FREEMASONRY AND ITS KINDRED SCIENCES by ALBERT C. MACKEY M. D. |
POETRY, MASONIC Where Masonic poetry can be found, and what Masonic poetry is, are questions answerable only after the phrase is defined. If by Masonic poetry is meant verse written by a Mason about a symbol or about the Lodge or the Ritual, there is little of it, and in Masonic literature is no poem which a literary critic of competence would recognize as a masterpiece. Rob Morris wrote a volume of Masonic verse but had the misfortune not to be a poet; and those who have followed him have had a still larger share of the same misfortune. But there is no reason to limit Masonic verse so narrowly; there are great themes in Freemasonry in addition to its Landmarks and its Rules and Regulations; great themes in its history, its teachings, its spirit. If defined in this more inclusive sense there is much Masonic poetry, and of the very highest quality; much more in fact than Masons themselves can easily believe because it has never been collected in anthologies. Of the poetry thus more broadly defined Robert Burns is the acknowledged laureate; second after him, and not far removed, is Rudyard Kipling—both were active and earnest Masons, and each held Lodge office; and after Kipling, though at a farther remove, is Edwin Markham, who acknowledged Masonry to have been the inspiration of many of his pages. Goethe, the greatest of poets since Shakespeare, performed the almost impossible feat of writing a poem on the philosophy of the Craft in his "A Mason's Ways." If Knighthood and Crusades are included in the Masonic purview, Scott and the French and Italian epic writers wrote thousands of pages. But it is not so much among the classics, the standard writers, or in a whole corpus of work by any one writer, that the best and largest number of Masonic poems are found, but rather as a single poem, or only one or two, here and there among hundreds of poems. Longfellow's series of sonnets on Dante are in artistic skill his masterpiece; one of them is the description of a cathedral, and of perfect beauty. Edna Millay's masterpiece is her sonnet on "Euclid." The theme of Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner" is brotherhood, a brotherhood so inclusive that it gathers into its embrace animals, plants, "all things both great and small"; and the same theme animates Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, a great work with an appeal in it for American Masons that our English Brethren may have difficulty in finding. Scottish Rite Masons read Tennyson's Idylls of the Ring because in some pages those Vergilian leaves read almost like a gloss on certain of the High Grades; and the verse by Tennyson and a host of other poets on the Legend of the Holy Grail are a commentary of large and moving eloquence on the text of That Which Was Lost. And work, the Masonic theme par excellence, is being sung by a whole generation of Russian poets—and if they continue as they have begun they will yet find a way to bring the Fraternity back into their country because so many of them are Masons in spirit. And it is not to be forgotten that the oldest Masonic document in existence is itself a poem, composed in rhyme. If there were a Francis Palgrave in the Fraternity he could compile a Golden Treasury in many volumes POETRY OF FREEMASONRY Although Freemasonry has been distinguished more than any other single institution for the number of verses to which it has given birth, it has not produced any poetry of a very high order, except a few lyrical effusions. Rime, although not always of transcendent merit, has been a favorite form of conveying its instructions. The oldest of the Constitutions, that known as the Halliwell or Regius Manuscript, is written in verse; and almost all the early catechisms of the Degrees were in the form of rime, which, although often doggerel in character, served as a convenient method of assisting the memory. But the imagination, which might have been occupied in the higher walks of poetry, seems in Freemasonry to have been expended in the construction of its symbolism, which may, however, be considered often as the results of true poetic genius. There are, besides the songs, of which the number in all languages is very great, an abundance of prologues and epilogues, of odes and anthems, some of which are not discreditable to their authors or to the Institution. But there are very few poems on Masonic subjects of any length. The French have indulged more than any other nation in this sort of composition, and the earliest Masonic poem known is one published at Frankfort, 1756, with the title of Noblesse des Franc-Maçons ou Institution de leur Sociéte avant le deluge universel et de son renouvellement apres le Deluge, Nobility of the Freemasons, or the Institution of their Society before the Universal Deluge and of its Renovation after the Flood. It was printed anonymously, but the authorship of it is attributed to M. Jartigue. It is a transier to verse of all the Masonic myths contained in the Legend of the Craft and the traditional history of Anderson Neither the material nor the execution exempt the author from Horace's denunciation of poetic mediocrity. A selection of poems that are of sufficient merit to be notable exceptions to the above criticism by Doctor Mackey, are here inserted. The Lodge-room Over Simpkins' Store What Came We Here To Do? The Temple of Living Stones Great Source of Light and Love! Fellowcraft's Song For Auld Lang SyneThe verses sometimes called the Freemasons health and the Entered Apprentice's Song are found under the latter title in this work (see also Morris, Rob); Pike, Albert; Kipling, Rudyard, and Songs of Freemasonry). POINSETT, JOEL R. Joel Roberts Poinsett introduced from Mexico the plant with crimson bracts which has become the national Christmas flower Poinsettia pulcherina. He was born in Charleston S.C., in 1779, like Paul Revere being of Huguenot descent, of parents who were able to send him to school in England, employ private tutors after his return, and finally to send him to Scotland for his education in law. He studied military sciences at Woolwich. After nearly four years of traveling about Europe, President Madison called him home for a-mission to South America to make the first of a long series of endeavors to create there a Good Neighbor policy. He served in the South Carolina legislatures then served as Minister to Mexico; once, in Chile, he led one of those small, but critical naval battles (with Spain, then on the verge of a war with us) which so often decided our national destiny but are forgotten by Americans. While in office as Secretary of War during President Van Buren's administration he pioneered the way for what was to become the National Guard system, a scheme adopted from Eighteenth Century England for having an army without having professional soldiers. Brother Poinsett w as a member of Solomon's Lodge, No. 1, Charleston; filled a succession of offices including Grand High Priest, and was elected Grand Master but could not serve because of his appointment as Secretary of War. It was as Minister to Mexico that he made a place for himself in Masonic history when he introduced Masonry into Mexico City; and could the Lodges there have resisted invasion by the Church from one side and politics from the other, the Mexican Craft would have developed into one of great strength along with the Craft in the United States and Canada. POINTED CUBICAL STONE The Broached Thurnel, which see, mentioned by Doctor Oliver and others in the Tracing-Board of an Entered Apprentice, and known to the French Freemason as the pierre cubiquc, has an ax inserted in the apex. Brother William S. Rockwell considered this feature in the Tracing-Board remarkable and suggestive of curious reflections, and thus reasoned: The cubic stone pointed with an axe driven into it, is strikingly similar to a peculiar hieroglyphic of the Egyptians. The name of one of their gods is written with a determinative sign affixed to it, consisting of a smooth rectangular stone with a knife over it; but the most singular portion of the circumstance is, that this hieroglyphie, which is read by Egyptelogists, Seth, is the symbol of falsehood and error, in contradistinction to the rough, or brute, stone, which is the symbol of faith and truth. The symbol of error was the soft stone, which could be cut; the symbol of truth, the hard stone, on which no tool could be used. Seth is the true Egyptian name of the god known afterward by the name of Typhon, at one time devoutly worshiped and profoundly venerated in the culminating epoch of the Pharaonic empire, as the monuments of Parnac and Medinet-Abou testify. But in time his worship was overthrown, his shrines desecrated, his name and titles chiseled from the monumental granite, and he himself, from being venerated as the giver of life and blessings to the rulers of Egypt, degraded from his position, treated as a destroying demon, and shunned as the personification of evil. This was not long before the exode of the children of Israel. Seth was the father of Judaeus, and Palestinus is the god of the Semitic tribes who rested on the seventh day, and bears the swarthy complexion of the hated race. Seth is also known by other names in the hieroglyphic legends, among the most striking of which is Bar, that is Bal, known to us in sacred history as the fatal stumbling block of idolatry to the Jewish people (see Triangle and Square). POINTS In the Old Constitutions known as the Halliwell or Regius Manuscript, there are fifteen regulations which are called points. The fifteen articles which precede are said to have been in existence before the meeting at York, and then only collected after search, while the fifteen points were then enacted. Thus we are told— Fifteen artyculus they there sougton,The word sougton, means sought or Soured out; the word wrogton, wrought or enacted. The points referred to in the ritualistic phrase, arts, parts, and prints of the hidden mysteries of Masonry" are the rules and regulations of the Institution- Phillips's New World of Words (1706 edition) defines point as "a head or chief matter." It is in this sense that we speak of the points of Freemasonry. A rather significant use of the word is where it means to correct and complete the openings left between the stones in a wall, a meaning applied by the operative craftsmen that is very old and still very apt. POINTS OF ENTRANCE, PERFECT In the earliest lectures of the eighteenth century these were called Principal Points. The designation of them as Perfect Points of Entrance was of a later date. They are described both in the English and the American systems. Their specific names, and their allusion to the four cardinal virtues, are the same in both; but the verbal explanations differ, although not substantially. They are so called because they refer to four important points of the initiation. The Guttural refers to the entrance upon the penal responsibilities; the Pectoral, to the entrance into the Lodge; the Hanusl, to the entrance on the Covenant; and the Pedal, to the entrance on the instructions in the northeast. POINTS OF FELLOWSHIP, FIVE There are duties owing by every Freemason to his Brethren, which, from their symbolic allusion to certain points of the body, and from the lesson of brotherly love which they teach, are called the Five Points of Fellowship. They are symbolically illustrated in the Third Degree, and have been summed up by Doctor Oliver as "assisting a Brother in his distress, supporting him in his virtuous undertakings, praying for his welfare, keeping inviolate his secrets, and vindicating his reputation as well in his absence as in his presence" (Landmarks i, page 185). Cole, in the Freemasons Library (page 190) gives the same ideas in extended language, as follows: 1. When the necessities of a Brother call for my aid and support, I will be ever ready to lend him such assistance, to save him from sinking, as may not be detrimental to myself or connection, if I find him worthy thereof.The enumeration of these Points by some other more recent authorities differs from Cole's, apparently, only in the order in which the Points are placed. The latter order is given by Doctor Mackey: 1. Indolence should not cause our footsteps to halt, or wrath turn them aside; but with eager alacrity and swiftness of foot, we should press forward in the exercise of charity and kindness to a distressed fellow-creature.The difference here is apparently only in the order of enumeration, but really there is an important difference in the symbols on which the instructions are founded. In the old system, the symbols are the hand, the foot, the knee, the breast, and the back. In the new system, the first symbol or the hand is omitted, and the mouth and the ear substituted. There is no doubt that this omission of the first and insertion of the last are innovations, which sprung up in 1843 at the Baltimore Convention, and the enumeration given by Cole is the old and genuine one, which was originally taught in England by Preston, and in the United States by Webb. POINTS, THE FIVE See Chromatic Calendar POINTS, TWELVE GRAND See Twelve Original Points of Masonry POINT WITHIN A CIRCLE This is a symbol of great interest and importance, and brings us into close connection with the early symbolism of the solar orb and the universe, which was predominant in the ancient sun-worship. The lectures of Freemasonry give what modern Monitors have made an esoteric explanation of the symbol, in telling us that the point represents an individual Brother, the circle the boundary line of his duty to God and man, and the two perpendicular parallel lines the patron saints of the Order—Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. But that this was not always its symbolic signification, we may collect from the true history of its connection with the phallus of the Ancient Mysteries The phallus was among the Egyptians the symbol of fecundity, expressed by the male generative principle. It was communicated from the Rites of Osiris to the religious festivals of Greece. Among the Asiatics the same emblem, under the name of Miriam, was, in connection with the female principle, worshiped as the symbols of the Great Father and Mother, or producing causes of the human race, after their destruction by the deluge. On this subject, Captain Wilford (Asiatic Researches) remarks "that it was believed in India, that, at the general deluge, everything was involved in the common destruction except the male and female principles, or organs of generation, which were destined to produce a new race, and to repeople the earth when the waters had subsided from its surface. The female principle, symbolized by the moon, assumed the form of a lunette or crescent; while the male principle, symbolized by the sun, assuming the form of the lingam, placed himself erect in the center of the lunette, like the mast of a ship. The two principles, in this united form, floated on the surface of the waters during the period of their prevalence on the earth; and thus became the progenitors of a new race of men." Here, then, was the first outline of the point within a circle, representing the principle of fecundity, and doubtless the symbol, connected with a different history, that, namely, of Osiris, was transmitted by the Indian philosophers to Egypt, and to the other nations, who derived, as is elsewhere shown, all their rites from the East. It was in deference to this symbolism that, as Godfrey Higgins remarks (Anecalypsis ii, page 306), circular temples were in the very earliest ages universally erected in cyclar numbers to do honor to the Deity. In India, stone circles, or rather their ruins, are everywhere found; among the oldest of which, according to Moore (Pancheon, page 242) is that of Dipaldiana, and whose execution will compete with that of the Greeks. In the oldest monuments of the Druids we find, as at Stonehenge and Avebury, the circle of stones. In fact, all the temples of the Druids were circular, with a single stone erected in the center. A Druidical monument in Pembrokeshire, called Y Cromlech, is described as consisting of several rude stones pitched on end in a circular order, and in the midst of the circle a vast stone placed on several pillars. Near Keswick, in Cumberland, says Doctor Oliver (Signs and Symbols, page 174) is another specimen of this Druidical symbol. On a hill stands a circle of forty stones placed perpendicularly, Of about five feet and a half in height, and one stone in the center of greater altitude. Among the Scandinavians, the hall of Odin contained twelve seats, disposed in the form of a circlers for the principal gods, with an elevated seat in the center for Odin. Scandinavian monuments of this form are still to be found in Scania, Zealand, and