Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Masonic Hall On Filbert Street, Near Eighth, Philadelphia:
THE MASONIC HALL ON FILBERT STREET , NEAR EIGHTH , PHILADELPHIA :
THE SECOND IN PENNSYLVANIA AND THE OLDEST IN THE UNITED STATES . A Paper read before the Rosicrucian Society of Philadelphia , on Friday , January ' 60 th , 1880 , BY FRATER CHARLES E . MEYER , IX ° .
EART H to earth , dust to dust , are terms we hear as oft as we are called to follow to the grave the remains of some loved one . Such is human life . What man has made , must decay . The stateliest edifices erected b 3 man ' s ingenuity are but lessons to man that eternity is not on this earth . What the accumulations of ages have covered with dust of hundreds and thousands of
years , ancl have hidden from the eyes of man for centuries , will in the future be brought to light , and men will wonder at the wisdom , skill , ancl handicraft of the prehistoric man . Daily we read of the unearthing of some ancient cit y or monument , of which no books now in existence speak . And is it not wonderful that the earth is a better preserver than man ? Such were our thoughts in the summer of 1878 as wein company with
, , three other members ( Fraters Sutter , Packer , and Muckle ) of our college , were shown the past wonders of the old cit y of York , England . We were impressed with peculiar feelings of our insignificance as we visited the ruins of the old Hospitinm , the ruins ( wonderful for their size ) of fct . Mary ' s Abbey , with the curious Masons' marks , the old Refectory , containing a large number of relics dug from the very ground over which we had passed . A spot which
we believe was once covered with water , which by the changes wrought b y means of internal fire became earth , and was now rendered habitable b y the air we breathe , and warmed by the light of the sun . We shall never forget , at the Refectory , standing before that single tress of woman ' s hair which had been exhumed only a few short months before . There stood the stone sarcophagus in which the body was entombedno one knows how many hundreds
, years ago ; ancl when it was opened , there , in plaster , was moulded the form of its occupant , —but of the occupant nothing was left except dust , ancl this tress of jet-black hair , perfectly dressed , like unto the fashion of to-day , with all the toilet and hair-dressing appliances of the present time , thus showing that centuries ago the same habits ancl customs prevailed as now .
Thoughts such as these bring us of the present to think of the present . From this old city of York , Masonry was promulgated over the wide , wide world . From it sprang the four Grand Lodges of England—1717 , the Grand Lodge of England ; 1725 , the Grand Lodge of ALL England ; 1753 , the Grand Lodge of England , according to the old Constitutions , or " Seceders ; " aud 1779 , the Grand Lodge of England south of the Trent—the first and third of
which introduced into this country the two Systems known as "Ancient" and " Modern . " Philadelphia may well claim to be the " Premier " or " Mother " City of Freemasonry in America , both "Modern" ancl "Ancient . " In 1730 , Daniel Coxe introduced in Philadelphia that which was afterwards known as "Modern" Masonry , working under the Grand Loclge of England of 1717 . The several Lodges ( three ) met in Philadelphia for a number of years regularly , and about the year 1754 were in the zenith of their glory .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Masonic Hall On Filbert Street, Near Eighth, Philadelphia:
THE MASONIC HALL ON FILBERT STREET , NEAR EIGHTH , PHILADELPHIA :
THE SECOND IN PENNSYLVANIA AND THE OLDEST IN THE UNITED STATES . A Paper read before the Rosicrucian Society of Philadelphia , on Friday , January ' 60 th , 1880 , BY FRATER CHARLES E . MEYER , IX ° .
EART H to earth , dust to dust , are terms we hear as oft as we are called to follow to the grave the remains of some loved one . Such is human life . What man has made , must decay . The stateliest edifices erected b 3 man ' s ingenuity are but lessons to man that eternity is not on this earth . What the accumulations of ages have covered with dust of hundreds and thousands of
years , ancl have hidden from the eyes of man for centuries , will in the future be brought to light , and men will wonder at the wisdom , skill , ancl handicraft of the prehistoric man . Daily we read of the unearthing of some ancient cit y or monument , of which no books now in existence speak . And is it not wonderful that the earth is a better preserver than man ? Such were our thoughts in the summer of 1878 as wein company with
, , three other members ( Fraters Sutter , Packer , and Muckle ) of our college , were shown the past wonders of the old cit y of York , England . We were impressed with peculiar feelings of our insignificance as we visited the ruins of the old Hospitinm , the ruins ( wonderful for their size ) of fct . Mary ' s Abbey , with the curious Masons' marks , the old Refectory , containing a large number of relics dug from the very ground over which we had passed . A spot which
we believe was once covered with water , which by the changes wrought b y means of internal fire became earth , and was now rendered habitable b y the air we breathe , and warmed by the light of the sun . We shall never forget , at the Refectory , standing before that single tress of woman ' s hair which had been exhumed only a few short months before . There stood the stone sarcophagus in which the body was entombedno one knows how many hundreds
, years ago ; ancl when it was opened , there , in plaster , was moulded the form of its occupant , —but of the occupant nothing was left except dust , ancl this tress of jet-black hair , perfectly dressed , like unto the fashion of to-day , with all the toilet and hair-dressing appliances of the present time , thus showing that centuries ago the same habits ancl customs prevailed as now .
Thoughts such as these bring us of the present to think of the present . From this old city of York , Masonry was promulgated over the wide , wide world . From it sprang the four Grand Lodges of England—1717 , the Grand Lodge of England ; 1725 , the Grand Lodge of ALL England ; 1753 , the Grand Lodge of England , according to the old Constitutions , or " Seceders ; " aud 1779 , the Grand Lodge of England south of the Trent—the first and third of
which introduced into this country the two Systems known as "Ancient" and " Modern . " Philadelphia may well claim to be the " Premier " or " Mother " City of Freemasonry in America , both "Modern" ancl "Ancient . " In 1730 , Daniel Coxe introduced in Philadelphia that which was afterwards known as "Modern" Masonry , working under the Grand Loclge of England of 1717 . The several Lodges ( three ) met in Philadelphia for a number of years regularly , and about the year 1754 were in the zenith of their glory .