Lodge
ranking as No. 1. As this precedency confers certain privileges,
the number of the Lodge is always determined by the Grand Lodge,
while the name is left to the selection of the members.
*
PRECEPTOR
Grand Preceptor, or Grand Prior, or Preceptor, or Prior, was the title indifferently given by the Knights Templar to the officer who presided over a province or kingdom, as the Grand Prior or Grand Preeeptor of England, who was called in the East the Prior or Preceptor of England. The principal of these Grand Preceptors were those of Jerusalem, Tripolis, and Antioch.
*
PRECEPTORY
The houses or residences of the Knights Templar were called Preceptories, and the superior of such a residence was called the Preceptor. Some of the residences were also called Comxnanderies. The latter name has been adopted by the Masonic Templars of America. An attempt was made in 1856, at the adoption of a new Constitution by the Grand Encampment of the United States, which met at Hartford, to abolish the title Comtnanderies, and adopt that of Preceptories, for the Templar organizations; a change which would undoubtedly have been more in aceordance with history, but unfortunately the effort to effect the change was not successful.
*
PRECIOUS JEWELS
See Jewels, Precious
*
PREFERMENT
In all the Old Constitutions we find a reference made to ability and skill as the only claims for preferment or promotion. Thus in one of them, the Lansdourne Manuscript, whose date is about 1560, it is said that Nimrod gave a charge to the Freemasons that "they should ordaine the most wise and cunning man to be Master of the King or Lord's worke that was amongst them, and neither for love, riches, nor favour, to sett another that had little cunninge to be Master of that worke, whereby the Lord should bee ill served, and the science ill defamed.
"And again, in another part of the same manuscript, it is ordered, "that noe Mason take on him noe Lord's worke nor other man's but if he know himselfe well able to performe the worke, so that the Craft have noe slander." Charges to the same effect, almost, indeed, in the same words, are to l)e found in all the Old Constitutions. So Anderson, when he compiled the Charyes of a Freemason, which he says were "extracted from the ancient records," and which he published in 1723, in the first edition of the Book of Constitutions, lavs down the rule of preferment in the same spirit, and in these words: "All preferment among Masons is grounded upon real worth and personal merit only; that so the Lords may be well served, the Brethren not put to shame, nor the royal Craft despised; therefore no Master or Warden is chosen by seniority, but for his merit."
Then he goes on to show hovs the skilful and qualified Apprentice may in due time become a Fellow Craft, and, "when otherwise qualified, arrive to the Honour of being the Warden, and then the Master of the Lodge, the Grand Warden, and at length the Grand Master of all the Lodges, according to his merit" (Constitutions, 1723, page 51). This ought to be now, as it has always been, the true law of tree masonry; and when ambitious men are seen grasping for offices, and seeking for positions whose duties they are not qualified to discharge, one is inclined to regret that the Old Charges are not more strictly obeyed
*
PRELATE
The fourth officer in a Commandery of Knights Templar and in a Council of Companions of the Red Cross. His duties are to conduct the religious ceremonies of the organization. His jewel is a triple triangle, the symbol of Deity, and within each of the triangles is suspended a cross, in allusion to the Christian character of the chivalric institution of which he is an officer. The corresponding officer in a Grand Commandery and in the Grand Encampment is called a Grand Prelate.
*
PRELATE OF LEBANON
In French Prélat du Ixban. A mystical Degree in the collection of Pyron.
*
PRENTICE
An archaism, or rather a vulgarism for Apprentice, constantly found in the Old Records. It is now never used except in connection with Prentice Pillar, which see.
*
PRENTICE PILLAR
In the southeast part of the Chapel of Roslyn Castle, in Scotland,
is the celebrated column which goes by this name, and with which
a Masonic legend is connected. The pillar is a plain fluted shaft,
having a floral garland twined around it, all carved out of the
solid stone.
The legend is, that when the plans of the chapel were sent from Rome, the master builder did not clearly understand about this pillar, or, as another account states, had lost this particular portion of the plans, and, in consequence, had to go to Rome for further instructions or to procure a fresh copy.