Jutland. But it is useless to multiply examples of the prevalence of this symbol among the ancients. Now let us apply this knowledge to the Masonic symbol. We have seen that the phallus and the point within a circle come from the same source, and must have been identical in signification. But the phallus was the symbol of fecundity, or the male generative principle, which by the ancients was supposed to be the sun, they looking to the creature and not to the Creator, because by the sun's heat and light the earth is made prolific, and its productions are brought to maturity. The point within the circle was then originally the symbol of the sun; and as the lingam of India stood in the center of the lunette, so it stands within the center of the Universe, typified by the circle, impregnating and vivifying it with its heat. And thus the astronomers have been led to adopt the same figure as their symbol of the sun. Now it is admitted that the Lodge represents the world or the universe, and the Master and Wardens within it represent the sun in three positions. Thus we arrive at the true interpretation of the Masonic symbolism of the point within the circle. It is the same thing, but under a different form, as the Master and Wardens of a Lodge. The Master and Wardens are symbols of the sun, the Lodge of the universe, or world, just as the point is the symbol of the same sun, and the surrounding circle of the universe. To the above observations by Doctor Mackey, Brother Charles T. McClenachan adds these two paragraphs: An addition to the above may be given, by referring to one of the oldest symbols among the Egyptians, and found upon their monuments, which was a circle centered by an A U M, supported by two erect parallel serpents; the circle being expressive of the collective people of the world, protected by the parallel attributes, the Power and Wisdom of the Creator. The Alpha and Omega, or the will representing the Egyptian omnipotent God, surrounded by His creation, having for a boundary no other limit than what may come within his boundless scope, his Wisdom and Power. At times this circle is represented by the Ananta (a Sanskrit word meaning eternity), a serpent with its tail in its mouth. The parallel serpents were of the cobra species. It has been suggestively said that the Masonic symbol refers to the circuits or circumambulation of the initiate about the sacred Altar, which supports the three Great Lights as a central point, while the Brethren stand in two parallel lines. POINT WITHIN A CIRCLE As knowledge of the customs of gilds, fraternities, churches, and of popular customs in the Middle Ages is increased it becomes ever more evident that the two Sts. John Days were in everybody's mind the two fixed points of the year, and that where we measure time in our minds from New Year's Day (St. John the Evangelist's Day was equivalent to it) they measured it from two extremes, one the shortest day in winter, the other the longest day in summer. The early prominence of these two Days in Masonic customs need not there fore mean that the days were chosen for their religious significance; it rather may mean that they were chosen for their convenience as a calendar. It is doubtful if Masons ever thought of the Sts. John as their Patron Saints until a late period; from the records of the Mason Companies (as noted on another page in this Supplement), some of them took St. Thomas as their Patron. The Monitorial Lectures make it plain that the two Parallel Lines represent the Sts. John Evangelist and Baptist, not in their theological significance but in their sense as a calendar; the days named after those, Saints, rather than the Saints themselves, are denoted. Since those days were the two extremes of the year, the sun is correctly represented as swinging in its circuit between them, for it cannot move south this side of the fixed point of the day named for the Evangelist nor go north beyond the fixed point of the day represented by the Baptist. The two days are the limits of its circle, therefore the circle is shone set between the lines. The Point Within the Circle represents the year, a year of work, a year out of a man's life; at least it does if the history of its use is a true guide to its symbolic meaning. To follow that guide is not to narrow the symbolism down to a mere fact in the calendar, but is to canalize it, and to hold it fast to its Masonic meaning, lest commentators wander off into regions that have no connection with Freemasonry. POLAND Lodges were held in Poland quite early in the eighteenth century, but the Bull of pope Clement XII in 1739 stopped all activities. In 1742, however, a Lodge was again at work in Volhynien and others soon revived. The Three Brothers Lodge was opened at Warsaw in 1766 by Count Augustus Moszynski and on June 24, 1769, it was declared a Grand Lodge. In 1770 Brother Moszynski was recognized by England as Provincial Grand Master for Poland. In 1772 owing to political affairs Masonic doings ceased. By 1780 however there were again three Lodges at work. The Good Shepherd Lodge reorganized as Catherine of the Polar Star, was in August, 1780, granted a Warrant as a Provincial Grand Lodge -' England with Count Hulsen as presiding officer. On March 4, 1784, it became an independent Grand Orient of Poland with Brother Andrew Mocranowski as Grand Master. Activities again ceased in 1789 but were resumed in 1810. Eleven years later the Lodges were again closed by order of Czar Alexander. The freedom of action brought about in Masonic affairs during the World War encouraged the promotion of Lodges and a Grand Lodge was formed on October 1, 1921, independently of the Grand Lodge of Italy which had taken the preliminary steps at organization on September 11, 1920. Brother Oliver Day Street, in his Report on Correspondence to the Grand Lodge of Alabama, 1922, days, "The Grand Lodge of Poland with seat at Warsaw, has been recently organized, but we possess little information concerning it. A brief item in the Fellowship Forum of March 17, 1922, says that it bids fair to become the center of a vigorous Masonic movement in Central Europe." A Supreme Council of Poland, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, was established in 1922 under the sponsorship of the Supreme Councils of Switzerland, Netherlands, and Italy. POLITICS There is no charge more frequently made against Freemasonry than that of its tendency to revolution, and conspiracy, and to political organizations which may affect the peace of society or interfere with the rights of governments. It was the substance of all Barruel's and Robison's accusations, that the Jacobinism of France and Germany was nurtured in the Lodges of those countries; it was the theme of all the denunciations of the anti-Masons of America, that the Order was seeking a political ascendancy and an undue influence over the government; it has been the unjust accusation of every enemy of the Institution in all times past, that its object and aim is the possession of power and control in the affairs of state. It is in vain that history records no instance of this unlawful connection between Freemasonry and politics; it is in vain that the libeler is directed to the Ancient Constitutions of the Order, which expressly forbid such connection; the libel is still written, and Freemasonry is again and again condemned as a political club. POLITICS AND MASONRY The first Book of Constitutions of Freemasonry (1723) has as its second part The Charges of a Free-Mason, which begins on page 49. The second of these charges is "Of the Civil Magistrate Supreme and Subordinate." The paragraph consists of two long sentences, but both are nothing more than an elaboration of the opening clause of the first of the two: "A Mason is a peaceable Subject of the Civil Powers ...." The elaboration of this straightforward, unambiguous statement makes clear what the new Grand Lodge had in mind; there are Mayors, it said, with their council in towns and cities, Sheriffs with their staffs in the counties; each of these "magistrates" is charged to enforce the ordinances of the town or laws of the realm governing gilds, associations, assemblies of craftsmen; Masons do not rebel against these magistrates or make trouble for them; they keep the peace. It did not occur to the Freemasons then, as it had never occurred to their Masonic forebears, that they were living under a "political system" that other political systems were possible; that a different political system might be better than the one they had; they did not discuss such questions, or debate them, or propagandize their members in support of one system as against another. Such abstract and general political theories as democracy, monarchy, feudalism, republicanism, communism had never crossed their minds. Throughout the Middle Ages theologians and philosophers might theorize about "the prince" or raise abstract questions. At a later time Coke, Bacon, Blackstone, Mr. Locke could discuss the merits of a constitutional system as against personal monarchy. But craftsmen knew nothing of such subjects, took their rulers and laws for granted, and raised no questions except on such matters of practical detail as their rights to hold assemblies, the carelessness of Royal Administrators, the scale of wages, etc. Is Freemasonry democratic, republican, monarchic, etc.? Neither the words nor the ideas denoted by the words are found anywhere in the customs, rules and regulations, Constitutions, Landmarks, or the Ritual. The Craft has never interested itself in political philosophies, creeds, crusades; and does not now, because, like theology, they lie outside its province. Don't make trouble for magistrates; don't indulge in street brawls; don't hold illegal assemblies; be peaceable and law-abiding, this was as far as the Masons went; they did not even include such non-partisan, universal words as patriotism and citizenship in their Ritual. The Craft began in a period of unadulterated feudalism, when a Lord owned the land, or a portion of it, and the men, women, fields, animals, and everything on it. To be free was an exceptional status which the lord granted, and almost always for a consideration, and this freedom was granted to a man, a town, a corporation, a body of men, a trade by means of a charter or dispensation. Men not freed or manumitted were the private property of the lord, and could be bought and sold with the land. Feudalism was never banished in toto (Hungary still has it), but broke up one portion at a time, here and then there, now and then, piecemeal. It was succeeded by a dynastic system of personal rulers. A country, or county, or estate, or principality, or "crown" belonged to its ruler; if he married a woman possessing the crown of another "country," perhaps across the sea, he became ruler of both. He could divide countries among his sons. In Italy and France cities belonged to lords, and a great center like Venice, or Genoa, or Florence might belong to one "kingdom" today, another tomorrow because of a marriage. This dynastic system gave way, piecemeal, to the national system; there came into existence countries with permanent boundaries, and in the process many lords and dynasties were swallowed up by one lord and he became king of a country: and his family was the only royal dynasty. The power of these personal dynastic rulers was eaten into by the ever-increasing powers, first, of their own counselors and under-lords, second, by the citizens at large represented by committees-of-the-whole called parliaments. The United States was the first country to adopt the last named exclusively, and to abandon the old barbaric notion that a man can "own" a country and a people, and the Medieval notion that any one man can rule and govern a people. The proof that Freemasonry is wholly non-political is furnished by the fact that it has perpetuated itself and preserved its own Landmarks unaltered in each and every one of these political systems; and the corollary fact that as a fraternity it has never taken part in overthrowing one system in favor of another. Its members can espouse any political theory or party they wish, can be monarchists, or communists, but they cannot act or speak in such matters in the name of Masonry or commit the Craft to any political dogma. The American Revolution was in reality two revolutions: the military revolution for political independence was brought successfully to an end with the surrender of Yorktown; the social revolution, by which the titles, classes, privileges, etc., of the old aristocracy were abolished, came to its final end in the administration of Andrew Jackson. In the American way of life a man counts as one, never more or less than one; he is a citizen by virtue of birth (or naturalization), and no one man can be less or more of a citizen than another; each one is free to attend school, walk the streets, work, speak, think; his government deals with him solely as a man; it has never required that he belong to any given party, religion, or class. This is not a political system, but the absence of one, and absent because none is needed. The country is not governed according to a theory; the names "democratic" or "republican," etc., and if properly defined, are mere verbal labels, and mean nothing. A man is an American; there is no requirement for him to be anything additional. But he is "American" only because he lives in the country called America. It is because a man himself, any man, and by virtue of his nature, must thus count as one man, be dealt with as a man and in no other capacity, that America has its way of life, and for no other reason; we did not at a people begin by adopting some particular political theory or program, and then set about putting it into practice. Men in any country can have the same way of life for and of themselves without thinking of it as borrowed from America, because it is not American but belongs to man as man. Freemasonry fitted happily into this way of life, though it had, as an organization, nothing to do with making it (there were as many Masons on one side in the Revolution as on the other); the only point at which it chanced to correspond beforehand with the American way was its ancient Landmark of treating each candidate solely on his merits as a man, of compelling him to meet his fellows on the level, and of forcing him to leave his privileges, titles, etc., outside; but it did this not because it had adopted the theory called "democracy"—a word which, like socialism, may mean anything—but because its members were workers engaged in the same work together. In the paragraphs on RELIGION ONLY FREEMASONRY elsewhere in this Supplement it is stated that Freemasonry never had a theology of its own because Masonry was the art of architecture, and that art, like the other arts and sciences, can never be altered by any theology, church, or religion but is self-same everywhere and always. The same fact is true of Masonry and politics. The principles, formulas, and tools of architecture were the same in feudal Europe as in "democratic" America. If Hitler and Stalin had any need to solve the Forty-seventh Proposition of Euclid they both had to solve it in the same way, because geometry is irrelevant to political regimes. So is astronomy, geology, farming, navigation, music, chemistry, physics, etc.; an automobile cannot be fascist, communist, democratic any more than it can be Jewish, Christian, or Buddhist. Politics are of highest importance inside their own province; outside it they have no say about anything. Freemasonry stands outside that province. Such Lodges in Europe, especially in Italy and under the Grand Orient of France, as went into politics went out of Masonry in the act of doing so; and the Grand Bodies of more than ninety per cent of the world's Masonry proclaimed the fact by withdrawing fraternal recognition. When the Duke of Wharton tried to bring the young Mother Grand Lodge over to his political crowd of Jacobites the Grand Lodge put him out. If the National Association of Mathematicians were told by one of their members that henceforth mathematics must be Republican, or Protestant, or Anti-Semitic, they would do the same thing and for the same reason. Even the form of organization of a Lodge, its rules of order, its order of business, its regulations, its offices, its etiquette, cannot be described by any one of the labels used by politicians; it is uniquely Masonry's own; as the way of life in America can only be described as American, so with it; its way can only be described as Masonic. Note. Apropos of what was said above about the second, or social, revolution, so many Americans refused to give up the usages of aristocracy that, under the name of United Empire Loyalists, 35,000 of them moved up to Nova Scotia. and 15,000 moved up into Ontario, most of them—and not always voluntarily!