by: Unknown

“If a man die, shall he live again?  (Job 14:14)

Freemasonry has been called a religion which can be all things to all men.

Many dispute the statement that Freemasonry is a religion at all, on the theory that a religion is a specified manner of worship, whereas Freemasonry has neither creed nor dogma.  Freemasonry is much more properly religion than “a” religion.

Freemasonry may, indeed, be all things religious to all men.  Each may take from it, each may read into it, any creed or dogma which fits his personal religious belief – and find his faith fits with the teachings of the gentle Craft.

For be a man’s faith what it may, it must be founded on the rock of a belief in Deity and a faith in a future life.  Here, indeed, Freemasonry touches hands with religion and sees eye to eye with all beliefs.  The Master Mason’s Degree, the Hiramic Legend, the Search For That Which Was Lost and the Sprig of Acacia all answer the cry of Job with comfort and assurance.

Pull the flower to pieces; remain the petals, a perfume, but no rose.  Play the symphony, isolate note by note; sound is heard, but no music. 

Every word Milton wrote is in the dictionary; but great poems may not be found there, So of any written account of this degree; we may write of its symbols, analyze its legend, tell of its meaning, but we pronounce but words without rhyme, make a flower of wax, a song muted.  The best we may do is to point out a path to the high mountain of spiritual experience which is the Sublime Degree, that he who climbs may see it with a new view – and clearer eyes.  To the universal and yearning hope of all mankind throughout all ages Freemasonry answers; there “is” a hope of immortality; there “is” a Great Architect by whose mercy we may live again, leaving to each brother his choice of interpretation by which he may read the Great Beyond.

The Third Degree teaches of the power- and the powerlessness – of evil.  For those who are happy to believe in the resurrection of the physical body, the Sublime degree has comfort.  For those whose hope is in the raising only of that spiritual body of which Paul taught, the degree assures of all the longing heart can wish.  When the greatest hope and the dearest wish of all mankind is made manifest, the Sublime Degree turns to “this” life and “this” brotherhood, and ties together the Hiramic Legend and daily living in a manner which no thoughtful man may see and hear without a thrill; a way at once awe inspiring and heartening; terrible and beautiful; sternly uncompromising yet strangely comforting in that land of inner life, that home of the spirit, where each man thinks the secret thoughts he tells never – never.

In his quiet hours, first among those matters unspoken is the age old question of Job.  When he sees his children growing up and realizes that he is getting older, older and some day to be really old, he asks it.  When he stands beside the coffin of his departed brother to cast into the open grave the Sprig of Acacia he asks it again, sometimes not knowing that the very act which gives rise to the question is Freemasonry’s answer.

Acacia was a symbol of immortality before Freemasonry existed.  It is the shittim wood of the Old Testament, the erica or tamarisk at the foot of which the body of the dead Osiris was cast ashore so that, when found, it would rise again.

The Jews have always considered shittim a sacred wood; a symbol of life.  Logs used in houses sprouted long after the tree was destroyed that the beam might be made from it.  Shittim wood was used to construct the table for the shew bread, the tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, the sacred furniture of the Temple.  Everyone was familiar with the evergreen which does not seem to die in cold weather, as do less hardy trees which shed their leaves and sleep through the winter.

But if Freemasonry did not make Acacia a symbol, the Craft adopted it as symbolic of our own special Rite and beliefs.  Acacia marked the spot where lay all that was mortal of the Widow’s Son.  The Hiramic Legend is of an immortality which was made manifest in the very shade of acacia; how should the plant “not” stand for the most blessed hope of man?

In the stately prayer in the Master’s degree we hear “for there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again – .”  Later we learn of man who “cometh forth as a flower and is cut down,” by the scythe of time which gathers him “to the land where his fathers have gone before him.”

“Where is that land?”

Uncounted millions have asked.  Freemasonry’s reply is, that glorious immortality symbolized by the acacia, its reality attested by every hope of every man born of woman since the first infant cried its birth cry.

The Sprig of acacia has another and equally beautiful implication besides that of the certainty of spiritual survival.  “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  The Sprig of Acacia is not only the emblem of a future life, but of faith.

It matters little what faith that is.  It is the existence of “some” faith which is important; the certainty of “things not seen.”  The Masons may be a Methodist, Baptist, Spiritualist, Evolutionist, Unitarian. Trinitarian, Mohammedan or Brahmin.  He may believe in an orthodox heaven of Golden Streets and Milk and Honey; his faith may send him to a whole realm of seven planets which he may visit in turn with esoteric Buddist; he may believe in the succession of planes of Spiritualism or the Nirvana of the Orient – the Sprig of Acacia is at once a symbol of the immortality taught by his faith, and of the faith itself.

One cannot “prove” immortality any more than one can prove God. 

Proof is the result of logic , and logic is a process of the mind.  Faith is the product of a process of the heart.  We cannot reason ourselves into or of love; we cannot reason ourselves into or out of faith.

The Sprig of Acacia proves nothing – nor does it try to.  It means everything to him who has the faith.  It is Freemasonry’s attestation to her children and to the world that brethren drop their tears on the body of the deceased brother in full faith that – where nor how we presume not to say, leaving it wholly to the eye which Sees the Everlasting Arms which enfold – he, even as we, shall live again.  He knows past all forgetting because he has learned the lesson of the Hiramic Legend.

Learned students have attempted to fix the date -as if dates mattered! – when that story first made its appearance in Freemasonry.  Their conclusions are more negative than positive, and none have gone behind the fact that in one form or another the Hiramic Legend is among the oldest as it is among the dearest myths of the race.  One may agree that documentary evidence does not put the legend of the martyred master workman into the third degree prior 1725, and still see in it the recasting of the race-old drama of man’s hope for immortality.

A dozen or more suggestions have been made by Masonic students as to “what it means.”  Some take the legend literally.  Others believe it is another way of telling the story of Isis and Osiris – itself a legend which could hardly have been foisted full born from the brain of some clever priest, but must have been a heritage from the Hyskos, or even earlier inhabitants of Egypt.  Some see it in a modern version of the death of Abel at the hands of Cain, and of course thousands visualize it as the death and resurrection of the Man of Galilee.

With such speculations the average Master Mason need have no concern.  Nor need his heart be troubled as to whether the drama is “true” or not.

Search the Great Light how we will, we find no account of the tragedy of Hiram Abif.  We learn of Hiram, or Huram.  If we delve deeply enough in Hebrew, we learn that modern scholarship translates Hiram Abif as “Hiram, my father” meaning a Hiram looked up to, venerated, given a title of honor, as the father of a tribe, the father of an art, the father of the sacred vessels of the Temple.  But of the three, the tragedy, and the Lost Word, the Old Testament is silent.  Nor can we find in secular history any account of the drama of Hiram.  For its truth we must seek into the myths and legends and fairy stories in which the race has half concealed, half revealed, those truths which do not bear telling in plain words.  Is there a Santa Claus?  For Six Years Old there is.  For his elders Santa Claus is a means of telling a beautiful truth in terms which Six Years Old can understand.  Is the legend “True?”  What is meant by  “True?”  Historically Santa Claus nor Hiram Abif are “true.”  But if “true” means “containing a Great Truth” then both the myth of the Yule Tide Saint and the legend of the Master Builder are “true” in the most real sense.

