The Arizona Keystone Scientia Coronati Research Lodge #4 F. & A. M. Newsletter
july– september 2011 A.L. 6011
Volume 4, Issue 3
“Freemasonry embraces the highest moral laws and will bear the test of any system of ethics or philosophy ever promulgated for the uplift of man”
- - Douglas MacArthur
The Arizona Keystone Volume 4, Number 3 July - September 2011 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Boyd Robertson, Master MANAGING EDITOR Keith Rosewitz, Secretary The Arizona Keystone is an official publication of Scientia Coronati Research Lodge #4 F. & A. M. and printed quarterly. Unless otherwise noted, articles appearing in this publication express only the private opinion or assertions of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of Scientia Coronati Research Lodge #4 F. & A. M. or the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Arizona. Articles are subject to editing and submittal grants Scientia Coronati Research Lodge #4 F. & A. M the right to publish and the authority to allow permission to reprint. Ownership of any article, photographs, or other materials remains with the author. No compensation is allowed for any article, photographs, or other materials submitted for publication.
CONTENTS FEATURES 3. EDITOR’S NOTES 4. PEN AND PAPER
Permission to reprint articles will be granted upon written request to the Editor. When reprinted, articles should note “Reprinted with permission of The Arizona Keystone (Month, year).”
Please direct all correspondence to: Editor: The Arizona Keystone 1908 Larchwood Cir. Prescott, AZ 86301
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M as te r ’s N otes My Brothers, With autumn now upon us are you preparing for the harvest? I am not referring to your vegetable gardens, but to your harvest of materials in preparation for your next presentation to our research lodge. Now that the days are growing shorter, and colder, it is time to return to your research and Masonic growth through learning. As always I am looking to you, my brethren, for ideas and or papers to present to the research lodge. If you do not feel comfortable presenting something on your own find a brother to help you and present it together. You would be surprised what you can learn or take away from working with a brother on your research. You might start down one path and end up on an entirely different road. And remember, brethren, an idea or a subject that you are interested in and choose to deliver might inspire someone else. Or give them another view or angle by which to look at what you have presented. And in my opinion, if you can get someone to see something in a different light or find a deeper understanding of the symbolism, you have just done a small part in assisting your brother to grow within the fraternity. Boyd
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PEN A N D PA P ER OATH Mackey’s Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, New Edition, 1929 In the year 1738, Clement XII, at the time Pope of Rome, issued a Bull of Excommunication against the Freemasons, and assigned, as the reason of his condemnation, that the Institution confederated persons of all religions and sects in a mysterious bond of union, and compelled them to secrecy by an oath taken on the Bible, accompanied by certain ceremonies, and the imprecation of heavy punishments. This persecution of the Freemasons, on account of their having an obligatory promise of secrecy among their ceremonies, has not been confined to the Papal See. We shall find it existing in a sect which we should suppose, of all others, the least likely to follow in the footsteps of a Roman Pontiff. In 1757, the Associate Synod of Seceders of Scotland adopted an Act, concerning what they called the Mason Oath, in which it is declared that all persons who shall refuse to make such revelations as the Kirk Sessions may require, and to promise to abstain from all future connection with the Order, “shall be reputed under scandal and incapable of admission to sealing ordinances,� or as Pope Clement expressed it, be ipso facto (because of that fact) excommunicated. In the Preamble to the Act, the Synod assign the reasons for their objections to this oath, and for their ecclesiastical censure of all who contract it. These reasons are: That there were very strong presumptions, that, among Masons, an oath of secrecy is administered to entrants into their society, even under a capital penalty, and before any of those things, which they swear to keep secret, be revealed to them; and that they pretend to take some of these secrets from the Bible; besides other things which are ground of scruple in the manner of swearing the said oath. These have, from that day to this, constituted the sum and substance of the objections to the obligation of Masonic secrecy, and for the purpose of brief examination, they may be classed under the following heads: 1. It is an oath. 2. It is administered before the secrets are communicated. 3. It is accompanied by certain superstitious ceremonies. 4. It is attended by a penalty. 