R
The Hebrew letter is 7, pronounced Resh. The eighteenth letter in the English and other Western alphabets- The word Resh signifies forehead and in the Phenician and hieroglyphic character is presented as in the illustration. Compare this with the Hebrew letter. Its numerical value is 900, and the equivalent as a name of God is Rahum, signifying clemency.
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RABBANAIM
The word off, is Rabbinical Hebrew, and signifies the Chief of the Architects. A significant word in the advanced Degrees.
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RABBINISM
The system of philosophy taught by the Jewish Rabbis subsequent to the dispersion, which is engaged in mystical explanations of the oral law. With the reveries of the Jewish teachers was mingled the Egyptian, the Arabic, and the Grecian doctrines. From the Egyptians, especially, Rabbinism derived its allegorical and symbolic mode of instruction. Out of it sprang the Therapeutists and the Essenian; and it gave rise to the composition of the Talmud, many of whose legends have been incorporated into the mythical philosophy of Speculative Freemasonry. This it is that makes Rabbinism an interesting subject of research to the Masonic student.
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RABBONI
Literally, My Master, equivalent to the pure Hebrew, Adoni. As a significant word in the advanced Degrees, it has been translated a most Excellent Master, and its usage by the later Jews will justify that interpretation. Buxtorf (Talt mudic Lexicon) tells us that about the time of Christ this title arose in the School of Hillel, and was given to only seven of their wise men who were preeminent for their learning.
Jahn (Biblical Archeology, page 106) says that Gamaliel, the preceptor of Saint Paul, was one of these. They styled themselves the children of wisdom, which is an expression very nearly corresponding to the Greek. The word occurs once, as applied to Christ, in the New Testament (John xx, 16), "Jesus said unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master." The Masonie myth in the Most Excellent Master's Degree, that it was the title addressed by the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon on beholding the magnificence and splendor of the Temple, lacks the element of plausibility, inasmuch as the word was not in use in the time of Solomon.
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RAGON, J. M.
One of the most distinguished Masonic writers of France. His contemporaries did not hesitate to call him "the most learned Freemason of the nineteenth century." He was born in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, most probably at Bruges, in Belgium, where in 1803 he was initiated in the Lodge Réunion des Amis du Nord, and subsequently assisted in the foundation of the Lodge and Chapter of Vrais Amis in the same city. On his removal to Paris he continued his devotion to Freemasonry and was the founder in 1805 of the celebrated Lodge of Les Trinosophes. In that Lodge he delivered, in 1818, a course of lectures on ancient and modern initiations, which twenty years afterward were repeated at the request of the Lodge, and published in 1841, under the title of Cours Philosophique et Interpratif ales Initiations Anciennes et Moderns.
This work was printed with the express permission of the Grand Orient of France, but three years after that body denounced its second edition for containing some additional matter Rebold charges this act to the petty passions of the day, and twenty-five years after the Grand Orient made ample reparation in the honor that it paid to the memory of Ragon. In 1818 and 1819, he was editor-in-chief of the periodical published during those years under the title of Hermes, on Archives Maçonniques. In 1853, he published Orthodoxie Maçonnique, a work abounding in historical information, although some of his statements are inaccurate. In 1861, he published the Tuileur Général de la Franc-Maçonnerie, ou Manuel de l'Initié: a book not merely confined to the details of Degrees, but which is enriched with many valuable and interesting notes. Ragon died at Paris about the year 1866.
In the preface to his Orthodoxie, he had announced his intention to crown his Masonic labors by writing a work to be entitled Les Fastes Initiatiques, in which he proposed to give an exhaustive view of the Ancient Mysteries, of the Roman Colleges of Architects and their successors, the building corporations of the Middle Ages, and of the institution of Modern or Philosophic Freemasonry at the beginning of the eighteenth century. This was to constitute the first volume.
The three following volumes were to embrace a history of the Order and of all its Rites in every country. The fifth Volume was to be appropriated to the investigation of other secret associations, more or less connected with Freemasonry; and the sixth and last volume was to contain 3 General Tiler or Manual of all the known rites and Degrees. Such a work would have been an inestimable boon to the Masonic student, but Ragon unfortunately began it too late in life. He did not live to complete it, and in 1868 the unfinished manuscript was purchased, by the Grand Orient of Franee, from his heirs for a thousand francs.
It was destined to be quietly deposited in the archives of that Body, because, as it was confessed, no Freemason could be found in France who had ability enough to supply its lacunae or missing material and prepare it for the press. Ragon's theory of the origin of Freemasonry was that its primitive idea is to be found in the initiations of the Ancient Mysteries, but that for its present form it is indebted to Elias Ashrnole, who fabricated it in the seventeenth century.
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RAGOTZKY, CARL AUGUST
A German who was distinguished for his labors in Freemasonry, and for the production of several works of high character, the principal of which were Der Freidenker in der Maurerei oder Freimüthige Briefe über wichtige Gegenstände in der Frei-Maurerei, that is, The Free-thinker in Freemasonry, or Candid Letters on important subjects in Freemasonry, published at Berlin, in 1793, in an octavo volume of three hundred and eleven pages, of which a second edition appeared in 1811; and a smaller work entitled Ueber Maurerische Fresher fur eingeweihte und uneingeweihte, that is, An Essay on Masonic Liberty, for Initiated and Uninitiated Readers, published in 1792. He died on January, 1823.
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RAINBOW FOR GIRLS, ORDER OF
A organization planned to sow the seeds
of love, law, religion, patriotism, and service in the hearts
of the girlhood of America for harvest in the coming years. These
sentiments prompted a Brother, the Rev. William Mark Sexson, McAlester,
Oklahoma, then the Grand Chaplain of his State, to write the ritual
and lay the foundations of the Order of the Rainbow for Girls.
The first exemplification of the ritual wee on April 6, 1922,
when a class of more than seventy-five girls was initiated. In
the four following years the Order was extended to thirty-one
States of the Union and grew to a membership of forty thousand
The Order of the Rainbow is not Freemasonry nor is it Eastern
Star, but it is very dear to each one off these fraternities.
Local Lodges or Bodies are called Assemblies, and before an Assembly
can be instituted it must be sponsored by a Masonic or an Eastern
Star organization that will promise to look after its welfare.
Its members, girls from 13 to 18, must be children of Masonic
or Eastern Star families, or the friends and chums of such children.
This is the only relationship it has to Freemasonry though it
has no secrets from Freemasons or Stars and they are free to attend
the meetings of any Assembly.
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RAINBOW, THE MOST ANCIENT ORDER OF THE
A secret association existing in Moorfields in 1760
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RAINS
It was a custom among the English Freemasons of the middle of the eighteenth century, when conversing together on Freemasonry, to announce the appearance of a profane by the warning expression It rains. The custom was adopted by the German and French Freemasons, with the equivalent expression, Es regnet and II pluie. Baron Tschoudy, who condemns the usage, says that the latter refined upon it by designating the approach of a female by II neige, the French for It snows. Doctor Oliver says (Revelations of a Square, page 142) that the phrase It rains, to indicate that a Cowan is present and the proceedings must be suspended, is derived from the ancient punishment of an eavesdropper, which was to place him under the eaves of a house in rainy weather, and to retain him there till the droppings of water ran in at the collar of his coat and out at his shoes.
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RAISED
When a candidate has received the Third Degree, he is said to have been raised to the sublime Degree of a Master Mason. The expression refers, materially, to a portion of the ceremony of initiation, but symbolically, to the resurrection, which it is the object of the Degree to exemplify.
A curious sidelight upon the use of the expression is that obtained by considering the word as also meaning the acceptance or adoption of the candidate officially by the Fraternity. There is an ancient and striking parallel for this understanding. Among the Roman customs connected with the birth of children that was the most remarkable which left it to the arbitrary will of the father whether his new-born child should be preserved or left to perish. The midwife always placed the child on the ground. If the father wished to preserve its life he raised it from the ground and this was said to be tollere infantem, the raising of the child. This was an intimation of his purpose to acknowledge and educate it as his own If the father did not choose to do this, he left the child on the ground, and thus expressed his wish to expose or abandon it, exponere. This exposing of a newborn child was an unnatural custom borrowed from the Greeks by which children were left in the streets and abandoned to their fate (see Fiske's Classical Antiquities, page 287).
Some highly significant pictorial instances of resurrection are found in old churches. The altar picture from Holyrood at Edinburgh, Scotland (see illustration), is a good example. Here the First Person of the Trinity supports or raises the Son. Usually the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost, is also represented symbolically in such cases, the dove being as a rule selected to indicate the complete threefold unity of the Godhead. The altar symbolism from Holyrood is therefore a typical specimen of the Trinity portrayal and of the resurrection occurrence.
Brother J. E. Barton discusses the symbolism of the other illustration, the Trinity Boss in the West Porch of Peterborough Cathedral in England. This porch is from architectural details dated about 1375. Old writers would call the porch a "Galilee," a ritualistic provision for such occasions as Palm Sunday, and for processions generally on the Sabbath. The promise to the disciples, that the risen Christ should go before them into Galilee, is no doubt the origin of the name; for the chief ecclesiastical dignitary, who brought up the rear of the procession, here went first, and entered the porch through the ranks of his subordinates, as a Master in taking his seat in the Lodge.
Three probabilities are to be taken into account in considering this boss. It is the central ornament of a porch having special reference to the feast of the Resurrection. It was designed by a Gild—itself probably dedicated to the Holy Trinity, as at the Newark Parish Church, which would naturally wish the porch dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Its designers were inspired by a desire to connect, in a manner not unnatural to Freemasons with their own grades and ritual, the two ideas of the Holy Trinity and of the Resurrection.
Presumably the Masonic Gild, perhaps the chief Gild in Peterborough, was about to vault the porch it had given, and looked about for a suitable composition for its main boss. The first and inevitable suggestion was a Trinity subject, so common in sculptures stained glass, and on monumental brasses The usual Trinity is a design of God the Father sups porting the Son upon the Cross, with the Holy Spirit added in the form of a Dove. Next it was suggested that the Trinity should here be modified in form, so as to deplete a Risen, not a Crucified Lord, as being suitable to a Galilee Porch.
Last came the unifying suggestion that by the use Of a Masonic symbol the Resurrection of Christ, in the Trinity subject, should be marked at the point where Our Lord is about to be raised to Heaven by the hands of the Father; one hand gripping, and the other blessing. Hence the Second Person in the Trinity, who has already passed from the earthly Incarnation, is here at a singular position. His pierced hands show Him already crucified and rising from the grave, with the attitude common to medieval paintings of the Resurrection and the loin cloths still about Him. He is about to be raised to the sublime Degree, and God the Father, in order more expressly to note the Masonic idea, is figured like the Sun at its meridian.
What more appropriate than two figures typical of the Elect, redeemed by Christ, and raised and crowned with Him? Hence the two crowned figures, one apparently an ecclesiastic with an amice, whose diadems have the Trinity symbol of the trefoil, like the Father's crown in the Chester boss. In this Peterborough boss, indeed, each foil of the trefoil is itself trefoiled, as if to insist on the threefold notion.
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RANDOLPH, PEYTON
First president of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Born 1721; died October 2, 1775. He received a Warrant from Lord Petrie, Grand Master of England, on November 6, 1773, constituting him Master of Williamsburg Lodge No. 6, Williamsburg Virginia. Provincial Grand Master of Virginia in 1774 and until his death (see Washington zhe Man and the Mason, Charles H. Callahan, page 54, etc.; New Age, November, 1924; Masonry in the Formation of our Government—1761-1799, Philip A. Roth, page 31).
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RAPHAEL
The Hebrew interpretation is the Sealing of God. The title of an officer in a Rose Croix Chapter- The name of the angel, under the Cabalistieal system, that governed the Planet Mercury. A messinger.