—in the years 1783-4; and still later so many moved up from Vermont that in the War of 1812 the majority of Vermonters refused to enlist in a war against Canada, because they had relatives there. Martha Washington herself was socially a Tory— to her a " democrat " meant very much what " bolshevist " was to mean a century and a half later. A Washington D. C. daily newspaper referred to Mrs. Dolly Madison; the President's wife, as "Her Majesty." POLKAL A significant word in the advanced Degrees, which means altogether separated, in allusion to the disunited condition of the Masonic Order at the time, divided as it was into various and conflicting rites. The word is corrupted from palcol, and is derived from the Hebrew radical pal, which, as Gesenius says, everywhere implies separation, and the adverbial kol, meaning Wholly, altogether. POLYCHRONICON Ranulf Higden, a monk of Chester, wrote, about 1350, under this title a Latin chronicle, which was translated into English in 1387 by John Trevisa, and published by William Caxton, in 1482, as The Polychronicot; "conteynyag the Berynges and Dedes of many Tymes." Another edition was published, though, perhaps, it was the pane book with a new title by Wynkyn de Woorde. in 1485, as Policronicon, in which booke ben comprysed bryefy many wonderful hystoryes, Englished by one Trevisa, vicarye of Barkley, etc., a copy of which sold in 1857 for £37. There was another translation in the same century by an unknown author. The two translations made the book familiar to the English public, with whom it was at one time a favorite work. It was much used by the compiler or compilers of the Old Constitutions now known as the Cooke Manuscripts Indeed, there is very little doubt that the writers of the old Masonic records borrowed from the Polychronicon many of their early legends of Freemasonry. In 1865 there was published at London, under the authority of the Master of the Rolls, an edition of the original Latin chronicle, with both the English translations, that of Trevisa and that of the unknown writer. POMEGRANATE The pomegranate, as a symbol, was known to and highly esteemed by the nations of antiquity. In the description of the pillars which stood at the porch of the Temple (see First Kings via, 15), it is said that the artificer "made two chapiters of molten brass to set upon the tops of the pillars." Now the Hebrew word caphtorim, which has been translated chapiters and for which, in Amos (ix, 1), the word lintel has been incorrectly substituted, though the marginal reading corrects the error, signifies an artificial large pomegranate or globe. The original meaning is not preserved in the Septuagint, which has nor in the Vulgate, which uses sphaerula, both meaning simply a round ball. But Josephus, in his Ardiquities, has kept to the literal Hebrew. It was customary to place such ornaments upon the tops or heads of columns, and in other situations. The skirt of Aaron's robe was ordered to be decorated with golden bells and pomegranates, and they were among the ornaments fixed upon the golden candelabra. There seems, therefore, to have been attached to this fruit some mystic signification, to which it is indebted for the veneration thus paid to it. If so, this mystic meaning should be traced into Spurious Freemasonry; for there, after all, if there be any antiquity in our Order, we shall find the parallel of all its rites and ceremonies. The Syrians at Damascus worshiped an idol which they called Rimmon. This was the same idol that was worshiped by Shaman before his conversion; as recorded in the Second Book of Kings. The learned have not been able to agree as to 'he nature of this idol, whether he was a representation of Helios or the Sun, the god of the Phenicians, or of Venus, or according to Grotius, in his Commentary on the passage in Kings, of Saturn, or what, according to Statius, Feems more probable, of Jupiter Cassius. But it is sufficient for the present purpose to know that Rimmon is the Hebrew and Syriac for pomegranate. Cumberland, the learned Bishop of Peterborough (Origines gerLtium antiquissimae, or Attempts for discovering the Times of the First Planting of Nations, page 60), quotes Achilles Statius, a converted Pagan, and Bishop of Alexandria, as saying that on Mount Cassius, which Bochart places between Canaan and Egypt, there was a temple wherein Jupiter's image held a pomegranate in his hand, which Statius goes on to say, "had a mystical meaning." Sanconiathon thinks this temple was built by the descendants of the Cabiri. Cumberland attempts to explain this mystery thus: "Agreeably hereunto I guess that the pomegranate in the hand of Jupiter or Juno, because, when it is opened, it discloses a great number of seeds, signified only, that those deities were, being long-lived, the parents of a great many children, and families that soon grew into nations, which they planted in large possessions, when the world was newly begun to be peopled, by giving them laws and other useful inventions to make their lives comfortable." Pausanias (Corinthiaca, page 59) says he saw, not far from the ruins of Mycenae, an image of Juno holding in one hand a scepter, and in the other a pomegranate; but he likewise declines assigning any explanation of the emblem, merely declaring that it was a Greek expression meaning a forbidden mystery. That is, one which was forbidden by the Cabiri to be divulged. In the Festival of the Thesmophoria, observed in honor of the goddess Ceres, it was held unlawful for the celebrants who were women to eat the pomegranate. Clemens Alexandrinus assigns as a reason, that it was supposed that this fruit sprang from the blood of Bacchus. Bryant (Analysis of Ancient Mythology in, page 237) says that the Ark was looked upon as the mother of mankind, and on this account it was figured under the semblance of a pomegranate; for as this fruit abounds with seeds, it was thought no improper emblem of the Ark, which contained the rudiments of the future world. In fact, few plants had among the ancients a more mythical history than the pomegranate. From the Hebrews, who used it mystically at the Temple, it passed over to the Freemasons, who adopted it as the symbol of plenty, for which it is well adapted by its swelling and seed-abounding fruit. POMMEL A round knob; a term applied to the globes or balls on the top of the pillars which stood at the porch of Solomon's Temple. It was introduced into the Masonic lectures from Scriptural language. The two pommels of the chapters is in Second Chronicles (iv, 13). It is, however, an architectural term, thus defined by Parker (Glossary of Architecture, page 365): ''Pommel denotes generally any ornament of a globular form.'' POMME VERTE This in French means the Green Apple. An androgynous (of both sexes) Order instituted in Germany in 1780, and afterwards introduced into France as we are told by Thory (Acta Latomorum i, page 333). PONTIFES FRERES See Bridge Builders PONTIFEX See Bridge Builders PONTIFF In addition to what has been said of this word in the article on the Bridge Builders of the middle Ages, the following from Athanase Coquerel, in a recent essay entitled The Rise and Decline of the Romish Church, will be interesting. What is the meaning of pontiff? Pontiff means bridge maker, bridge builder. Why are they called in that way? Here is the explanation of the fact: In the very first year of the existence of Rome, at a time of which we have a very fabulous history and but few existing monuments, the little town of Rome, not built on seven hills, as is generally supposed—there are eleven of them now, then there were within the town less than seven even—that little town had a great deal to fear from an enemy which should take one of the hills that were out of town—the Janiculum—because the Janiculum is higher than the others, and from that hill an enemy could very easily throw stones, fire, or any means of destruction into the town.Thus it is that the title of Pontifex Maximus, assumed by the Pope of Rome, literally means the Grand Bridge Builder (see Bridge Builders of the Middle Ages). PONTIFF, GRAND See Grand Pontiff POOR FELLOW SOLDIERS OF JESUS CHRIST This title is in Latin Pauperes commilitones Jesu Christi. This was the title first assumed by the Knights Templar. POOROOSH The spirit or essence of Brahma in the Indian religious system. POPE, ALEXANDER Son of a Roman Catholic linen-dealer at London. Born May 21, 1688, died May 30, 1744. the body being buried in the parish church of Twickenham. Many of his satires took up the cause of this or that political question and Pope's associates and friends numbered among them men high in the public life of England at that period. Deformed by disease in childhood, he was for life an invalid, yet a busy man of letters whose prose and verse, original and translated, were clever, keen, abiding. Devoted to his mother, his quarrels elsewhere were equally earnest, lasting, thorough. Probably the venom of his literary attacks was in part due to great sensitiveness over his crippled, unhealthy condition. His verse is particularly smooth in flow, bright of allusion, phrases neatly framed, apt for quotation, as in the following familiar lines from his Essay on Man: Know then thyself, presume no God to scan;Several of his intimates were reputed to be members of the Craft. He is quoted as being a member of the same Masonic Lodge in London which enrolled on its books his life-long friends, Dean Swift and John Arbuthnot, by Brother J. H. Edge in the Builder, May, 1924- One therefore hunts through his writings or some reference to the Fraternity or its instruction. Strange but true is it that the Four Cardinal Virtues, Fortitude, Temperance, Prudence, and Justice exactly as they are enumerated in the Monitors, are given in that order by Alexander Pope: In clouded Majesty her dulness shone;Brother W. Wonnacott, late Grand Librarian of England, personally assured us that in his belief it is the name of Alexander Pope that is in the 1730 list of the members of the Lodge held at the Goat, a Tavern at the foot of The Haymarket, London, and our good Brother called attention to the above lines as probably pointing to some knowledge on Pope's part of the moralization that is impressed by us on our only admitted Brethren. The Universal Prayer, oft quoted in Masonic instruction, was written by Pope in 1738 and is given below: Father of all! In every age POPE, FREEMASONS AUTHORIZED BY See Freemasons authorized by Pope POPPY In the Mysteries of the Ancients, the poppy was the symbol of regeneration. The somniferous qualities of the plant expressed the idea of quiescence; but the seeds of a new existence which it contained were thought to show that nature, though her powers were suspended, yet possessed the capability of being called into a renewed existence. Thus the poppy planted near a grave symbolized the idea of a resurrection. Hence, it conveyed the same symbolism as the evergreen or sprig of acacia does in the Masonic mysteries. PORCH OF THE TEMPLE See Temple of Solomon PORTA, GAMBATTISTA A physicist of Naples, who was born in 1545 and died in 1615. He was the founder of the Segreti, or Academy of Ancients, which see. He devoted himself to the study of the occult sciences, was the inventor of the camera obscura, and the author of several treatises on Magic, Physiognomy, and Secret Writing. De Feller (Universal Biography) classes him with Cornelius Agrippa, Cardan, Paracelsus, and other disciples of occult philosophy. PORTER, A. K., ON MEDIEVAL MASONRY After a long and specialized training, Arthur E. Porter, Harvard University, devoted the whole of his career to Gothic Architecture, and for many years studied the still-existing buildings at first hand, and while doing so studied the history of the period in which the buildings were erected and existing documents connected with them. His knowledge of Medieval architecture was encyclopedic. Near the end of his career he published in two volumes his great Medieval Architecture, illustrated throughout not by pictures for sake of pictures but by photographs and drawings essentially a part of the text, and with exhaustive bibliographies. This work stands in contrast to other histories of the Gothic style on three fundamentals: it makes clear that the Gothic style was a single, organic formula, not a collection of separate elements, or a revision of previous styles; it sees in each building a document of its times, and therefore itself a chapter in history; more important still, and for the first time with any adequacy, it begins not with the buildings but with the builder, and finds in the building something thought out, designed, and constructed by them, and for their own purposes. Historians before Porter had written—though it is hard to believe—as if a Gothic cathedral had been built by a pale abstraction called the Gothic style; as if the masonry had built itself. Medieval Architecture is the most useful of books for students of Medieval Freemasonry. The early Gothic Freemasons emerge from it as living and breathing men, easily understandable, men who in character, mind, education, and skill towered unapproachably above other men in their period; and it is easy to see that it was they, and not the village stone masons, who found out for themselves and transmitted that set of truths which was carried on century after century and into Speculative Lodges. Porter's work and C. G. Coulton's Art and the Reformation, if placed together, comprise the most encyclopedic and the clearest account of Medieval Freemasonry now in print. (Medieval Architecture: Its Origin and Development, by Arthur Kingsley Porter, Baker & Taylor; New York; 1909; two volumes.) PORTIFORIUM A word used in England during the Middle Ages to mean a breviary, a book containing the daily offices or prayers for the canonical hours. Doctor Mackey also found the name had been applied to a banner like unto the gonfalon, used as an ensign in cathedrals, and borne at the head of religious processions. PORTRAIT PAINTER, GRAND The Grand Lodge of England created this position in 1785 when the Rev William Peters was appointed, due to his painting and presenting to the Grand Lodge a portrait of Lord Petre. Past Grand Masters Brother Peters was the only holder of this office. The Provincial Grand Lodge of Sussex, England, 1801, created the office of Provincial Grand Portrait Painter. PORTUGAL Claims that Freemasonry flourished in Portugal as early as 1727 may or may not be true but according to the Minutes of the Grand Lodge of England it is certain that a Dispensation was granted to Brethren at Lisbon on April 17, 1735. Continuous opposition to the Craft culminated in 1743 in the issue of an edict of death against Freemasonry by King John V. The Craft revived in 1761 only to be crushed in 1776 by the Inquisition. Lodges were held in ships in the harbor amid the most unusual surroundings. These dangers it seems only made the Craft grow stronger for a Grand Lodge was actually organized during this period. This was closed by the Grand Master in 1807 to prevent its coming under the rule of the Grand Orient of France. In the absence of any central control several small Jurisdictions sprang up and in 1849 five of them met to form a Grand Orient, but trouble arose and on January 31,1859, another Grand Orient was instituted. These two Grand Orients, combined with some Lodges on the Irish list, formed ten years later the Grand Orient of Lusitania, comprising a Symbolic Grand Lodge, a Supreme Council, a Supreme Rose Croix Chapter for the French Rite and a Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Brethren. Therefore, as Brother Oliver Day Street says; "It thus appears that Freemasonry of all Rites is united in one Supreme governing body." PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA Lodges chartered by the United Lusitanian Grand Orient of Portugal are located at Beira, Chai-chai, Ibo, Mozambique and Quilimane PORTUGUESE WEST AFRICA In this district the Grand Orient of Portugal has chartered eleven Lodges, two at Loanda and one each at Bie, Cabinda, Landana, Luxares, Mossamedes, Quibanda, Liumbale, Qussol and San Antonio de Zairo. POSTULANT The title given to the candidate in the Degree of Knight Radosh. From the Latin word postulans, meaning asking for, Wishing to have. POTIER, MELCHIOR Published a history of the Lodge of Nine Sisters at Paris, 1839. POTOCKI Polish family of nobility, the following members being Freemasons: Ignaz Potocki, Grand Master, 1781-3; Stanislas Felix Potocki, Grand Master, 1789, and Stanislas Kostka Potocki, Grand Master, 1812-23. POT OF INCENSE As a symbol of the sacrifice which should be offered up to Deity, it has been adopted in the Third Degree (see Incense). POT OF MANNA See Manna, Pot of POUND, ROSCOE Roscoe Pound, born in 1870, Dean