Raised to the Sublime Degree, many men see the drama of the Master only literally, a teaching of the virtues of fortitude and inflexible fidelity.  For those whose ears hear only the melody and are deaf to harmonies, for those whose eyes are so blinded by the sunset as not to see the colors, this is good enough.

Yet, any liberal interpretation of the legend and our ceremony which exemplifies it misses its heart.

The Legend of Hiram Abif is at once the tragedy and the hope of man.  It is the story of the resurrection of that “which bears the nearest affinity to that supreme intelligence which pervades all nature.”  It is the answer to Job.  It is at once the beginning of the sacred legend of That Which Was Lost and the assurance that at long last he who seeks shall find.

Any man who has belief in a Great Architect and a hope of immortality may see in it the assurance that death is but a pause, not an end; a gateway, not a wall.

How long is a rope?  A silly question!  It can be measured, presumably, if one can find one end and measure it to the other.  Suppose the rope has only one end!  Sillier and sillier!  But if true of a rope, it is true of space, time and eternity.  If time has a beginning, it has an ending.  If space commences somewhere, there is also will be its end to be found.  “If eternity has a beginning it is not eternal!”

Here is the shock, the surprise and the glory of the third degree.  It presents us with eternity in the midst of life.  It pushes back the confines of our little dimensions, our tiny measurements of time, our small comprehension of space, and shows us that we enter eternity at neither birth nor death.  We have always been in eternity if we are in it at all.  Hiram Abif was gathered to his fathers when the selfishness and sin of misguided men struck him down.  But they were powerless against the Paw of the Lion and the Power of Freemasonry.  Each of us is born, lives his little life, and, wearing his little white apron, is laid where our forefathers have gone before us.  The drama of the third degree assures us that the life from birth to death, and including both, is but an episode, a single note in the great symphony.

The Hiramic Legend is the glory of Freemasonry; the search for That Which Was Lost in the glory of life.

We gaze through the microscope and telescope; and catch no sight of its shadow.  We travel in many lands and far and find it not.  We listen to all the words of all the tongues which all men have ever spoken and will speak – the Lost Word is not heard.  Were it but a Word, how easy to invent another!  But it is not a word, but “The Word”, The great secret, the unknowability which the Great Architect sets before his children, a will o’ the wisp to follow, a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  Never here is it to be found, but the search for it is the reason for life.

The Sublime Degree teaches that, in another life, it may be found.

“That is why it is the sublime degree!”

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The Merlin MS Centre is dedicated to providing essential therapy and support for people affected by multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurological conditions. The funds donated were raised through various lodge activities and the generosity of its members.

A spokesperson for the Merlin MS Centre expressed sincere gratitude for the contribution, emphasizing that the donation would have a meaningful impact on the lives of those who rely on the centre’s vital services. This gift highlights the ongoing commitment of Freemasons in Cornwall to supporting local charities and making a positive difference in their community.

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The Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati currently hosts 80 items that reveal the secretive practices of two historically mysterious organizations: the Freemasons and Odd Fellows.

“Mystery & Benevolence” features objects used for generations in the ritualized, often secret ceremonies of these fraternal orders. Visitors can examine scythes, skulls, elaborate costumes, decorative banners, and ceremonial furnishings. The exhibition runs through May 11.

“In the nearly 10 years since ‘Mystery and Benevolence’ first debuted at the American Folk Art Museum, this exhibition continues to enthrall viewers with the enigmatic symbols and rich imagery that gave many of these fraternal societies an intriguing shroud of mystery,” said Emelie Gevalt, the New York museum’s Deputy Director and Chief Curatorial and Program Officer. “The astounding art and objects in this exhibition are a testament to the self-taught artists and artisans whose vast contributions to early American material culture helped ingrain these societies into popular culture for generations.”

While symbols like the skull and crossbones might initially appear disturbing, they were actually part of initiation rituals designed to encourage members to care for one another in life and death.

“People love this exhibit and are fascinated with the subject,” said Ann Glasscock, associate curator at the Taft. “It’s something you can’t see anywhere else. It’s mysterious because we don’t know 100 percent what goes on behind those closed doors. But these items tell you what goes on… up to a certain point. For both of these groups, serving the community and self-improvement is important.”

Meet the Collectors

The artifacts come from the Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection. In the exhibition catalog introduction, Allan Daniel writes that these items were crafted to convey stories, evoke moods, or teach lessons, and were rarely produced by academic artists.

“Before social services were governmentally institutionalized, people established private fraternities that could provide for those needs,” he said. “This concept fascinated and propelled us to seek out objects that we felt were of artistic merit and deserved to be included in the category of folk art.”

One notable example is the heart design featured in much of the Odd Fellows artwork—often depicted as a heart in hand, symbolizing love and friendship.

“The iconic Odd Fellows symbol of the three-link chain, representing Friendship, Love and Truth, projects a simple, powerful message,” said Daniel.

Most items in the collection are handcrafted.

About the Societies

According to Glasscock, when these groups first formed in America, Masons primarily consisted of upper-class members, while Odd Fellows tended to be middle class and employed in various trades.

At the exhibition, visitors learn about these organizations’ histories, their hierarchical structures, membership levels, and lodge arrangements. Freemasonry originated in medieval stonemasons guilds in London in the 1700s, with the American branch established in the 1800s.

The United Grand Lodge of England reports worldwide Freemason membership exceeding 6 million, with 1.1 million in North America. Ohio has one of the largest Masonic memberships in the country, with more than 60,000 Masons and 430 local Lodges. George Washington himself was a Mason.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows today counts more than 600,000 members across over 10,000 lodges in 30 countries. It was established in the United States in 1819.

These original “brotherhoods” were exclusively designed for white men. While the exhibition highlights the richness of fraternal culture, it also shows how excluded groups, including women and African American men, formed their own societies such as the Daughters of Rebekah and the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows.

What’s on Display

The exhibition showcases altars, uniforms, and costumes. During Odd Fellows rituals, members wore costumes to portray characters in stories that brought their lessons to life. Freemasons used regalia indicating their ranks and roles within the organization.

Visitors can see brightly painted signs, symbols, and passwords appearing on various objects. American Odd Fellows initially used bow and arrow imagery to teach lessons of friendship. A bundle of sticks demonstrated that those who stand together are stronger than individuals standing alone.

Another popular symbol is the beehive, representing industry and unity—working together toward a common purpose.

The displayed tracing boards are decorated with symbols helping members learn their various duties. These were originally traced onto floors or walls and then erased, but Masonic lodges eventually commissioned illustrated charts.

It’s believed that the Pettibone Brothers Manufacturing Company of Cincinnati may have produced some of the banners on display in 1867. The company manufactured uniforms, costumes, hats, flags, and banners for the military, firefighters, theaters, marching bands, and fraternal organizations.

The Daniels spent 30 years building their unusual collection. “For my wife Kendra and me, fraternal art was considered an under-appreciated area in American folk art,” Allan said. “The hunt for these beautiful, often eerie, and sometimes outre objects has been visually enriching and exciting for us and we hope that it will be eye-opening and fascinating for those attending the exhibition.”