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RATISBON
A city of Bavaria, in which two Masonic Congresses have been held. The first was convoked in 1459, by Jost Dotzinger, the Master of the Works of the Strasburg cathedral. It established some new laws for the government of the Fraternity in Germany. The second was ealled in 1464, by the Grand Lodge of Strasburg, principally to define the relative rights of, and to settle existing difficulties between, the Grand Lodges of Strasburg, Cologne, Vienna, and Bera (see Stone Masons of the Middle Ages).
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RAWLINSON MANUSCRIPT
In 1855, the Rev. J. S. Sidebotham, of New College, Oxford, published in the Freemasons Monthly Magazine a series of interesting extracts from a manuscript volume which he stated was in the Bodleian Library, and which he described as seeming "to be a kind of Masonic album, or commonplace book, belonging to Brother Richard Rawlinson, L.L.D. and F.R.S., of the following Lodges: Sash and Cocoa-tree, Moorfields, 37; Saint Paul's Head, Ludgate Street, 40; Rose Tavern, Cheapside, and Oxford Arms, Ludgate Street, 94; in which he inserted anything that struck him either as useful or particularly amusing. It is partly in manuscript, partly in print, and comprises some ancient Masonic Charges, Constitutions, forms of summons, a list of all the Lodges of his time under the Grand Lodge of England, whether in London, the country, or abroad; together with some extracts from the Grub street Journal, the General Evening Post, and other journals of the day. The dates range from 1724 to 1740" (Freemasons Monthly Magazine, 1855, page 81). A later inquiry as to his membership disclosed that Richard Rawliason was a member of four Lodges, the one held at Sash and Cocoa-tree, the one at Saint Paul's Head, the Barbican, and the Oxford University Arms~ He served as Grand Steward in 1734.
Among the materials thus collected is one which bears the following title: The Freemasons Constitution, Copied from an Old Manuscript in the possession of Doctor Rawlinson. This copy of the Old Constitutions does not differ materially in its contents from the other old manuscripts, but its more modern spelling and phraseology would seem to give it a later date, which may be from 172S50. In a note to the statement that King Athelstan "caused a roll or book to be made, which declared how this science was first invented, afterwards preserved and augmented, with the utility and true intent thereof, which roll or book he commanded to be read and plainly recited when a man was to be made a Freemason," Doctor Rawlinson says: "One of these rolls I have seen in the possession of Mr. Baker, a carpenter in Moorfields." The title of the manuscript in the scrap-book of Rawlinson is The Freemasons' Constitution, Copied from an Old Manuscript in the possession of Doctor Rawlinson. The original manuscript has not yet been traced, but possibly if found would be of about the end of the seventeenth century.
Richard Rawlinson, LL.D., was a celebrated antiquary, who was born in London about 1689, and died April 6, 1755. He was the author of a Life of Anthony Wood, published in 1711, and of The English Topographer, published in 1720. Doctor Rawlinson was consecrated a Bishop of the conjuring communion of the Church of England, March 25, 1728. He was an assiduous collector of old manuscripts, invariably purchasing, sometimes at high prices, all that were offered him for sale. In his will, dated June 2, 1752, he bequeathed the whole collection to the University of Oxford. The manuscripts were placed in the Bodleian Library, and still remain there. In 1898, Dr. W. J. Chetwode Crawley published in the Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge (volume xi), a full account of the Rawlinson manuscripts, in which he shows (page 15) that the collection was not reallv made by Doctor Rawlinson, but by one Thomas Towl.
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RAWLINSON, RICHARD
An English scholar, Doctor of Civil Law and Fellow of the Royal Society, noted for his large and valuable collections of old manuscripts anal books on Freemasonry and other subjects. Born at London in 1689, initiated about 1726 his name appearing in rosters of four London Lodges. Grand Steward in 1734. He was nonjuring bishop of the Church of England, consecrated March 95, 1728. His Masonic literature is now deposited in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, many interesting old documents being included, one Copy of the Old Constitutions said to be as old as 1700 and the original of which has never been found. Brother Rawlinson died April 6, 1755. There is an interesting letter from Doctor Rawlinson to Mr. Thomas Towl at AGr. Heath's near the Black Dog in Shoreditch. The letter is as follows:
Dear Sir: As you preserve all relating to the Subjeet of Masonry I send you this from Mr. Whitfields Continuation of his Journal, London. 1739, October, page 6. Saavannah in Georgia Friday 24th June, 1738.
To the great surprise of myself and people was enabled to read Prayers and preach with power before the Free Masons, with whom I afterwards dined, and was used with the utmost Civility. May God make therm Sertants of Christ, and then, and rzot tic then wig thev be free indeed What notions this Gent has of the craft you may guess by his surprise and wish. I am, sir, yours to command, 13 January, 1738-9 R. R.
Brother W. Wonnacott, late Grand Librarian of United Grand Lodge of England, has called our attention to the two dates given in this letter from Doctor Rawlinson to his Vriend. They do not harmonize and evidently some mistake has been made in the figures. Another error as to the actual day is commented upon by Brother Crawley: Opportunity may here be taken to draw attention to the singular error in Dr. Richard Rawlinson's letter to Towle. in which the Freemasons' hospitality is quoted from George Whitfield's Dxarv; the 24th June, 1738, did not fall on a Friday but on a Saturday. The misdating Of the entry is probably due to a clerical exTor, for there is not wanting contemporary evidence that the incident occurred on Saturday, June 24th, 1738. (See foot-note, Brother W. J. Chetwode Crawley's article on Reverend John Wesley and the Lodge at Downpatrick, in the Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge, volume xv, page 105.)
*
RAYMOND, EDWARD ASA
Born February 6, 1791, in Golden, Massachusetts, and died in Brookline, Massachusetts, on August 4, 1864. For more than forty years Brother Ravmond was an active member of the Masonic Order, having become a Freemason January 15, 1816, in Amicable Lodge, Cambridge and being admitted a member of Saint Johns Lodge, Boston, April 2, 1836. He affiliated with the Massachusetts Lodge in 1843 on November 24. In the course of his Masonic career, Brother Raymond, who was the possessor of a large fortune, acted as Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter, Grand Master of the Grand Encampment of Massachusetts, and Grand Commander of the Supreme Council for the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States. The period during which he served as Grand Master of Massachusetts dated from December 27, 1848, and ended December 30, 1851. The Memorial Volume of the 125th Anniversary of the Massachusetts Lodge is dedicated in honor of Brother Raymond.
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RECEIVED AND ACKNOWLEDGED
A term applied to the initiation of a candidate into the Sixth or Most Excellent Master's Degree of the American Rite (see Acknowledged).
*
RECEPTION
The ceremony of initiation into a Degree of Freemasonry is called a reception.
*
RECIPIENT
The French call the candidate in any Degree the Racipiendaire, or Recipient.
*
RECOGNITION, MODES OF
Smith says Use and Abuse of Masonry, page 46) that at the institution of the Order, to each of the Degrees "a particular distinguished test was adapted, which test, together with the explication, was accordingly settled and communicated to the Fraternity previous to their dispersion, under a necessary and solemn injunction to secrecy; and they have been most cautiously preserved and transmitted down to posterity by faithful Brethren ever since their emigration." Hence, of all the landmarks, the modes of recognition are the most legitimate and unquestioned. They should admit of no variation, for in their universality consist their excellence and advantage.
Yet such variations have unfortunately been admitted, the principal of which originated about the middle of the eighteenth century, and were intimately connected with the division of the Fraternity in England into the t vo conflicting societies of the Ancient and the Moderns; and although by the reconciliation in 1813 uniformity was restored in the United Grand Lodge which was then formed, that uniformity did not extend to the subordinate Bodies in other countries which had derived their existence and their different modes of recognition from the two separated Grand Lodges; and this was, of course, equally applicable to the higher degrees which sprang out of them.
Thus, while the modes of recognition in the York and Scottish Rites are substantially the same, those of the French or Modern Rite differ in almost everything. In this there is a Password in the First Degree unrecognized by the two other Rites, and all afterwards are different.
Again, there are important differences in the York and American Rites, although there is sufficient similarity to relieve American and English Freemasons from any embarrassment in mutual recognition. Although nearly all the Lodges in the United States, before the Revolution of 1776, derived their existence from the Grand Lodges of England, the American Freemasons do not use the multitude of signs that prevail in the English system, while they have introduced, in the opinion of Brother Mackey, through the teachings of Webb, the Due Guard, which is totally unknown to English Freemasonry. Looking to these differences, the Masonic Congress of Paris, held in 1856, recommended, in the seventh proposition, that "Masters of Lodges, in conferring the degree of Master Mason, should invest the candidate with the words, signs, and grips of the Scottish and Modern Rites." This proposition, if it had been adopted, would have mitigated, if it did not abolish, the evil; but, unfortunately, it did not receive the general concurrence of the Craft.
As to the antiquity of modes of recognition in general, it may be said that, from the very nature of things, there was always a necessity for the members of every secret society to have some means for recognizing a Brother that should escape the detection of the uninitiated. We find evidence in several of the classic writings showing that such a custom prevailed among the initiated in the pagan mysteries. Livy tells us (xxxi, 14) of two Acarnanian youths who accidentally entered the temple of Ceres during the celebration of the mysteries, and, not having been initiated, were speedily detected as intruders, and put to death by the managers of the temple. They must, of course, have owed their detection to the fact that they were not in possession of those modes of recognition which were known only to the initiated.
That they existed in the Dionysiac rites of Bacchus we learn from Plautus, who, in his Miles Gloriosus (act iv, scene ii), makes Misphidippa say to Pyrgopolonices, Cedo signum si harunc Baccharum es, that is, Give the sign, if you are one of these Bacchae. Jamblichus (On the Pythagorean Life) tells the story of a disciple of Pythagoras, who, having been taken sick, on a long journey, at an inn, and having exhausted his funds, gave, before he died, to the landlord, who had been very kind to him, a paper, on which he had written the account of his distress, and signed it with a symbol of Pythagoras. This the landlord affixed to the gate of a neighboring temple. Months afterward another Pythagorean, passing that way, recognized the secret symbol, and, inquiring into the tale, reimbursed the landlord for all his trouble and expense.
Apuleius, who was initiated into the Osirian and Isiac Mysteries, says, in his Defenno, "if any one is present who has been initiated into the same secret rites as myself, if he will give me the sign, he shall then be at liberty to hear what it is that I keep with such care." But in another place he is less cautious, and even gives an inkling of what was one of the signs of the Osirian Initiation. For in his Golden Ass (book xi) he says that in a dream he beheld one of the disciples of Osiris, "who walked gently, with a hesitating step, the ankle of his left foot being slightly bent, in order, no doubt, that he might afford me some sign by which I could recognize him." The Osirian Initiates had then, it seems, like the Freemasons, mystical steps.
That the Gnostics had modes of recognition we learn from Saint Epiphanius, himself at one time in early life a Gnostic, who says in his Pananum, written against the Gnostics and other heretics, that "on the arrival of any stranger belonging to the same belief, they have a sign given by one to another. In holding out the hand, under pretense of saluting each other, they feel and tickle it in a peculiar manner underneath the palm, and so discover if the newcomer belongs to the same sect. Thereupon, however poor they may be, they serve up to him a sumptuous feast, with abundance of meats and wine."
We do not refer to the fanciful theories of Doctor Oliver—the first one is most probably a joke, and therefore out of place in his Symbolical Dictionary founded on passages of Homer and Quintus Curtius, that Achilles and Alexander of Macedon recognized the one Priam and the other the High Priest by a sign. But there are abundant evidences of an authentic nature that a system of recognition by signs, and words, and grips has existed in the earliest times, and, therefore, that they were not invented by the Freemasons, who borrowed them, as they did much more of their mystical system, from antiquity.