of the Law School of Harvard University, became famous for the variety as well as for the vastness of his learning; in legal erudition he had no superior in America and possibly no peer, but at the same time he was an extraordinary linguist (he learned his English and Latin together in childhood), an authority on field botany on which he wrote a text-book used in colleges, an authority on Medieval law and history, and also was one of the most learned of American Masons. He published two works of permanent value on Masonry, Philosophy of Freemasonry, and Jurisprudence of Freemasonry, after the larger part of the two had first been published in The Builder. In A Bibliography of the Writings of Roscoe Pound; Harvard University Press; 1942; Franklyn C. Setars devotes Part III, Section 2, page 127, to a bibliography of his writings on Freemasonry. Dean Pound was Past Master of Lancaster Lodge, No. 54, A. F. & A. M., Lincoln. Neb.; was a member of Belmont Lodge and also of Beaver Lodge, in Belmont, Mass., and of The Harvard Lodge, Cambridge, class, and Past Deputy Grand Master, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. He was a member of the A. & A. S. R., at Lincoln, Neb.; was crowned 33 , Northern Jurisdictions September 16, 1913. His two works on Masonry are contributions to Masonic thought rather than to either history or practice; he was the first to interpret Krause to the American Craft; he gave a fresh appraisal of the work of Preston (a welcome contrast to the harsh and misleading portrait painted by Gould in his History); and when in his Philosophy he devoted a chapter to a "pragmatic" philosophy of Freemasonry he established in American Masonic thought for the first time what in substance is the true distinction between "Instituted" and "Constituted" as applied to the Fraternity. (It was a happy coincidence that Sir Frederick Pollock who occupied in legal scholarship in England a position corresponding to Pound's in the United States, also was an active Mason and a Masonic writer; author, among other things, of a memorable essay on Masonic ranks in The Builder. He was the Pollock of the published [Judge Oliver Wendell] Holmes—Pollock Correspondence.) POURSUIVANT More correctly, Pursuivant, which see. PRACTICUS The Third Degree of the German Rose Croix. PRAXOEANS The followers of Praxeas in the second century, who proclaimed a unity in God, and that He had suffered upon the cross. PRAYER Freemasonry is a religious institution, and hence its regulations inculcate the use of prayer "as a proper tribute of gratitude," to borrow the language of Preston, "to the beneficent Author of Life." Hence it is of indispensable obligation that a Lodge, a Chapter, or any other Masonic Body, should be both opened and closed with prayer; and in the Lodges working in the English and American systems the obligation is strictly observed. The prayers used at opening and closing in the United States differ in language from the early formulas found in the second edition of Preston, and for the alterations we are probably indebted to Webb. The prayers used in the middle and perhaps the beginning of the eighteenth century are to be found in Preston (1775 edition) and are as follows: At opening - May the favor of Heaven be upon this our happy meeting: may it begun , carried on, and ended in order , harmony, and brotherly love: Amen. At Closing.—May the blessing of Heaven be with us and all regular Masons, to beautify and cement us title every moral and social virtue: Amen. There is also a prayer at the initiation of a candidate, which has, at the present day, been very slightly varied from the original form. This prayer, but in a very different form, is much older than Preston, who changed and altered the much longer formula which had been used previous to his day. It was asserted by Dermott that the prayer at initiation was a ceremony only in use among the Ancient or Atholl Freemasons and that it was omitted by the Moderns. But this cannot be so, as is proved by the insertion of it in the earliest editions of Preston. We have moreover a form of prayer into be used at the admission of a brother, " contained in the Pocket Companion, published in 1754, by John Scott, an adherent of the Moderns, which proves that they as well as the Ancient observed the usage of prayer at an initiation. There is a still more ancient formula of "Prayer to be used of Christian Masons at the appointing of a brother," said to have been used in the reign of Edward IV from 1461 to 1483, which is as follows: The might of God, the Father of Heaven, with the wisdom of his glorious Son through the goodness of the Holy Ghost, that hath been three persons in one Godhead be with us at our beginning give us grace to govern in our living here, that we may only come to his bliss that shall never have an end.The custom of commencing and ending labor with prayer was adopted at an early period by the Operative Freemasons of England. Findel says ( History, page 78), that "their Lodges were opened at sunrise, the Master taking his station in the East and the Brethren forming a half circle around him. After prayer, each Craftsman had his daily work pointed out to him, and received his instructions. At sunset they again assembled after labor, prayer was offered, and their wages paid to them. " We cannot doubt that the German Stone Masons, who were even more religiously demonstrative than their English Brethren must have observed the same custom. As to the posture to be observed in Masonic prayer, it may be remarked that in the lower Degrees the usual posture is standing. At an initiation the candidate kneels, but the Brethren stand. In the higher Degrees the usual posture is to kneel on the right knee. These are at least the usages which are generally practiced in the United States. We may add to the above comments by Doctor Mackey a few items of interest. Brother L. P. Newby (Sidelights on Templar Law, 1919, pages 96, 130) says: Who is responsible for having two different versions of the Lord's Prayer in our Services, I am unable to state. It is a mistaken assumption that the Committee on Revision of 1910 (Grand Encampment Knights Templar of the United States) prepared a burial Service containing the Lord's Prayer, in which the words "Trespass and Trespasses"' were used. The committee did prepare and present a short form of Burial Service. but it was not acted upon by the Grand Encampment in 1910, the further consideration of it was postponed, and it has never been acted upon (see Proceedings, 1910, middle and perhaps the beginning of the eighteenth page 203). The proper words to be used with the Lord's Prayer in the Asylum of the Commandery are debts and Debtors," and at Burial Services "Trespass and Trespasses(see Proceedings, 1916, pages 36-8 Brother Newby also says of the two expressions: Our Savior upon two occasions instructed His people how to pray, first in His Sermon on the Mount, and second. about two years afterward; but in neither prayer did He use the words "Trespass and Trespasses" (see St. Matthew vi, 12; St. Luke xi, 1-13). In His Sermon on the Mount He did say to the people: "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Heavenly Father forgive your trespasses." These statements were made in a sermon and not in a prayer. As the form of the Lord's prayer used by the members of other Churches contains the words "debts and debtors," it is not for a layman to determine the question as to which form is correct, yet it is rather remarkable that those who prepared our Ceremonies did not agree upon the Lord's Prayer.The Lord's Prayer should also be examined in the light of the translation by Professor Edgar J. Goodspeed, University of Chicago, whose English of the New Testament aims to reproduce the ease, boldness, and unpretending vigor of the original Greek, in the common language of everyday life during the era of our Savior. The frequently observed expression "for Thine is the power and glory for ever," is a conclusion not to be found in any of the oldest manuscripts but in most of the later copies of Matthew only. It occurs the Didache, the teachings of the Apostles, a discovery at Constantinople in early Christian literature which a copy finished by the writer, Leo, on June 1, 1156, was found in the Library of the Jerusalem Jonastery. Of the prayer itself several points have aroused discussion. Daily bread, for example, was given various interpretations by the old authorities. Hastings dictionary of the Bible (page 553) suggests for consideration the two aspects, "the word bread may be taken in an earthly or a heavenly sense. The fulness of Scriptural language justifies the widest application of the term, whatsoever is needed for the coming day, to be sought in daily morning prayer—"give us today" or whatsoever is needed for the coming days of life. The petition becomes a prayer for the presence of Him who has revealed Himself as "the Bread." The clause "as we forgive our debtors" is by some old authorities read "as we have forgiven our debtors." The conclusion of the prayer is usually repeated as "deliver us from evil" but the Greek ending is indefinite and Hastings says this may be read "the evil one," or "the evil," or "whatsoever is evil." However, as to these variations, they can be heeded in the spirit of the poet, Coleridge (Ancient Mariner, Part vii): He prayeth best who loveth bestMadame de Stael has in Corinne (Book x, chapter v) commented earnestly and with precision on the benefit of praying with one another. To pray together in whatever tongue or ritual, is the most tender brotherhood of hope and sympathy that men can contract in this life. An old prayer was given in the Printing Art, and was contributed by us to the American Freemason, June, 1910. Appearing in the Wolangerichtete Buchdruckerei of Ernesti it is a reminder of the pronounced religious fervor of craftsmen. The sentiment of loyalty and respect to the craft was so commonly observed that when a German traveling workman entered a town and found his way to the local place of his trade the usual salutation was "God bless the Art," Gott grus die kunst. Here is the prayer: Oh Lord, Almighty God, printing is a glorious and a noble art—a blessing Thou hast reserved for mankind in these latter days, an art by which all conditions of men, and especially Thy Holy Church, are greatly nourished. And since, good Lord, Thou hast of Thy free grace given me an opportunity of exercising an Art and Craft so exalted, I pray Thee to guide me by Thy Holy Spirit in using the same to Thy honor. Thou knowest, dear Lord, the great diligence, continual care and accurate knowledge of the characters of many languages are needful in this Art, therefore I call to Thee for help; that I may be earnest and careful, both in the setting up of types, and in printing the same. Preserve my soul in the constant love of Thy Holy Word and truth, and my body in sobriety and purity, that so, after a life here befitting a printer, I may hereafter, at the last coming of my most worthy Savior, Jesus Christ, be found a good workman in his sight, and wear the everlasting crown in His presence. Hear me, dearest God, for Thy honor and my welfare, Amen.Another Masonic prayer, one used by the Worshipful Master, Henry Pears, Tyrian Lodge, No. 370, Cleveland, Ohio, is here submitted as when first heard there by us many years ago: Almighty and Eternal God—there is no number of Thy days nor of Thy mercies. Thou has sent us into the world to serve Thee, but we wander from Thee in the paths of error. Our days are but a span in length, yet tedious because of calamities that surround us on every side. The days of our pilgrimage are few and full of evil; our bodies are frail, our passions violent and distempered, our understanding weak and our will perverse. Look thou, Almighty Father, upon us with pity and with mercy. We adore Thy majesty, and trust like little children in Thy infinite goodness. Give us patience to live well; and firmness to resist evil. even as our departed Brother resisted. Give us faith and confidence in Thee, and enable us so to live that when we come to die, we may lie down in the grave like one who composes himself to sleep, and may we hereafter be worthy to be held in the memories of men. Bless us, O God, and bless our fraternity throughout the world. May we live and emulate the example of our departed Grand Master, and finally may we attain in this world a knowledge of Thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.Heartiness of invocation is not necessarily any measure of the length of a prayer, an effectual prayer recorded by Saint Luke (xviv, 13) was "Lord, be merciful to me a sinner." At Royal Arch Chapter dinners in Europe we noted that the grace as given in our hearing on several occasions was even less lengthy than the one just mentioned and had but a couple of Latin words, "Benedictus, Bened at," meaning May the Blessed One bless. After the dinner there was an equally brief prayer, also in Latin, "Benedicto Benedicatur," May the Blessed One be blessed. PREADAMITE A Degree contained in the Archives of the Mother Lodge of the Philosophic Scottish Rite. PRECAUTION In opening and closing the Lodge, in the admission of visitors in conversation with or in the presence of strangers, the Freemason is changed to use the necessary precaution, lest that should be communicated to the profane which should only be known to the initiated. PRECEDENCY OF LODGES The precedency of Lodges is always derived from the date of their Warrants of Constitution, the oldest Lodge ranking as No. 1. As this precedency confers certain privileges, the number of the Lodge is always determined by the Grand Lodge, while the name is left to the selection of the members. PRECEPTOR Grand Preceptor, or Grand Prior, or Preceptor, or Prior, was the title indifferently given by the Knights Templar to the officer who presided over a province or kingdom, as the Grand Prior or Grand Preceptor of England, who was called in the East the Prior or Preceptor of England. The principal of these Grand Preceptors were those of Jerusalem, Tripolis, and Antioch. PRECEPTORY The houses or residences of the Knights Templar were called Preceptories, and the superior of such a residence was called the Preceptor. Some of the residences were also called Commanderies. The latter name has been adopted by the Masonic Templars of America. An attempt was made in 1856, at the adoption of a new Constitution by the Grand Encampment of the United States, which met at Hartford, to abolish the title Commanderies, and adopt that of Preceptories, for the Templar organizations; a change which would undoubtedly have been more in accordance with history, but unfortunately the effort to effect the change was not successful. PRECIOUS JEWELS See Jewels, Precious PREFERMENT In all the Old Constitutions we find a reference made to ability and skill as the only claims for preferment or promotion. Thus in one of them, the Lansdowne Manuscript, whose date is about 1560, it is said that Nimrod gave a charge to the Freemasons that "they should ordaine the most wise and cunning man to be Master of the King or Lord's worke that was amongst them, and neither for love, riches, nor favour, to sett another that had little cunninge to be Master of that worke, whereby the Lord should bee ill served, and the science ill defamed." And again, in another part of the same manuscript, it is ordered, "that noe Mason take on him noe Lord's worke nor other man's but if he know himselfe well able to performe the worke, so that the Craft have noe slander." Charges to the same effect, almost, indeed, in the same words, are to l)e found in all the Old Constitutions. So Anderson, when he compiled the Charyes of a Freemason, which he says were "extracted from the ancient records," and which he published in 1723, in the first edition of the Book of Constitutions, lavs down the rule of preferment in the same spirit, and in these words: "All preferment among Masons is grounded upon real worth and personal merit only; that so the Lords may be well served, the Brethren not put to shame, nor the royal Craft despised; therefore no Master or Warden is chosen by seniority, but for his merit." Then he goes on to show how the skilful and qualified Apprentice may in due time become a Fellow Craft, and, "when otherwise qualified, arrive to the Honour of being the Warden, and then the Master of the Lodge, the Grand Warden, and at length the Grand Master of all the Lodges, according to his merit" (Constitutions, 1723, page 51). This ought to be now, as it has always been, the true law of tree masonry; and when ambitious men are seen grasping for offices, and seeking for positions whose duties they are not qualified to discharge, one is inclined to regret that the Old Charges are not more strictly obeyed PRELATE The fourth