During his absence, a clever apprentice, the only son of a widow, either from memory or from his own invention, carved and completed the beautiful pillar. When the master returned and found the work completed, furious with jealous rage, he killed the apprentice, by striking him a frightful blow on the forehead with a heavy setting maul. In testimony of the truth of the legend, the visitor is shown three heads in the west part of the chapel—the master's, the apprentice's, with the gash on his forehead, and the widows There can be but little doubt that this legend referred to that of the Third Degree, which is thus shown to have existed, at least substantially, at that early period.
*
PREPARATION OF THE CANDIDATE
Great care was taken of the personal condition of every Israelite who entered the Temple for Divine worship. The Talmudic treatise entitled Baracoth, which contains instructions as to the ritual worship among the Jews, lays down the following rules for the preparation of all who visit the Temple: "No man shall go into the Temple with his staff, nor with shoes on his feet, nor with his outer garment, nor with money tied up in his purse." There are certain ceremonial usages in Freemasonry which furnish what may be called at least very remarkable coincidences with this old Jewish custom.
The preparation of the candidate for initiation in Freemasonry is entirely symbolic. It varies in the different Degrees, and therefore the symbolism varies with it. Not being arbitrary and unmeaning, but, on the contrary, conventional and full of signification, it cannot be altered, abridged, or added to in any of its details without affecting its esoteric design. To it, in its fullest extent every Candidate must, without exception submit. The preparation of a candidate is one of the most delicate duties we have to perform and care should be taken in appointing the officer, who should bear in mind that "that which is not permissible among gentlemen should be impossible among Freemasons."
*
PREPARING BROTHER
The Brother who prepares the candidate for initiation. In English, he has no distinctive title. In French Lodges he is called Frére terrible, and in German he is called Vorbereitender Bruder, or Fürchterlicher Bruder. His duties require him to have a competent knowledge of the ritual of reception, and therefore an experienced member of the Lodge is generally selected to discharge the functions of this office. In some Jurisdictions this is performed by the Master of Ceremonies.
*
PRESIDENT
The presiding officer in a Convenon of High Priests, according to the American System, is so called. The second officer is styled Vice-President. On September 6, 1871, the Grand Orient of France, in violation of the landmarks, abolished the office of Grand Master, and conferred his powers on a Council of the Order. The President of the Council is now the official representative of the Grand Orient and the Craft, and exercises several of the prerogatives hitherto administered by the Grand Master.
*
PRESIDENTS, RELIGION OF THE
Of the first thirty-one Presidents of the United States nine have been Episcopalians: Washington, Madison, Monroe, W. H. Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, Pierce, Arthur, F. D. Roosevelt; of the other twenty-two five have been Presbyterians, four Methodists, four Unitarians, two Reformed Dutch, and one each Baptist, Congregationalist, Quaker, Disciple of Christ; and three (Jefferson, Hayes, and Lincoln) members of no church.
Had Eighteenth Century Deists ever organized themselves as a Church Jefferson would have belonged to it (as would Benjamin Franklin). Lincoln was possibly the most genuinely religious rnan in the list; while he united with no church he described himself in private as a Universalist. Hayes probably considered himself in private to be a Unitarian. If the last three are added to the four confessed Unitarians it means that of the twenty-two one-third (minus a ' small amount of the fraction) have been of the extremely non-ecclesiastical denomination; and the fact shows better than any argument how very small has been the role of ecclesiasticism in American public life.
*
PRESIDING OFFICER
Whoever acts, although temporarily and pro hac vice, meaning in Latin for this occasion, as the presiding officer of a Masonic body, assumes for the time all the powers and functions of the officer whom he represents. Thus, in the absence of the Worshipful Master, the Senior Warden presides over the Lodge, and for the time is invested with all the prerogatives that pertain to the Master of a Lodge, and can, while he is in the chair, perform sny aet that it would be competent for the Master to perform were he present.
*
PRESS, MASONIC
The number of the Masonic press throughout the world is small, but the literary ability commands attention. In every nation Freemasonry has its advocate and neevsbearer, in the form of a weekly or semi-monthly chronicle of events, or the more sedate magazine or periodical, sustaining the literature of the Fraternity (see Publications, .Masonic and Magazine).