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RECOMMENDATION
The petition of a candidate for initiation must be recommended by at least two members of the Lodge. Preston requires the signature to be witnessed by one person; he does not say whether the witness must be a member of the Lodge or not, and that the candidate must be proposed in open Lodge by a member.
Webb says that "the candidate must be proposed in form, by a member of the Lodge, and the proposition seconded by another member." Cross says that the recommendation glib to be signed by two members of the Lodge," and he dispenses with the formal proposition.
These gradual changes, none of them, however, substantially affecting the principle, have at last resulted in the present simpler usage, which is, for two members of the Lodge to affix their names to the petition, as recommenders of the applicant.
The petition for a Dispensation for a new Lodge, as preliminary to the application for a Warrant of Constitution, must be recommended by the nearest Lodge. Preston says that it must be recommended "by the Masters of three regular Lodges adjacent to the place where the new Lodge is to be held." This is also the language of the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Ireland. The Grand Lodge of Scotland requires the recommendation to be signed "by the Masters and officers of two of the nearest Lodges." The modern Constitution of the Grand Lodge of England requires a recommendation "by the officers of some regular Lodge," without saying anything of its vicinity to the new Lodge. The rule now universally adopted is, that it must be recommenced by the nearest Lodge (see Doctor Mackey's revised Jurisprudence of Freemasonry).
*
RECONCILIATION, LODGE OF
When the two contending Grand Lodges of England, known as the Ancient and the Moderns, resolved, in 1813 under the respective Grand Mastership of the Dukes of Rent and Sussex, to put an end to all differences and to form a United Grand Lodge, it was provided in the fifth Article of Union, that each of the two Grand Masters should appoint nine Master Masons to meet at some convenient place; and each party having opened a just and perfect Lodge in a separate apartment, they should give and receive mutually and reciprocally the obligations of both Fraternities and being thus duly and equally enlightened in both forms, they should be empowered and directed to hold a Lodge, under the Warrant or Dispensation to be entrusted to them, and to be entitled the Lodge of Reconciliation.
The duty of this Lodge was to visit the several Lodges under both Grand Lodges, and to instruct the officers and members of the same in the forms of initiation, obligation, etc., in both, so that uniformity of working might be established. The Lodge of Reconciliation was constituted on the 27th of December, 1813, the day on which the Union was perfected. This Lodge was only a temporary one, and the duties for which it had been organized having been performed, it ceased to exist by its own limitation in 1816. (For a full account of this Lodge and its work see Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge, volume xxiii, 1910.)
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RECONSIDERATIONS MOTION FOR
A motion for reconsideration can only be made in a Grand Lodge, Grand Chapter, or other Grand Body, on the same day or the day after the adoption of the motion which it is proposed to reconsider. In a Lodge or other subordinate body, it can only be made at the same meeting. It cannot be moved by one who has voted in the minority.
It cannot be made when the matter to be reconsidered has passed out of the control of the body, as when the original motion was for an appropriation which has been expended since the motion for it was passed. A motion for reconsideration is not debatable if the question proposed to be reconsidered is not. It cannot always be adopted by a simple majority vote. It may be postponed or laid upon the table.
If postponed to a time definite, and when that time arrives is not acted upon, it cannot be renewed. If laid upon the table, it cannot be taken up out of its order and now second motion for reconsideration can be offered while it lies upon the table, hence to lay a motion for reconsideration on the table is considered as equivalent to rejecting it. When a motion for reconsideration is adopted, the original motion comes up immediately for consideration, as if it had been for the first time brought before the body, in the form which it presented when it was adopted.
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RECONSIDERATION OF THE BALLOT
When the petition of a candidate for initiation has been rejected, it is not permissible for any member to move for a reconsideration of the ballot. The folloWing four principles set forth in a summary way the doctrine of Masonic parliamentary law on this subject.
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REFORMED MASONIC ORDER OF MEMPTIIS, OR RITE
OF THE GRAND LODGE OF PHILADELPHES
See Memphis, Rite of
*
REFORMED RITE
This Rite was established in 1872, by a Congress of Freemasons assembled at Wilhelmsbad, in Germany, over whose deliberations Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, presided as Grand Master. It was at this Convention that the Reformed Rite was first established, its members assuming the title of the Beneficent Knights of the Holy City because they derived their system from the French Rite of that name. It was called the Reformed Rite, because it professed to be a reformation of a Rite which had been established in Germany about a quarter of a century before under the name of the Rite of Strict Observance. This latter Rite had advanced a theory in relation to the connection between Freemasonry and the Order of Knights Templar, and traced the origin of our institution to those Knights at the Crusades This hypothesis the Convention at Wilhelmsbad rejected as unfounded in history or correct tradition. By the adoption of this Rite, the Congress gave a death-blow to the Rite of Strict Observance.
The Reformed Rite is exceedingly simple
in its organization, consisting only of five Degrees, namely:
1. Entered Apprentice
2. Fellow Craft
3. Master Mason
4. Scottish Master
5. Knight of the Holy City
The last Degree is, however, divided into three sections, those
of Novice, Professed Brother, and Knight, which really gives seven
Degrees to the Rite.
*
REFRESHMENT
In Masonic language, refreshment is opposed in a peculiar sense to labor. While a Lodge is in activity it must be either at labor or at refreshment. If a Lodge is permanently closed until its next eommunication, the intervening period is one of abeyance, its activity for Masonic duty having for the time been suspended; although its powers and privileges as a Lodge still exist, and may be at any time resumed. But where it is only temporarily closed, with the intention of soon again resuming labor, the intermediate period is called a time of refreshment, and the Lodge is said not to be closed, but to be called from labor to refreshment. The phrase is an old one, and is found in the early rituals of the eighteenth Century. Callingfrom labor to refreshment differs from closing in this, that the ceremony is a very brief one, and that the Junior Warden then assumet the eo trol of the draft, in token of which he erects his column on his stand or pedestal, while the Senior Warden lays his down. This is reversed in caging on, in which the ceremony is equally brief.
The word refreshment no longer bears the meaning among Freemasons that it formerly did. It signifies not necessarily eating and drinking, but simply cessation from labor. A Lodge at refreshment may thus be compared to any other society when in a recess During the whole of the eighteenth century, and part of the next, a different meaning was given to the word arising from a now obsolete usage, which Doctor Oliver (Masonic Jurisprudence, page 210) thus describes:
The Lodges in ancient times were not arranged
according to the praetise in use amongst ourselves at the present
day. The Worshipful Master, indeed, stood in t he East, but both
the Wardens were plaeed in the West the South was occupied by
the senior Entered Apprentiee, whose business it was to obey the
instructions of the Master, and to welcome the visiting Brethren,
after has ing duly ascertained that they were Freemasons. The
junior Entered Apprentice was placed in the north to present the
intrusion of cowans and eavesdroppers; and a long table, and sometimes
two, where the Lodge was numerous, were extended in paraUel lines
from the pedestal to the place where the Wardens sat, on which
appeared not only the emblems of Freemasonry, but also materials
for refreshments—for in those days every section of the lecture
had its peculiar toast or sentiment
and at its conclusion the Lodge was called from labour to refreshment
by certain ceremonies, and a toast, teellnieallv called "the
Charge," was drunk in a bumper xvitll the bonours, and not
unfrequently aceonlpanied ivy an appropriate song. After which
the Lodge M as caned from refreshment to labour, and another section
was delivered with the like result. At the present day, the banquets
of Lodges, When they talie place, are alxvays held after the Lodge
is closed; although they are still supposed to be under the charge
of the Junior Warden. When modern Lodges are called to refreshment,
it is either as a part of the ceremony of the Third Degree, or
for a brief period; sometimes extending to more than a day when
labor, which had not been finished, is to be resumed and concluded.
The mythical history of Freemasonry says that high twelve or noon was the hour at Solomon's Temple when the Craft were permitted to suspend their labor, which was resumed an hour after. In reference to this myth, a Lodge is at all times supposed to be called from labor to refreshment at "high twelve," and to be called on again "one hour after high twelve."
*
REGALIA
Strictly speaking the word regalia from the Latin, regalia, meaning royal things, signifies the ornaments of a king or queen, and is applied to the apparatus used at a coronation, such as the crown, scepter, cross, mound, etc. But it has in modern times been loosely employed to signify almost any kind of ornaments. Hence the collar and jewel, and sometimes even the apron, are called by many Freemasons the regalia. The word has the early authority of Preston. In the second edition of his Illustrations (1775), when on the subject of funerals, he uses the expression, "the body, with the regalia placed thereon, and two swords crossed." And at the end of the service he directs that "the regalia and ornaments of the deceased, if an officer of a Lodge, are returned to the Master in due form, and with the usual ceremonies." Regalia cannot here mean the Bible and Book of Constitutions, for there is a place in another part of the procession appropriated to them.
It might have been supposed that, by regalia, Preston referred to some particular decorations of the Lodge, had not his subsequent editors, Jones and Oliver, both interpolated the word "other" before ornaments, so as to make the sentence read "regalia and other ornaments," thus clearly indicating that they deemed the regalia a part of the ornaments of the deceased. The word is thus used in one of the headings of the modern Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of England. But in the text the more correct words "clothing and insignia" (Rule 282) are employed. There is, however, so great an error in the use of the word regalia to denote Masonic clothing, that it would be better to avoid it.
*
REGENERATION
In the Ancient Mysteries the doctrine of regeneration was taught
by symbols: not the theological dogma of regeneration peculiar
to the Christian church, but the philosophical dogma, as a change
from death to life—a new birth to immortal existence. Hence
the last day of the Eleusinian Mysteries, when the initiation
was completed, was called, says Court de Gebelin (Monde Primitive
analyst et compare avec be Monde Moderne, the Primitive World
anslysed and compared with the Modern World iv, page 322) the
day of regeneration. This is the doctrine in the Masonic mysteries,
and more especially in the symbolism of the Third Degree. We must
not say that the Freemason is regenerated when he is initiated,
but that he has been indoctrinated into the philosophy of the
regeneration, or the new birth of all things—of light out
of darkness, or life out of deathof eternal life out of temporal
death.
*
REGENT
The Fourth Degree of the Lesser Mys eries of the llluminati.
*
REGHELLINI, M.
A learned Masonic writer, who was born of Venetian parents on the Island of Scio, whence he was usually styled Reghellini de Scio. the date of 1750, at which his birth has been placed, is certainly an error. Michaud supposes that it is twenty or thirty years too soon. The date of the publication of his earliest works would indicate that he could not have been born much before 1780. After receiving a good education, and becoming especially proficient in mathematics and chemistry, he settled at Brussels, where he appears to have spent the remaining years of his life, and wrote various works, which indicate extensive research and a lively and, perhaps, a rather ill-directed imagination. In 1834 he published a work entitled Examen du Mosaisme et du Christianisme, Examination of Mosaicism and of Christianity, whose bold opinions were not considered as very orthodox. He had previously become attached to the study of Masonic antiquities, old and in 1826 published a work in one volume, entitled esprit du dogne de la Franc-Maçonnerie. recherches sur son origine et celle de ses différents rites, Spirit of the Dogma of Freemasonry, Studies on its origin and theses of its various Rites.
He subsequently still further developed his ideas on this Subject, and published at Paris, in 1833, a much larger work, in three volumes, entitled, La Maçonnerie, considérée comme le résultat des Religions Egyptienne, Juive et Chrétienne, Freemasonry considered as the result of Egyptian, Jewish, and Christian Religions. In this work he seeks to trace both Freemasonry and the Mosaic religion to the worship that was practised on the banks of the Nile in the time of the Pharaohs. Whatever may be thought of his theory, it must be confessed that he has collected a mass of learned and interesting facts that must be attractive to the Masonic scholar.