officer in a Commandery of Knights Templar and in a Council of Companions of the Red Cross. His duties are to conduct the religious ceremonies of the organization. His jewel is a triple triangle, the symbol of Deity, and within each of the triangles is suspended a cross, in allusion to the Christian character of the chivalric institution of which he is an officer. The corresponding officer in a Grand Commandery and in the Grand Encampment is called a Grand Prelate. PRELATE OF LEBANON In French Prélat du Ixban. A mystical Degree in the collection of Pyron. PRENTICE An archaism, or rather a vulgarism for Apprentice, constantly found in the Old Records. It is now never used except in connection with Prentice Pillar, which see. PRENTICE PILLAR In the southeast part of the Chapel of Roslyn Castle, in Scotland, is the celebrated column which goes by this name, and with which a Masonic legend is connected. The pillar is a plain fluted shaft, having a floral garland twined around it, all carved out of the solid stone. The legend is, that when the plans of the chapel were sent from Rome, the master builder did not clearly understand about this pillar, or, as another account states, had lost this particular portion of the plans, and, in consequence, had to go to Rome for further instructions or to procure a fresh copy. During his absence, a clever apprentice, the only son of a widow, either from memory or from his own invention, carved and completed the beautiful pillar. When the master returned and found the work completed, furious with jealous rage, he killed the apprentice, by striking him a frightful blow on the forehead with a heavy setting maul. In testimony of the truth of the legend, the visitor is shown three heads in the west part of the chapel—the master's, the apprentice's, with the gash on his forehead, and the widows There can be but little doubt that this legend referred to that of the Third Degree, which is thus shown to have existed, at least substantially, at that early period. PREPARATION OF THE CANDIDATE Great care was taken of the personal condition of every Israelite who entered the Temple for Divine worship. The Talmudic treatise entitled Baracoth, which contains instructions as to the ritual worship among the Jews, lays down the following rules for the preparation of all who visit the Temple: "No man shall go into the Temple with his staff, nor with shoes on his feet, nor with his outer garment, nor with money tied up in his purse." There are certain ceremonial usages in Freemasonry which furnish what may be called at least very remarkable coincidences with this old Jewish custom. The preparation of the candidate for initiation in Freemasonry is entirely symbolic. It varies in the different Degrees, and therefore the symbolism varies with it. Not being arbitrary and unmeaning, but, on the contrary, conventional and full of signification, it cannot be altered, abridged, or added to in any of its details without affecting its esoteric design. To it, in its fullest extent every Candidate must, without exception submit. The preparation of a candidate is one of the most delicate duties we have to perform and care should be taken in appointing the officer, who should bear in mind that "that which is not permissible among gentlemen should be impossible among Freemasons " PREPARING BROTHER The Brother who prepares the candidate for initiation. In English, he has no distinctive title. In French Lodges he is called Frére terrible, and in German he is called Vorbereitender Bruder, or Fürchterlicher Bruder. His duties require him to have a competent knowledge of the ritual of reception, and therefore an experienced member of the Lodge is generally selected to discharge the functions of this office. In some Jurisdictions this is performed by the Master of Ceremonies PRESIDENT The presiding officer in a Convenon of High Priests, according to the American System, is so called. The second officer is styled Vice-President. On September 6, 1871, the Grand Orient of France, in violation of the landmarks, abolished the office of Grand Master, and conferred his powers on a Council of the Order. The President of the Council is now the official representative of the Grand Orient and the Craft, and exercises several of the prerogatives hitherto administered by the Grand Master. PRESIDENTS, RELIGION OF THE Of the first thirty-one Presidents of the United States nine have been Episcopalians: Washington, Madison, Monroe, W. H. Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, Pierce, Arthur, F. D. Roosevelt; of the other twenty-two five have been Presbyterians, four Methodists, four Unitarians, two Reformed Dutch, and one each Baptist, Congregationalist, Quaker, Disciple of Christ; and three (Jefferson, Hayes, and Lincoln) members of no church. Had Eighteenth Century Deists ever organized themselves as a Church Jefferson would have belonged to it (as would Benjamin Franklin). Lincoln was possibly the most genuinely religious rnan in the list; while he united with no church he described himself in private as a Universalist. Hayes probably considered himself in private to be a Unitarian. If the last three are added to the four confessed Unitarians it means that of the twenty-two one-third (minus a ' small amount of the fraction) have been of the extremely non-ecclesiastical denomination; and the fact shows better than any argument how very small has been the role of ecclesiasticism in American public life. PRESIDING OFFICER Whoever acts, although temporarily and pro hoc vice, meaning in Latin for this occasion, as the presiding officer of a Masonic body, assumes for the time all the powers and functions of the officer whom he represents. Thus, in the absence of the Worshipful Master, the Senior Warden presides over the Lodge, and for the time is invested with all the prerogatives that pertain to the Master of a Lodge, and can, while he is in the chair, perform any act that it would be competent for the Master to perform were he present. PRESS, MASONIC The number of the Masonic press throughout the world is small, but the literary ability commands attention. In every nation Freemasonry has its advocate and newsbearer, in the form of a weekly or semi-monthly chronicle of events, or the more sedate magazine or periodical, sustaining the literature of the Fraternity (see Publications, .Masonic and Magazine). PRESTON, WILLIAM This distinguished Freemason was born at Edinburgh on July 28, 1742, Old Style, and Brother C. C. Hunt, of Iowa, points out that the date sometimes given as August 7, New Style, should be August 8, as the calendar error which was ten clays in 1582 had become eleven in the eighteenth century when the change was made in English-speaking countries He was the son of William Preston, Esq., Writer to the Signet, a Scottish legal term meaning an agent or attorney in causes in the Court of Sessions, and Helena Cumming. The elder Preston was a man of much intellectual culture and ability, and in easy circumstances, and took, therefore, pains to bestow upon his son an adequate education. He was sent to school at a very early age, and having completed his preliminary education in English under the tuition of Stirling, a celebrated teacher in Edinburgh, he entered the High School before he was six years old, and made considerable progress in the Latin tongue. From the High School he went to college, where he acquired a knowledge of the rudiments of Greek. After the death of his father he retired from college, and became the amanuensis of that celebrated linguist, Thomas Ruddiman, to whose friendship his father had consigned him. Ruddiman having greatly impaired and finally lost his sight by his intense application to his classical studies, Preston remained with him as his secretary until his decease. His patron had, however, previously bound young Preston to his brother, Walter Ruddiman, a printer, but on the increasing failure of his sight, Thomas Ruddiman withdrew Preston from the printing-office, and occupied him in reading to him and translating such of his works as were not completed, and ia correcting the proofs of those that were in the press. Subsequently Preston compiled a catalogue of Ruddiman's books, under the title of Bibliotheca Ruddimana, which is said to have exhibited much literary ability. After the death of Ruddiman, Preston returned to the printing-office where he remained for about a year; but his inclinations leading him to literary pursuits, he, with the consent of his master, repaired to London in 1760, having been furnished with several letters of introduction by his friends in Scotland. Among them was one to William Strahan, the Kings Printer, in whose service, and that of his son and successor, he remained for the best years of his life as a corrector of the press, devoting himself, at the same time, to other literary vocations, editing for many years the London Chronicle, and furnishing materials for various periodical publications. Preston's critical skill as a corrector of the press led the literary men of that day to submit to his suggestions as to style and language; and many of the most distinguished authors who were contemporary with him honored him with their friendship. As an evidence of this, there were found in his library, at his death, presentation copies of their works, with their autographs, from Gibbon, Hume, Robertson, Blair, and many others. It is, however, as a distinguished instructor of the Masonic Ritual and as the founder of a system of lectures which still retain their influence, that William Preston the more especially claims our attention. Stephen Jones, the disciple and intimate friend of Preston, published in 1795, and in the Freemasons Magazine, a sketch of Preston's life and labors; and as there can be no doubt, from the relations of the author and the subject, of the authenticity of the facts related, we shall not hesitate to use the language of this contemporary sketch, interpolating such explanatory remarks as we may deem necessary. Soon after Preston's arrival in London, a number of Brethren from Edinburgh resolved to institute a Freemasons' Lodge in that city, under the sanction of a Constitution from Scotland; but not having succeeded in their application, they were recommended by the Grand Lodge of Scotland to the Ancient Lodge in London, which immediately granted them a Dispensation to form a Lodge and to make Freemasons. They accordingly met at the White Hart in the Strand, and Preston was the second person initiated under that Dispensation. This was in 1762. Lawrie records the application as having been in that year to the Grand Lodge of Scotland. It thus appears that Preston was made a Freemason under the Dermott system. It will be seen, however, that he subsequently went over to the older Grand Lodge. The Lodge was soon after regularly constituted by the officers of the Ancient Grand Lodge in person. Having increased considerably in numbers, it was found necessary to remove to the Horn Tavern in Fleet Street, where it continued some time, till, that house being unable to furnish proper accommodations, it was removed to Scots Hall, Blackfriars. Here it continued to flourish about two years, when the decayed state of that building obliged it to remove to the Half Moon Tavern, Cheapside, where it continued to meet for a considerable time. At length Preston and some others of the members having joined the Lodge, under the older English Constitution, at the Talbot Inn, in the Strand, they prevailed on the rest of the Lodge at the Half Moon Tavern to petition for a Constitution. Lord Blaney at that time Grand Master, readily acquiesced with the desire of the Brethren, and the Lodge was soon after constituted a second time, in ample form, by the name of the Caledonian Lodge, then No. 325, but now 134. The ceremonies observed, and the numerous assembly of respectable Brethren who attended the Grand Officers on that occasion, were long remembered to the honor of the Lodge. This circumstance, added to the absence of a very skillful Freemason, to whom Preston was attached and who had departed for Scotland on account of his health, induced him to turn his attention to the Masonic lectures; and to arrive at the depths of the science, short of which he did not mean to stop, he spared neither pains nor expense. Preston's own remarks on this subject, in the introduction to his Illustrations of Masonry, are well worth the perusal of every Brother who intends to take office.. "When," says he, "I first had the honor to be elected Master of a Lodge, I thought it proper to inform myself fully of the general rules of the society, that I might be able to fulfil my own duty, and officially enforce obedience in others. The methods which I adopted, with this view, excited in some of superficial knowledge an absolute dislike of what they considered as innovations; and in others, who were better informed, a jealousy of pre-eminence, which the principles of Masonry ought to have checked. Notwithstanding; these discouragements, however, I persevered in my intention of supporting the dignity of the society, and of discharging with fidelity the trust reposed in me." Freemasonry has not changed. We still too often find the same mistaking of research for innovation, and the same ungenerous jealousy of pre-eminence of which Preston complains. Wherever instruction could be acquired, thither Preston directed his course; and with the advantage of a retentive memory, and an extensive Masonic connection, added to a diligent literary research, he so far succeeded in his purpose as to become a competent master of the subject. To increase the knowledge he had acquired, he solicited the company and conversation of the most experienced Freemasons from foreign countries; and, in the course of a literary correspondence with the Fraternity at home and abroad, made such progress in the mysteries of the art as to become very useful in the connections he had formed. He was frequently heard to say, that in the ardor of his inquiries he had explored the abodes of poverty and wretchedness, and, where it might have been least expected, acquired very valuable scraps of information. The poor Brother in return, we are assured, had no cause to think his time or talents ill bestowed. He was also accustomed to convene his friends once or twice a week, in order to illustrate the lectures; on which occasion objections were started, and explanations given, for the purpose of mutual improvement. At last, with the assistance of some zealous friends, he was enabled to arrange and digest the whole of the first lecture. To establish its validity he resolved to submit to the society at large the progress he had made; and for that purpose he instituted, at a very considerable expense, a grand gala at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, in the Strand, on Thursday, May 21, 1779, which was honored with the presence of the then Grand Officers, and many other eminent and respectable Brethren. On this occasion he delivered an oration on the Institution, which, having met with general approbation, was afterward printed in the first edition of the Illustrations of Masonry, published by him the same year. Having thus far succeeded in his design, Preston determined to prosecute the plan he had formed, and to complete the lectures. He employed, therefore, a number of skillful Brethren, at his own expense, to visit different town and country Lodges, for the purpose of gaining information; and these Brethren communicated the result of their visits at a weekly meeting. When by study and application he had arranged his system, he issued proposals for a regular course of lectures on all the Degrees of Freemasonry, and these were publicly delivered by him at the Miter Tavern, in Fleet Street, in 1774. For some years afterward, Preston indulged his friends by attending several schools of instruction, and other stated meetings, to propagate the knowledge of the science, which had spread far beyond his expectations, and considerably enhanced the reputation of the society. Having obtained the sanction of the Grand Lodge, he continued to be a zealous encourager and supporter of all the measures of that assembly which tended to add dignity to the Craft, and in all the Lodges in which his name was enrolled, which were very numerous, he enforced a due obedience to the laws and regulations of that Body. By these means the subscriptions to the charity became much more considerable; and daily acquisitions to the society were made of some of the most eminent and distinguished characters. At last he was invited by his friends to visit the Lodge of Antiquity, No. 1, then held at the Miter Tavern, in Fleet Street, when on June 15, 1774, the Brethren of that Lodge were pleased to admit him a member, and, what was very unusual, elected him Master at the same