Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Bro. Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania's Third Grand Master.
BRO . DR . BENJAMIN FRANKLIN , PENNSYLVANIA'S THIRD GRAND MASTER .
FROM THE KEYSTONE . ( Continued from page 42 . ) WHEREAS , Somo ill-disposed persons in this city , assuming tbe names of Freemasons , have for somo years past imposed upon several well-meaning peoplo who wero desirous of becoming true brethren , persuading them , after they had performed certain ridiculous
ceremonies , that they had really become Freemasons ; and have lately , nnder tho pretence of making a yoting man a Mason , cansed his death by purging , vomiting , burning and the terror of certain diabolical , horrid rites ; it ia thought proper , for preventing snch impositions for the future , and to avoid any i < njnst aspersions that may be thrown on this ancient aud honourable fraternity on this
account , either in this city , or in any other part of the -world , to pub . lish this advertisement , declaring the abhorrence of all trnn brethren of such practices in general , and their innocence of this act in particular , and that the persons concerned in this wicked action are not of onr Society , nor of any Society of Free and Accepted Masons , to our knowledge or belief .
Signed , in behalf of all members of St . John ' s Lodge , in Philadel . phia , tenth day of June 1737 , THOMAS HOPKTNSON , Grand Master . "WM . PLUMSTEAD , Dep . G . Master . JOSEPH SHIPPED" ) , „ , HENRT PRATT j Wardens .
The knowledge of the outrage that had been perpetrated in Philadelphia in the name of Freemasonry , together with the personal attack on Franklin , in connection with ifc , soon reached his parents in Boston , and hia mother , with true maternal feelings , induced his father to write to him on the subject , and make inquiry as to the character of the Masonic Society with which he appeared to be
connected . To this inquiry Franklin filially replied in a letter , dated 13 th April 1738 , in which he said : " As to the Freemasons , I know of no way of giving my mother a better account of them than she seems to have at present , since it is not allowed that women should be admitted into the secret Society . She has , I must confess , on that account , some reason to be
displeased with it ; but for anything else , I must entreat her to suspend her judgment till she is better informed , unless she will believe me when I assure her , thafc they are , in general , a very harmless sort of people , and have no principles or practices thafc are inconsistent with religion and good manners . " In January 1738 , Dr . Jones was placed on trial , and so freely bad
Freemasons denounced his unwarranted act , that he peremptorily challenged every Freemason who was known to he on the panel of jurors . After an impartial trial Jones was fonnd guilty of manslaughter , and sentenced to be burnt in the hand . Remington was also found guilty , but pardoned , and "E . W . " was acquitted . Thus ended this unfortunate affair , although the excitement consequent
upon it continued for some time afterwards . In the month of April 1738 Bradford ' s Mercury published a caricature of Masonry , whioh was equally aimed afc Franklin and his brother Masons . In spite of all this Franklin's popularity continually increased . He was at the time postmaster of the city , and clerk of the Provincial Assembly , and continued to hold these offices for many years .
In 1749 Franklin was appointed Provincial Grand Master of Pennsylvania a second time , on this occasion by Bro . Thos . Oxnard Prov . Grand Master of all North America , appointed snch by Lord Byron Grand Master of tbe original Grand Lodge of England , the so-called " Moderns . " Dr . Mease , in his " Picture of Philadelphia , " published in this city in 1811 , says : " So far as the minntes of the ' Modern '
Grand Lodge ( of Pennsylvania ) go , Dr . Franklin was never absent from a meeting . " This statement testifies most strongly to Franklin's active interest in Freemasonry . Those old minntes have been long missing , and are probably destroyed , so that we are not able now to turn to the original records . It was in the same year that Franklin was appointed Grand Master
of Pennsylvania for a second term , in 1749 , that he first suggested the possibility of explaining thunderstorms upon electrical principles , and conceived the grand idea of drawing down tbe lightning from the clouds . It was nofc , however , until tbe summer of 1752 that he proved the correctness of his theory by experiment . Then , one summer ' s day , when a thunder-gnsfc was rising in the west , he and
his son , William Franklin , proceeded out to the commons near the city , the exact locality being , ifc is thought , the lot on which the new Post Office building is now being erected , afc the corner of Ninth and Chestnut-streets . Tbe philosopher had prepared two light cedar sticks , fixed cross-ways , with a silk handkerchief tied to the four corners , and properly appareled with loop , string and tail . To the
top of the kite thus formed was affixed a sharp pointed iron wire , rising about a foot above it . Armed with this kite Dr . Franklin proceeded out in the face of the storm , accompanied only by his son , in order to avoid the ridicule that would attend his experiment should it prove unsuccessful . He then raised his kite , and stood under a cow-shed to avoid observation , as well as the approaching rain . His
string was a common hempen one , with a key fastened at its lower end , and a silken string extending from it to bis hand . A thunder , cloud passed over the kite . His excitement was intense . In a few moments he observed that the fibres of the string moved . He then placed bis knuckle to the key , and noted a small spark . How ex . qaisite mast have been his sensations . H /' s kits was lost for a
moment in a thunder-cloud . He continued his experiments and drew repeated sparks from the key , and finally charged a Leyden jar with electricity , and received a shock . His success was complete —he had proved that lightning and electricity were identical . He had five years previously made the grand discovery that electricity was of a positive and a negative character , and he pursued bis experiments all through his life . One of the most valuable results
Bro. Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania's Third Grand Master.