From 1822 to 1829 Reghellini devoted his labors to editing the Annales Chronologiques, Litteraires et Historiques de la Maçonnerie des Pays-Bas, Literary and Historical Chronological Record of Freemasonry in the Low Countries, a work that contains much valuable information. However, Brother Woodford was not as assured as was Doctor Mackey that this work may as certainly be accredited to Reghellini, the evidence as to his editorship being less positive than the other particulars here cited.
Outside of Freemasonry, the life of Reghellini is not well known. It is said that in 1848 he became implicated with the political troubles which broke out that year in Vienna, and, in consequence, experienced some trouble. His great age at the time precluded the Likelihood that the statement is true. In his later days he was reduced to great penury, and in August, 1855, was compelled to take refuge in the House of Mendicity at BrusseLs, where he shortly afterward died.
*
REGIMENTAL LODGE
An expression used by Doctor Oliverin his Jurisprudence, to designate a Lodge attached to a regiment in the British Army. The title is not recognized in the English Constitutions, where such a Lodge is always styled a Military Lodge, which see.
*
REGISTER
A list of the officers and members of a Grand or Subordinate Lodge. The registers of Grand Lodges are generally published in this country annually, attached to their Proceedings. The custom of publishing annual registers of subordinate Lodges is almost exclusively confined to the Freemasonry of the Continent of Europe. Sometimes it is called a Registry.
*
REGISTRAR, GRAND
The term has two meanings:
1. An officer of the Grand Lodge of England, whose principal duty it is to take charge of the seal, and attach it, or cause it to be attached by the Grand Secretary, to documents issued by the Grand Lodge or Grand Master. He also superintends the records of the Grand Lodge, and to take care that the several documents issued be in due form (Constitutions, Rules 31-2).
2. An officer in a Grand Consistory of the Aneient and Accepted Scottish Rite, whose duties are those of Grand Secretary.
*
REGISTRATION
The modern Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of England require that every Lodge must be particularly careful in registering the names of the Brethren initiated therein, and also in making the returns of its members; as no person is entitled to partake of the general charity, unless his name be duly registered, and he shall have been at least five years a contributing member of a Lodge, except in the following cases, to which the limitation of five years is not meant to extend, namely, shipwreck, or capture at sea, loss by fire, or blindness or serious accident fully attested and proved (see Rule 234).
To prevent injury to individuals, by their being excluded the privileges of Freemasonry through the neglect of their Lodges in not registering their names any Brother so circunwstanced, on producing sufficient proof that he has paid the full fees to his Lodge, including the register fee, shall be capable of enjoying the privileges of the Craft. But the offending Lodge shall be reported to the Board of General Purposes, and rigorously proceeded against for withholding moneys which are the property of the Grand Lodge (see Rule 237). An unregistered member in England is therefore equivalent, so far as the exercise of his rights is concerned, to an unaffiliated Freemason. In the United States of Ameriea the same rule exists of registration in the Lodge books and an annual return of the same to the Grand Lodge, but the penalties for neglect or disobedience are neither so severe nor so well defined.
*
REGISTRY
The Roll or list of Lodges and their members under the obedience of a Grand Lodge. Such registries are in some cases published annually by the Grand Lodges of the United States at the end of their printed Proceedings.
*
REGIUS MANUSCRIPT
See Halliwell Manuscript
*
REGULAR
A Lodge working under the legal authority of a Warrant of Constitution is said to be regular. The word was first used in 1723 in the first edition of Anderson's Constitutions. In the eighth General Regulation published in that work it is said: "If any set or number of Freemasons shall take Upon themselves to form a Lodge without the Grand Master's Warrant, the regular Lodges are not to countenance them." Ragon says (Orthodoxie Maçonnique, page 72) that the word was first heard of in French Freemasonry in 1773, when an Edict of the Grand Orient thus defined it: "A regular Lodge is a Lodge attached to the Grand Orient, and a regular Freemason is a member of a regular Lodge."
*
REGULATIONS
See Old Regulations
*
REHUM
Called by Ezra the Chancellor. He was probably a Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Judea, who, with Shimshai the Scribe, wrote to Artaxerxes to prevail upon him to stop the building of the second Temple. His name is introduced into some of the advanced Degrees that are connected in their instructions with the seemed Temple.
*
REINHOLD, KARL LEONHARD
A German philosopher, who was born at Vienna in 1758, and died in 1823. He was associated with Wieland, whose daughter he married, in the editorship of the Deutschen Merkur, German Mercury. He afterward became a professor of philosophy at Kiel, and published Letters on the Philosophy of Kant. He was much interested in the study of Freemasonry, and published, under the pseudonym of Decius, at Leipsic, in 1788, two lectures entitled Die Hebräischen Mysterien oder die älteste religiöse Freimaurerei, that is, The Hebrew Mysteries, or the Oldest Religious Freemasonry. The fundamental idea of this work is, that Moses derived his system from the Egyptian Priesthood. Eichhorn attacked his theory in his Universal Repository of Biblical Literature. Reinhold delivered and published, in 1809, An Address on the Design of Freemasonry, and another in 1820, on the occasion of the reopening of a Lodge at Kiel. This was probably his last Masonic labor, as he died in 1823, at the age of sixty-five years. In 1828, a Life of him was published by his son, a Professor of Philosophy at Jena.
*
REINSTATEMENT
See Restoration
*
REJECTION
Under the English Constitutions (Rule 190) three black balls must exclude a candidate; but the by-laws of a Lodge may enact that one or two shall do so. In the United States of America one black ball will reject a candidate for initiation. If a candidate be rejected, he can apply in no other Lodge for admission. If admitted at all, it must be in the Lodge where he first applied. But the time when a new application may be made never having been determined by the general or Common Law of Freemasonry, the rule has been left to the Special enactment of Grand Lodges, some of which have placed it at six months, and some at from one to two years. Where the Constitution of a Grand Lodge is silent on the subject, it is held that a new application has never been specified, so that it is held that a rejected candidate may apply for a reconsideration of his ease at any time. The unfavorable report of the Committee to whom the letter was referred, or a withdrawal of the letter by the candidate or his friends, is considered equivalent to a rejection (see Unanimous Consent).
*
REJOICING
The initiation of the Ancient Mysteries, like that of the Third Degree of Freemasonry, began in sorrow and terminated in rejoicing. The sorrow was for the death of the hero-god, which was represented in the sacred rites, and the rejoicing was for his resuscitation to eternal life. "Thrice happy," says Sophocles, "are those who descend to the shades below when they have beheld these rites of initiation." "The lesson there taught was," says Pindar, 'the Divine origin of life, and hence the rejoicing at the discovery of this eternal truth."
*
RELIEF
One of the three principal tenets of a Freemason's profession, and thus defined in the lecture of the First Degree:
To relieve the distressed is a duty incumbent on all men, but particularly on Freemasons, who are linked together by an indissoluble chain of sincere affection. To soothe the unhappy, to sympathize with their misfortunes, to compassionate their miseries, and to restore peace to their troubled minds, is the great aim we have in view. On this basis we form our friendships and establish our connections.
Of the three tenets of a Freemason's profession, which are Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth, it may be said that Truth is the Column of Wisdom, whose rays penetrate and enlighten the inmost recesses of our Lodge; Brotherly Love, the Column of Strength, which binds us as one family in the indissoluble bond of fraternal affection; and Relief, the Column of Beauty, whose ornaments, more precious than the lilies and pomegranates that adorned the pillars of the porch, are the widow's tear of joy and the orphan's prayer of gratitude.
*
RELIEF ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES
AND CANADA, MASONIC
See Masonic Relief Association of the United States and Canada
*
RELIEF, BOARD OF
The liability to imposition on the charity of the Order, by the application of imposters, has led to the establishment in the larger cities of the United States of America of Boards of Relief. These consist of representatives of all the Lodges, to whom all applications for temporary relief are referred. The members of the Board, by frequent consultations, are better enabled to distinguish the worthy from the unworthy, and to detect attempts at imposition. A similar organization, but under a different name, was long ago established by the Grand Lodge of England, for the distribution of the Fund of Benevolence (see Fund of Benevolence). In New Orleans, Louisiana, the Board of Relief, after twentyfive years of successful operation, was chartered in July, 1854, by the Grand Lodge as Relief Lodge, No. 1, to be composed of the Masters and Wardens of all the Lodges who were united in the objects of the Board (see Masonic Relief Association of the United States and Canada).
*
RELIGION OF FREEMASONRY
There has been a needless expenditure of ingenuity and talent, by a large number of Masonic orators and essayists, in the endeavor to prove that Freemasonry is not a religion. This has usually arisen from a well-intended but erroneous view that has been assumed of the connection between religion and Freemasonry, and from a fear that if the complete disseverance of the two was not made manifest, the opponents of Freemasonry would be enabled successfully to establish a theory which they have been fond of advancing, that the Freemasons were disposed to substitute the teachings of their Order for the truths of Christianity.
Now we have never for a moment believed that any such unwarrantable assumption, as that Freemasonry is intended to be a substitute for Christianity, could ever obtain admission into any well-regulated mind, and, therefore, us are not disposed to yield on the subject of the religious character of FreemasonrY, quite so much as has been yielded by more timid Brethren. On the contrary, we contend, without any sort of hesitation, that Freemasonry is, in every sense of the word, except one, and that its least philosophical, an eminently religious institution—that it is indebted solely to the religious element it contains for its origin as well as its continued existence, and that without this religious element it would scarcely be worthy of cultivate on by the wise and good. But, that we may be truly understood, it will be well first to agree upon the true definition of religion. There is nothing more illogical than to reason upon undefined terms. Webster has given four distinct definitions of religion:
1. Religion, in a comprehensive sense, includes, he says a belief in the being and perfections of God—in the revelation of His will to man—in man's obligation to obey His commands—in a state of reward and punishment, and in man's accountableness to God; and also true godliness or piety of life, with the practise of all moral duties.
2. His second definition is, that religion, as distinct from theology, is godliness or real piety in practise, consisting in the performance of all known duties to God and our fellow-men, in obedience to divine command, or from love to food and His law.
3. Again, he says that religion, as distinct from virtue or morality, consists in the performance of the duties we owe directly to God, from a principle of obedience to His will.
4. Lastly, he defines religion to be any system of faith or worship and in this sense, he says, religion comprehends the belief and worship of Pagans and Mohammedans as well as of Christians—any religion consisting in the belief of a superior power, or powers, governing the world, and in the worship of such power or powers. It is in this sense that we speak of the Turkish religion, or the Jewish religion, as well as of the Christian.
Now, it is plain that, in either of the first three senses in which we may take the word religion, and they do not very materially differ from each other, Freemasonry may rightfully claim to be called a religious institution. Closely and accurately examined, it will be found to answer to any one of the requirements of either of these three definitions. So much does it "include a belief in the being and perfections of God," that the public profession of such a faith is essentially necessary to gain admission into the Order. No disbeliever in the existence of a God can be made a Freemason. The "revelation of his call to man" is technically called the "spiritual, moral, and Masonic Trestle-Board" of every Freemason, according to the rules and designs of which he is to erect the spiritual edifice of his eternal life.
A "state of reward and punishment" is necessarily included in the very idea of an obligation, which, without the belief in such a state, could be of no binding force or efficacy. And "true godliness or piety of life" is inculcated as the invariable duty of every Freemason, from the inception of the first to the end of the very last Degree that he takes. So, again, in reference to the second and third definitions, all this practical piety and performance of the duties we owe to God and to our fellow men arise from and are founded on a principle of obedience to the divine will. Else whence, or from what other will, could they have arisen?