meeting. He had been Master of the Philanthropic Lodge at the Queen's Head, Gray's-inn-gate, Holborn, for over six years, and of several other Lodges before that time. But he was now taught to consider the importance of the first Master under the English Constitution; and he seemed so regret that some eminent character in the walks of life had not been selected to support so distinguished a station. Indeed, this too small consideration of his own importance pervaded his conduct on all occasions; and he was frequently seen voluntarily to assume the subordinate offices of an assembly, over which he had long presided, on occasions where, from the absence of the proper persons, he had conceived that his services would promote the purposes of the meeting. To the Lodge of antiquity he now began chiefly to confine his attention, and during his Mastership, which continued for some years, the Lodge increased in numbers and improved in its finances. That he might obtain a complete knowledge of the state of the society under the English Constitution, he became an active member of the Grand Lodge, was admitted a member of the Hall Committee, and during the secretaryship of Thomas French, under the auspices of the Duke of Beaufort, then Grand Master, had become a useful assistant in arranging the general regulations of the society, and reviving the foreign and country correspondence. Having been appointed to the office of Deputy Grand Secretary under James Heseltine, he compiled, for the benefit of the charity, the History of filemarkable Occurrences, inserted in the first two publications of the Freemasons' Calendar: prepared for the press an Appendia; to the Book of Constitutions, and attended so much to the correspondence with the different Lodges as to merit the approbation of his patron. This enabled him, from the various memoranda he had made, to form the history of Freemasonry, which was afterward printed in his Illustrations. The office of Deputy Grand Secretary he afterward resigned. An unfortunate dispute having arisen in the Society in 1777, between the Grand Lodge and the Lodge of Antiquity, in which Preston took the part of the Lodge and of his private friends, his name was ordered to be erased from the Hall Committee; and he was afterward, with a number of gentlemen, members of that Lodge, expelled. The treatment he and his friends received at that time was circumstantially narrated in a well-written pamphlet, printed by Preston at his own expense, and circulated among his friends, but never published, and the leading circumstances were recorded in some of the later editions of the Illustrations of Masonry. Ten years afterward, however, on a reinvestigation of the subject in dispute, the Grand Lodge was pleased to reinstate Preston, with all the other members of the Lodge of Antiquity, and that in the most handsome manner, at the Grand Feast in 1790, to the general satisfaction of the Fraternity. During Preston's exclusion, he seldom or ever attended any of the Lodges, though he was actually an enrolled member of a great many Lodges at home and abroad, all of which he politely resigned at the time of his suspension, and directed his attention to his other literary pursuits, which may fairly be supposed to have contributed more to the advantage of his fortune. So much of the life of Preston we get from the interesting sketch of Stephen Jones. To other sources we must look for a further elucidation of some of the circumstances which he has so concisely related. The expulsion from the Order of such a man as Preston was a disgrace to the Grand Lodge which inflicted it. It was, to use the language of Doctor Oliver, who himself, in after times, had undergone a similar act of injustice, "a very ungrateful and inadequate return for his services." The story was briefly this: It had been determined by the Brethren of the Lodge of Antiquity, held on December 17, 1777, that at the Annual Festival on Saint John's day, a procession should be formed to Saint Dunstan's Church, a few steps only from the tavern where the Lodge was held; a protest of a few of the members was entered against it on the day of the festival. In consequence of this only ten members attended, who, having clothed themselves as Freemasons in the vestry room, sat in the same pew and heard a sermon, after which they crossed the street in their gloves and aprons to return to the Lodge-room. At the next meeting of the Lodge, a motion was made to repudiate this act; and while speaking against it, Preston asserted the inherent privileges of the Lodge of Antiquity, which, not working under a Warrant of the Grand Lodge, was, in his opinion, not subject in the matter of processions to the regulations of the Grand Lodge. It as for Maintaining this opinion, which whether right or wrong,- was after all only an opinion, Preston u as, under circumstances which exhibited neither magnanimity nor dignity on the part of the Grand Lodge, expelled from the Order. One first unhappy result of this act of oppression was that the Lodge of Antiquity severed itself from the Grand Lodge, and formed a rival Body under the style of the Grand Lodge of England South of the River Treatt, acting under authority from the Lodge of All England at York. But ten years afterward, in 1787, the Grand Lodge saw the error it had committed, and Preston was restored with all his honors and dignities and the new Grand Lodge collapsed. And non, while the name of Preston is known and revered by all who value Masonic learning, the names of all his bitter enemies, with the exception of Noorthouch, have sunk into a well-deserved oblivion. Preston had no sooner been restored to his Masonic rights than he resumed his labors for the advancement of the Order. In 1787 he organized the Order of Harodim, which see, a society in which it was intended to thoroughly teach the lectures which he had prepared. Of this Order some of the most distinguished Freemasons of the day became members, and it is said to have produced great benefits by its well-devised Plan of Masonic instruction. But William Preston is best known to us by his invaluable work entitled I Illustrations of Masonry. The first edition of this work was published in 1772. Although it is spoken of in some resolutions of a Lodge, published in the second edition, as "a very ingenious and elegant pamphlet," it was really a work of some size, consisting, in its introduction and text, of 288 pages. It contained an account of the Grand Gala, or banquet, given by the author to the Fraternity in May, 177 , when he first proposed his system of lectures. This account was omitted in the second and all subsequent editions "to make room for more useful matter." The second edition, enlarged to 324 pages, was published in 1775, and this was followed by others in 1776, 1781, 1788, 1792, 1799, 1801, and 1812. There were other editions, for Wilkie calls his 1801 edition the tenth, and the edition of 1819, the last published by the author, is called the twelfth. The thirteenth and fourteenth editions were published after the author's death, with additions—the former by Stephen Jones in 1891, and the latter by Doctor Oliver in 1829. Other English editions have been subsequently published, one edited by Doctor Oliver in 1829. The work was translated into German. and two editions published, one in 1776 and the other in 1780. In America, two editions were published in 1804, one at Alexandria, in Virginia, and the other, with numerous important additions, by George Richards, at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Both claim, on the title-page, to be the "first American edition"; and it is probable that both works were published by their respective editors about the same time, and while neither had any knowledge of the existence of a rival copy. Preston died, after a long illness, in Dean Street. Fetter Lane, London, on April 1, 1818, at the age of seventy-six, and was buried in Saint Paul's Cathedral In the latter years of his life he seems to have taken no active public part in Freemasonry, for in the very full account of the proceedings at the Union in 1813 of the two Grand Lodges, his name does not appear as one of the actors, and his system was then ruthlessly surrendered to the newer but not better one of Doctor Hemming. But he had not lost his interest in the Institution which he had served 80 well and so long, and by which he had been so well requited. For he bequeathed at his death £300 in Consols, a contraction for consolidated annuities, a British government security, the interest of which was to provide for the annual delivery of a lecture according to his system. He also left £500 to the Royal Freemasons Charity, for female children, and a like sum to the General Charity Fund of the Grand Lodge. He had a wife and grandchildren and left behind him his name as 3 great Masonic teacher and the memory of his services to the Craft. Jones's edition of his Illustrations contains an excellently engraved likeness of him by Ridley, from an original portrait said to be by S. Drummond, Royal Academician. There is an earlier engraved likeness of him in the Freemasons Magazine for 1795, from a painting known to be by Drummond, and taken in 1794. They present the differences of features which may be ascribed to a lapse of twenty-six years. The latter print was said, by acquaintances, to be an excellent likeness. The Records of Tile Lodge of Antiquity, No. 2, have been published in two volumes bearing that title, the first in 1911 edited by Brother W. Harry Rylands and the second in 1926 by Brother C. W. Firebrace who has also supervised the publication in 1928 of a second edition of the first volume. These splendid works contain much valuable information about William Preston whose Masonic career was so intimately associated with this famous Lodge. PRESTON, WILLIAM Since the majority of Grand Jurisdictions in the United States use the Webb-Preston Work, and since Thomas Smith Webb, whom Mackey described as the "father of American Freemasonry, founded his own teachings on those of Preston, and since Preston's Illustrations of Masonry has, next to Mackey's own, been the most widely-read book in American Masonry for a century and a half, American Seasons have a larger interest in Preston than in any other Masonic leader of the past 150 years, excepting only the names of Webb himself, of Mackey, and of Pike. Preston was British (see page 795) but even in his home-land he has never had the importance he has had here. It happens that until recent years almost the only source of information about Preston as a man was in Gould's History of Freemasonry and in his Concise History of Freemasonry; it also happens that in both of these books Gould pronounces a judgment that not only is harsh but is so phrased (doubtless unintentionally) as to leave the impression that Preston was not mentally responsible. Scholars have long since known that Gould's judgment is not just, but Gould is read widely and they are not, hence it is of service to American Masons to give a truer portrait, and to ease American Masons of the paradox of having everywhere the Preston Work, and at the same time of having two books so widely read which picture Preston in a sense so opposite to his American reputation. To do so will not discredit Gould; a great mass of facts remains in Gould's books after a few fallacies are removed. On page 115, Vol. I (of the Dudley Wright edition of Gould's History of Freemasonry), Preston is quoted to the effect that York had for centuries been looked up to as the cradle of Freemasonry; Gould's criticism makes this appear as if Preston had been writing about the Grand Lodge of All England, at York. In a comment on the editions of Preston's Illustrations of Freemasonry (page 291; Vol. I), Gould writes: "One can believe that his information was acquired, as he interprets it, piecemeal, or, like Mahomet and Joseph Smith, each effort was preceded by a special revelation." (This sneer is effected by ignoring the circumstances under which Preston had to collect his data; a Grand Lodge censorship had left the Craft illiterate, and had compelled students like Preston to seek data at large, often from the memories of the oldest Masons. The then Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge was not helpful.) On page 297, Vol. I, Gould writes that "the veracity and accuracy of Preston," "counts for very little"; on the same page he accuses Preston of writing "mythical history" about Wren. On page 337 of the Concise History (London; 1903) is a contemptuously written paragraph on Preston and Dermott, the former of whom he describes as "a journeyman printer"; the latter as "a journeyman painter." (The Dukes of Athol, less snobbish than Gould, did not disdain to associate for years with the "journeyman painter"—especially since they were working in a Fraternity founded by journeymen Masons.) On page 338 Gould becomes openly insulting: " Preston, however, was by a long way the greater romancer of the two, or perhaps it will be better to describe him as a Masonic visionary who untrammeled by any laws of evidence—wrote a large amount of enthusiastic rubbish wherein are displayed a capacity of belief and capability of assertion, which are hardly paralleled at the present day by the utterances of the company promoter or even of the mining engineer." It is a curious fact that much of what Gould calls "enthusiastic rubbish" was taken by Preston straight from the Book of Constitutions which the Grand Lodge itself had published in one edition after another, and as an official book. It is true that much of the historical portion of Preston's Illustrations has become discredited by later knowledge, but it was published in 1772 when any kind of Masonic knowledge was difficult to find; Gould's own two histories also have suffered the same fate, and by a strange irony he is nowhere more in need of revision than in what he said about Preston; and in at least two of his quarrels with Preston it turns out that it was Gould who was mistaken; but errors about data and mistakenness in historical hypotheses do not show that Preston was a liar or a visionary any more than they show that Gould was one. By another strange irony, Preston suffers more at the hands of Wright's revised Gould's History than he did in the first edition, because in it Preston is victimized by blunders of fact in addition to having no atonement made for the original injustice. One of these blunders is too long to quote. On page 306, Vol. VI, it is stated that Preston's had been "the Standard of Masonic Work in England for nearly twenty years." Preston was in the Modern Grand Lodge; his "Work" was not therefore used in the Ancient Grand Lodge; it was never a Standard Work in England, and has never been since, because England has never had a Standard Work. It also states that an unknown "English Brother" brought Preston's "Work" to Webb in 1800; Webb had already published his book in 1797. Webb is called Thomas G.; his name was Thomas Smith; etc. Preston was born into a distinguished family in Edinburgh (1742), and would have inherited a fortune had it not been very largely lost in the rebellion of 1745. His father was a distinguished and highly talented man. Preston himself graduated from the Edinburgh High School and then passed through the University. He then became amanuensis and secretary to Thomas Ruddiman, a scholar of large erudition who was famous as an editor of learned texts, and under whom Preston was thoroughly drilled in the minutiae and strict rules of language and of editing. At that time the first publishing house in England, and with only one or two exceptions the first publishing house in the world, was Strahan's at London, the King's Printer. In 1760, and with letters of introduction from men of influence in Edinburgh, Preston entered Strahan's, beginning as a compositor in order to learn the publishing business from the ground up. From compositor he became a proof-reader, and in time head proof-reader, and then became general superintendent of the firm. On his death in 1785 Strahan left him an annuity, but Preston remained on under the younger Strahan, and id 1804 became a partner. Strahan was publisher of the works of Samuel Johnson, Adam Smith, Edward Gibbon, Professor Robertson, Blackstone, David flume, Dr. Blair, etc., and with these men and men like them Preston had friendships and acquaintanceships over a long period of years. The same learning, thoroughness and great ability which brought him to a headship in a famous firm, he carried into his Masonic work. The old Lodge of Antiquity was in the doldrums when he entered it and likely to perish; he built it up to about one hundred members, among them a number of members of Parliament. When the Grand Lodge decided to prepare a new edition of the Book of Constitutions they