*
PRICE, HENRY
Born about 1697 in London and came to New England about 1723, returning later to England. It is recorded in the Minutes of the Grand Lodge of England that in 1730 he was a member of Lodge No. 75, meeting at the Rainbow Coffee House in York Buildings, London. He is mentioned as being in a law-suit at Boston in 1733 and was in business there as a tailor. During 1733 Governor Jonathan w Belcher appointed him Cornet in his Troop of Guards with the rank of Major. The office was that of Standard Bearer. The executors of Price allude to him in 1792 as Major Price. He carried on business for some time at the Sign of the Brazen Head on Cornhill, near the present No. 36 Washington Street, about half way between Water Street and State Street in Boston. He adhered to the Church of England and attended Trinity Church.
He died on May 20, 1780. Brother W. S. Gardner (on page 307, Proceedings, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, 1871) points out here the necessity for bearing in mind that until January 1, 1752, the year commenced on March 25. By act of Parliament of 1751, the succeeding years commenced on January 1. In these Proceedings of 1871 (pages 284-304), there are some particulars of decided interest regarding this prominent Freemason and his pioneer work. A portrait to which allusion is made is described as follows: It represents him in the full vigor of manhood, dressed in the Id peculiar style of gentlemen of about the year 1740. w He wore a wig and queue, white neck-cloth and single breasted coat flowing away. His face betokened mildness and gentleness. The eyes are large and full, set wide apart, soft and expressive. The forehead was lighted up with animation and conveyed the idea of a gentleman.
April 30, 1733, the Right Honorable and Right Worshipful Anthony Lord Viscount Montague, Grand Master of England, issued a Deputation appointing Henry Price as Provincial Grand Master of New England. Price was authorized to appoint his Deputy Grand Master and Grand Wardens, and "to constitute the Brethren now Residing or who shall hereafter reside in those parts, into One or more Regular Lodge or Lodges, as he shall think fit, and as often as Occasion shall require."
On Monday of July 30, 1733, Henry Price convened at Boston the following Brethren: Andrew Belcher, Thomas Kennelly, John Quane, Henry Hope, Frederick Harnilton, John McNeall, Peter Hall, Matthew Young, John Waddell and Edward Ellis at the house of Edward Lutwyteh "at ye Sign of the Bunch of Grapes in King Street.
" This celebrated inn was situated on what is now the corner of State and Kilby streets, and on the westerly side of the last named street. Brother Price produced his Deputation appointing him Provincial Grand Master of New England. By virtue of this Deputation he formed and opened a Provincial Grand Lodge, appointed Right Worshipful Brother Andrew Belcher as Deputy Grand Master and Worshipful Brothers Thomas Kennelly and John Quane as Grand Wardens pro tempore. Several Brothers were then made Freemasons. Then, "granting the prayer thereof, he then and there in the most solemn manner according to ancient Rt. and Custom and the form prescribed in our printed Book of Constitutions, constitute" the Brethren into a regular Lodge, in manner and form.
Henry Hope was chosen Master and he nominated Frederick Hamilton and James Gorder as Wardens. These being presented to Grand Master Price, he "caused them to be duly examined, and being found duly qualified, approved and confirmed them in their respective stations by investing them with the implements of their office, giving each his proper charge, and admonishing the Brethren of the Lodge to do obedience and submission, according to our printed Book of Constitutions, Charges and Regulations, and so forth. Thus was Masonry founded in New England."
In 1734 Brother Price's Commission was extended over all North America. On November 28, 1734, Benjamin Franklin, who was a close friend of Price and who at that time was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, wrote Price the following letter in behalf of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, evidently with the purpose of arranging a mutually agreeable status under the new conditions:
Right Worshipful Grand Master and Most Worthy and Dear Brethren:— We acknowledge your favor of the 23rd of October past, and rejoiee that the Grand Master whom God bless, hath 80 happily recovered from his late indisposition: and we now, glass in hand, drink to the establishment of his health, and the prosperity of your whole Lodge.