It is the voice of the G. A. O. T. U. symbolized to us in every ceremony of our ritual and from every portion of the furniture of our Lodge, that speaks to the true Freemason, commanding him to fear God and to love the Brethren. It is idle to say that the Freemason does good simply in obedience to the Statutes of the Order. These very Statutes owe their Sanction to the Masonic idea of the nature and perfections of God, a belief that has come down to us from the earliest history of the Institution, and the promulgation of which idea was the very object and design of its origin.
But it must be confessed that the fourth definition does not appear to be strictly applicable to Freemasonry. It has no pretension to assume a place among the religions of the world as a sectarian "system of faith and worship," in the sense in which we distinguish Christianity from Judaism, or Judaism from Mohammedanism. In this meaning of the word we do not and can not speak of the Masonic religion, nor say of a man that he is not a Christian, but a Freemason. Here it is that the opponents of Freemasonry have assumed mistaken ground in confounding the idea of a religious Institution with that of the Christian religion as a peculiar form of worship, and in supposing, because Freemasonry teaches religious truth, that it is offered as a substitute for Christian truth and Christian obligation. Its warmest and most enlightened friends have never advanced nor supported such a claim. Freemasonry is not Christianity, nor a substitute for it. It is not intended to supersede it nor any other form of worship or system of faith. It does not meddle with sectarian creeds or doctrines, but teaches fundamental religious truth— not enough to do away with the necessity of the Christian scheme of salvation, but more than enough to show, to demonstrate, that it is, in every philosophical sense of the word, a religious Institution, and one, too, in which the true Christian Freemason will find if he earnestly seeks for them, abundant types and shadows of his own exalted and divinely inspired faith.
The tendency of all true Freemasonry is toward religion. If it make any progress, its progress is to that holy end. Look at its ancient landmarks, its sublime ceremonies, its profound symbols and alle gories—all inculcating religious doctrine, commanding religious observance, and teaching religious truth, and who can deny that it is eminently a religious Institution? But, besides, Freemasonry is, in all its forms, thoroughly tinctured with a true devotional spirit. We open and close our Lodges with prayer; we invoke the blessing of the Most High upon all our labors; we demand of our neophytes a profession of trusting belief in the existence and the superintending eare of God; and we teach them to bow with humility and reverence at His awful name, while His Holy Law is widely opened upon our altars. Freemasonry is thus identified with religion; and although a man may be eminently religious without being a Freemason, it is impossible that a Freemason can be "true and trusty" to his Order unless he is a respecter of religion and an observer of religious principle.
But the religion of Freemasonry is not sectarian It admits men of every creed within its hospitable bosom, rejecting none and approving none for his peculiar faith. It is not Judaism, though there is nothing in it to offend a Jew; it is not Christianity, but there is nothing in it repugnant to the faith of a Christian. Its religion is that general one of nature and primitive revelation—handed down to us from some ancient and Patriarchal Priesthood—in which all men may agree and in which no men can differ. It inculcates the practise of virtue, but it supplies no scheme of redemption for sin. It points its disciples to the path of righteousness, but it does not claim to be "the way, the truth, and the life." In so far, therefore, it cannot become a substitute for Christianity, but its tendency is thitherward; and, as the handmaid of religion, it may, and often does, act as the porch that introduces its votaries into the temple of divine truth. Freemasonry, then, is indeed a religious institution; and on this ground mainly, if not alone, should the religious Freemason defend it.
To the above observations by Doctor Mackey we may add that the religion of Freemasonry was examined at. some length in a book bearing that title by Brother Josiah Whymper, Past Deputy District Grand Master, Punjab, India. Brother Whymper's purpose was to draw the attention of Freemasons to the circumstance that the original religious principles of Freemasonry were based on Christian Catholicity. He believed that in a well-meant but, in his judgment, mistaken effort to let Freemasonry be all things to all men this principle had been forgotten. In fact, he had found that some Freemasons denied it altogether, asserting that all distinct profession of Christianity was abandoned in 1717 when the Grand Lodge was founded. Colonel J. J. Boswell raised a question in the Masonic Record of India, 1878, under what authority the Koran was used in Lodges working under the English Constitution. Soon thereafter Brother J. J. Davies, the Worshipful Master of Lodge Ravee at Lahore, in the Punjab, addressed the following letter (see Religion of Freemasonry, page 1) to the Grand Secretary of that District: Allow me to invite your attention to a correspondence which very lately appeared in a Masonic Journal, the Record of Western India, regarding the alleged practice in some Lodges of obligating persons on other than the Sacred Seriptures of the Christian Dispensation. From the correspondence you may observe that opinion on the subject is divided: one Brother who signs himself "P. M. 1215" alleging that the practise is in accordance with the spirit of Masonic law, whilst another Brother, a "W. M." on the contrary, considers that it is in direct violation of Masonic law: in letter, in spirit, and the practice of antiquity.
As it has hitherto been the practise of Lodge Ravee 1215, English Constitution, to obligate Mohammedan and Hindu candidates respectively on the " Koran" and " Shastrass," and Christians on the " Bible," I beg to refer the question and should feel greatly obliged if you would kindly obtain the opinion of the Right Worshipful the District Grand Master, whether, or not, in this respect the conduct of Lodge Ravee is consistent with Masonic principles and Masonic law. In intuiting your attention to the subject, I would respectfully mention that in my opinion the meaning of the words, "Volume of the Saered Law," is not confined to the Saered Law of the Christian Dispensation; but have a bearing fuller and deeper: a meaning as broad as Masonry itself.
As Masonry is universal, and combines persons of every clime and creed, the "Volume of the Sacred Law" should be adapted to the different nations, and be the law held sacred by them, subject to the ancient landmarks of the Order: a belief in the G. A. O. T. U.— otherwise the binding influence of the oath would appear to be nil. I beg the favour of an early reply, as at our next meeting on the 21st current, it is intended to raise a Mohammedan Brother to the High and Sublime Degree of Master Maçon, and it is very desirable that the obligation be administered in proper order, on the volume sanctioned by Masonic law. I may add, that in the 1st and 2nd degrees, this Mohammedan Brother was obligated on the Koran: the Sacred Scriptures of the Christain Dispensation lying open the whole time on the pedestal.
District Grand Secretary, George Davies,
in answer to the above inquiry sent the following decision:
I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated 7th instant,
requesting a ruling from the Right Worship ful District Grand
Master on the following points:
1. Whether it is correct for a Worshipful Master to obligate a
Mohammedan candidate on the Christian Bible or on the "Volume
of the Saered Law" as accepted by him, namely, the Koran.
2. In the case of a Hindu or other Theïst, what should be
considered the Sacred Law in their respective cases?
Your queries have been duly laid before
the Right Worshipful District Grand Master, and I am directed
to reply as follows:
1. Masonry being universal, men of every creed are eligible for
membership, so long as they accept the Fatherhood of God and the
Brotherhood of Man.
2. As all candidates for Masonry are obligated, to render that
engagement a solemn and binding one, the candidate should be obligated
on the "Volume of the Sacred Law" which he accepts as
such, in the case of a Mohammedan gentleman, the Koran, in the
case of a Hindu the Shastras, a Parsee the Zoroastrian code; in
other words, it is the duty of the Worshipful Master to ascertain
before obligating the candidate which Revels tion from God to
Man he accepts as that most binding upon his eonscienee, and the
obligation should be given accordingly.
In the case of lodges working under the English Constitution, and of which Europeans are members, the English Bible must remain open, and be used in the Lodge; the other books being used for the obligations of the candidates only. To summarize the matter:—In the case of your Lodge, a Mohammedan gentleman being a candidate, your procedure should be as follows: The English Bible will remain open, being removed for convenience sake to the Eastern part of the Lodge the Koran will then be placed on the Altar and the candidate obligated, after which it will be removed and the Bible replaced. As however the matter is of great importance, a reference on the subject will be made to England. Pending a reply the above must be accepted as the law on the subject.
District Grand Master, Major M. Ramsay in December of that year obtained the following comment from Grand Secretary John Hervey at the headquarters in London: I am in receipt of your favor of the 9th Oetober, with copies of correspondence with the Worshipful Master of the Lodge Ravee, No. 1215, on the subject of obligating candidates not professing the Christian faith, and beg to say that I fully coincide in your answers, which I do not think could have been better expressed.
Lodges in India working under the Grand Lodge of Scotland have recognized the Zendavesta, the Koran, and the Shastras by appointing official bearers of these volumes. brother George W. Speth, who edited the book by Brother Whymper, received a letter from D. Murray Lyon, dated at Freemasons Hall, Edinburgh, December 21, 1887, in which he says: The statement to which you refer is correct. I cannot say when the arrangement was originally authorized, but the By-laws of the District Grand Lodge of India, in which the duties of Bible Bearer, Zend Avesta Bearers and Koran Bearer are given, were sanctioned and confirmed by Grand Committee in August, 1885, as per Certificate of Grand Secretary of date.
Brother Whymper favored separate Jewish, Parsee, Hindu, and Mohammedan Lodges. He says, "It is impossible for any man, no matter what his former religion may have been, to become a Fellow Craft Mason in English Masonry and refuse to accept both the Old and New Testaments."
But in Brother William James Hughan's Introduction to the Religion of Freemasonry (pages v to vii) he replies:
How then would these distinctive combinations provide of such a contingency? If we cannot do with these religionists in our Lodges, I do not see how we can do without them—that is, in separate Lodges. We meet on the Level or not at all, and therefore, if we cannot as votaries of various Faiths become members together in Lodge, and thus illustrate the "Brotherhood of Man," better far to refrain from all attempts at Universality, and revert to an exclusively Christian Constitution, as in the olden time.
I am anxious to look at the question ill all its aspects, and do not mention difficulties because of any fondness of them, but simply to suggest that if a return to the old system is to be recommended, and primarily because it prevailed prior to the inauguration of Grand Lodges, it is well we should understand what is involved in such a course. At all events, it seems to me that we are at the present time observing the old rule of 1723, in promoting the " Relwfon in which all men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves," as well as respecting some of the usages and customs of our Grand Lodge. Besides which, by thus extending the scope of our Ancient and Honorable Society, we are adding immensely to its beneficial influence and practical usefulness, especially abroad.
Holding this view, and bearing in mind the esteemed brethren who hold and advocate otherwise, I am prepared to accept the opinion and advice of the revered brother, the Reverend A. F. A. Woodford, M. A., Past Grand Chaplain, who maintained that " the Christian School and the Universal School can co-exist in Freemasonry. Though their views are necessarily antagonistic, yet they need not be made the subject of contention they can be held in peace and consideration, and all fraternal goodwill.
Indeed, we think, upon the whole, that Freemasonry has, curiously enough, a twofold teaching in this respect." According to Brother Whymper's convictions, the spread of the Craft in India amongst Parsees, Hindoos, and Mohammedans calls for serious consideration, and increasingly so when Brethren of each of those Faiths become sufficiently numerous to support Lodges composed mainly of members of their own persuasion. Should difficulties arise in consequence, we may yet have to try the ingenious suggestion of chartering Lodges for each particular Faith, subject to the rights of mutual visitation, but I confess to the feeling that, should ever such be deemed requisite, an element religious distinction and classification will be of necessity introduced, which will considerably modify or Weaken the unsectarian character of the Institute.
The subject is also discussed by Brother Roscoe Pound, Proceedings, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, 916 (pages 821-3) and his Masonic Jurisprudence, 920 (page 35), and in Doctor Mackey's revised jurisprudence of Freemasonry, 1927.