is fche lightning-rod , which is now placed upon the majority of our houses . By the way , many persons mistake the practical working and value of a lightning rod . Ifc generally acts , not by conducting the flash , but by preventing it . The sharp points of its extremity produce what termed a silent discharge . They repel and scatter
the electricity . Franklin ' s successful experiment made bjm famous afc once over the entire civilised world . He was elected a member i > f the Royal Society of England , and by command of the king of Franco , his royal thanks and compliments wer > teturnoj to Benjamin Franklin , of Pennsylvania , " for his useful discoveries in electricity , and the application of pointed rods to prevent the
terrible effects of thunderstorms . Franklin described his electrical kite in a letter dated " Philadel . phia , 19 th October 1752 , " written to his friend , Peter Gollinson of London , which was read afc fche Royal Society the next month , and his friend Dr . Sfcnber , of Philadelphia , published at the time a history of Franklin ' s kite experiment and discoveries , whioh was
apparently written from minute and accurate information derived from Franklin himself . Both accounts may be read in full in " Spark ' s Works of Benjamin Franklin , " Vol . V ., pp 173 and 295 . In consequence of this great discovery , the Philosopher Kant styled Franklin "the modern Prometheua , who had brought down fire from heaven .
Arago , the celebrated French astronomer , has said that King Solomon's Temple was , by chance , provided with a lightning conduotor , somewhat similar to that discovered by Franklin . Solomon ' s Temple stood nearly 400 years , iu a situation peculiarly exposed to the frequent and violent thunderstorms of Palestine , and yet we find no mention , either in the Bible , or Josephus , that ifc was ever
struck by lightning . The explanation is , that the roof was covered with thickly gilt wood , connected by metal pipes with large cisterns , beneath the court of the Temple , into which the water from fche roof was conveyed , so thafc here were a multitude of lightning conductors , well calculated to preserve the Temple against destruction or injury from this cause . The moral of which for us seems to
be , cover your house with a tin roof , and have numerous pipes leading from it down into the sewer , and you will ueed no other lightning rod . At the Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts of 11 th October 1754 , P . G . M . Bro . Benjamin Franklin was present , and his name is recorded in full at the head of the list of visitors on that occasion . *
Franklin ' s interest in the subject of education ia well known , and also his instrumentality in founding the University of Pennsylvania * There still exists a correspondence between Christopher Sowers , a printer of Germantown , and Conrad Weiser , in whioh the former bitterly complains of the efforts of Franklin , and fche Freemasons generally , to establish public free schools . Sowers says :
" The people who are the promoters of free schools are Grand Masters and Wardens among the Freemasons—their very pillars . " How much contempt did he endeavour to throw into this indictment , but in reality how great praise did he embody in its words . We shall now mention several other interesting facts in Franklin ' s Masonio career .