Source: https://www.daytondailynews.com/lifestyles/intriguing-objects-from-freemasons-and-odd-fellows-on-display-at-taft-museum/TRKCOVTT2VC4NNEKCZ27B2GRAU/

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According to Becky Griffin of Plank Road Station, this community building was intended to house historical artifacts and gifts they had collected over the years. Following the recent tornado in Winterboro, her organization faces uncertainty about their future plans. Griffin explained that the old Masonic Lodge on Highway 21 was relocated to its current site in 2001.

The building was donated to Plank Road Station, and they have been working on its restoration ever since. Griffin noted that before the storm struck, they had just completed the upstairs flooring and were preparing to begin work on the museum portion. Despite the building’s age, she emphasized its importance as a cornerstone of the Winterboro Community.

“We have lost several of our members over the years, but we have remained focused on the building and have a clear vision for it, and we’ve continued to work toward that goal. It’s a very sturdy building, but we lost the roof, lost windows, and suffered major water damage inside,” Griffin stated.

Griffin expressed hope that their insurance provider will offer assistance. She added that if they receive the necessary funds, they will proceed with their planned restoration.

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THE NEW AGE – JULY 1948

My peace of mind was disturbed by seeing on the front page of a prominent daily paper a picture of many robed Catholic priests, followed by a multitude of admirers, and underneath the picture was this inscription: “Catholics of St. Augustine join the annual Low Sunday pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of La Lache, site of the first mass celebrated in the United States in 1565.”

My peace of mind was disturbed because the Catholic celebration of that mass was in reality a Catholic celebration of a Catholic massacre of innocent Protestants, and I fear that none of the admiring throng who trailed behind those handsomely robed priests realized what they were doing or knew the truth about that first mass. I resolved then and there to make known the facts to our own membership as soon as time could be found in which to do so.

Few realize that the first battle for religious freedom fought in America – and probably the most momentous battle of them all – was fought on the banks of the St. John’s River, near Jacksonville, Florida, in 1565. That battle was fought forty-two years before the English landed at Jamestown, fifty-five years before the Puritans landed on Plymouth Rock, and fifty eight years before the Dutch built their fort on Manhattan. At that battle the issue was this: “Are you Catholics or Lutherans?”

The Spanish were the first white settlers to make any headway in America but they were not the first white settlers in America. The first white settlers in America were French Huguenots who had embraced the Lutheran faith, and were seeking a place to live where they could live according to the doctrines and faith of Martin Luther.

Martin Luther was born in 1483. His influence spread over Germany and into France. At Tours, in France, his followers were accustomed to gather at night at the gate of King Hugo, a French king, who made it a habit to go out only at night, and from this fact a monk, in derision, suggested calling these new religionists “Huguenots,” and so they were named.

In 1564, a band of French Huguenots, under Rene de Laudonniere, settled on the banks of the St. John’s River, south and east of Jacksonville, near the present village of Mayport. They built a fort and called it Fort Caroline.

The St. John’s River at that time was called the River of May, because of the fact that another Frenchman, Jean Ribault, had explored it in 1562, and, having arrived there on the first day of May, he called it the “River of May.” The first settlement there was under the command of Laudonniere, and was made in 1564. A year later a second Huguenot expedition arrived under the command of Jean Ribault. If upon his arrival he had gone at once to Fort Caroline, all might have been well, but instead he spent a wee k or more exploring the coast line before landing. In the meantime a Spanish fleet under Pedro Menendez de Aviles arrived. When Menendez arrived off the entrance of the St. John’s, the French Fleet was unprepared for battle since most of the crew were on shore, and those in command of the French vessels ordered a retreat. Two vessels went north and three south. They outdistanced the pursuing vessels of Menendez, who thereupon withdrew to the sou th, landed at what is now St. Augustine, and at once began to f ortify his encampment there.

During the attack by the Spanish Fleet, Ribault was on shore at Fort Caroline directing the unloading of supplies and the strengthening of the fort. Naturally, he was incensed at the unprovoked attack of the Spaniards and, when on the following day his own fleet reassembled, he determined to sail at once to St. Augustine and give battle to the Spaniards. This plan met with almost united opposition from those in command, and especially from Laudonniere, who was sick with a fever. However, Ribault was a man o f great courage and determination, all fighting men were ordered on board, and the fleet set sail for St. Augustine to attack the Spanish Fleet. Then followed a series of disasters to the French, which for their continuity are unparalleled in history. Upon their arrival at the inlet of the Matanzas River, opposite St. Augustine, they almost succeeded in capturing the Spanish Flagship, but it finally got safely into the harbour, and by this time the tide had receded to such an extent that the French vessel s, which were of a heavier draft than the Spanish, were unable to enter the harbour. Thus the Spaniards were saved, and thereafter the victory was theirs.

The French were forced to withdraw to await a more favourable tide, and, in the meantime, the Spanish commander, Menendez, reasoned thus: “Yesterday the French vessels fled from me, today they return and attack me. Evidently they have been reinforced and, if so, those reinforcements have been taken from their Fort Caroline; consequently the defense of Fort Caroline has been weakened and now is my chance. I am cut off by sea, but I will march there by land and make a surprise attack.” At once he set out to d o so.

His judgment was good. Fort Caroline was taken by surprise; it was wholly unprepared, and soon it was captured and destroyed, its defenders killed, and a sign posted by the Spaniards reciting that the inhabitants had been slain as heretics.

Hardly had this slaughter taken place before a hurricane swept down the coast, driving the French Fleet to the south, wrecking a part of them. A band of those who survived the shipwreck reached shore and set out to return by land to Fort Caroline, but soon found themselves marooned on a sand bar, with no food to eat, no water to drink, no shelter from the blistering rays of the sun, and no way to escape.

Indians carried the news of the shipwreck to Menendez , who set out immediately to investigate. When he came near to the French, he conducted a series of negotiations with the French for their surrender that was bold, cunning and bloodthirsty, and utterly disastrous to the French. He positively refused to accept their surrender with any provision for safety to them, but assured them he would treat them as might be best. Being parched from the lack of water, half starved from the lack of food, blistered by t he pitiless rays of the sun, sick from bites of mosquitoes, and on the verge of despair, they were forced to surrender.

Then followed a unique performance. They were treated to a sumptuous meal. Each ate to his heart’s content. They were then brought over to the mainland, a boat load at a time. On being landed they were told that, as they were enemies of their captors, they could not be entrusted to be taken back to St. Augustine without being handcuffed, as otherwise they might arise against their captors. This sounded reasonable, so each submitted to being bound. Then they were asked this tragic question:

“Are you Catholics or Lutherans, and are there any who wish to confess?” Upon answering that they were of the Lutheran faith, they were led beyond a sand-dune, across a line which had been drawn there in the sand, and as each crossed the line his head was cut off.

The following day native Indians came again with news that another party of Huguenots was to the south of the point where this first body had been found. Several of their vessels had gone on the rocks, and were being broken up by the tide. Menendez again hastily assembled his soldiers and set out for a point on the coast just opposite the helpless vessels. There he found Jean Ribault himself in command of such of the vessels as had been left afloat by the hurricane, and again there ensued the same cunning a nd blood thirsty negotiations. Again the French were told that, if they surrendered they must do so unconditionally. Ribault believed that, if he surrendered he would thereafter be able to buy the ransom of himself and his followers, and accordingly he agreed to do so. How ever, before surrendering he left it to each of his men to decide for himself as to whether he would surrender or would take his chances upon reaching land and thence the interior, with the hope of ultimate assistance from the Indians. A large number refused to surrender and jumped overboard, and such of them as were not drowned before reaching shore disappeared into the woods, and were never heard of again. The majority were too nearly famished to put up much resistance, and they, in company with Ribault himself, surrendered to the Spaniards.