5. It is considered, by Freemasons, as paramount to the obligations of the laws of the land. In replying to these statements, it is evident that the conscientious Freemason labors under great disadvantage. He is at every step restrained by his honor from either the denial or admission of his adversaries in relation to the mysteries of the Craft. But it may be granted, for the sake of argument, that every one of the first four charges is true, and then the inquiry will be in what respect they are offensive or immoral. Let us consider the foregoing items in the same numbered order as follows: 1. The oath or promise cannot, in itself, be sinful, unless there is something immoral in the obligation it imposes. Simply to promise secrecy, or the performance of any good action, and to strengthen this promise by the solemnity of an oath, is not, in itself, forbidden by and divine or human law. Indeed, the infirmity of human nature demands, in many instances, the sacred sanction of such and attestation; and it is continually exacted in the transactions of man with man, without any notion of sinfulness. Where the time, and place, and circumstances are unconnected with levity, or profanity, or crime, the administration of an obligation binding to secrecy, or obedience, or veracity, or any other virtue, and the invocation of Deity to witness, and to strengthen that obligation, or to punish its violation, is incapable, by any perversion of Scripture, of being considered a criminal act. 2. The objection that the oath is administered before the secrets are make known, is sufficiently absurd to provoke a smile. The purpose of such an oath would be completely frustrated by revealing the thing to be concealed before the promise of concealment was made. In that case, it would be optional with the candidate to give the obligation, or to withhold it, as best suited his inclinations. If it be conceded that the exaction of a solemn promise of secrecy is not, in itself, improper, then certainly the time of exacting it is before and not 4
after the revelation. Doctor Harris (Masonic Discourses, No. 9, page 184), has met this objection in the following language: What the ignorant call the oath, is simply an obligation, covenant, and promise, exacted previously to the divulging of the specialties of the Order, and our means of recognizing each other; that they shall be kept from the knowledge of the world, lest their original intent should be thwarted, and their benevolent purport prevented. Now, pray, what harm is there in this? Do you not all, when you have anything of a private nature which you are willing to confide in a particular friend, before you tell him what it is, demand a solemn promise of secrecy? And is there not the utmost propriety in knowing whether your friend is determined to conceal your secret, before you presume to reveal it? Your answer confutes your cavil. 3. The objection that the oath is accompanied by certain superstitious ceremonies does not seem to be entitled too much weight. Oaths, in all countries and at all times, have been accompanied by peculiar rites, intended to increase the solemnity and reverence of the act. The ancient Hebrews, when they took an oath, placed the hand beneath the thigh of the person to whom they swore. Sometimes the ancients took hold of the horns of the altar, and touched the sacrificial fire, as in the league between Latinus and Aeneas where the ceremony is thus described by Virgil: Tango aras; mediosque ignes, et numina, testor. Sometimes they extended the right hand to heaven, and swore by earth, sea and stars. Sometimes, as among the Romans in private contracts, the person swearing laid his hand upon the hand of the party to whom he swore. In all solemn covenants the oath was accompanied by a sacrifice; and some of the hair being cut from the victim’s head, a part of it was given to all present that each one might take a share in the oath, and be subject to the imputation. Other ceremonies were practiced at various times and in different countries, for the purpose of throwing around the act of attestation an increased amount of awe and respect. The oath is equally obligatory without them; but they have their significance, and there can be no reason why the Freemasons should not be allowed to adopt the mode most pleasing to themselves of exacting their promises or confirming their covenants. 4. It is objected that the oath is attended with a penalty of a serious or capital nature. If this be the case, it does not appear that the expression of a penalty of any nature whatever can affect the purport or augment the solemnity of an oath, which is, in fact, an attestation of God to the truth of a declaration, as a witness and avenger; and hence every oath includes in itself, and as its very essence, the covenant of God’s wrath, the heaviest of all penalties, as the necessary consequence of its violation. A writer, in reply to the Synod of Scotland (Scot’s Magazine, October, 1757), quotes the opinion of an eminent jurist to this effect: It seems to be certain that every promissory oath, in whatever form it may be conceived, whether explicitly or implicitly, virtually contains both as attestation and an obsecration; for in an oath, the execration supposes an attestation as a