asked him to edit it, and to give him free access to Grand Lodge archives appointed him an assistant to the Grand Secretary, James Heseltine, and under the agreement that Preston's name should appear on the title-page as editor. When the work was nearing completion, the jealous and petty-minded Heseltine proposed that John Northouck's name should also appear alongside of Preston's though Northouck had done none of the work. Preston resigned rather than suffer Heseltine's indignities, and it was this which was the real beginning of the disagreement which split the Lodge of Antiquity. When the troubles which then ensued came upon hire, Preston proved himself a man as great in dignity and self-respect as in ability; the abuses leveled at him by a Grand Lodge Officer did not make him bend, nor did he ever falter in his great confidence in Freemasonry or in the Grand Lodge itself; he was completely vindicated in due time, was received again with honor, and in his will left large sums to the Grand Lodge benevolence. In the whole of England there was no man less like the romancer, the untruthful historian, the visionary, the fabricator in the caricature which Gould painted; nor could any writer have been guilty of a more vulgar lapse of taste than to bracket Preston with sellers of worthless stock or with such a half-mad man as the Mormon Joseph Smith. (The authentic account of Preston is the history of the Lodge of Antiquity, No. 2, by Rylands and Firebrace. The above discussion of the single question of his character and reputation pro supposes that the reader has already read the biographical article at page 795.) PRESTONIAN LECTURER In 1818, Brother Preston, the author of the Illustrations of Masonry, bequeathed £300 in Consols, the interest of which was to provide for the annual delivery of a lecture according to the system which he had elaborated. The appointment of the Lecturer was left to the Grand Master for the time being. Stephen Jones, a Past Master of the Lodge of Antiquity, and an intimate friend of Preston, received the first appointment; and it was subsequently given to Brother Laurence Thompson, the only surviving pupil of Preston. He held it until his death, after which no appointment of a Lecturer was made until 1857, when the Worshipful Master of the Royal Stork Lodge, was requested by Lord Zetland, Grand Master, to deliver the lecture, which he did in January, 1858; twice again in the same year the lecture was delivered, by the Worshipful Master of the Grand Stewards Lodge and by Brother Thiselton, Secretary of the Lodge of Antiquity, and again, by Brother Hewlett and then Brother Henry Warren in subsequent years until 1862, since which time the lecture seems to have been abandoned until 1924 when Captain C. W Firebrace, a Past Master of Preston's old Lodge, the Lodge of Antiquity, was appointed the Prestonian Lecturer for the year, and was followed by Brother Lionel Vibert, in 1925, a Past Master of Quatuor Coronati Lodge. PRESTONIAN LECTURES About the year 1772, Preston submitted his course of lectures on the first three Degrees to the Craft of England. These lectures were a revision of those which had been practiced, with various modifications, since the revival of 1717, and were intended to confer a higher literary character on the Masonic Ritual. Preston had devoted much time and labor to the compilation of these lectures, a syllabus of which will be found in his Illustrations They were adopted eagerly by the English Fraternity, and continued to be the authoritative system of the Grand Lodge of England until the Union in 1813, when, for the sake of securing uniformity, the new system of Doctor Hemming was adopted. But the Prestonian lectures and ritual are still used by many Lodges in England. In the United States they were greatly altered by Webb. PRETENDER The word Pretender has occasionally been misunderstood by commentators. As a French term it means Claimant and should not convey the impression of him who makes a mere pretense. This latter meaning would never have been used by Shone who permitted the word Pretender to signify his Opposition. James Stuart, the son of James II, who abdicated the throne of Great Britain, and Charles Edward, his son, are known in history as the Old and the Young Pretender. Their intrigues with Freemasonry, which they are accused of attempting to use as an instrument to aid in a restoration to the throne, constitute a very interesting episode in the history of the Order (see Stuart Freemasonry). PREVIOUS QUESTION A parliamentary motion intended to suppress debate. It is utterly unknown in the parliamentary law of Freemasonry, and it would be always out of order to move it in a Masonic Body. PRICE, HENRY Born about 1697 in London and came to New England about 1723, returning later to England. It is recorded in the Minutes of the Grand Lodge of England that in 1730 he was a member of Lodge No. 75, meeting at the Rainbow Coffee House in York Buildings, London. He is mentioned as being in a law-suit at Boston in 1733 and was in business there as a tailor. During 1733 Governor Jonathan w Belcher appointed him Cornet in his Troop of Guards with the rank of Major. The office was that of Standard Bearer. The executors of Price allude to him in 1792 as Major Price. He carried on business for some time at the Sign of the Brazen Head on Cornhill, near the present No. 36 Washington Street, about half way between Water Street and State Street in Boston. He adhered to the Church of England and attended Trinity Church. He died on May 20, 1780. Brother W. S. Gardner (on page 307, Proceedings, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, 1871) points out here the necessity for bearing in mind that until January 1, 1752, the year commenced on March 25. By act of Parliament of 1751, the succeeding years commenced on January 1. In these Proceedings of 1871 (pages 284-304), there are some particulars of decided interest regarding this prominent Freemason and his pioneer work. A portrait to which allusion is made is described as follows: It represents him in the full vigor of manhood, dressed in the Id peculiar style of gentlemen of about the year 1740. w He wore a wig and queue, white neck-cloth and single breasted coat flowing away. His face betokened mildness and gentleness. The eyes are large and full, set wide apart, soft and expressive. The forehead was lighted up with animation and conveyed the idea of a gentleman. April 30, 1733, the Right Honorable and Right Worshipful Anthony Lord Viscount Montague, Grand Master of England, issued a Deputation appointing Henry Price as Provincial Grand Master of New England. Price was authorized to appoint his Deputy Grand Master and Grand Wardens, and "to constitute the Brethren now Residing or who shall hereafter reside in those parts, into One or more Regular Lodge or Lodges, as he shall think fit, and as often as Occasion shall require." On Monday of July 30, 1733, Henry Price convened at Boston the following Brethren: Andrew Belcher, Thomas Kennelly, John Quane, Henry Hope, Frederick Harnilton, John McNeall, Peter Hall, Matthew Young, John Waddell and Edward Ellis at the house of Edward Lutwyteh "at ye Sign of the Bunch of Grapes in King Street. " This celebrated inn was situated on what is now the corner of State and Kilby streets, and on the westerly side of the last named street. Brother Price produced his Deputation appointing him Provincial Grand Master of New England. By virtue of this Deputation he formed and opened a Provincial Grand Lodge, appointed Right Worshipful Brother Andrew Belcher as Deputy Grand Master and Worshipful Brothers Thomas Kennelly and John Quane as Grand Wardens pro tempore. Several Brothers were then made Freemasons. Then, "granting the prayer thereof, he then and there in the most solemn manner according to ancient Rt. and Custom and the form prescribed in our printed Book of Constitutions, constitute" the Brethren into a regular Lodge, in manner and form. Henry Hope was chosen Master and he nominated Frederick Hamilton and James Gorder as Wardens. These being presented to Grand Master Price, he "caused them to be duly examined, and being found duly qualified, approved and confirmed them in their respective stations by investing them with the implements of their office, giving each his proper charge, and admonishing the Brethren of the Lodge to do obedience and submission, according to our printed Book of Constitutions, Charges and Regulations, and so forth. Thus was Masonry founded in New England." In 1734 Brother Price's Commission was extended over all North America. On November 28, 1734, Benjamin Franklin, who was a close friend of Price and who at that time was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, wrote Price the following letter in behalf of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, evidently with the purpose of arranging a mutually agreeable status under the new conditions: Right Worshipful Grand Master and Most Worthy and Dear Brethren:— We acknowledge your favor of the 23rd of October past, and rejoice that the Grand Master whom God bless, hath 80 happily recovered from his late indisposition: and we now, glass in hand, drink to the establishment of his health, and the prosperity of your whole Lodge.On the same day that Franklin Sent the above letter as an official communication from the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, he also wrote a personal letter to Price which is quoted below: Dear Brother Price:—I am glad to hear of your recovery. I hoped to have seen you here this Fall, agreeable to the expectation you were so good as to give me, but since sickness has prevented your coming while the weather was moderate, I have no room to flatter myself with a visit from you before the Spring, when a deputation of the Brethren here will have an opportunity of showing how much they esteem vou.The originals of the two letters quoted above were destroyed at the burnings of the Masonic Temple in Boston, April 26, 1864, prior to which time the official letter hung in a frame in the Temple. For much information concerning Brother Price, see The Beginnings of Freemasonry in America, first delivered as an address to the Grand Lodge on September 13, 1916, and published in the Proceedings of that year, afterwards reprinted in book form, by Past Grand Master Melvin M. Johnson of Massachusetts; also Doctor Mackey's History of Free masonry, pages 1565-6, 1604-5. A Henry Price Medal is awarded as occasion warrants by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts to Brethren who have rendered distinguished service to the Order, a practice begun by Brother Melvin M Johnson during his term of office as Grand Master; 1914-6. PRICHARD, SAMUEL "An unprincipled and needy Brother," as Doctor Oliver calls him, who published at London, in 1730, a book with the following title: Masonry Dissected; being a Universal and Genuine Description of aU its Branches, from the Original to this Present Time: as it is delivered in the constituted, regular Lodges, both in City and Country according to the several Degrees of Admission, giving an impartial account of their regular Proceedings in initiating their New Members in the whole Three Degrees of Masonry, viz., I. Entered Prentice; II. Fellow Craft; III. Master. To which is added, The Author's Vindication of Himself, by Samuel Prichard, Late Member of a constituted Lodge. This work, which contained a great deal of plausible matter, mingled with some truth as well as falsehood, passed through a great many editions, was translated into the French, German, and Dutch languages, and became the basis or model on which all the subsequent so-called expositions, such as Tubal-Kain, Jachin and Boaz, etc., were framed. In the same year of the appearance of Prichard's book, a Defence of Masonry, as a reply to the Masonry Dissected was anonymously published, and has often been erroneously attributed to Doctor Anderson, but it has been discovered that its author was Brother Martin Clare (see Clare Martin). No copy is now known to exist of this Defence, but it will be found at the end of the 1738 edition of the Constitutions. It is not, however, a reply to Prichard, but rather an attempt to interpret the ceremonies which are described in the Masonry Dissected in their symbolic import, and this it is that gives to the Defence a value which ought to have made it a more popular work among the Fraternity than it is. Prichard died in obscurity; but the Abbe Larudan, in his Franc-Maçons écrasés, Freemasons Crushed (page 135), has manufactured a wild tale about his death; as herein desired. I entreat, therefore, that whatever stating that he was carried by force at night into the Grand Lodge at London, put to death, his body burned to ashes, and all the Lodges in the world in formed of the execution. The Abbe is satisfied of the truth of this wondrous narrative because he had heard it told m Holland and in Germany, all of which only proves that the French calumniator of Freemasonry abounded either in an inventive faculty or in a trusting faith. PRIEST In the primitive ages of the world every father was the Priest of his family, and offered prayer and sacrifice for his household. So, too, the Patriarchs exercised the same function. Melchizedek is called the Priest of the Most High God; and every where in Scripture we find the Patriarchs performing the duties of prayer and sacrifice. But when political society was organized, a necessity was found, in the religious wants of the people, for a separate class, who should become, as they have been described the mediators between men and God, and the interpreters of the will of the gods to men. Hence arose the sacerdotal class known as the cohens among the Hebrews, the Stereos among the Greeks, and the sacerdos among the Romans. Thereafter prayer and sacrifice were entrusted to these, and the people paid them reverence for the sake of the deities whom they served. Ever since, in all countries, the distinction has existed between the priest and the layman, as representatives of two distinct classes. But Freemasonry has preserved in its religious ceremonies as in many of its other usages, the patriarchal spirit. Hence the Master of the Lodge, like the father of a primitive family, on all occasions offers up prayer and serves at the altar. A Chaplain is sometimes through courtesy, invited to perform the former duty, but the Master is really the Priest of the Lodge. Having then such solemn duties to discharge, and sometimes as on funereal occasions, in public, it becomes every Master so to conduct his life and conversation as not, by contrast, to make his ministration of a sacred office repulsive to those who see and hear him, and especially to profanes. It is not absolutely required that he should be a religious man, resembling the clergyman in seriousness of deportment; but in his behavior he should be an example of respect for religion. He who at one time drinks to intoxication, or indulges in profane swearing, or obscene and vulgar language, is unfit at any other time to conduct the religious services of a society. Such a Master could inspire the members of his Lodge with no respect for the ceremonies he was conducting; and if the occasion was a public one, as at the burial of a Brother, the circumstance would subject the Order which could tolerate such an incongruous exhibition to contempt and ridicule. PRIEST, GRAND HIGH See Grand High Priest PRIEST, HIGH See High Priest PRIESTHOOD, ORDER OF HIGH See High Priesthood, Order of PRIESTLY ORDER A Rite which Brother John Yarker, of Manchester, says, Mysteries of Antiquity, page 126, was formerly practiced in Ireland, and formed the system of the York Grand Lodge. It consisted of seven Degrees, as follows: 1 . 2. 