As on the event of the former surrender, the Spaniards served their new captives with a generous meal, and then, as before, they shrewdly explained that, as there was enmity between France and Spain, the Spaniards could not trust their French captives and that it would be necessary that they be bound. Accordingly, the hands of each were then tied behind his back and, this precaution having been taken, Menendez likewise submitted to them the fatal question: “Are you Catholics or Lutherans, and are there any who wish to confess?”

Then for the first time Ribault realized that his life’s work was about to be ended, but, being the brave man that he was, he received his fate stoically, and philosophically remarked that under ordinary conditions he would not have lived more than about twenty years longer, and that “twenty years more or less were of little account in the life of a man,” and “from earth we come and to earth we must return,” and having spoken thus he was led across the same fatal line in the sand and his head was cut off.

The word Matanzas, by the way, means “slaughter.” That is why the Beach there is so named.

Thus we see that on the banks of the St. John’s River in the State of Florida 42 years before the English landed at Jamestown, 55 years before the Pilgrims set foot on Plymouth Rock, and 59 years before the Dutch settled Manhattan, the first battle for religious freedom in the New World was fought, and fought upon this issue: “Are you Catholics or Lutherans?”

Too long have Virginians boasted of the settlement of Jamestown in 1607; too long have New Englanders boasted of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers upon Plymouth Rock in 1620; too long have New Yorkers boasted of the settlement of Manhattan in 1623! It is high time that the citizens of Florida, and particularly members of the Lutheran Church, proclaim to the world that the first battle for religious freedom was fought by Lutherans on Florida soil in 1565.

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“I wouldn’t give it up for the world,” Mr. Kieffner says of his Masonic experience.

Mr. Kieffner’s introduction to the Freemasons occurred when he was a young boy and happened to notice his uncle Dennis Kieffner’s Masonic ring. “It stood out. It was shiny,” Mr. Kieffner said. “I said, ‘My you have a shiny ring.’”

His uncle looked at him and said, “Yeah, one of these days, I want you to wear one.”

The 83-year-old Haysville resident recently received the 50-year Past Master’s Award from the Grand Lodge of Indiana, a rare honor recognizing his decades of leadership and service.

Mr. Kieffner joined the Line Masonic Lodge in Jasper in 1965, the same year the current building was chartered. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the second person raised to Master Mason at the lodge’s altar. He’s served as Master for two terms–1975 and 1982–and has served as the Secretary for every other Master of the lodge except for one.

“There are very few people that live long enough to say they’ve been Past Master 50 years ago,” he explained “It’s kind of an honor.”

The Line Lodge, one of three Masonic lodges in Dubois County, currently has about 60 members. Mr. Kieffner sees his role as preserving history and inspiring a new generation of Masons.

The Freemasons’ commitment to community service is a point of pride for Mr. Kieffner. Along with scholarships, special events, and support of local events, they also provide support for fellow masons no matter where they are from.

He remembers one night at the Line Lodge when two unexpected visitors–one from England and another from Switzerland–walked into the lodge, exemplifying the worldwide brotherhood of Masons.

Despite the organization’s long history and traditions, Kieffner acknowledges that many people don’t understand what Freemasonry is about. He hopes to change that perception.

For Kieffner, the essence of Freemasonry can be distilled into three words: “Friendship, morality, and brotherly love.”

He believes these principles, if more widely adopted, could have a profound impact on society. “If 1 percent of the people outside the wall would take advantage of what goes on in this room, we wouldn’t have the trouble in the world that we have now,” he asserted.

“There is no place in the world that you can go that you don’t meet a Mason,” Mr. Kieffner said.

As Mr. Kieffner looks to the future, he sees an opportunity for the three Masonic lodges in Dubois County to work together to raise awareness about their history and ongoing community involvement.

Reflecting on his six decades of Masonic service, Kieffner’s passion for the organization remains undiminished. His eyes light up as he shares stories of past members, community projects, and the enduring bonds of brotherhood.

“It just makes you feel real good when you get a new member in,” Mr. Kieffner says. “You just make so many connections.”

For Eugene Kieffner, Freemasonry isn’t just an organization – it’s a way of life that has shaped his character, expanded his worldview, and given him a platform to serve his community for over half a century.

“I like to see happiness. I like to see people smile. That’s all part of Masonry,” he said.

Mr. Kieffner and his wife, Judy, have been married for 60 years and live in Haysville. They have two daughters, Tara Betz and Michelle Schmitt.

Source:

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Masonic legends differ from ordinary historical accounts in their reliance on oral tradition rather than documentary evidence. Within Freemasonry, these tales are not judged by their factual accuracy but by the moral and philosophical truths they embody. A Mason’s focus lies not in verifying events but in interpreting their symbolic resonance and relevance to core teachings. For instance, the legend of Hiram Abiff in the Master Mason degree transcends historical detail, instead symbolizing virtues like integrity and the soul’s immortality.

Equally vital are Masonic symbols, rooted in antiquity—a time when knowledge was often conveyed through symbolic language. Each emblem, from the ubiquitous square and compass to lesser-known marks, is imbued with layered meaning. These symbols act as visual metaphors, instructing Masons in principles such as justice, equality, and balance. The plumb line, for example, represents not just a builder’s tool but a call to moral uprightness.

Though transmitted differently—one visually, the other orally—Masonic symbols and legends are deeply interconnected. Together, they articulate a cohesive moral and spiritual philosophy, blending ethical reflection with esoteric insight. This synergy underscores Freemasonry’s pedagogical emphasis on experiential learning and introspection over rote memorization.

Beyond moral instruction, these symbols and legends invite exploration of life’s existential questions: the divine, ethics, and humanity’s place in the cosmos. By engaging with metaphor, Masons are urged to look past the literal and contemplate universal truths, connecting them to a timeless tradition of philosophical inquiry that transcends cultural and historical boundaries.

Freemasonry confronts existential themes unflinchingly. Lodge discussions delve into concepts of divinity, the soul, and the afterlife, framed through allegory and symbol. This creates a space where theological and philosophical exploration thrives, anchored by centuries of symbolic pedagogy.

Studying Masonic philosophy through its allegories is an act of peeling back layers to uncover a rich philosophical core—a journey toward the “hidden mysteries of Nature and Science” the fraternity venerates. Decoding these requires discernment, as symbols are not mere relics but living vessels of wisdom and ethics.

In essence, Freemasonry employs legends and symbols not as antiquated curiosities but as dynamic, vital tools for transmitting sacred philosophy. Their encoded lessons—reflections on virtue, existence, and the divine—remain as pertinent today as ever. True understanding arises not from mere recognition of these elements but from grasping their deeper implications for one’s life and the world.

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The news was revealed at a recent installation ceremony held at the Spartansburg Volunteer Fire Department, where Derrick P. Cross took office as the new District Deputy Grand Master for Masonic District 56, with Right Worshipful Grand Master Larry A. Derr from Philadelphia’s Grand Lodge officiating the event.

