Origin Of Crypticism In Massachusetts.

and as n . substitute ' for thafc which was lost . ' Massachusetts , New York , Maine , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire are the only States in which the Super Excellent Master ' s degree is known to be conferred . "

I have in a former paper called attention to a complaint made by a New York Cryptic luminary against onr Massachusetts luminaries for conferring the Select before the Royal , which he , the New Yorker , styled " putting the

cart before the horse . " But our cultured Bostonians have reasons for their doing so , for the Most Puissant Massachusetts Cryptic Grand Master was perfectly satisfied that the Select Master ' s degree was established by King

Solomon and his two illustrious associates , while tho Royal Master ' s degree was not established by Solomon until after the demise of the architect . Now here is still another feather for the cap of a Boston Mason : for who iu creation but a Bostonian could have chopped such logic ?

I sha , ll only add that if any one here is ambitious for Masonio honours he must take all the popular Masonic degrees . There was a time when the supporters as well as the lower twenties alike regarded everything that

glittered as gold . The former , however , discovered their mistake , and would , if they could , send all the high degrees to Sheol ; the G . L . here has tried to put a stop to the increase of degrees , but it failed in its efforts . Now ,

wifch regard fco the Cryptic degrees , I have asked quite a number of Cryptic degreers , among whom was the G . M . of Massachusetts , and some P . G . Masters , as to why they add the figures 27 to the Select Master ' s degree ? But

one ancl all answer , " I havo taken the R . and S . degrees , but never cared for them , and I know nothing about them . " One Past Grand Master said , "All that I remember about them is that they are noisy . " As far as I could learn some of our States have thus far been

without Cryptic degrees . In other States the said degrees are conferred in R . A . Chapters . And in other States again the Councils are too poor to publish their

Proceedings . Tn short , the Royal and Select degrees are not favourites here , and I believe the- concern is in a declining stafce . BOSTON , U . S ., 19 fch October 1885 .

Factors Of Masonic Power.

FACTORS OF MASONIC POWER .

EROM its remote origin Masonry had its practical or material and its moral or spiritual side . When the age of constitutional governments and of rapid advances in civilisation occurred , and men could submit their rights

to the protection of the law with safety , the moral aspect of Masonry began to shine out more conspicuously ; the primitive restriction of membershi p to the Craft was relaxed ; the worthy of whatever occupation , or even of

none , were received into fche Fraternity , and Masonry , as an institution , passed , at first slowly , but soon with great rapidity , from an operative to a speculative character ,

having for its object the inculcation of moral ideas and the teaching of industry , honour and probity by means of solemn charges and of emblems drawn from the working

tools and instrumentalities of the Craft . It also determined , with the true spirit of ancient chivalry , to champion the cause of the poor and unfortunate , to see thafc none of its members whom adversity might overtake

should suffer , to defend each other ' s reputation when wrongfully assailed , to mutuall y aid in the building up of character , and to have all her altars and banners , pillars

and spires inscribed with the one heaven-descended word , Charity , which word stood for the presumed unselfishness of every true Mason and the essential ancl inalienable characteristic of the Fraternit y .

In theearlier periods of the history of the institution of Speculative Masonry the inculcation of certain fundamental principles of morals taught b y a peculiar symbolism , borrowed from the taaditions , working-tools and implements of

Operative Masonry , was a most honourable and useful characteristic of the Fraternit y . This feature of Masonry made it , to those who were admitted to its privileges ancl benefits , a li ght shining in the midst of darkness .

The period of which we speak ante-dated the time when morals as a basis of human character had been reduced to a science , when it was taught in the schools , and its

Factors Of Masonic Power.

principles , through the agency of the printing -press and domestic instruction and training , had become generally diffused . If this feature of the Fraternity presents at the present day the appearance of the inculcation of

elementary princip les already well understood , the fact must be attributed to the great advance which the world has mado in general intelligence and along all the lines of a higher civilisation . The candid mind will revert to the time

when Masonry , by inculcating in its adherents , and insisting upon , certain princip les of morals as the basis of the Masonic character , was kindling a light in the midst of comparative gloom ; a time when each man , to a

greater or less degree , framed his own code of moralswhen might was a stronger law than right , and individuality , with its accessories of selfishness , rapine and plunder was the rule , rather than the fraternity and

interdependence of man . It is to the lasting honour and credit of Masonry that at such a time she presented to the world an Institution wherein the fraternity and equality of men upon a basis of moral character was asserted and successfully maintained .

She undertook to demonstrate that man could and should be just and true to his brother ; that he should help him in adversity and comfort him in sorrow and trial ; that the family of a brother should be as sacred to

him as his own domestic hearth ; that he would respect his personal rights as he demanded that his own should be respected , and that his rights of property should not be infringed upon to the smallest appreciable amount .

Such principles as these do not become superannuated , nor depreciate in value so long as a lawless individuality is pressing for a place , and selfishness is struggling for the control of the human heart . Although these

principles may seem self-evident to the enlightened people of this age and country , yet even the technical moralist must admit that the practical application of them to the varied relations in which men stand in modern society has not yet

reached that degree of perfection that the continued inculcation of them , by any , and by all means , has ceased to be necessary . The day has not yet arrived when Masonry

can forbear to lay the greatest stress upon those elementary principles of moralit y on which the peace , security and happiness of society mainly depend .

But it remains that at this day the working factor in the practical results of Masonry , as an institution , is Charity . From its origin in the distant past down to the present time Charity has stood , in the enlightened apprehension of

the Fraternity , as its tutelar divinity . With eyes beaming with compassionate sympathy , she watches the frequent mutations of fortune so inseparable from the human lot . With one outstretched hand she receives from the healthy

and the strong , and from those whom a kind Providence has blessed with a competency , and wifch the other she dispenses to the needy and suffering , and to those overtaken

by any of the thousand adversities that lie in wait even for the most worthy Brother . By impressive rites and by counsels from the East this princip le of charity is inculcated upon everv one who seeks admission to the Fraternity .

Although a distressed worthy brother , lm widows and orphans , are the only ones who have a legal claim upon the funds of the Fraternity , yet it must , not be supposed that

the true Mason ' s charity extends no further . He carries the lessons he has learned into the world , and human want and suffering never appeals to him in vain when it is in his power to relieve or mitigate them .

Charity is so essentially a working principle of the Fraternity that a Lodge which should practically eliminate it would find it difficult to give a satisfactory raason for its

existence . It would work a moral forfeiture of its charter , though the written document mig ht be still retained in the archives of the Lodge .

In this brief view of the principal objects which the Institution of Masonry proposes to itself and to the world , and of the bond of union which unites all its worthy

members in one compact brotherhood , I have perhaps said enough to show that this venerable Fraternity is not an anachronism which continues in existence rather bv its

merits in the pasfc than by reason of its usefulness in the present . The true Mason who has adopted its code of morals and "whose heart is imbued with the divine

principles of Charity will find a large p larte for himself and for his Fraternity in the world ; the occupation of which , duly and truly and faithfully , Trill cause the generations of the

future , like those of the past , to rise and call him blessed —Freemasons Repository .