We have seen in the Boston prints an article of news from London, importing that at a Grand Lodge held there in August last, Mr. Price's deputation and power extended over all America, which advice we hope is true, and we heartily congratulate him thereupon and though this has not been as yet regularly signified to us by you, vet, giving credit thereto, we think it our duty to lay before your Lodge what we apprehend needful to be done for us, in order to promote and strengthen the interest of Masonry in this Province, which seems to want the sanction of some authority derived from home, to give the proceedings and determinations of our Lodge their due weight, to wit, a Deputation or charter granted by the Right Worshipful Mr. Price, by virtue of his Commission from Britain, confirming the Brethren of Pennsylvania in the privileges they at present enjoy of holding annually their Grand Lodge, choosing their Grand Master, Wardens and other officers, who may manage all affairs relating to the Brethren here with full Dower and authority, according to the - customs and usages of Masons, the said Grand Master of Pennsylvania only yielding his chair, when the Grand Master of all America shall be in place. This, if it seems good and reasonable to you to grant, will not only be extremely agreeable to us, but mill also, we are confident conduce much to the welfare, establishment and reputation of Masonry in these parts. We therefore submit it for your consideration, and, as we hope our request will be complied with, we desire that it may be done as soon as possible and also accompanied with a copy of the R. W. Grand Master s first Deputation, and of the instrument by which it appears to be enlarged as above-mentioned, witnessed by your it ardent and signed by the Secretary; for which favors this Lodge doubt not of being able to behave as not to be thought ungrateful.
We are Right Worshipful Grand Master and Most Worthy Brethren, Your Affectionate Brethren and obliged humble Servants, Signed at the request of the Lodge, B. Franklin, G. M. Philadelphia, Nov. 25, 1734.
On the same day that Franklin Sent the above letter as an official communication from the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, he also wrote a personal letter to Price which is quoted below:
Dear Brother Price:—I am glad to hear of your recovery. I hoped to have seen you here this Fall, agreeable to the expectation you were so good as to give me, but since sickness has prevented your coming while the weather was moderate, I have no room to flatter myself with a visit from you before the Spring, when a deputation of the Brethren here will have an opportunity of showing how much they esteem vou.
I beg leave to recommend their request to you, and to inform you, that some false and rebel Brethren, who are foreigners, being about to set up a distinct Lodge in opposition to the old and true Brethren here, pretending to make Masons for a bowl of punch, and the Craft is like to come into disesteem among us unless the true Brethren are countenanced and distinguished by some special authority as herein desired. I entreat therefore , that whatever you shall think proper to do therein may be sent by the next post , if possible , or the next following.
I am, Your Affectionate Brother & humb
Servt
B. Franklin, G M.,
Philadelphia, Nov. 28 1734. Pennsylvania.
P. S.—If more of the Constitutions are wanted among you,
please hint it to me.
To Mr. Henry Price,
At the Brazen Bead
Boston,
The originals of the two letters quoted above were destroyed at the burnings of the Masonic Temple in Boston, April S6, 1864, prior to which time the official letter hung in a frame in the Temple.
For much information concerning Brother Price, see The Beginnings of Freemasonry in America, first delivered as an address to the Grand Lodge on September 13, 1916, and published in the Proceedings of that year, afterwards reprinted in book form, by Past Grand Master Melvin M. Johnson of Massachusetts; also Doctor Mackey's History of Free masonry, pages 1565-6, 1604-5.
A Henry Price Medal is awarded as occasion war rants by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts to Brethren who have rendered distinguished service to the Order, a practice begun by Brother Melvin M Johnson during his term of office as Grand Master; 1914-6.
*
PRICHARD, SAMUEL
"An unprincipled and needy Brother," as Doctor Oliver calls him, who published at London, in 1730, a book with the following title: Masonry Dissected; being a Universal and Genuine Description of aU its Branches, from the Original to this Present Time: as it is delivered in the constituted, regular Lodges, both in City and Country according to the several Degrees of Admission, giving an impartial account of their regular Proceedings in initiating their New Members in the whole Three Degrees of Masonry, viz., I. Entered Prentice; II. Fellow Craft; III. Master. To which is added, The Author's Vindication of Himself, by Samuel Prichard, Late Member of a constituted Lodge.