The new lodge, scheduled for constitution on June 28, will embrace historical traditions by holding quarterly meetings during full moons. Cross explained this practice’s historical significance, noting how full moonlight once guided members safely to and from meetings in the era before modern lighting.

While temporarily housed in Corry pending renovations, the lodge plans to eventually return to its historic location at the Sparta Grange Hall. This return has been in development since January 2023, following discussions between Cross and Spartansburg Community Foundation President Laurie Patterson, while the foundation has been overseeing building renovations since 2021.

In a touching preservation of heritage, the lodge has acquired the original furniture from its predecessor. Despite modest monetary worth, Cross emphasized these pieces’ irreplaceable historical value.

The lodge’s return reflects Freemasonry’s dedication to community service, with Cross highlighting their local involvement in projects like military banner installation and parking lot maintenance in Corry. This community-focused approach aligns closely with the Spartansburg Community Foundation’s mission.

As the newly installed District Deputy Grand Master, Cross brings valuable experience from his previous role as Corry Lodge’s past master. He emphasized their ongoing mission of “Making good men better” and their openness to welcoming new members who share their values of community improvement and brotherhood.

The organization takes pride in its multi-generational bonds and mentorship approach, fostering connections between fathers, sons, and grandfathers. This commitment to fellowship was highlighted during the installation ceremony, which included special recognition for 50-year members.

Looking forward, Cross plans to focus on mentorship and engagement, echoing Grand Master Derr’s philosophy of “igniting the fire from within” to motivate continued community involvement and improvement.

Those interested in joining or learning more about Freemasonry can visit pagrandlodge.org.

Source: The Corry Journal

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We would like lo thank R.W. Bro. Pollard for this extremely important view of the role of Ihe Past Master. Bro. Pollard is the immediate Past Executive Secretary of the MSA.

Anyone who has served in the East of any Masonic body, but more especially in the East of a symbolic lodge, has a special feeling of satisfaction and pride in his accomplishments in that office. It is only natural that he will also have a feeling of regret that he was not able to ac complish everything he had hoped during his term. He will also have second thoughts on how he handled some situations. Most of all, though, he has a deep and abiding concern for his lodge.

But, what about “life after service in the East?” What happens then? The answer will de pend a great deal upon the individual and his at titude. There are some who relinquish the gavel with great reluctance. . . and there are some who never seem to give it up. And, yes, there are a few (fortunately a very few) who walk away from the job and never appear to look back and seldom come back. Fortunately, the vast majority of Past presiding officers take on a status of “senior ad visors” who greatly assist their successors in the government of the Craft.

Many lodges take full advantage of the talents of these experienced leaders. They are used on “executive councils”, as Trustees, Committee Chairmen, coaches, and as protem officers. So long as they are used to good advantage and are made to continue to feel needed and useful, they will continue to be great assets to the organiza tion. It is when they are ignored and “cast off” that they look around for other outlets for their talents.

Some lodges which have a number of Past Masters available have formed them into a “Past Masters Association”, and when there are several lodges in close proximity they often form a regional association of Past Masters. One of the most successful of this type is the Past Masters Association of the District of Columbia. Thanks to the talents of a dedicated Secretary, it publishes a quarterly newsletter which is sent to all of its members “wheresoever dispersed”, keeping the membership informed of activities in the various lodges, news of the activities of the members, losses through death, changes of address, mar riages, etc. It is a most appreciated service which promotes pride, continued interest, and as a periphery benefit, it increases contributions to the Masonic and Eastern Star Home and other fund raising activities of the D.C. Iodges. Dues in the Association are kept at an absolute minimum, with a number of the D.C. Iodges paying the dues in the Association for all of their Past Masters. This serves as an additional link in the chain of communication. The Past Masters Association meets several times each yearusually at the “festive board.”

That special kinship which Past Masters have with one another is evident in many ways. In many lodges it is customary for the Past Masters to sit together (frequently in the Southeast cor ner) where they have been likened to “buzzards sitting on a fence.” It seems they want to be near the Secretary so that they can see and hear everything that is going on, and, of course they are willing, ready and able to assist, prompt or correct the Master. If you were to eavesdrop on them, you’d hear frequent comments such as, ” During my year, we did such and so; ‘ or, “Remember when such and such happened?” And there is usually a good amount of reminisc ing done. But, it is part of that special fellowship which Past Masters enjoy.

In a number of retirement communities across the country, you will find that the strong “tie that binds” has brought Past Masters together. They have been the founders of literally hundreds of Masonic clubs in those communities, and have been instrumental in increasing attendance at local lodges. And, bless ‘em, many of them have become active in those lodges, bringing with them a wealth of experience and knowledge. Some of them have gone through the line again. Essen tially, they give proof to that old adage that Freemasonry is a universal society of friends and brothers.

We frequently hear Past Masters referred to as the “backbone of the lodge.” That just might be a gross understatement of fact. Past masters may be described as the backbone of the entire fraternity. After all, ALL Grand Lodge officers are, first, Past Masters. It is their knowledge, ex perience, enthusiasm and interest which makes any Grand Lodge “tick”. Almost without excep tion, Past Masters are men of vision, who are continuously working for the good of the Craft, steering the course for its future.

The final paragraph of the January 1931 Short Talk Bulletin, “The Past Master,” reads: “The honorable station of Past Master can not be honored by the brethren if it is not honored by its possessor.” Fortunately, almost all who have earned the title of Past Master continue to serve their lodges with distinction. It is a title which has been earned by their total involvement in lodge activities and by their personal sacrifices. As with all honors and titles, Past Masters find that there are new rights and privileges which go with the title. There are also additional duties and responsibilities…and new challenges.

Among the initial shocks that a new Past Master faces is that the telephone stops its cons tant ringing, that he now has time for a personal life and an opportunity to read and study. Many find that in their first year as a Past Master they gain more Masonic knowledge than in all the preceding years. To aid them in this period, there are several of The Masonic Service Association Short Talk Bulletins which are recommended reading: “The Past Master” (Jan. ‘31); “Lodge Courtesies” (Aug. ‘24); “Master” (Feb. ‘41); “Past Master’s Jewel” (Apr. ‘45); “The Master’s Jewel Speaks” (Oct. ‘43).

With the title of Past Master, he is also accord ed the accolade of “Worshipful”indicating that he is an honored and respected brother. It is a reputation which he must continually strive to uphold.

Yes! Past Masters can be properly referred to as the “backbone of the Craft.”

It is a wise Master who recognizes the talents of the Past Masters and who uses them to good advantage. They can serve as a “sounding board” for the programs and activities a master is con sidering. He can “pick their brains” for ideas and he can count on the Past Masters to give him the wisdom of their experience. The Master serves as the rudder, steering the course, but it is often the Past Masters who assist him to “keep it on an even keel.”

Why are a Past Master’s compasses, in his jewel, open at 60 degrees on a quadrant instead 90 on a square?

The compasses open sixty degrees are in easy position to construct a square. The Master has worn the square while he presided; now, as Past Master, he is supposed to be in possession of the knowledge necessary to make a square, hence the position of the compasses and the quadrant.