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RELIGIOUS QUALIFICATIONS
See Qualifications
*
REMOVAL OF LODGES
On January 25, 1738, the Grand Lodge of England adopted a regulation providing that no Lodge should be removed without the Master's knowledge; that no motion for removing it should be made in his absence; and that if he was opposed to the removal, it should not be removed unless two-thirds of the members present voted in the affirmative (Constitutions, 1738, page 157). But as this rule was adopted subsequent to the General regulations of 1722, it is not obligatory as a law of freemasonry at present. The Grand Lodges of England and of New York have substantially the same rule.
But unless there be a local regulation in the Constitution of any particular Grand Lodge to that effect, there would seem to be no principle of Masonic law set forth in the Ancient Landmarks or Regulations which forbids a Lodge, upon the mere vote of the majority, from removing from one house to another in the same town or city; and unless the Grand Lodge of any particular Jurisdiction has adopted a regulation forbidding the removal of a Lodge from one house to another without its consent, there is no law in Freemasonry of universal force which would prohibit such a removal at the mere option of the Lodge. This refers, of course, only to the removal from one house to another; but as the town or village in which the Lodge is situated is designated in its Warrant of Constitution, no such removal can be made except with the consent of the Grand Lodge, or, during the recess of that Body, by the Dispensation of the Grand Master, to be subsequently confirmed by the Grand Lodge.
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RENOUNCING FREEMASONS
During the anti-Masonic excitement in the United States, which began in 1828, and lasted for a few years, many Freemason left the Order, actuated by various motives, seldom good ones, and attached themselves to the Anti-Masonic Party. It is not singular that these deserters, who called themselves Renouncing Freemasons, were the bitterest in their hatred and the loudest in their vituperations of the Order. But, as may be seen in the article Indelibility, a renunciation of the name cannot absolve anyone from the obligations of a Freemason.
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REPEAL
As a Lodge cannot enact a new by-law without the consent of the Grand Lodge, neither can it repeal an old one without the same consent; nor can anything done at a stated meeting be repealed at a subsequent extra or emergent one.
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REPORT OF A COMMITTEE
When a Committee, to which a subject had been referred, has completed its investigation and come to an opinion, it directs its Chairman, or some other member, to prepare an expression of its views, to be submitted to the Lodge. The paper containing this expression of views is called its Report, which may be framed in three different forms: It may contain only an expression of opinion on the subject which had been referred; or it may contain, in addition to this, an express resolution or series of resolutions, the adoption of which by the assembly is recommended; or, lastly, it may contain one or more resolutions, Without any preliminary expression of opinion. The Report, when prepared, is read to the members of the Committee, and, if it meets with their final Sanction, the Chairman, or one of the members, is directed to present it to the Lodge. The reading of the Report is its reception, and the next question will be on its adoption. If it contains a recommendation of resolutions, the adoption of the Report will be equivalent to an adoption of the resolutions, but the Report may, on the question of adoption, be otherwise disposed of by being laid on the table, postponed, or recommitted.
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REPORTORIAL CORPS
A name recently given in the United States to that useful and intelligent body of Freemasons who write, in their respective Grand Lodges, the reports on Foreign Correspondence. Through the exertions of Doctor Corson, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence of New Jersey, a convention of this Body was held at Baltimore in 1871, during the session of the General Grand Chapter, and measures were then taken to establish a Triennial Convention. Such a Convention would assume no legislative powers, but would simply meet for the intercommunication of ideas and the interchange of fraternal greetings.
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REPRESENTATIVE OF A GRAND LODGE
A Brother appointed by one Grand Lodge to represent its interest in another. The Representative is generally, although not necessarily, a member of the Grand Lodge to whom he is accredited, and receives his appointment on its nomination, but he is permitted to wear the clothing of the Grand Lodge which he represents. He is required to attend the meetings of the Grand Lodge to which he is accredited, and to communicate to his constituents an abstract of the proceedings, and other matters of Masonic interest. But it is doubtful whether these duties are generally performed. The office of Representative appears to be rather one of honor than of service. In the French system, a Representative is called a gage d'amitié, a pledge of friendship.
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REPRESENTATIVES OF LODGES
In the General Regulations of 1721 it was enacted that "The Grand Lodge consists of and is formed by the Masters and Wardens of all the regular particular Lodges upon record"; and also that "The majority of every particular Lodge, when congregated, shall have the privilege of giving instructions to their Master and Wardens before the assembling of the Grand Chapter or Lodge, at the three quarterly communications hereafter mentioned and of the Annual Grand Lodge too; because their Master and Wardens are their Representatives and are supposed to speak their mind" (Constitutions, 1723, page 61). A few modern Grand Lodges have disfranchised the Wardens also, and confined the representation to the Masters only. But Brother Hawkins asserts further that this is evidently an innovation, having no color of authority in the Old Regulations.
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REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM
The system of appointing Representatives of Grand Lodges originated years ago with the Grand Lodge of New York. It at first met with much opposition, but has gradually gained favor. Although the original plan intended by the founders of the system does not appear to have been effectually carried out in all its details, it has at least been successful as a means of more closely cementing the bonds of union between the Bodies mutually represented.
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REPRIMAND
A reproof formally communicated to the offender for some fault committed, and the lowest grade, above censure, of Masonic punishment. It can be inflicted only on charges made, and by a majority vote of the Lodge. It may be private or public. Private reprimand is generally communicated to the offender by a letter from the Master. Public reprimand is given orally in the Lodge and in the presence of the Brethren. A reprimand does not sheet the Masonic standing of the person reprimanded.
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REPUTATION
In the technical language of Freemasonry, a man of good reputation is said to be one who is "under the tongue of good report" and this constitutes one of the indispensable qualifications of a candidate for initiation.
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RESIDENCE
It is the general usage in the United States of America, and may be considered as the Masonic law of custom, that the application of a candidate for initiation must be made to the Lodge nearest his place of residence. There is, however, no express law upon this subject either in the ancient landmarks or the Old Constitutions, and its positive sanction as a law in any Jurisdiction must be found in the local enactments of the Grand Lodge of that Jurisdiction. Still there can be no doubt that expediency and justice to the Order make such a regulation necessary, and accordingly many Grand Lodges have incorporated such a regulation in their Constitutions; and of course, whenever this has been done, it becomes a positive law in that Jurisdiction.
It has also been contended by some American Masonic jurists that a nonresident of a State is not entitled, on a temporary visit to that State, to apply for initiation. There is, however, no landmark nor written law in the ancient Constitutions which forbids the initiation of nonresidents. Still, as there can be no question that the conferring of the Degrees of Freemasonry on a stranger is always inexpedient, and frequently productive of injury and injustice, by foisting on the Lodges near the candidate's residence unworthy and unacceptable persons, there has been a very general disposition among the Grand Lodges of the United States to discountenance the initiation of nonresidents. Many of them have adopted a specific regulation to this effect, and in all Jurisdictions where this has been done, the law becomes imperative; for, as the landmarks are entirely silent on the subject, the local regulation is left to the discretion of each Jurisdiction. But no such rule has ever existed among European Lodges.
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RESIGNATION OF MEMBERSHIP
The spirit of the law of Freemasonry doers not recognize the right of any member of a Lodge to resign his membership, unless it be for the purpose of uniting with another Lodge. This mode of resignation is called a dimission (see Dimit).
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RESIGNATION OF OFFICE
Every officer of a Lodge, or rather Masonic organization, being required at the time of his installation into office to enter into an obligation that he will perform the duties of that office for a specified time and until his successor is installed, it has been repeatedly held by the Masonic jurists of this country that an officer once elected and installed cannot resign his office; and this may be considered as a well-established law of American Freemasonry.
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RESOLUTION
In parliamentary law, a proposition, when first presented, is called a motion; if adopted, it becomes a resolution. Many Grand Lodges adopt, from time to time, in addition to the provisions of their Constitution, certain resolutions on important subjects, which, giving them an apparently greater weight of authority than ordinary enactments, are frequently appended to their Constitution, or their transaction, under the imposing title of Standing Regulations. But this weight of authority is only apparent. These standing resolutions having been adopted, like all other resolutions, by a mere majority vote, are subject, like them, to be repealed or rescinded by the same vote.
Even a steadfast resolution, expressive as the term may sound, may not mean exactly the same thing to everybody. .A quaint example is recorded in the Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge (volume xi, page 85). A Lodge at Dublin, Ireland, had passed a resolution that only one jug of punch should be placed on the table after supper as some of the brothers had not observed due moderation. Brother Richard Bayly, the Worshipful Master, did not approve of this proceeding and yet he wished to observe the law as strictly as he could and still not show it to interfere with his desires. He had a gigantic pitcher made, a Masonic jug holding eighteen quarts, and presented this to the Lodge in his term of office in 1797.
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RESPECTABLE
A title given by the French, as worshipful is by the English, to a Lodge or Brother. Thus, La Respectable Loge de la Candeur is equivalent to The Worshipful Lodge of Candor. It is generally abbreviated as R.-. L.-. or R.-.(square)
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RESPONSE
In the liturgical services of the Church an answer made by the people speaking alternately with the clergyman. In the ceremonial observances of Freemasonry there are many responses, the Master and the Brethren taking alternate parts, especially in the funeral service as laid down first by Preston, and now very generally adopted. In all Masonic prayers the proper response, never to be omitted, is, "So mote it be."
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RESTORATION
The restoration, or, as it is also called, the reinstatement of a Freemason who lad been excluded, suspended, or expelled, may be the voluntary act of the Lodge, or that of the Grand Lodge on appeal, when the sentence of the Lodge has been reversed on account of illegality in the trial, or injustice, or undue severity in the sentence. It may also, as in the instance of definite suspension, be the result of the termination of the period of suspension, when the suspended member is, ipso facto, by the fact itself, restored without any further action of the Lodge.
The restoration from indefinite suspension must be equivalent to a reinstatement in membership, because the suspension being removed, the offender is at once invested with the rights and privileges of which he had never been divested, but only temporarily deprived. But restoration from expulsion may be either to membership in the Lodge or simply to the privileges of the Order. It may also be ex gratia, or an act of mercy, the past offense being condoned; or ex debit justitia, through faulty justice, by a reversal of the sentence for illegality of trial or injustice in the verdict.
The restoration ex gratia, or mercifully, may be either by the Lodge or the Grand Lodge on appeal. If by the Lodge, it may be to membership, or only to good standing in the Order. But if by the Grand lodge, the restoration can only be to the rights and privileges of the Order. The Freemason having been justly and legally expelled from the Lodge, the Grand lodge possesses no prerogative by which it could enforce a Lodge to admit one legally expelled any more than it could a profane who had never been initiated.
But if the restoration be ex debit justitia, as an act of justice, because the trial or verdict had been illegal, then the Brother, never having been lawfully expelled from the Lodge or the Order, but being at the very time of his appeal a member of the Lodge, unjustly or illegally deprived of his rights, the restoration in this case by the Grand Lodge must be to membership in the Lodge. Any other course, such as to restore him to the Order but not to membership, would be manifestly unjust. The Grand Lodge having reversed the trial and sentence of the subordinate Lodge, that trial and sentence become null and void, and the Freemason who had been unjustly expelled is at once restored to his original status (see this subject fully discussed in Doctor Maekey's revised Jurisprudence of Freemasonry, 1927).
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RESURRECTION
The doctrine of a resurrection to a future and eternal life constitutes an indispensable portion of the religious faith of Freemasonry. It is not authoritatively inculcated as a point of dogmatic creed, but is impressively taught by the symbolism of the Third Degree. This dogma has existed among almost all nations from a very early period. The Egyptians, in their mysteries, taught a final resurrection of the soul. Although the Jews, in escaping from their Egyptian thraldom, did not carry this doctrine with them into the desert—for it formed no part of the Mosaic theology—yet they subsequently, after the captivity, borrowed it from the Zoroastrians.
