Who Is First?

appropriate ceremonies which the Officers must see to , and if they be conferred without confusion or omission all is well . When Master and members have reached this stage of

declension in their appreciation of Masonry ( that is , if they ever had any ) the whole system takes its place in their minds alongside of the host of modern orders , and the

inducement to uphold the dignity of the Masonic Institution is at an end , and Masonry in its sublime aspect is lost . To counteract this tendency , everywhere exhibited , towards an utterly inadequate and false conception of

what the Symbolic Lodge really is , all Grand and Worshipful Masters , as being first in responsibility , should make no delay in aiding to restore in the minds of the brethren the knowledge and understanding of the things nnntftinfid in thft decreesboth severallv and collectivelv .

, —— -- o j •/ . r But this is not to be done either by patience or perseverance in the perusal of Masonic orations or the discursive effusions which reiterate the stereotyped eulogies on Masonry , its antiquity and grandeur , however forcible and

eloquent , or appropriate to the occasion which may have called them forth . The Craft have always been abundantly supplied , if not snowed under with this kind of literature , and all the time have learned nothing to the

point . The reasons are two : Jnrst , nothing can be put m print , even if the author knew what to put there , except such matters as may be a guide to those who will study Masonry where it is to be found ; and , second , no attempt

is made to show anything by any sort of proof or demonstration which can properly be written . The writings commonly published make no attempt even at this . They continue repeating in varied phrase what has been uttered

through generations , each writer relying with child-like simplicity on the authority of the one who last preceded him , and he on his predecessor , and so on back , while all

the time nothing is shown . Imagine an advocate appearing before a court to " show cause " for or against a rule or decision of any sort , who should indulge in a long eulogy of his client and a diatribe of an hour on the

timeworn subjects of justice , liberty and the glories of the Fourth of July and the battle of New Orleans , until choked off by the court . Could anybody learn from this , though repeated every day for a year , whether his client should have a rule or not ? Such is the case with Masonic utterances not intended to show anything of the true lore

of the Lodge , but only to compose excellent sentences into agreeable discourse , with more or less force and beauty , concerning Masonic sentiments and the principal objects of the Craft . Now , without laying aside the countless treasures of thought which are to be found in the literature above

mentioned , the Master or Grand Master who may desire to restore Masonic light to the craftsmen whom he represents , must pat himself to study , not from books , except as to a few particulars , but from the things contained in the Lodge —the proper and only storehouse of esoteric Masonic knowledge . He need not be afraid that he will exhaust

the subjects which will successively spring up in his pathway of exploration , or that Masonry will fail to demonstrate itself in the fulness of its admirable order , if it be sought out with the same astuteness and perseverance which the students of science exercise in bringing to li ght the secrets of the natural universe . —Voice of Masonry .

What Bro. Pike Believed In 1871 And What He Believes Now.

WHAT BRO . PIKE BELIEVED IN 1871 AND WHAT HE BELIEVES NOW .

Bv BEO . JACOB NORTON . IN Bro . Pike ' s " Masonic Origins , " he admitted , as I shall show hereafter , that the degrees of the Tork

Rite and of the Scottish Rite were alike modern . But in 1871 Bro . Pike issued a pamphlet , in which he denied the truth of the traditions of the so-called Tork Rite , but still clung to the notion that the Scottish Rite was ancient .

By way of a preface , I must inform the reader that in 1867 Bro . Geo . Frank Gouley edited a paper in St . Louis , called The Freemason , and that he was at the time Grand

Secretary of the Grand Lodge , and also Grand Master of the Missouri Templars . Bro . Gouley was then a firm believer in the traditions of the York or American Rite , consisting of

three Blue degrees , four Royal Arch degrees , three Templar degrees , and two or three of Royal Select degrees . About

What Bro. Pike Believed In 1871 And What He Believes Now.