He served for a second term as Grand Master of Pennsylvania , as we have stated , from 1749 to 1750 . In the latter year he was succeeded as Grand Master by William Allen , Recorder of the city of Philadelphia , and the same year appointed Chief Justice of the Province . Allen had been previously Grand Master in 1732 , when he was elected , but now he was appointed directly by Lord Byron Grand Master of England . G . M . Allen afc once appointed Benjamin
Franklin his D . G . M . In the year 1754 , Franklin visited the Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts at its Quarterly Communication held in Boston , on 11 th October . During this year the first Masonic Hall in America was erected afc Philadelphia , the site being on Lodge-alley west of Second-sfcreefc . Ifc
was projected in 1752 , and completed two years afterwards . The original subscription list for this Masonic Hall is still in existence , and on it appears Benjamin ' s Franklin ' s signature , with hia subscription of £ 20 , and his son William's signature , with his subscription of £ 15 . At that time there were three Lodges meeting in Philadelphia . In the year following , 1755 , the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania , on
Sfc , John ' s Day , attended Divine Service at Christ Episcopal Church , Second-street above Market . Among those present were Benjamin Franklin Deputy Grand Master , and his son William Franklin Grand Secretary . Five years later , in 1760 , Franklin , accompanied by his son , visited the Grand Lodge of England , afc its Quarterly Communication in
London , held in November of thafc year , and Dr . Franklin was received and honoured in accordance with his rank as P . G . Master of Pennsylvania , and both his name and that of his sou are recorded as visitors on the minutes of the Grand Lodge of England . While Franklin was in France in 1778 , he was elected an honorary member of the Grand Orient of France , and honorary Worshipfnl
Master of the Lodge of fche Nine Sisters , or Muses of Paris . This Lodge struck a medal in his honour , the only copy of whioh is now in the possession of the Grand Lodge of Mecklenburgh . On the one side of this medal is the following inscription , in French : " The Masons of France to Franklin , Master of the Lodge of the Nine Sisters , Orient of Paris 1778 . " Franklin took a prominent parfc , during this same year , in the initiation of "Voltaire ( when he was
eighty . four years of age ) , on 7 th February , in fche Lodge of the Nine Sisters ; and on the 30 th November following , he served as Senior Warden of the Lodge of Sorrow , held in honour of Voltaire ' s memory , he having died in May , but three months after his initiation . Franklin , as Senior Warden , deposited the sprig of acaeia npon the catafalque of the deceased Yoltaire . ( To be continued . )
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Bro. Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania's Third Grand Master.
BRO . DR . BENJAMIN FRANKLIN , PENNSYLVANIA'S THIRD GRAND MASTER .
FROM THE KEYSTONE . ( Continued from page 42 . ) WHEREAS , Somo ill-disposed persons in this city , assuming tbe names of Freemasons , have for somo years past imposed upon several well-meaning peoplo who wero desirous of becoming true brethren , persuading them , after they had performed certain ridiculous
ceremonies , that they had really become Freemasons ; and have lately , nnder tho pretence of making a yoting man a Mason , cansed his death by purging , vomiting , burning and the terror of certain diabolical , horrid rites ; it ia thought proper , for preventing snch impositions for the future , and to avoid any i < njnst aspersions that may be thrown on this ancient aud honourable fraternity on this
account , either in this city , or in any other part of the -world , to pub . lish this advertisement , declaring the abhorrence of all trnn brethren of such practices in general , and their innocence of this act in particular , and that the persons concerned in this wicked action are not of onr Society , nor of any Society of Free and Accepted Masons , to our knowledge or belief .
Signed , in behalf of all members of St . John ' s Lodge , in Philadel . phia , tenth day of June 1737 , THOMAS HOPKTNSON , Grand Master . "WM . PLUMSTEAD , Dep . G . Master . JOSEPH SHIPPED" ) , „ , HENRT PRATT j Wardens .