There are many geometric methods of erecting a square; the Past Master’s jewel hints at one of the simplest and most used methods as best for the Past Master to employ in instructing his successor.

From “101 Questions about Freemasonry” available through The Masonic Service Association.

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1. THE GILD SYSTEM IN GENERAL

WHEN the Angles and Saxons settled in ancient England (Britain it was then called) they at first maintained their military form of organization, so that each settlement was a kind of camp; but as time went on and villages became permanent, a civil form of social order began slowly to evolve. The first step in this was the institution of the kin-bond, wherein blood relatives stood together for support and protection, the individual and his family being mutually responsible.  This gave way in the course of ti me to voluntary associations founded not on blood relationship but on community ties, existing to protect the individual against the group, to preserve order in the settlement, and for a variety of similar purposes.  These associations, described as “artificial” in contrast to the “natural” bond of blood, were the first gilds in England, in virtue of which fact it cannot be said that anybody ever “discovered” or “invented” gilds; they grew out of natu ral conditions in response to social necessity, just as t hey had come into existence among the Greeks and Romans centuries before, the former calling them “thiassoi”, etc., the latter, “collegia”.  It is generally believed by the more dependable authorities that it is very possible that there may have been some historical continuity between the gilds of early England and the Roman collegia, but the historical remains of the period are too scanty to enable us to make sure on that point.  If such a continuity ev er existed it was more probable in Italy, where the co llegia longest endured, and which, like most other European countries, had a gild system of its own.

The word “gild” (sometimes spelled “guild”)  continues to be a puzzle so far as its etymology is concerned.  The North Germans had “geld”, meaning money; the Danish, “gilde”, a religious feast in honour of the god Odin; the Anglo-Saxons, “gild”, from same root as “yield”, and meaning a fixed payment of money; the Bretons “gouil”, a feast or holiday; the Welsh “gmylad”, a festival.  In later times, when gilds became everywhere common, the North Germans used the word “gild”; the South Germans, “zunft”; the Fr ench, “metier”; and the Italians, “arte”.  In the sixteenth century England the word was generally superseded by “company”, “corporation” or “mystery”, the last name derived from the Latin “ministerium”, or trade, and having no reference to anything mysterious, being preserved in our usage to this day, as when we speak of the arts, parts and mysteries of Freemasonry.

The first gilds, as it is believed, were organized in Italy.  In France they were very common before Charlemagne, and are first mentioned in the Carolingian Capitularies of 779 and 789.  Commercial and craft gilds began to become common in France, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and Sweden in the eleventh century.  The oldest known ordinances, as the written laws for the government of a gild were called, occur in England in the eleventh century.  The gild principle proved so successful and was applied to s o many uses that by the twelfth and thirteenth centuries it became the outstanding feature of the social and economic life of Europe.

One of the commonest early uses of that principle was in the “frith”, or peace, gilds, which became very popular in North Europe in the sixth century – the Vikings organized then to suppress piracy – and in England the century later, where they were referred to in the Laws of Ine.  These were voluntary associations of men organized for mutual defense, to supplement defective laws, and to police the community in a period when national governments were not known and when the authority of the town was very wea k.  We saw this system at work in our own land under pioneer conditions, as in the case of the Vigilantes, and even today, in spite of our elaborate machinery for the enforcement of law and the protection of citizens, impatient men in some communities strive to make or enforce law by similar methods.

In the course of time gilds multiplied until they came to be used for every conceivable purpose, for good-fellowship, for drinking, for insuring a decent burial, for worship, for hunting, travel, art and for banking; priests and friars organized, sailors, travelers, woodsmen and shepherds; there were gilds for men, women, children, for rich and for poor, in the country and in the town.  Functions now performed by government, armies, schools, stores, factories, hospitals, trade unions, and most of the other innumerable forms into which social organization has differentiated itself, were then held in keeping by gilds.

The typical gild had prayers for the dead; a common chest for incidental upkeep and for the relief of the widows and orphans of deceased members; periodical meetings, with banquets; admitted members on an oath, sometimes two; administered fines; adopted ordinances for the regulation of its own activities; punished members for improper conduct, and co-operated in many ways with the town or national governments.  Most of these societies were small, the largest on record being the Corpus Christi gild at York, which once boasted of 15,000 members.  Sometimes many gilds in a community consolidated, but there was never a country-wide merger.  Of the city of London there is record of one gild in 1130; of eighteen in 1180, and of 110 in 1422.  In the time of Edward III there were listed more than 40,000 religious and trade gilds in England; the census of 1389 showed 909 in Norfolk alone.  This proliferation received its first serious set-back during the Ref ormation when Henry VIII despoiled all religious gilds; it di ed down rapidly with the advent of the capitalist system, and came to a dead stop, except in a few unimportant instances, in the last century.  France prohibited them in 1789-91; Spain and Portugal, 1833-40; Austria and Germany, 1859-60; Italy, 1864; Scotland, where the development had followed Continental lines, in 1846, and England in 1835.

In its heyday the gild system was very closely connected with the church, so closely that some writers credit the church with its origin; almost every gild had its patron saint, before whose image it kept a candle burning, and many set aside sums of money for the sustenation of a priest, the maintenance of a chapel and for masses, chantries, church charities and church schools.  Oftentimes a gild had its own chaplain, and a very large number, as already noted, were devoted exclusively to religious purposes; these religious fraternities were suppressed in England in 1547, and other gilds were at the same time forbidden to give money to churches.  A number of the Roman Catholic fraternities now existing are lineal descendants of the old religious gilds.

Partly as a result of their alliance with the church many gilds, otherwise devoted to purely secular pursuits, participated in pageants and in mystery, morality and miracle plays, the forerunners of our modern drama.  These plays were staged on wagons drawn in a “procession” from one exhibition point to another across the town, and always it was a day of excitement when they were shown, and vast crowds gathered.  Expenses were divided among the gilds and parts allotted, as at Norwich, where the mercers, dra pers and haberdashers presented the creation of the world; the grocers, Paradise; the smiths, the fight between David and Goliath; or as at Hereford, the glovers gave Adam and Eve; the carpenters, Noah’s ship; the tailors, the three kings, etc.  It is of record that on a few instances parts were taken by gilds of Masons.  I am of the opinion that the drama of our Third Degree may very probably have been originally an old mystery play, which may have found its way to us through some Masons’ gild that partici pated in it.

It used to be the fashion to say that the gild corporation and the town corporation were identical, or that the former gradually metamorphosed into the latter, a view given a very wide circulation by Brentano; this idea has been abandoned.  There was always a close connection between town government and gild government, but the two were always distinct, except possibly in two or three negligible instances.  In many cases a man had to be a gild member before he could become a citizen, but the gild ordinances were always subordinate to the town authority.  The manner in which the gilds governed themselves will be described later.

It is a remarkable fact, and one worthy of especial remark to us Masons, that many gilds accepted men not at all engaged in the craft as patrons or as a means of bestowing an honour or some special privilege.  “Indeed,” writes one of the best authorities, E. Lipson, “the members of many London companies frequently came to have only a very faint connection with the business of the company to which they were attached,” a fact that makes it easier for us to understand how non-operatives came to be admitted int o the old Masonic gilds, or lodges.  “They included in their membership,” writes another authority, “most of the wealthy men of the nation, and the great [gild] halls now standing in the city of London testify to the proud names with which they are so generously decorated that the men who made England what she was, the men who built her commerce, won her wealth and risked their lives and fortunes in extending England’s commercial supremacy, were mighty i n the gilds.” Henry IV, Henry VI and Henry VIII were g ild members, so also Edward III, who belonged to a gild of armourers.  There is therefore nothing extraordinary in the fact that Elias Ashmole and other worthies of his time sought membership among the operative masons.