The Brahmans and Buddhists of the East, the Etruseans of the South, and the Druids and the Scandinavian Skalds of the West, nursed the faith of a resurrection to future life. The Greeks and the Romans subscribed to it; and it was one of the great objects of their mysteries to teach it. It is, as we all know, an essential part of the Christian faith, and was exemplified, in His own resurrection, by Christ to His followers. In Freemasonry, a particular Degree, the Master's, has been appropriated to teach it by an impressive symbolism. "Thus, " says Hutchinson (Spirit of Masonry, page 164), "our Order is a positive contradiction to Judaic blindness and infidelity, and testifies our faith concerning the resurrection of the body."
We may deny that there has been a regular descent of Freemasonry, as a secret organization, from the mystical association of the Eleusinians, the Samothracians, or the Dionysians. No one, however, who carefully examines the mode in which the resurrection or restoration to life was taught by a symbol and a ceremony in the Ancient Mysteries, and how the same dogma is now taught in the Masonic initiation, can, without absolutely rejecting the evident concatenation of circumstances which lies patent before him, refuse his assent to the proposition that the latter was derived from the former.
The resemblance between the Dionysiac Legend, for instance, and the Hiramic cannot have been purely accidental. The chain that connects them is easily found in the fact that the Pagan Mysteries lasted until the fourth century of the Christian era, and, as the Fathers of the Church lamented, exercised an influence over the secret societies of the Middle Ages.
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RETURNS OF LODGES
Every subordinate Lodge is required to malice annually to the Grand Lodge a statement of the names of its members, and the number of admissions, demissions, and expulsions or rejections that have taken place within the year. This statement is called a return. A neglect to make the annual return causes a forfeiture of the right of representation in the Grand Lodge. The sum due by the Lodge is based on the return, as a tax is levied for each member and each initiation. The Grand Lodge is also, by this means, made acquainted with the state of its subordinates and the condition of the Order in its Jurisdiction.
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REUBEN
The eldest son of Jacob. Among the Royal Arch banners, that of Reuben is purple, and bears a man as the device. It is appropriated to the Grand Master of the Second Veil.
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REUNION ISLAND
Formerly Ile de Bourbon, or Bourbon's Island, and is in the Indian Ocean, east of the Island of Madagascar. There is one Lodge here under the Grand Orient of France. It was established at St. Denis, the capital.
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REVELATION
The following is an extract from Mackenzie's
Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia upon this subject: With infinite learning
and patience the author of The Book of God, who preserves strict
anonymity, has endeavored to show that the work, Apocalypse, was
originally revealed to a primaeval John, otherwise Cannes and
identical with the first messenger of God to man;. This theory
is sufficiently remarkable to be mentioned here. The messengers,
twelve in number, are supposed by the author to appear at intervals
of years. Thus:
1, Adam, 3000 A. M.
2, Enoch, 3600 A.M.
3, Fohi, 4200 A. M.
4, Brigoo, 4800 A. M.5, Zaratusht 5400 A. M.
6, Thoth, 6000 is A. M.
7, Amosis or Moses 6600 A. M.
8, Laotseu, 7200 A. M.
9, Jesus, 7800 A..M.
10, Mohammed, 8400 A. M.
l l, Chengiz-Khan A.9000 A. M., and
12, the twelfth messenger yet to be revealed, 9600 A. M.
With the aid of this theory, the whole history of the world, down to our own days, is shown to be foretold in the Apocalypse, and although it is difficult to agree with the accomplished writer's conclusions, supported by him with an array of learning and a sincere belief in what is stated, no one with any taste for these studies should be without this wonderful series of books. The same author has published, in two volumes, a revised edition of the Book of Enoch, with a commentary, and he promises to continue, and, if possible, complete his design.
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REVELATIONS OF FREEMASONRY
Expositions
*
REVELS, MASTER OF THE
An officer attached to the royal or other eminent household, whose function it was to preside when the members and guests were at refreshment, physical and intellectual, to have charge of the amusement of the court or of the nobleman to whose house he was attached during the twelve Christmas holidays. In Masonic language, the Junior Warden.
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REVEREND
A title sometimes given to the Chaplain of a Masonic Body.
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REVERENTIAL SIGN
The second sign in the English Royal Arch system, and thus explained: We are taught by the Reverential Sign to bend with submission and resignation beneath the chasting hand of the Almighty, and at the same time to engraft His law in our hearts. This expressive form, in which the Father of the human race first presented himself before the face of the Most High, to receive the denunciation and terrible judgment, was adopted by our Grand Master Moses, who, when the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush on Mount Horeb, covered his face from the brightness of the divine presence.
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REVERE, PAUL
American patriot, noted for several daring exploits during the Revolutionary War, an engraver, and Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, from December 12, 1794, to December 27, 1797. Revere, or Rivoire, as his ancestors wrote the name, born in Boston, January 1, 1735, became a goldsmith and silversmith in his father's shop and here developed his natural talents by designing and executing all sorts of engraving. In 1756 he took part in the expedition against Crown Point, his rank being Second Lieutenant of Artillery. Initiated in Saint Andrews Lodge, September 4, 1760. He was Raised January 27, 1761; elected Senior Warden in November, 1764, and Master, November 30, 1770.
During this time he conducted a copper-plate engraving shop, and, while a member of a club of young men formed to watch the movements of the British troops in Boston, engraved several anti-British caricatures. He was one of the grand jurors who refused to serve in Boston in 1774 because the justices had been made independent of the people by Parliament- He was a leader of the Boston Tea Partly and in 1774 went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to urge that military stores there be seized by the Colonists, whom he encouraged in their attack and capture of Fort William and Mary, one of the first military acts of the Revolutionary War. Paul Revere, as the man whose midnight ride from Charlestown to Lexington, April 18-9, 1775, gave warning to the Colonists of the approach of the Writ troops from Boston, was immortalized by Longfellow's poem, the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.
He set up a powder mill at Canton which he operated successfully for the Colonists, although the only previous knowledge was when he was sent in 1775 by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress to Philadelphia to study the one powder mill in the Colonies and through it he was permitted to pass but once, but the information thus snatched proved invaluable. He was commissioned a Major of Infantry, April, 1776; and in November, same year, promoted as Lieutenant Colonel of Artillery, stationed at Castle William to defend Boston Harbor and finally given command there. Served the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts as Junior Grand Warden from 1777 until 1779; from 1780 to 1783 as Senior Grand Warden; from 1784 to 1791 as Deputy Grand Master.
After the war he engaged in the manufacture of gold and silver ware; successfully erected and operated an air-furnace in which he cast bells and brass cannon; was a pioneer in America in making copper plate and did much to promote this industry. He was the first President of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association, founded in 1795. In this year he, as Grand Master, laid the cornerstone of the State House at Boston.
He was a Royal Arch Mason. Paul Revere's name appears on the records of Saint Andrew's Royal Arch Chapter at Boston, Massachusetts, on January 9, 1770. There is no doubt he was a member at this early period, for he was Junior Warden of the "Royal Arch Lodge" in the year 1770. He was Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in 1782, and Grand Master in 1795, 1796 and 1797 (see Bylaws of Saint Andrews Royal Arch Chapter, Boston, 1866, page 82). Proceedings, Grand Lodge, Massachusetts, 1916, page 216, has sketch of career, and page 218 contains references; first volume, Proceedings, has many references. Brother Paul Revere died at Boston, May 10, 1818.
Grand Master Paul Revere inspected a Lodge in his time with a care well worthy of our admiration. His record here given is taken from the rough notes lade by Brother Paul Revere and an effort has been made to reproduce with precision the verbal peculiarities of the original handwriting preserved by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. The reader will please not overlook the probabilities that this document was never intended for print. Copies of addresses made by Paul Revere to his Brethren show that while, as has often been said, "New occasions teach new duties," the problems confronting the draftsmen of the past were like unto those of the present day. This address was made at a formal visit by Grand Master Paul Revere to Washington Lodge. The inspection was in the fall of 1797 or in 1797. The Grand Secretary of Massachusetts, brother Frederick W. Hamilton, kindly verified the sates for us. Washington Lodge was chartered on March 17, 1796, and Brother Paul Revere went out of office at the end of 1797.
The formal salutation at the commencement of the address deserves critical attention. The famous Diary of Samuel Pepys furnishes a similar instance under date of August 4, 1661. A clergyman in Pepys presence addressed his congregation as "Right Worshipful and dearly beloved." This was in the Parish of "My cousin Roger," Member of Parliament for The town of Cambridge. The presence ' these persons of distinction doubtless led to the adoption of the peculiar form of salutation. Notice rill be taken of the method of addressing the Wardens. But the whole address is well worth careful Leading.
Right Worshipful Master, Worshipful Wardens, & Respected Brethren. The Grand Lodge ever Anxious for the prosperity of all the Lodges under the Jurisdiction, have set apart this Evening to Visit Washington Lodge.—You will permit us the favor of perusing your Bye Laws & Records, after which we will thank the Right Worshipful Masters or some Brethren by his appointment, to go through the usual lectures.
Respected Brethren I am happy to find your Bye Laws so well digested. Your Records so well preserved the Order & decorum of Your Lodge so well directed.
You will permit me Brethren to impress on your minds the necessity of a strict and careful examination of the Characters, of every person who offer themselves Candidates to be initiated into our Society; You ought carefully to examine whether they have ever been rejected in other Lodges; and if they have, what were the cause: For nothing is more discouraging to our laudable motives nor is any thing more destructive of Harmony and brotherly Love than our being imposed upon by wicked and unfaithful Brothers.
The Worshipful Master will permit me to remind him that this Lodge is placed under his immediate Care and under the direction of Him, & his Officers, where we have every reason to expect, that the true principles of Free Masonry, will be cultivated, & cherished; and that in due time we shall gather Laurels of Virtue, & Benevolence. The wardens, & Brethren, will be careful to remember that the Honor, & reputation of the Craft, in a great measure depends on a Strict conformity to the Bye Laws and regulations, and that it is highly necessary that an early and punctual attendance is paid to the duties, & business of the Lodge, that the Master may be enabled to Call the Laborers from their work to refreshment in due time,—that He may direct the paying them their wages, and Closing the Lodge at an early Hour.
The Master & wardens will permit me to remind them that a Constant, & punctual attendance. on the quarterly Communications is absolutely necessary, they being the only legal representatives their absence cannot be dispensed with.
The Secretary will be careful to remember that it is his duty, to transmit to the Grand Lodge annually, a list of the officers; and quarterly, a list of the new initiated Brothers, that their names may be recorded in the Grand Lodge Books.
The following excellent Installation Charge was also the work of Most Worshipful Paul Revere, 1795, when Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts:
Worshipful Master,—This Worshipful Lodge having chosen you for their Master and Representative, it is now incumbent upon you, diligently and upon every proper occasion, to inquire into the knowledge of your fellows, and find them daily employment, that the Art which they profess may not be forgotten or neglected. You must avoid partiality, giving praise where it is due and employing those in the most honorable part of the work who have made the greatest advancement of the Art. You must preserve union, and judge in all cases amenably and mildly, preferring peace.
That the Society may prosper, you must preserve the dignity of your office, requiring submission from the perverse and refractory—always acting and being guided by the principles on which your authority is folded. You must, to the extent of your power, pay a constant attendance on your Lodge, that you may see how your work flourishes and your instructions are obeyed. You must take care that neither your words nor actions shall render your authority to be less regarded, but that your prudent and careful behavior may set an example and give a sanction to your power. And as Brotherly Love is the cement of cur Society, so cherish and encourage it that the Brethren may be more willing to obey the dictates of Masons than you have occasion to command.