This work, which contained a great deal of plausible matter, mingled with some truth as well as falsehood, passed through a great many editions, was translated into the French, German, and Dutch languages, and became the basis or model on which all the subsequent so-called expositions, such as Tubal-Kain, Jachin and Boaz, etc., were framed. In the same year of the appearance of Prichard's book, a Defence of Masonry, as a reply to the Masonry Dissected was anonymously published, and has often been erroneously attributed to Doctor Anderson, but it has been discovered that its author was Brother Martin Clare (see Clare Martin). No copy is now known to exist of this Defence, but it will be found at the end of the 1738 edition of the Constitutions.
It is not, however, a reply to Prichard, but rather an attempt to interpret the ceremonies which are described in the Masonry Dissected in their symbolic import, and this it is that gives to the Defence a value which ought to have made it a more popular work among the Fraternity than it is. Prichard died in obscurity; but the Abbe Larudan, in his Franc-Maçons écrasés, Freemasons Crushed (page 135), has manufactured a wild tale about his death; as herein desired. I entreat, therefore, that whatever stating that he was carried by force at night into the Grand Lodge at London, put to death, his body burned to ashes, and all the Lodges in the world in formed of the execution. The Abbe is satisfied of the truth of this wondrous narrative because he had heard it told m Holland and in Germany, all of which only proves that the French calumniator of Freemasonry abounded either in an inventive faculty or in a trusting faith.
*
PRIEST
In the primitive ages of the world every father was the Priest of his family, and offered prayer and sacrifice for his household. So, too, the Patriarchs exercised the same function. Melchizedek is called the Priest of the Most High God; and every where in Scripture we find the Patriarchs performing the duties of prayer and sacrifice. But when political society was organized, a necessity was found, in the religious wants of the people, for a separate class, who should become, as they have been described the mediators between men and God, and the interpreters of the will of the gods to men. Hence arose the sacerdotal classwthe cohens among the Hebrews, the Stereos among the Greeks, and the sacerdos among the Romans. Thereafter prayer and sacrifice were entrusted to these, and the people paid them reverence for the sake of the deities whom they served. EAver since, in all countries, the distinction has existed between the priest and the layman, as representatives of two distinct classes.
But Freemasonry has preserved in its religious
ceremonies as in many of its other usages, the patriarchal spirit.
Hence the Master of the Lodge, like the father of a primitive
family, on all occasions offers up prayer and serves at the altar.
A Chaplain is sometimes through courtesy, invited to perform the
former duty, but the Master is really the Priest of the Lodge.
Having then such solemn duties to discharge, and sometimes as
on funereal occasions, in public, it becomes every Master so to
conduct his life and conversation as not, by contrast, to make
his ministration of a sacred office repulsive to those who see
and hear him, and especially to profanes.
It is not absolutely required that he should be a religious man, resembling the clergyman in seriousness of deportment; but in his behavior he should be an example of respect for religion. He who at one time drinks to intoxication, or indulges in profane swearing, or obscene and vulgar language, is unfit at any other time to conduct the religious services of a society. Such a Master could inspire the members of his Lodge with no respect for the ceremonies he was conducting; and if the occasion was a public one, as at the burial of a Brother, the circumstance would subject the Order which could tolerate such an incongruous exhibition to contempt and ridicule.
*
PRIEST, GRAND HIGH
See Grand High Priest
*
PRIEST, HIGH
See High Priest
*
PRIESTHOOD, ORDER OF HIGH
See High Priesthood, Order of
*
PRIESTLY ORDER
A Rite which Brother John Yarker, of Manchester,
says, Mysteries of Antiquity, page 126, was formerly practiced
in Ireland, and formed the system of the York Grand Lodge. It
consisted of seven Degrees, as follows: 1. 2. 3. Symbolic Degrees;
4. Past Master;
5. Royal Arch;
6. Knight Templar;
7. Knight Templar Priest, or Holy Wisdom.
The last Degree was conferred in a Tabernacle, and was governed by seven officers known as Pillars. Brother Hughan, History of Freemasonry in York, page 32, doubts the York origin of the Priestly Order, as well as the claim it made to have been reeved in 1786. The Kent Tabernacle conferring the Degree of Knight Templar Priest at Newcastle, England, is of Time Immemorial standing in the Fraternity and has continued in the control and practice of this and many other old ceremonies.