The knowledge of the outrage that had been perpetrated in Philadelphia in the name of Freemasonry , together with the personal attack on Franklin , in connection with ifc , soon reached his parents in Boston , and hia mother , with true maternal feelings , induced his father to write to him on the subject , and make inquiry as to the character of the Masonic Society with which he appeared to be
connected . To this inquiry Franklin filially replied in a letter , dated 13 th April 1738 , in which he said : " As to the Freemasons , I know of no way of giving my mother a better account of them than she seems to have at present , since it is not allowed that women should be admitted into the secret Society . She has , I must confess , on that account , some reason to be
displeased with it ; but for anything else , I must entreat her to suspend her judgment till she is better informed , unless she will believe me when I assure her , thafc they are , in general , a very harmless sort of people , and have no principles or practices thafc are inconsistent with religion and good manners . " In January 1738 , Dr . Jones was placed on trial , and so freely bad
Freemasons denounced his unwarranted act , that he peremptorily challenged every Freemason who was known to he on the panel of jurors . After an impartial trial Jones was fonnd guilty of manslaughter , and sentenced to be burnt in the hand . Remington was also found guilty , but pardoned , and "E . W . " was acquitted . Thus ended this unfortunate affair , although the excitement consequent
upon it continued for some time afterwards . In the month of April 1738 Bradford ' s Mercury published a caricature of Masonry , whioh was equally aimed afc Franklin and his brother Masons . In spite of all this Franklin's popularity continually increased . He was at the time postmaster of the city , and clerk of the Provincial Assembly , and continued to hold these offices for many years .
In 1749 Franklin was appointed Provincial Grand Master of Pennsylvania a second time , on this occasion by Bro . Thos . Oxnard Prov . Grand Master of all North America , appointed snch by Lord Byron Grand Master of tbe original Grand Lodge of England , the so-called " Moderns . " Dr . Mease , in his " Picture of Philadelphia , " published in this city in 1811 , says : " So far as the minntes of the ' Modern '
Grand Lodge ( of Pennsylvania ) go , Dr . Franklin was never absent from a meeting . " This statement testifies most strongly to Franklin's active interest in Freemasonry . Those old minntes have been long missing , and are probably destroyed , so that we are not able now to turn to the original records . It was in the same year that Franklin was appointed Grand Master
of Pennsylvania for a second term , in 1749 , that he first suggested the possibility of explaining thunderstorms upon electrical principles , and conceived the grand idea of drawing down tbe lightning from the clouds . It was nofc , however , until tbe summer of 1752 that he proved the correctness of his theory by experiment . Then , one summer ' s day , when a thunder-gnsfc was rising in the west , he and
his son , William Franklin , proceeded out to the commons near the city , the exact locality being , ifc is thought , the lot on which the new Post Office building is now being erected , afc the corner of Ninth and Chestnut-streets . Tbe philosopher had prepared two light cedar sticks , fixed cross-ways , with a silk handkerchief tied to the four corners , and properly appareled with loop , string and tail . To the
top of the kite thus formed was affixed a sharp pointed iron wire , rising about a foot above it . Armed with this kite Dr . Franklin proceeded out in the face of the storm , accompanied only by his son , in order to avoid the ridicule that would attend his experiment should it prove unsuccessful . He then raised his kite , and stood under a cow-shed to avoid observation , as well as the approaching rain . His
string was a common hempen one , with a key fastened at its lower end , and a silken string extending from it to bis hand . A thunder , cloud passed over the kite . His excitement was intense . In a few moments he observed that the fibres of the string moved . He then placed bis knuckle to the key , and noted a small spark . How ex . qaisite mast have been his sensations . H /' s kits was lost for a
moment in a thunder-cloud . He continued his experiments and drew repeated sparks from the key , and finally charged a Leyden jar with electricity , and received a shock . His success was complete —he had proved that lightning and electricity were identical . He had five years previously made the grand discovery that electricity was of a positive and a negative character , and he pursued bis experiments all through his life . One of the most valuable results
Bro. Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania's Third Grand Master.
is fche lightning-rod , which is now placed upon the majority of our houses . By the way , many persons mistake the practical working and value of a lightning rod . Ifc generally acts , not by conducting the flash , but by preventing it . The sharp points of its extremity produce what termed a silent discharge . They repel and scatter
the electricity . Franklin ' s successful experiment made bjm famous afc once over the entire civilised world . He was elected a member i > f the Royal Society of England , and by command of the king of Franco , his royal thanks and compliments wer > teturnoj to Benjamin Franklin , of Pennsylvania , " for his useful discoveries in electricity , and the application of pointed rods to prevent the
terrible effects of thunderstorms . Franklin described his electrical kite in a letter dated " Philadel . phia , 19 th October 1752 , " written to his friend , Peter Gollinson of London , which was read afc fche Royal Society the next month , and his friend Dr . Sfcnber , of Philadelphia , published at the time a history of Franklin ' s kite experiment and discoveries , whioh was
apparently written from minute and accurate information derived from Franklin himself . Both accounts may be read in full in " Spark ' s Works of Benjamin Franklin , " Vol . V ., pp 173 and 295 . In consequence of this great discovery , the Philosopher Kant styled Franklin "the modern Prometheua , who had brought down fire from heaven .