precedent, and the attestation infers an execration as a necessary consequence. Hence, then, to the believer in a superintending Providence, every oath is an affirmation, negation, or promise, corroborated by the attestation of the Divine Being. This attestation includes an obsecration of Divine punishment in case of a violation, and it is, therefore a matter of no moment whether this obsecration or penalty be expressed in words or only implied; its presence or absence does not, in any degree, alter the na ture of the obligation. If, in any promise or vow made by Freemasons, such a penalty is inserted, it may probably be supposed that it is used only with a metaphorical and para phrastical signification, and for the purpose of symbolic or historical allusion. Any other interpretation but this would be entirely at variance with the opinions of the most intelligent Freemasons, who, it is presumed, best know the intent and meaning of their own ceremonies. 5. The last, and, indeed, the most important objection urged is, that these oaths are construed by Freemasons as being of higher obligation than the law of the land. It is in vain that this charge has been repeatedly and indignantly denied; it is in vain that Freemasons point to the integrity of character of thousands of eminent men who have been members of the Fraternity; it is in vain that they recapitulate the order-loving and law-fearing regulations of the Institution; the charge is renewed with untiring pertinacity, and believed with a credulity that owes its birth to rancorous prejudice alone. To repeat the denial is but to provoke a repetition of the charge. The answer is, however, made by one who, once a Freemason, was afterward an opponent and an avowed enemy of the Institution. W.L. Stone (Letters on Masonry and Anti-Masonry, Letter vii, page 69), who uses the following language: 5
Is it, then, to be believed that men of acknowledged talents and worth in public stations, and of virtuous and, frequently, religious habits, in the walks of private life, with the Holy Bible in their hands – which they are solemnly pledged to receive as the rule and guide of their faith and practice – and under the grave and positive charge from the officer administering the obligation, that it is to be taken in strict subordination to the civil laws – can understand that obligation, whatever may be the peculiarities of its phraseology, as requiring them to countenance vice and criminality even by silence? Can it for a moment be supposed that the hundreds of eminent men, whose patriotism is unquestioned, and the exercise of whose talents and virtues has shed a lustre upon the church history of our country, and who, by their walk and conversation, have, in their own lives, illustrated the beauty of holiness? Is it to be credited that the tens of thousands of those persons, ranking among the most intelligent and virtuous citizens of the most moral and enlightened people on earth – is it, I ask, possible that any portion of this community can, on calm reflection, believe that such men have oaths upon their consciences binding them to eternal silence in regard to the guilt of any man because he happens to be a Freemason, no matter what be the grade of offence, whether it be the picking of a pocket or the shedding of blood? It does really seem to me impossible that such an opinion could, at any moment, have prevailed, to any considerable extent, amongst reflecting and intelligent citizens. Oaths of interest to the Craft are obviously of various kinds and are not limited to the peculiarly Masonic obligations assumed when receiving the Degrees. A few references may be quoted from the Bible. Numbers v, 19-21, is an instance where the warning punishment is ceremonially accompanied by the blotting out of the record with other significant and symbolic acts. Adjuration, a solemnly earnest appeal, is in evidence by Deuteronomy xxvii, 15-9, where the curses that warn precede the alternative blessings thus: Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen. Then follows in chapter xxviii the promised reward for those who keep the faith: “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth.” Joshua vi, 26, has a curious allusion, “And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho; he shall lay the foundation thereof in this firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.” First Samuel xiv, 24, is a similar instance. Attestation by an oath, to bear witness by solemn assertion of one’s willingness to suffer if untrue, we have the case of Exodus xxii, 10, 11. “If a man deliver unto his neighbour an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, to keep; and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it: Then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour’s goods; and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good.” Another instance is that of Nehemiah x, 29, “They clave to their Brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses, the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes.” A modern continuance of the ancient ceremonial method of pledging future personal conduct is in the coronation of a king. In England the coronation oath is to be administered by one of the archbishops of bishops in the presence of all the people, who, on their parts, reciprocally take the oath of allegiance to the crown. The archbishop or bishop shall say: “Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the dominions thereto belonging according to the statutes in parliament agreed on, and the respective laws and customs of the same?” The king shall say: “I solemnly promise so to do.” Archbishop or bishop: “Will you to the utmost of your power cause law and justice, in mercy, to be executed in all your judgments?” King: “I will.” Archbishop or bishop: “Will you, to the utmost of your power, maintain the laws of God, the true profession of the Gospel, and the Protestant 6