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PRIESTLY VESTMENTS
The High Priest ministered in eight vestments, and the ordinary priest in four—the tunic, drawers, bonnet, and girdle. To these the High Priest added the breastplate, ephod, robe and golden plate, and when occasion required the Urim and Thummim, the curious Objects mentioned in the Old Testament (Exodus xxviii, 30) in connection with the breastplate.
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PRIEST, ROYAL
The Fifth Degree of the Initiated Brothers of Asia
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PRIEST THEOSOPHIST
Thory says that it is the Sixth Degree of the Cabalistic Rite
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PRESTON, WILLIAM
This distinguished Freemason was born at Edinburgh on July 28, 1742, Old Style, and Brother C. C. Hunt, of Iowa, points out that the date sometimes given as August 7, New Style, should be August 8, as the calendar error which was ten clays in 1582 had become eleven in the eighteenth century when the change was made in English-speaking countries He was the son of William Preston, Esq., Writer to the Signet, a Scottish legal term meaning an agent or attorney in causes in the Court of Sessions, and Helena Cumming. The elder Preston was a man of much intellectual culture and ability, and in easy circumstances, and took, therefore, pains to bestow upon his son an adequate education. He was sent to school at a very early age, and having completed his preliminary education in English under the tuition of Stirling, a celebrated teacher in Edinburgh, he entered the High School before he was six years old, and made considerable progress in the Latin tongue.
From the High School he went to college, where he acquired a knowledge of the rudiments of Greek. After the death of his father he retired from college, and became the amanuensis of that celebrated linguist, Thomas Ruddiman, to whose friendship his father had consigned him. Ruddiman having greatly impaired and finally lost his sight by his intense application to his classical studies, Preston remained with him as his secretary until his decease. His patron had, however, previously bound young Preston to his brother, Walter Ruddiman, a printer, but on the increasing failure of his sight, Thomas Ruddiman withdrew Preston from the printing-office, and occupied him in reading to him and translating such of his works as were not completed, and ia correcting the proofs of those that were in the press. Subsequently Preston compiled a catalogue of Ruddiman's books, under the title of Bibliotheca Ruddimana, which is said to have exhibited much literary ability.
After the death of Ruddiman, Preston returned to the printing-office where he remained for about a year; but his inclinations leading him to literary pursuits, he, with the consent of his master, repaired to London in 1760, having been furnished with several letters of introduction by his friends in Scotland. Among them was one to William Strahan, the Kings Printer, in whose service, and that of his son and successor, he remained for the best years of his life as a corrector of the press, devoting himself, at the same time, to other literary vocations, editing for many years the London Chronicle, and furnishing materials for various periodical publications. Preston's critical skill as a corrector of the press led the literary men of that day to submit to his suggestions as to style and language; and many of the most distinguished authors who were contemporary with him honored him with their friendship. As an evidence of this, there were found in his library, at his death, presentation copies of their works, with their autographs, from Gibbon, Hume, Robertson, Blair, and many others.
It is, however, as a distinguished instructor of the Masonic Ritual and as the founder of a system of lectures which still retain their influence, that William Preston the more especially claims our attention. Stephen Jones, the disciple and intimate friend of Preston, published in 1795, and in the Freemasons Magazine, a sketch of Preston's life and labors; and as there can be no doubt, from the relations of the author and the subject, of the authenticity of the facts related, we shall not hesitate to use the language of this contemporary sketch, interpolating such explanatory remarks as we may deem necessary.
Soon after Preston's arrival in London, a number of Brethren from Edinburgh resolved to institute a Freemasons' Lodge in that city, under the sanction of a Constitution from Scotland; but not having succeeded in their application, they were recommended by the Grand Lodge of Scotland to the Ancient Lodge in London, which immediately granted them a Dispensation to form a Lodge and to make Freemasons. They accordingly met at the White Hart in the Strand, and Preston was the second person initiated under that Dispensation. This was in 1762. Lawrie records the application as having been in that year to the Grand Lodge of Scotland. It thus appears that Preston was made a Freemason under the Dermott system. It will be seen, however, that he subsequently went over to the older Grand Lodge.