the same time , Bro . Gouley received thirty-two degrees of the A . and A . Rite , when , to his horror , he discovered that in certain degrees of the Scottish Rite , the secrets of the Royal Arch and of the Knights Templars were

revealed . This brought on a discussion between the Missouri K . T . and the S . G . C . of tho Southern Jurisdiction of the A . and A . Rite , and a number of papers and pamphlets were issued bv the combatants . From Rebold

and Folger Bro . Gouley learned that the Charleston Frederick the Great Charter was a forgery , that the A . and A . Rite was a new concern ; and he charged the A . and A . Riters with having stolen tho Templar degree from the Tork Rite , and even went so far as to get the

Missouri Grand Comandry to "boycot" the A . and A . Riters . In 1871 Bro . Pike collected the articles , letters , & c , relating to the said controversy , and combined them in a pamphlet , headed " Vindication of the Ancient and Accepted Rite against certain libels . " The first part consists of an address by Bro . Pike to a body of A . and A .

Riters , in which he said : — " Tou are the chiefs of Exalted Masonry . Tour powers are real and substantial . If you do not duly estimate them , it is impossible that you should well perform the

corresponding duties . The highest of these accompany only the highest powers . . . Tou style yourselves Sovereign Grand Inspectors General , Grand Elect Knights of the Holy House of the Temple . Tou are so , if you

know the Royal secret , and understand the Holy doctrine . Tou claim to hold the powers of the first and last Grand Masters of the Temple within this jurisdiction ; and that

claim is valid , there is ample internal evidence in the degrees to those who understand them . The Kadosh are the only Soldiery of the Temple . "

Now all the above utterance is mere buncomb . Bro . Pike ought to know that power can only be exercised when aided by a well-equipped army , a navy , an organised police , or sufficient cash to buy up majorities of members

in our State Legislatures or of our Houses of Congress . That the assumption of high-sounding titles confer no power may be proved from the fact that a rival A . and A . concern has existed in Louisiana since 1813 , in defiance of

Bro . Pike ' s authority . Several A . and A . concerns exist in the Northern jurisdiction , in spite of S . G . C . Palmer ' s authority , and even the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts , since it declared itself protector of certain high degree concerns ,

found itself powerless to enforce its laws and penalties against those who chose to take its forbidden Rites and Degrees . Nor is the Kadosh any more the real soldiery

of the Temple than the Knights of Odd Fellows , and a dozen other so-called Knights including the " Knights of Labour . " Bro . Pike further says : —

When Masonry appeared in Europe in the Middle Ages , it had its mission that exposed it to persecution ; and that accounts for the solemnity of the obligations of the lesser mysteries . If it had been only what Blue Masonry is now in

England and America , its obligations being out of all proportion to its objects . The objects to which the Order owed its existence were abandoned in England about the time when it cressed the Atlantic . ... It [ they ]

became the ally and supporter of the English Government and Church . . . confining - '' - ' teachings within the domain of morality alone . But Scottish Masonry and the Ancient and Accepted Rite have not changed nor

denaturalised or perverted the meaning of their symbols . Now , as in the days of Dante , its mission is to aid humanity , setting its foot on despotism , and treading under foot tyranny and intolerance . The Cap of Liberty is the symbol of sovereignty of the people . "

All this is mere fiction ; for in the Middle Ages there existed no other kind of Masons but the building guilds , who knew nothing of either lesser or higher mysteries ; its mission was neither to establish the rights of the people

or to promote religious toleration , but for the purpose of monopolising the building trade and get as much wages for their labour as they could , just the same as the trade unions and knights of labour are trying to do to-day . The so-called

Masonic persecution in the Middle Ages was confined to England only ; that is , laws were enacted for specifying the rate of wages to all kinds of labourers , servants , and artizaus , including masons and carpenters , during the reigns

of Edward III ., Richard II ., and Henry VI . The carpenters and masons , however , managed to extort higher wages than the law allowed , hence they were threatened with punishment ; but I do not know whether any of them were ever punished . Nor was their Masonic O . B . out of