II. THE MERCHANT GILDS

The gild system in general had two grand periods of development, the first of which culminated in the merchant gilds, as were called those associations formed in all the towns (save a few, among which was London) for the purpose of managing and controlling trading and commerce. Such a gild included all engaged in a given kind of commerce, including wage-earners as well as proprietors, and the object was to enable the merchants to maintain a monopoly of, and an efficient organization of, all the merchandisin g in a given community. These organizations grew apace and waxed powerful and became in time the foster parents of English commerce; more than 100 towns in England and seventy in Ireland and Wales had them.  They reached their zenith in the twelfth century, began to disappear in the fourteenth century and were almost completely superseded by craft gilds in the fifteenth century.

Merchant gilds engaged in so many activities, some private, some public, that it is impossible to describe them in full; among the most important of their functions was the control of import and export of wares; the limiting of the number permitted in any trade; the regulation of wages and prices, and the inspection and standardization of goods. Every member had to pay “scot” and “lot”, as the general taxes were called, and take oath to obey the rulers and ordinances, as well as contribute his annual dues. As a reward for his membership he was privileged to share in business transactions and in bargains, and was given a “status” in the community very much coveted.  If he fell ill he was cared for; his family was looked after in case of his death; in unemployment he was helped to find a position, and he was protected against quarrels and unjust dealings. The gild was governed by an alderman (“elder man”) and his associates, two or four in number; it had it s own treasury; passed its own ordinances; could fine o r otherwise punish its members; and in some instances had its own court.  At periodical meetings – called “morning speeches” – the brethren passed or revised ordinances, admitted new members, feasted and elected officers.

As industry developed in scope and complexity it became increasingly difficult for these gilds merchant to retain their monopolies; gradually there grew up a new system to supersede the old, known as craft gilds, in which not commerce but a handicraft was the unit; there was a struggle between the new system and the old, but the old at last gave way and in the fifteenth century ceased to be.  Craft gilds were not, as has often been alleged, the offspring of the merchant gilds, for there was no organic conne ction between them; they were variously two similar but quite distinct and separate developments of the gild principle due to economic changes.

III. CRAFT GUILDS

“The primary purpose of the craft gild was to establish a complete system of industrial control over all who were associated together in the pursuit of a common calling.” The merchant gild, working usually in the smaller towns, organized a whole industry; the craft gilds, springing up everywhere, from London to almost every hamlet, organized each separate part of every industry, or vocation, as an independent entity.  For example, where the merchant gild had organized the leather business as a whole, craft gilds broke it up into specialties, so that tanners, saddle makers, harness makers, bridle makers, shoe makers, slipper makers, boot makers, etc., had each their own fraternity.  This high degree of specialization was extended to the arts, to social interests, amusements and education; it was even extended to religion, so that in one church might be a gild of priests, of musicians, of singers, of actors in the mystery play, and a gild to look after the altar besides to see that it was properly dressed with rich cloths and its candles always burning.

The gilds devoted wholly to some one handicraft performed an astonishing number of functions and became a little family world to each member in which he found his social fellowship, his school, his business, his hospital, his sick, health and life insurance, protection against enemies, employment bureau, a court to which to be responsible for his conduct and laws and ordinances for controlling his conduct.  The old debate among Masonic writers as to whether the medieval operative Masonic gilds possessed any “speculative” elements would seem to be singularly beside the point; every gild was full of “speculative” elements, even the pig drivers and sheep herders, who, like the rest had their patron saints, their religious festivals and burned a candle at the altar.

“Many free grammar schools were founded and maintained by the gilds,” writes Lipson, in his excellent Economic History, “which formed one of the main sources of education in the Middle Ages; and one gild, that of Corpus Christi, Cambridge, perpetuated its memory by founding the famous college that still bears its name.  In this way the gilds contributed to the spread of learning, and the voluntary efforts of artisans helped to keep burning the lamp of knowledge.” He could have added many more examples.  Dea n Colet turned over to a gild the management of his St. Paul’s school.  William Shakespeare secured his “little Latin and less Greek” at a gild school in Stratford-on-Avon.

Many writers have described craft gilds as “the trade unions of the Middle Ages”, but this is most inaccurate.  As Sidney and Beatrice Webb have stated so clearly in their magnificent History of Trade Unions there was no connection whatever between the two, and only a superficial resemblance.  The craft gild was a quasi-public body, often so interwoven with municipal government that learned writers have confused the two; it controlled trade not in the interests of workmen merely but of all, the public inclu ded; membership in it was compulsory, and so recognized by local and national laws; its ranks included employers as well as employed, and these two groups did not come into conflict until later, with the rise of journeymen’s gilds; it accepted into membership only trained men, all others, servants, etc., being left outside and considered as “cowans”; it was a purely local institution, with a territory limited by the community boundaries; and in addition to the reg ulation of wages, hours and general trade co nditions, it was also engaged, as described above, in many activities of a purely social character, and unrelated to the trade itself.

At the head of the typical gild were the wardens, two or four, usually elected by the assembly but sometimes appointed by the mayor, holding office for one year, whose duty it was to supervise the work turned out by the craft and to see that certain standards were maintained.  The assembly usually met once a year, but sometimes four times, and at stated intervals.  The gild often had its own court and members were admitted on oath.  The general membership was divided into the three grades of masters, journe ymen (fellow crafts) and apprentices, but any journeyman might become a master so that, so far as skill was concerned, there were only two classes.  Women were admitted into many gilds and were permitted to take apprentices and to hire journeymen.

The most admirable feature in the whole gild system was the institution called apprenticeship, which was a method for training youths in their vocation never since surpassed and not often equalled.  A boy was “indentured”, or contracted, to some master for a term of years, which in earlier times might last from one to ten years, but in 1563 was everywhere (in England) fixed at seven years.  The master furnished bed and board, technical training, sometimes a small salary, sometimes schooling, supervised his conduct, and generally stood to the boy in loco parentis; the boy in his turn was obliged to be no bondsman, of good physique, a faithful workman and alive to his master’s welfare.  The beginnings of this system have been traced to 1260; it became a vital part of the whole economic system in the thirteenth century. Apprentices were usually registered with the town authorities and otherwise given a recognized status in the community.  The terms an d experiences of his position passed into popular speech, rema ining in use until the present day, coloured all social thinking, and often was celebrated in literature, as in Goethe’s Wilhelm Maister.

The apprentice custom, as the reader will already have discerned, remains imbedded in our own Masonic system to remind us that a candidate for our “mystery” stands as much in need of training as the youth of old times who knocked at the door of a gild; if our statesmen and rulers ever come to understand Masonry as they should, and its possibilities in the world, the reconstitution of the apprentice system in our Fraternity, and a more thorough and intelligent use of it, will be one of their first concerns. To expect a man to be able to understand or practice Freemasonry without adequate preparation is a ridiculous now as it was when Masonic gilds were devoted to architecture and the building crafts.  We are not called on to raise fabrics of wood and stone into the sky, but ours is an even more difficult task, for it is our duty to build manhood and to reorganize the whole world into the forms of brotherhood, surely a high calling, and demanding skil led workmen!