The Lodge was soon after regularly constituted by the officers of the Ancient Grand Lodge in person. Having increased considerably in numbers, it was found necessary to remove to the Horn Tavern in Fleet Street, where it continued some time, till, that house being unable to furnish proper accommodations, it was removed to Scots Hall, Blackfriars.
Here it continued to flourish about two years, when the decayed state of that building obliged it to remove to the Half Moon Tavern, Cheapside, where it continued to meet for a considerable time. At length Preston and some others of the members having joined the Lodge, under the older English Constitution, at the Talbot Inn, in the Strand, they prevailed on the rest of the Lodge at the Half Moon Tavern to petition for a Constitution. Lord Blaney at that time Grand Master, readily acquiesced with the desire of the Brethren, and the Lodge was soon after constituted a second time, in ample form, by the name of the Caledonian Lodge, then No. 325, but now 134. The ceremonies observed, and the numerous assembly of respectable Brethren who attended the Grand Officers on that occasion, were long remembered to the honor of the Lodge.
This circumstance, added to the absence of a very skillful Freemason, to whom Preston was attached and who had departed for Scotland on account of his health, induced him to turn his attention to the Masonic lectures; and to arrive at the depths of the science, short of which he did not mean to stop, he spared neither pains nor expense.
Preston's own remarks on this subject, in the introduction to his Illustrations of Masonry, are well worth the perusal of every Brother who intends to take office.. "When," says he, "I first had the honor to be elected Master of a Lodge, I thought it proper to inform myself fully of the general rules of the society, that I might be able to fulfil my own duty, and officially enforce obedience in others. The methods which I adopted, with this view, excited in some of superficial knowledge an absolute dislike of what they considered as innovations; and in others, who were better informed, a jealousy of pre-eminence, which the principles of Masonry ought to have checked. Notwithstanding; these discouragements, however, I persevered in my intention of supporting the dignity of the society, and of discharging with fidelity the trust reposed in me." Freemasonry has not changed. We still too often find the same mistaking of research for innovation, and the same ungenerous jealousy of pre-eminence of which Preston complains.
Wherever instruction could be acquired, thither Preston directed his course; and with the advantage of a retentive memory, and an extensive Masonic connection, added to a diligent literary research, he so far succeeded in his purpose as to become a competent master of the subject. To increase the knowledge he had acquired, he solicited the company and conversation of the most experienced Freemasons from foreign countries; and, in the course of a literary correspondence with the Fraternity at home and abroad, made such progress in the mysteries of the art as to become very useful in the connections he had formed. He was frequently heard to say, that in the ardor of his inquiries he had explored the abodes of poverty and wretchedness, and, where it might have been least expected, acquired very valuable scraps of information. The poor Brother in return, we are assured, had no cause to think his time or talents ill bestowed. He was also accustomed to convene his friends once or twice a week, in order to illustrate the lectures; on which occasion objections were started, and explanations given, for the purpose of mutual improvement. At last, with the assistance of some zealous friends, he was enabled to arrange and digest the whole of the first lecture.
To establish its validity he resolved to submit to the society at large the progress he had made; and for that purpose he instituted, at a very considerable expense, a grand gala at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, in the Strand, on Thursday, May 21, 1779, which was honored with the presence of the then Grand Officers, and many other eminent and respectable Brethren. On this occasion he delivered an oration on the Institution, which, having met with general approbation, was afterward printed in the first edition of the Illustrations of Masonry, published by him the same year.
Having thus far succeeded in his design, Preston determined to prosecute the plan he had formed, and to complete the lectures. He employed, therefore, a number of skillful Brethren, at his own expense, to visit different town and country Lodges, for the purpose of gaining information; and these Brethren communicated the result of their visits at a weekly meeting. When by study and application he had arranged his system, he issued proposals for a regular course of lectures on all the Degrees of Freemasonry, and these were publicly delivered