reformed religion established by law? And will you maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England and the doctrine, worship, discipline and government thereof, as by law established in England? And will you preserve unto the bishops and clergy of England, and to the churches therein all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain to them, or any of them?” King: “All this I promise to do.” After this the king, laying his hand upon the holy Gospels, shall say: “The things which I have herebefore promised I will perform and keep; so help me God,” and then shall kiss the Book. An unusual form of oath is that still taken by deemsters of the Isle of Man. The word deemster is a corruption of doomster, originally meaning the person who pronounces doom or sentence in their court of justice – in other words, a judge. This has been required of all Manx deemsters for a thousand years: By this Book, and the Holy Contents thereof, and by the Wonderful works that God hat miraculously wrought in the Heaven above and in the Earth beneath, in six days and seven nights, I, the person being sworn do swear that I will without respect, favor or friendship, love or gain, consanguinity or affinity, envy or malice, execute the laws of this Isle, and betwixt party and party, as indifferently as the herring’s backbone doth lie in the midst of the fish! So help me God and the Contents of this Book. Sundry old pledges found in trade and professional associations have also an interest for us as members of a Craft. There is the one even yet administered to those following the footsteps of the father of surgery, Hippocrates. He flourished during 460-361 B.C. and much technical data upon his surprising skill and great fame are found in the works by Adams and Mumford. So prominent an expert was Hippocrates that he was given the sacred Eleusinian rites as if possessed of royal attributes. Ha has left on record a solemn pledge of his profession (see Mumford’s Surgical Memoirs): I swear by Apollo the physician, and Aesculapius, and Health, and Panacea, and by all the gods and goddesses that, according to my ability and judgment, I will keep this oath and this stipulation: To reckon him who taught me this art equally dear to me as my parents, to share my substance with him, and to relieve his necessities if required; to look upon his offspring on the same footing as my own Brethren, and to teach them this art, if they shall wish to learn it, without fee or stipulation, and that by precept, lecture and every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the art to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to disciples bound by a stipulation and oath according to the rules of Medicine, and to no others. While I continue to keep this oath inviolate, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the art, respected by all men, in all times! But should I trespass and violate this oath, let the reverse be my lot! An oath of the Masters and Wardens of the Mysteries, Mystery being then a word used for a trade organization, is found in the Liber Albus, the White Book (page 451, 1861 edition) compiled 1419 A.D. This book contains the various laws of London and in referring to the several trades mentions the following pledge, evidently taken when the officers were installed: You shall swear, that well and lawfully you shall overlook the art or mystery of (name the trade gild or society here) of which you are Masters, or Wardens, for the year elected. And the good rules and ordinances of the same mystery, approved here by the Court, you shall keep and shall cause to be kept. And all the defaults that you shall find therein, done contrary thereto, you shall present unto the Chamberlain of the City, from time to time, sparing no one for favor, and aggrieving no one for hate. Extortion or wrong unto no one, by colour of your office, you shall do; nor unto anything that shall be against the estate and peace of the King, or of the City, you shall consent. But for the time that you shall be in office, in all things pertaining unto the said mystery, according to the good laws and franchises of the city, well and lawfully you shall behave yourself. – So God you help, and the Saints. All these illustrations of various oaths may well be seriously noted in the spirit of the message brought by Moses (Numbers xxx, 2), “If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.”