The time of his indenture completed, the apprentice graduated into the ranks of the journeymen, becoming thereby a fellow of the craft, i.e., entitled to its liberties and privileges on equal terms with all others.  This passing to a higher grade was signalized by some proof of his skill a “masterpiece” in many cases or an examination before the wardens. (Wardens were known as “deacons” in Scotland, whence some of our Masonic nomenclature was derived.) In Europe the young journeyman went out on a “wander to ur” in order to see something of the world and of the practices of his craft in other places, but this custom never secured a foothold in England; usually (in some cases compulsorily) a journeyman (sometimes called yoeman, “young man”) hired himself out to some master for two or three years at wages and then, with a little money of his own, set up in his own shop, hired journeymen, indentured apprentices and became a master.

In the course of time the masters, being the moneyed class, tended to arrogate to themselves more and more power and to adopt legislation in their own interests, and the journeymen, as their numbers increased, learned to combine to secure their own interests, especially after a permanently wage earning class was developed. Upon this journeymen began to form gilds of their own, often in despite of the authorities, a thing that became quite common by the fifteenth century.  On the continent, especially in the industrial centers and in Germany, this conflict between masters and men often broke out into pitched battles with much shedding of blood (the Medici family emerged from such a welter to the control of Florence), but in England the struggle was more quiet.  By the sixteen seventeenth century journeymen gilds were quite subdued and content to remain subordinate to the masters who grew more and more oligarchical.  In many of the large cities the masters secured all control in their own hands, and gradual ly, with the coming of modern capitalism and manufacturing and the whole gild system gradually rise of nationalism the whole gild system broke up and quietly passed away.  Some of the craft societies still survived so late as the latter half of the eighteenth century, but their privileges were formally and finally abolished by parliament in 1835.

The study of the medieval Masonic gilds from which Freemasonry evolved, or at least with which it has at least a certain amount of historical continuity, must be reserved for another chapter, as demanding more space reserved than is here available.  In the present connection it is not necessary to call a Masonic reader’s attention to the fact that whatever that historical connection may have been and to what extent our modern craft is indebted to the old gild system, Freemasonry was in its beginning of a pi ece with that system and inherited many things from it, so that it is quite impossible to understand our Fraternity today apart from the craft gilds of old in which apprentices, fellow crafts and masters united in the one hand, toiled and lived together in brotherhood to the end that the word might be served and themselves enabled to earn masters’ wages and to perfect themselves in their mystery.

WORKS CONSULTED IN PREPARING THIS ARTICLE

A. Abram, English Life and Manners in Later Middle Ages. J. DeW.  Addison.  Arts and Crafts in Middle Ages. Ars. Quatuor Coronatorum, II, 159; II, 165; V, 125; IX, 28; XV, 153; XV, 197.  F. Armitage, The Guilds of England.  W. J. Ashley, An Introduction to English Economic History.  E. Bain, Merchant and Craft Gilds. L. Brentano On the History and Development of Gilds.  H.M. Chadwick, Studies of Anglo-Saxon Institutions. E.K. Chambers. The Medieval Stage. Jas.  Coiston, Incorporated Trades of Edinburgh. H.C. Coote, The Romance of Britain. W. Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce.  W.Denton, England in the Fifteenth Century. O.J. Dunlap, English Apprenticeship and Child Labour.  Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol XII, 14. E.A. Freeman, History of the Norman Conquest of Freemasonry;

R.F.Gould, Concise History of Freemasonry; History of Freemasonry.  N.S.B. Gras, Introduction to Economic History. A.S. Green, Town Life in the Fifteenth Century J.R. Green, Short History of the English People. C. Gross, Biblio graphy of British Municipal History; Gild Merchant. J.L. and B. Hammond, The Village Laborer.  M.D. Harris,  Story of Coventry.  James Hasting, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. VI. W.C. Hazlitt, Livery Companies of City of London.  K. Hegel, Stadte und Gilden. F.A. Hibbert, Influence and Development of English Gilds. A. Jessop, Coming of the Friars. J.J. Jugseiand, English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages.  S. Kramer, English Craft Gilds and the Government.  J.M. L ambert, Two Thousand Years of Gil d Life.  Lethaby, Medieval Art.  E. Lipson, Economic History of England.  A.S. McBride, Speculative Masonry.  Machiavelli. Florentine History.  Mackey, Revised History of Freemasonry. A.L. Miller, Notes on the Early History and Records of the Lodge, Aberdeen 1 ter.  H.B. Morse, Gilds of China. A.W.  Pollard, English Miracle Plays.  M.B. Reekitt, Meaning of National Guilds.  George Renard, Guilds in the Middle Ages. J.E.T. Rogers, Economic Interpretation of History.  H.G. Sel fridge, Romance of Commerce.  L.T. Smith, York Mystery Plays. T. Smith, English Gilds.  Edgcumb Staley, The Guilds of Florence, J. Thomson, An Essay on English Municipal History. G. Unwin, Gilds and Companies of England. L.Vibert, Story of the Craft. P. Vinagradoff, Edtr., Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History. A.E. Waite, New Encyclopedia of Freemasonry. Ward, Freemasonry and the Ancient Gods. S. and B. Webb, History of Trade Unionism.  H. Zimmern, The Hansa Towns.

FREEMASONRY AND THE GILD SYSTEM

Supplementary References Mackey’s Encyclopedia (Revised Edition)

Adoptive Masonry, 24-30; Apprentice, 70-72; Architecture, 75;

Assembly, 83; Cowans, 183; Craft, 184; Craftsman, 184; Deacon, 197-198; Fellow Crafts, 261-262; Female Masons, 262; Foreign Country, 269; Gilds,. 296-297; Journey, 373; Journeyman, 373;

Master, 473-476; Mysteries, 497-500; Roman Colleges of Artificers, 630-634; Wages, 834.

A NOTE ON THE COMACINES

I have recently encountered a note on the Comacine Masters which should be included with the chapter on that subject published in this department last month.  It was contributed by A. L.  Frothingham to “Dictionary of Architecture and Building”, edited by Russell Sturgis; the article is headed “Guilds” and is, so far as I could discover, the solitary reference in that work to Freemasonry.  Having no competence in etymology I am unable to pass judgment on Mr. Frothingham’s theory, but am under the impression that etymologists in general would not agree with him.  Further light on the point will be appreciated.  Students will do well to read the article in its entirety; in the present connection there is space for only one paragraph:

“A great deal of grave nonsense has been written by grave authorities on these magistri commacini; chapters and even volumes have been based on the supposition that Commacine means ‘a native of Como,’ and that this region was so specifically the center of the revival of architecture under the Lombards as to give its name to the profession of architect; master from Como = architect.  Such a fact would be without a parallel and is, besides, an etymological blunder.  The word com-macinus is from the same stem as macio, the common Latin word for stonemason, with the addition of the collective prefix, and may also be connected with the current Byzantine word for practical architect, mechanicos.” – H.L.H.

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