Arago , the celebrated French astronomer , has said that King Solomon's Temple was , by chance , provided with a lightning conduotor , somewhat similar to that discovered by Franklin . Solomon ' s Temple stood nearly 400 years , iu a situation peculiarly exposed to the frequent and violent thunderstorms of Palestine , and yet we find no mention , either in the Bible , or Josephus , that ifc was ever
struck by lightning . The explanation is , that the roof was covered with thickly gilt wood , connected by metal pipes with large cisterns , beneath the court of the Temple , into which the water from fche roof was conveyed , so thafc here were a multitude of lightning conductors , well calculated to preserve the Temple against destruction or injury from this cause . The moral of which for us seems to
be , cover your house with a tin roof , and have numerous pipes leading from it down into the sewer , and you will ueed no other lightning rod . At the Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts of 11 th October 1754 , P . G . M . Bro . Benjamin Franklin was present , and his name is recorded in full at the head of the list of visitors on that occasion . *
Franklin ' s interest in the subject of education ia well known , and also his instrumentality in founding the University of Pennsylvania * There still exists a correspondence between Christopher Sowers , a printer of Germantown , and Conrad Weiser , in whioh the former bitterly complains of the efforts of Franklin , and fche Freemasons generally , to establish public free schools . Sowers says :
" The people who are the promoters of free schools are Grand Masters and Wardens among the Freemasons—their very pillars . " How much contempt did he endeavour to throw into this indictment , but in reality how great praise did he embody in its words . We shall now mention several other interesting facts in Franklin ' s Masonio career .
He served for a second term as Grand Master of Pennsylvania , as we have stated , from 1749 to 1750 . In the latter year he was succeeded as Grand Master by William Allen , Recorder of the city of Philadelphia , and the same year appointed Chief Justice of the Province . Allen had been previously Grand Master in 1732 , when he was elected , but now he was appointed directly by Lord Byron Grand Master of England . G . M . Allen afc once appointed Benjamin
Franklin his D . G . M . In the year 1754 , Franklin visited the Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts at its Quarterly Communication held in Boston , on 11 th October . During this year the first Masonic Hall in America was erected afc Philadelphia , the site being on Lodge-alley west of Second-sfcreefc . Ifc
was projected in 1752 , and completed two years afterwards . The original subscription list for this Masonic Hall is still in existence , and on it appears Benjamin ' s Franklin ' s signature , with hia subscription of £ 20 , and his son William's signature , with his subscription of £ 15 . At that time there were three Lodges meeting in Philadelphia . In the year following , 1755 , the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania , on
Sfc , John ' s Day , attended Divine Service at Christ Episcopal Church , Second-street above Market . Among those present were Benjamin Franklin Deputy Grand Master , and his son William Franklin Grand Secretary . Five years later , in 1760 , Franklin , accompanied by his son , visited the Grand Lodge of England , afc its Quarterly Communication in
London , held in November of thafc year , and Dr . Franklin was received and honoured in accordance with his rank as P . G . Master of Pennsylvania , and both his name and that of his sou are recorded as visitors on the minutes of the Grand Lodge of England . While Franklin was in France in 1778 , he was elected an honorary member of the Grand Orient of France , and honorary Worshipfnl
Master of the Lodge of fche Nine Sisters , or Muses of Paris . This Lodge struck a medal in his honour , the only copy of whioh is now in the possession of the Grand Lodge of Mecklenburgh . On the one side of this medal is the following inscription , in French : " The Masons of France to Franklin , Master of the Lodge of the Nine Sisters , Orient of Paris 1778 . " Franklin took a prominent parfc , during this same year , in the initiation of "Voltaire ( when he was
eighty . four years of age ) , on 7 th February , in fche Lodge of the Nine Sisters ; and on the 30 th November following , he served as Senior Warden of the Lodge of Sorrow , held in honour of Voltaire ' s memory , he having died in May , but three months after his initiation . Franklin , as Senior Warden , deposited the sprig of acaeia npon the catafalque of the deceased Yoltaire . ( To be continued . )