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…………SO PROUD TO BE A MASON !!! By Brother Stan Martin My wife and I just returned from a two week trip to the mid-west visiting family in Missouri. The first evening my son-in-law said that he knew I was a Mason as he glanced down at my Masonic ring. He went on to say that he didn’t know if I would be able to answer a question for him. The question was something like: “What are the Masons?” I asked why he wanted to know - at which point he replied that he was assisting in negotiations for additional office space and the man in charge was a 33rd degree Mason. I proudly answered my son-in-law’s questions which seemed to open an unexpected total vista of Masonic information and sightings. We, through other members of his side of the family, learned that both of his grandfathers were Masons. WOW! I believe he was surprised. We did a lot of sight-seeing in the midst of that terrible mid-western heat wave. As we were driving through downtown St. Joseph we came across a building which had a large rectangular sign stating “Masonic Lodge”, “Eastern Star” and “Scottish Rite”. My daughter wanted us to visit the school and classroom where she teaches in Savannah. As we walked towards the school entrance there was the Cornerstone laid by A.F & A.M. That was a pleasant greeting. It was inscribed: “Savannah Lodge No. 71 A.F. & A.M 1956 AL 5912”. After leaving the school we drove around downtown Savannah and we saw many buildings with the Cornerstones laid by A.F. & A.M. mostly from the 1950s. We drove to Jamesport which is a small Amish town. This was not a tourist-type place. If it wasn’t for my son-inlaw’s family, my wife and I never would have known it was there. Much to my astonishment as we walked through the two block downtown - there in a recessed doorway was a small unadorned plaque on the door which was inscribed: “A F & A M”. There was nothing else and it was not easy to see unless you were looking for it or in my case just happened to observe the plate. In our travels we drove through Cosby with a sign which stated “Population 505”. There I was noticeably taken aback to see on the top front of a building the Square and Compass as well as Eastern Star symbols. In Independence we visited the Truman Library and Museum. This was a marvelous educational experience. As we walked through the Museum we came across one designated, complete section dedicated to President Truman’s Masonic history. There was a picture of him as a Shriner. There was a complete replica of the Oval Office and as I glanced through the book shelves, I noted there were two volumes entitled: Encyclopedia of Freemasonry by Mackey. Yes, right there in the Oval Office. In addition, there was a plaque in this section which read “Joining Freemasonry. During his years on the farm Truman joined the Masonic Order. Both of his grandfathers were Masons. So were many of the great men he admired: Mozart, Andrew Jackson and George Washington. The Masonic order offered ethical guidance, companionship and 8
acceptance among other Masons wherever he might travel.” There was another plaque about the Scottish Rite of equal size. It said in part that “the Scottish Rite has done its best to make a man of me, and they had such a grade of material to start with that they did a poor job I fear. It is the most impressive ceremony I ever saw or read. If a man doesn’t try better after seeing it, he has a screw loose somewhere.” Among the displays were his white Masonic apron and jewels plus his Shriner Fez. There was also a picture of President Truman in full Masonic regalia. Another display showed a chart with pictures entitled: “Masonic Presidents of the United States”. Finally, there was a chart on the structure of Freemasonry. This was so exciting to me. In conclusion there was the Masonic Biography of President Truman. * His Degrees * Jr. Warden * Royal Arch Masons * Royal & Select Masons * Knights Templar * Scottish Rite * Shrine * Coroneted Honorary 33rd degree. Driving home to Prescott Valley we went through the town of Emporia, Kansas. In Emporia there is an Eastern Star Hall, a Masonic Hall, two Masonic Lodges and a Masonic Temple. In Guymon, Oklahoma another Masonic Lodge was sighted with a full inscription on the front door. There were additional sightings but I did not jot down every one…only those I thought you might have interest in. So, to see everything, do as my wife and I did and drive the 2,980 mile round trip. It seemed that wherever we went we saw and heard so much about or related to Freemasonry, so yes! …………SO PROUD TO BE A MASON !!!
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