And you, the officers of this Worshipful
Lodge, must carefully assist the Master in the discharge and execution
of his office—diffusing light and imparting knowledge to
all the fellows under your care, keeping the Brethren in just
order and decorum, that nothing may disturb the peaceable serenity,
or obstruct the glorious effects of harmony and concord. And that
this may be the better preserved, you must carefully inquire into
the character of all candidates to this Honorable Society, and
recommend none to the Master who, in your opinion, are unworthy
of the privileges and advantages of Masonry —keeping the
CYNlC far from the Ancient Fraternity where harmony is obstructed
by the superstitious and morose. You must discharge the Lodge
quietly, encouraging the Brethren assembled to work cheerfully
that none, when dismissed, may go away dissatisfied.
And you, Brethren of this Worshipful Lodge, learn to follow the
advice and instructions of your officers, submitting cheerfully
to their amicable decisions, throwing by all resentments and prejudices
toward each other. Let your chief care be to the advancement of
the Society you have the honor to be members of. Let there be
a modest and friendly emulation among you in doing good to each
other. Let complacency and benevolence flourish among you. Let
your actions be squared by the rules of Masonry. Let friendship
be cherished, and all advantages of that title by which we distinguish
each other, that we may be Brothers not only in name, but in the
full import, extent, and latitude of so glorious an appellation.
Finally, my Brethren, as this association has been carried on with so much unanimity and concord (in which we greatly rejoice), so may it entitle to the latest ages. May your love be reciprocal and harmonious. While these principles are uniformly supported, this Lodge will be an honor to Masonry, an example to the world, and, therefore, a blessing to mankind. From this happy prospect I rest assured of your steady perseverance, and conclude with wishing you all, my Brethren, joy of your Master, Wardens, and other officers, and of your Constitutional union as Brethren.
*
REGIUS MS. ON GOOD MANNERS
Since it is the oldest of known manuscript versions of the Old Charges (or Old MSS., or Old Constitutions), written about 1390 A.D., or possibly 1400 A.D., the Regius MS. would be everywhere known among Freemasons were it not written in an English so nearly obsolete that it may almost as well be a foreign tongue. Bro. Roderiek H. Baxter, a Past Master of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, has put Masons in his debt, and American Masons especially so—for they are farther from the Middle Ages than are their Brethren in England—by making a careful transliteration of it into modern English, beautifully done, and as close to the original as any transliteration can be. It is in a brochure entitled The Masonic Poem of l.q90, Circa (a poem because the original is in rhymed verse; Wallasey; Wallasey Printers Ltd.; 1927.)
But to American Masons a further difficulty in understanding the Regius MS. is the last section of it, because the contents of that section, or any mention of it, are never heard in a Masonic Lodge, and appear to have only a remote connection with Speculative Freemasonry. It is a disquisition on the theme, "Good manners make the man." In Bro. Baxter's transliteration it begins with line 694: "When thou comest before a lord," etc. This section was lifted bodily from an anonymous poem written about 1460 which usually is entitled Urbanitatis, but which Professor F. J. Furnivall edited for the Early English Text Society as Reprint: The Babees Book. The whole section is a set of instructions issued to a young man on how to behave with manners and grace when at table, when in a fine house, when meeting persons of quality, etc.
According to tables and statistics included here and there in a number of works on Medieval population, on population in country, villages, towns, etc., and as applied to the Mason Craft, the supposition is that some ninety per cent of the boys of twelve to fourteen who came as Masonic apprentices were from the country, many of them from peasants' homes.
Such boys had never been in fine houses, had never associated with persons of quality, possessed no etiquette or table manners, had handled no silver, or ever sat in hall or bower. But the Freemasons who worked for years on cathedrals, abbeys, priories, etc. were associated with persons of the highest rank, with barons and prelates and clerics, and at the same time had to work in a brotherhood with other workmen of education, often of eminence, and perhaps famous, and who would not tolerate uncouthness, vulgarity, gaucheries, and profanity from those about them. Therefore along with being taught his art the boy had to be taught and polished in speech, clothing, manners, and etiquette. In effect, the last section of the Regius was a stern injunction to such apprentices and a warning to them that the severe rules of the Craft which governed the etiquette of Masons would be enforced upon them.
NOTE. As bearing on a question concerning Degrees and ceremonies in Operative Lodges the inclusion of these admonitions would suggest that the Old Charges in part were read, or at least addressed to the apprentices. On the other hand, other Rules, Regulations, Points are evidently addressed to Master Masons. If the oath or pledge was taken "on" the Old Charges perhaps the Lodge's copy was used twice over, once for Apprenticed once at the end of apprenticeship, seven, or so, years afterwards.
The Remus .MS. and the Cooke M S. are printed together, compared, and annotated in The Two Earliest Masonic MSS., by Douglas Knoop, G. P. Jones, and Douglas Hamer, Manchester University Press; 1938; cloth; index; glossary; 216 pages.
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REGULATIONS
The Old Charges contain a set of regulations by which Freemasons were governed when at work, and when outside the Lodge. Although the oldest existing copy was written about 1390 A.D. to 1400 A.D. it is certain that the regulations had been in force long before; at least regulations of a similar kind. It is also certain that though these regulations belonged to the Craft, they were accepted by non-Masonic, civil authorities as having a legal status.
Thus, in a Fabric Roll of St. Peter's at York, dated 1355, a written contract between the Freemasons and the building administration agrees that the latter shall respect "the ancient customs [regulations] which the Masons use," etc.; a similar entry is found in a Roll dated in 1370. The regulations as now in use by the Speculative Fraternity are altered out of recognition, many of them, in form and language; but in substance and principle are the same as those in use according to the ancient "customs." (On York regulations see: History of the Metropolitan Church of St. Peter, Yortc, by John Browne; Longuans & Co.; London; 1847.)
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RELIGION AND FREEMASONRY
During its earliest period Christianity devoted itself to establishing
its centers in southern Europe. There it found itself among a
large number of religions, some of which had spread northward
from Egypt, or had worked down out of Mesopotamia countries through
Greece into Italy, or were powerful nature cults which had infiltrated
from the mountain and forest lands of the north—there was
nowhere a single organized religion called paganism. One of these
religions, Mithraism, w as especially powerful because it u as
the cult of the Imperial army, and for generations m-as virtually
the state religion.
The religions which came out of Greece were even more difficult to oppose because like everything else of Greek origin they were highly intelligent, were saturated with the Greek feeling for culture, especially of the plastic arts, and were supported by the philosophers and scientists who for centuries were the acknowledged teachers of the Romans. Beyond the frontier, in Russia and the far north and among powerful Teutonic tribes, were other religions which would be encountered afterwards. Throughout the period as a u hole, the religion of Judaism also was in southern Europe, and like Christianity possessed within itself a powerful missionary enthusiasm.
For a period, each small Christian settlement had a leader. This leader came in due course to give his full time to his office, and was called a pastor (he was not transformed into a priest for centuries afterwards).
To give the movement unity, the pastors
of a region were brought under the leadership of an over-pastor,
or, as later called, bishop (episcopos). Just as the religion
grew more rapidly in some areas than in others, so did a few bishops
come to be more powerful than others; the paramount bishoprics
were at Alexandria, Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, Athens and Rome.
After the Christian religion had become the official state religion
it reorganized itself on the pattern of the Roman political government
(into parishes, etc.); and because Rome was the Capital of the
Empire, the Bishop of Rome grew to be the most influential bishop;
but he did not become a Pope, or bishop of bishops, until about
the time of Charlemagne, did not become the chief authority in
all matters until after the Tenth Century, and was not declared
infallible until 1870. It had always been held that a General
Council had in matters of doctrine and discipline authority superior
to a Pope; in 1870 this was reversed, and the Pope usurped the
final authority which for centuries had belonged to the Councils.
By the beginning of the Fourth Century the
Roman Empire developed two great lines of expansion; one eastward
through Greece, up through the Balkans, and into Russia; one westward,
toward Paris, and northward toward Germany, which was then a generic
name for the northern half of Europe. Under this centrifugal pressure
the Empire divided into two empires, the Western with its capital
at Rome (though often the real capital was Paris, for Rome at
one time was but a small village); the Eastern with its capital
at Constantinople. The word "catholic" meant nothing
more than the general religion; it was a synonym for Christianity,
and "Roman Catholicism was Christianity in the Western Empire.
Greek (or Eastern, or Orthodox) Catholicism, headed by the Patriarch
(or chief bishop, or pope) of Constantinople, w as the Christianity
of the Eastern Empire.
If the division of the one Empire into two Empires broke Christianity's
territorial jurisdiction into two jurisdictions, the Barbarian
invasions from the north and from the east, cut its history in
two. The religion which emerged from the Dark Ages was scarcely
recognizable as the religion it had been before. Early Christianity
had been spiritual, full of moral passion, humane, apostolic,
a New Testament faith; the religion which took its place after
the Dark Ages was a system of sacerdotalism, with a liturgy in
place of a pulpit, and professionalized, celibate priests in place
of pastors; saint worshiping, relic worshiping, full of superstitions,
an advocate of poverty and illiteracy, and openly in league with
political powers. But though this new sacerdotal Roman Catholicism
was one side of the shield of the Carlovingian political system,
and therefore had a formal, external unity protected by law, inwardly,
in men's genuine religious faith or lack of it, it was divided
into as many denominations and sects as it is now. There never
was "an age of faith" or an era of unity.
Any religion, even a religion as monopolistic, unchallenged, absolutistic, possessive as Thibetan Lamaism, can control the world up to a certain point only. No religion can control the weather, the seasons, the 80il, the ocean or the streams, rock or sand, animals, or plants; nor can it alter the skilled crafts and trades, or the Arts and Sciences. Under a Medici Pope in the Vatican these were the same as when Aristotle had taught zoology more than 2000 years before. Black smithing, pottery, carpentry, stone-masonry, war, the art of medicine, navigation, astronomy, mathematics, agriculture, engineering, painting, sculpture, physics, chemistry, these are the same in Boston as in Peking, and are not subject to theological jurisdictions. So it was under the Roman Catholic Church from Charlemagne to the Reformation. Its General Councils could not alter the theorems of Euclid; they could destroy a geometrician, they could not destroy geometry. They had no authority over the Arts and Sciences.
Architecture, out of the midst of which Freemasonry arose, mas one of these non-theological arts which everlastingly lie beyond religious control. It had nothing to say about theology, for it, or against it; nor did theology have anything to say to it, because the principles and skills of building are non-responsible to theology, and theology is irrelevant to them—as well talk about a Roman Catholic or a Protestant mathematics ! Freemasons themselves could believe personally in what religion they chose, Orthodox Catholicism in Athens, Mohammedanism in Belgrade; could be Waldensians, or Huguenots, or Anabaptists, or Gallicans, or Anglicans, or Copts; but the Craft's art, its customs and leans of organization, its skills and sciences, its formulas and principles, its standards and Landmarks and purposes, were neither for nor against, nor in nor out, of any one of these creeds, because it stood apart from them, and has done so ever since.
The Medieval Freemasons in England from whom modern Freemasonry descended were, as men, in the English Catholic Church, but as Masons it mattered nothing to them whether they were building a cathedral or a castle, a monastery or a fortress, a chapel or a wall, or a bridge. After England severed itself from the Papacy under Henry VIII, Masons, as men, became English Catholics; after the denominations began to multiply in the Eighteenth Century they might be Methodists, Presbyterians, Puritans, Quakers, or Anglicans. Today Masons carry on the work of their Lodges with men belonging to almost every religion or denomination in the world—taking it that atheism is not a religion. Belief in God, the future life, the brotherhood of man, and morality belong to no one religion; but to man at large. The historical changes never involved a break of continuity in Freemasonry, no 'ch