Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
America.
it was then in a good state of preservation . It is a small quarto volume , beautifully printed in minion type . It bears on its title-page the imprint , ' 1668 . —Printed at Cambridge by John Field , printer to the University . ' " Thus much for the history of the Initiation of Washington and the possession of the ' Washington Bible . ' And here the question naturally suggests itself' How has it happened that our English
, Brethren of Lodge 227 have been so much deceived in this matter ?' There would appear to be no doubt that the name of Washington stands upon their records , and in a form which connects him with the work of their Lodge . The testimony seems to be clear and positive to this effect . Our Canadian correspondent , before referred to , assures us that he has personally examined the records and seen it there ; and the London Reviewof 1834 says the ' annals of the
, , Lodge' show that Washington was there initiated into Masonry . How can these statements be reconciled with the plenary and unanswerable testimony adduced from the records of Fredericksburg Lodge ? If the record of the English Lodge were before us , we might possibly be able to answer this inquiry to the satisfaction of all parties . In the absence of that important guide to our inquiries , whatever answer we may give must necessarily be more or less
hypothetical . What we propose to offer may perhaps help to elicit the truth , and unravel the mystery . " The Lodge No . 227 was chartered by the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1752 , the year in which Washington was made a Mason , and continued attached to the 46 th British regiment for about ninety years afterwards , when it fell into abeyance , and the charter passed into other hands . We believe it is still in existence . Like all the Lodges emanating at that tune from the Grand Lodges of England
and Ireland , it was empowered by its charter , or warrant , to confer the first three , or craft degrees of Masonry . It is , however , a wellestablished fact , that the Military Lodges did not always confine themselves to the strict letter of their charters , but occasionally conferred the mark as a ' side degree . ' We have the authority of the present Prov . Grand Master of Nova Scotia for saying tnat 'this degree has been conferred in this Province ( Nova Scotia ) and
Canada for upwards of a century under a Master ' s Warrant ; to which Lodge , ' he adds , ' and not to a Royal Arch Chapter , I am of opinion the degree of Mark Master properly belongs . ' It is not , therefore , travelling beyond the limits of probability to assume that Lodge 227 , following the practice of the Military Lodges of that day , gave the Mark Degree in addition to those specially enumerated in its warrant .
" It will be recollected by our readers , that in this Magazine for February last , we noticed the exhibition , by the Hon . Myron Lawrence , in the Grand Lodge of this Commonwealth , of an ancient Masonic jewel , which , he said , ' had just been handed to him by his Bro . Col . Flores , Junior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Peru ( then present ) , and which had once been worn by Gen . Washington , ' in an army _ Lodge . This was the jewel of a Mark Master It said to have oriinall
Mason . was g y belonged to Bro . Bystrzanowfski , a Polish officer , and ancestor of Col . Flores , by whom it was loaned to Washington , and worn by him in one of the army Lodges . If this statement be true , the question arises , —Where did Washington
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
America.
it was then in a good state of preservation . It is a small quarto volume , beautifully printed in minion type . It bears on its title-page the imprint , ' 1668 . —Printed at Cambridge by John Field , printer to the University . ' " Thus much for the history of the Initiation of Washington and the possession of the ' Washington Bible . ' And here the question naturally suggests itself' How has it happened that our English
, Brethren of Lodge 227 have been so much deceived in this matter ?' There would appear to be no doubt that the name of Washington stands upon their records , and in a form which connects him with the work of their Lodge . The testimony seems to be clear and positive to this effect . Our Canadian correspondent , before referred to , assures us that he has personally examined the records and seen it there ; and the London Reviewof 1834 says the ' annals of the
, , Lodge' show that Washington was there initiated into Masonry . How can these statements be reconciled with the plenary and unanswerable testimony adduced from the records of Fredericksburg Lodge ? If the record of the English Lodge were before us , we might possibly be able to answer this inquiry to the satisfaction of all parties . In the absence of that important guide to our inquiries , whatever answer we may give must necessarily be more or less
hypothetical . What we propose to offer may perhaps help to elicit the truth , and unravel the mystery . " The Lodge No . 227 was chartered by the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1752 , the year in which Washington was made a Mason , and continued attached to the 46 th British regiment for about ninety years afterwards , when it fell into abeyance , and the charter passed into other hands . We believe it is still in existence . Like all the Lodges emanating at that tune from the Grand Lodges of England
and Ireland , it was empowered by its charter , or warrant , to confer the first three , or craft degrees of Masonry . It is , however , a wellestablished fact , that the Military Lodges did not always confine themselves to the strict letter of their charters , but occasionally conferred the mark as a ' side degree . ' We have the authority of the present Prov . Grand Master of Nova Scotia for saying tnat 'this degree has been conferred in this Province ( Nova Scotia ) and
Canada for upwards of a century under a Master ' s Warrant ; to which Lodge , ' he adds , ' and not to a Royal Arch Chapter , I am of opinion the degree of Mark Master properly belongs . ' It is not , therefore , travelling beyond the limits of probability to assume that Lodge 227 , following the practice of the Military Lodges of that day , gave the Mark Degree in addition to those specially enumerated in its warrant .
" It will be recollected by our readers , that in this Magazine for February last , we noticed the exhibition , by the Hon . Myron Lawrence , in the Grand Lodge of this Commonwealth , of an ancient Masonic jewel , which , he said , ' had just been handed to him by his Bro . Col . Flores , Junior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Peru ( then present ) , and which had once been worn by Gen . Washington , ' in an army _ Lodge . This was the jewel of a Mark Master It said to have oriinall
Mason . was g y belonged to Bro . Bystrzanowfski , a Polish officer , and ancestor of Col . Flores , by whom it was loaned to Washington , and worn by him in one of the army Lodges . If this statement be true , the question arises , —Where did Washington