3. Symbolic Degrees;The last Degree was conferred in a Tabernacle, and was governed by seven officers known as Pillars. Brother Hughan, History of Freemasonry in York, page 32, doubts the York origin of the Priestly Order, as well as the claim it made to have been reeved in 1786. The Kent Tabernacle conferring the Degree of Knight Templar Priest at Newcastle, England, is of Time Immemorial standing in the Fraternity and has continued in the control and practice of this and many other old ceremonies. PRIESTLY VESTMENTS The High Priest ministered in eight vestments, and the ordinary priest in four—the tunic, drawers, bonnet, and girdle. To these the High Priest added the breastplate, ephod, robe and golden plate, and when occasion required the Urim and Thummim, the curious Objects mentioned in the Old Testament (Exodus xxviii, 30) in connection with the breastplate. PRIEST, ROYAL The Fifth Degree of the Initiated Brothers of Asia PRIEST THEOSOPHIST Thory says that it is the Sixth Degree of the Cabalistic Rite PRIMITIVE FREEMASONRY The Primitive Freemasonry of the antediluvians, or people of before the Flood times, is a term for which we are indebted to Doctor Oliver, although the theory was broached by earlier writers, and among them by the Chevalier Ramsay. The theory is, that the principles and doctrines of Freemasonry existed in the earliest ages of the world, and were believed and practiced by a primitive people, or priesthood, under the name of Pure or Primitive Freemasonry; and that this Freemasonry, that is to say, the religious doctrine inculcated by it, was, after the flood, corrupted by the Pagan philosophers and priests, and, receiving the title of Spurious Freemasonry, was exhibited in the Ancient Mysteries. The Noachidae, however, preserved the principles of the Primitive Freemasonry, and transmitted them to succeeding ages, when at length they assumed the name of Speculative Freemasonry. The Primitive Freemasonry was probably without ritual or symbolism, and consisted only of a series of abstract propositions derived from antediluvian traditions. Its dogmas were the unity of God and the immortality of the soul. Doctor Oliver, who gave this system its name, describes it (Historical Landmarks I, page 61) in the following language: "It included a code of simple morals. It assured men that they who did well would be approved of God; and if they followed evil courses, sin would be imputed to them, and they would thus become subject to punishment. It detailed the reasons why the seventh day was consecrated and set apart as a Sabbath, or day of rest; and showed why the bitter consequences of sin were visited upon our first parents, as a practical lesson that it ought to be avoided. But the great object of this Primitive Freemasonry was to preserve and cherish the promise of a Redeemer, who should provide a remedy for the evil that their transgressions had introduced into the world, when the appointed time should come." In his History of Initiation Doctor Oliver makes the supposition that the ceremonies of this Primitive Freemasonry would be few and unostentatious, and consist, perhaps, like that of admission into Christianity, of a simple lustration, conferred alike on all, in the hope that they would practice the social duties of benevolence and good-will to man, and unsophisticated devotion to God. He does not, however, admit that the system of Primitive Freemasonry consisted only of those tenets which are to be found in the first chapters of Genesis or that he intends, in his definition of this science, to embrace so general and indefinite a scope of all the principles of truth and light, as Preston has done in his declaration, that "from the commencement of the world, we may trace the foundation of Freemasonry." On the contrary, Doctor Oliver supposes that this Primitive Freemasonry included a particular and definite system, made up of legends and symbols, and confined to those who were initiated into its mysteries. The knowledge of these mysteries was of course communicated by God himself to Adam, and from him received by his descendants. This view of Doctor Oliver is substantiated by the remarks of Rosenberg, a learned French Freemason, in an article in the Freemasons Quarterly Review, on the Book of Raziel, an ancient Cabalistic work, whose subject is these Divine mysteries. "This book," says Rosenberg, "informs us that Adam was the first to receive these mysteries. Afterward, when driven out of Paradise, he communicated them to his son Seth; Seth communicated them to Enoch; Enoeh to Methuselah; Methuselah to Lamech; Lamech to Noah; Noah to Shem; Shem to Abraham; Abraham to Isaac; Isaac to Jacob; Jacob to Levi; Levi to Kelhoth; Kelhoth to Amram; Amram to Moses; Moses to Joshua; Joshua to the Elders; the Elders to the Prophets; the Prophets to the Wise Men; and then from one to another down to Solomon." Such, then, was the Pure or Primitive Freemasonry, the first System of mysteries which, according to modern Masonic writers of the school of Oliver, has descended, of course with various modifications, from age to age, in a direct and uninterrupted line, to the Freemasons of the present day. The theory is an attractive one, and may be qualifiedly adopted, if we may accept what appears to have been the doctrine of Anderson, of Hutchinson, of Preston, and of Oliver, that the purer theosophic tenets of "the chosen people of Clod" were similar to those subsequently inculcated in Freemasonry, and distinguished from the corrupted teaching of the Pagan religions as developed in the Mysteries. But if we attempt to contend that there was among the Patriarchs any esoteric organization at all resembling the modern system of Freemasonry, we shall find no historical data on which we may rely for support. PRIMITIVE RITE This Rite was founded at Narbonne, in France, on April 19, 1780, by the pretended "Superiors of the Order of Free and Accepted Masons." It was attached to the Lodge of the Philadelphus, under the title of the "First Lodge of Saint John united to the Primitive Rite for the Country of France." Hence it is sometimes called the Primitive Rite of Narbonne, and sometimes the Rite of the Philadelphus. It was divided into three classes, which comprised ten Degrees of instruction. These were not, in the usual sense. Degrees but rather collections of grades, out of which it was sought to develop all the instructions of which they were capable. These classes and Degrees were as follows: First Class.The Primitive Rite was united to the Grand Orient in 1786, although some of its Lodges, objecting to the union, maintained their independence It secured at one time, a high consideration among French Freemasons, not only on account of the objects in which it was engaged, but on account also of the talents and position of many of its members. PRIMITIVE SCOTTISH RITE This Rite claims to have been established in 1770, at Namur, in Belgium, by a body called the Metropolitan Grand Lodge of Edinburgh. But the truth, according to Clavel ( Histoire Pittoresque, page 220) is that it was the invention of one Marchot, an advocate of Nivelles, who organized it in 1818, at Namur, beyond which city, and the Lodge of Bonne Amitie, it scarcely ever extended. It consists of thirty-three Degrees, as follows: 1. Apprentice;The Primitive Scottish Rite appears to have been founded upon the Rite of Perfection, with an intermixture of the Strict Observance of Hund, the Adonhiramite, and some other Rites. PRIMITIVE SYMBOLISM 
Fig. 1. Vishnu. a Hindu god. 
Fig. 2. Brahama, chief Hindu god Fig. 3. Venus and Hymen, vitality powers Fig. 4. Sun and Moon gods Fig. 5. Car of Cupid Fig. 6. Mercury rooster and corn. Fig. 7. Catalathus maidenhood symbol, on winged bearer Fig. 8. Neptune, the sea god Fig. 9. Goddess of the City Sidon. Fig. 10. Oriental myth of mankind from fish. Fig. 11. Venus raised from sea by Titans. Fig. 12. Serpent trampled by Hindu god. Fig. 13. Ashtaroth as goddess of night. Fig. 14. Lotus and destructive emblems. Fig. 15. Moon god. Fig. 16. Tentyra Venus with dove. Fig. 17. Four-horned goat from Spain. Fig. 18. Mermaid myth. Fig. 19. Horned head of the god Baal. Fig. 20. Vine leaves and apples denoting fertility. PRINCE The fiord Prince is not attached as a title to any Masonic office, but is prefixed as a part of the name to several Degrees, as Prince of the Royal Secret, Prince of Rose Croix, and Prince of Jerusalem. In all of these instances it seems to convey some idea of sovereignty inherent in the character of the Degree. Thus the Prince of the Royal Secret was the ultimate. and, of course, controlling Degree of the Rite of Perfection, whence, shorn, however, of its sovereignty it has been transferred to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The Prince of Rose Croix, although holding in some Rites a subordinate position, was originally an independent Degree, and the representative of Rosicrucian Freemasonry. It is still at the head of the French Rite. The Princes of Jerusalem, according to the Old Constitutions of the Rite of Perfection, were invested with power of jurisdiction over all Degrees below the Sixteenth, a prerogative which they exercised long after the promulgation of the Constitutions of 1786; and even now they are called, in the Ritual of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Chiefs in Masonry, a term borrowed from the Constitutions of 1762. But there are several other Prince Degrees which do not seem, at least now to claim any character of sovereignty—such are the Prince of Lebanon, Prince of the Tabernacle and Prince of Mercy, all of which are now subordinate Degrees in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. PRIMITIVE SECRET SOCIETIES In Andaman Island villages there is a triple arrangement of houses, one set for married couples, one for bachelors, one for spinsters. Boys (at about twelve) can leave the care of women and enter the ranks of men only after severe initiation ordeals (not kept secret from women) designed to test self-control. Among Australian Aborigines ("Abos") initiation ceremonies are performed at puberty, the purpose being to give males ascendancy over women; the rites are very severe, and sometimes fatal. Just as farmers in an agricultural country, and as owners and employees in an industrial country organize in every possible way to protect their crops or their production, so among tribes which must depend on the number of men in it everything is done to safe-guard marriage and child bearing; it is because of this, and not because they are "lustful," or "shameless," less still because they believe in any nonsense about "phallicism," that many non-civilized tribes and peoples punish unchastity by death, wall off women by taboos, isolate boys in "men's houses," and practice so-called "fertility rites." Among the Mosai every male is initiated and circumcised (this latter was almost universal in the ancient world and never was peculiar to the Hebrews); the mans are divided into three grades: boys, warriors, elders. The men in the Banks Islands comprise a secret society, but instead of entrance being by initiation it is gained by paying a fee—; the "men society" is really a gild. They live in "men's houses"; they live and work for sake of prestige and wealth; are divided into grades. There are secret clubs, called "ghost associations," with quarters in hidden places, and with entrance by initiation and payment of a fee. In American Indian tribes and peoples (the Sioux, Pueblos, Navajo, Apaches, etc., are peoples) are and ever have been numberless clubs, fraternities, societies, with a lavish use of ceremonies of initiation, much symbolism, secret words and passwords. There are countless social clubs, both male and female, many charging fees. In the Crow Tobacco Society women are admitted on a par with the men—androgynous societies are very common among them today. There are many secret cults devoted to purposes analogous to religion. There are exceptions, however; a few Indian peoples, the Shoshones of the Great Basin being one of them, who have never had secret societies of any type. Africa also is full of secret societies, and on the West Coast are many societies of women, of every sort. one of their commonest purposes is to enable a tribe to mislead other tribes about itself, and this applies to white men: the first generations of explorers and missionaries were lied to, and in consequence sent back fantastic reports which misled anthropologists for two generations—half the clippings and notes which Herbert Spencer so laboriously collected in his files were these "lie misleaders" and for the same reason a large number of the early, and once popular, books on anthropology are now half worthless. There never was such a thing as "primitive man," or a "primitive culture" (Frazer and Levy-Bruhl to the contrary notwithstanding); men ten thousand years ago were what men are now but did different things, or the same things differently, because they did not have the same inventions, discoveries, machines that we have; nor were they any more "savage," or "warlike"—the Indian chiefs put on "war dances" not because their young men desired to fight but because they desired not to. Many tribes and peoples have borrowed secret cults and ceremonies from each other. Sometimes the founder of a cult was a visionary, and received a revelation in the form of a vision, like saint-worshiping cults in the Middle Ages. Secret societies differ fundamentally; after comparing those of the Melanesians with the American Pueblo Indians, Lowie wrote that "there is no analogy whatever either in constitution, function, or anything else but the exclusion of non-members." Nor w ere secret societies universal even in so-called "primitive times." The Dravidians of India had them, but there were none in large parts of Asia. For 2000 years China had secret societies by the hundreds (as did, and do, the Japanese) but they were political organizations, not initiation societies. In Mexico and Central America the "men's house" system is still in use among the more remote Indian tribes, but differ much among themselves. It survives also among the Eskimos. Webster collected a long and gruesome catalog of the "ordeals" or "markings" used; in Australia alone he lists pulling out of hair, biting of head, pulling or filing of teeth, sprinkling with blood, immersion in dust or filth, floggings, scarification, painful tattooing, smoking, burning, subincision, circumcision, burials and raisings, burials in snow, immersion in water, handling serpents—he states that circumcision is the most nearly universal. After initiation the youth enters a new life, forgets the old, has a new name, a new language, and new privileges. Frazer saw in almost every form of initiation ceremonies a dramatization of dying and rising again. Levy Bruhl saw in them evidences of a "pre-logical" culture—one of men not yet possessed of any mind. Both theories are become impossible. A man who has lived among "primitive" people long enough to know them finds that they have the same minds as ourselves. Russians have proved that so-called "primitives" are capable of becoming educated men, and even scientists, in one generation; the French proved the same in their African Colonies, and the Dutch in Java and Sumatra. The "primitive man" of Herbert Spencer and Lord Lubbock turned out to be a myth. It is dangerous to generalize about ceremonies, rites, symbols, etc., of so-called "primitive rites," and impossible to argue that identical rites presuppose the same origin. The same sign which among Bushnegroes means "go," would among Zuni Indians mean "come." A "burial and resurrection" rite in an African tribe may mean "you will die"; among the Polynesians it may mean "you will not die." At the beginning of the century American colleges and universities began everywhere to install departments of anthropology; the literature which a half century before had begun with a few simple books by Herbert Spencer (not an anthropologist) and Lord Avebury began so rapidly to increase that it now defies a life-time of reading, and a number of its titles have rivaled best-sellers in popularity. The following are recommended only as an introduction to a bibliography too large to enumerate: Primitive Society, by Robert H. Lowie.Books published in the past few years have been highly technicalized special studies; preference to older works was given above because theirs is a more general treatment. For a fictionalized treatment of primitive secret cults see The Delight Makers, by Adolph Bandelier; and The Man Tho Would be King, by Rudyard Kipling. Sir Samuel Dill's From Nero to Marcus Aurelius is not fiction, but reads as easily, and though it deals with the subject at one remove, illuminates it brightly; the same can be said of Ancient Arch and Ritual, by Jane Ellen Harrison. PRINCE ADEPT See Adept. Prince PRINCE DEPOSITOR, GRAND in French the title is Grand Prince Depository. A Degree in the collection of Pyron. PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND On October 9, 1797, Saint John's Lodge was warranted at Charlottetown by the Grand Lodge of England. The island was then St. John's Island and continued to be so called until 1798. Seven Lodges, namely, Saint John's, Victoria, King Hiram, Saint George, Alexandra, Mount Lebanon, and True Brothers met on June 23, 1875 and formed the Grand Lodge of Prince Edward Island . The Hon. John Yeo was elected Grand Master and was duly installed the following day by the Grand Master of New Brunswick. PRINCE MASON A term applied in the old Scottish Rite Constitutions to the possessors of the advanced Degrees above the Fourteenth. It was first assumed by the Council of the Emperors of the East and West. Rose Croix Freemasons in Ireland are still known by this name. PRINCE MASONS OF IRELAND Brother Gerald Fitzgibbon, President of the Grand Chapter of Prince Masons of Ireland and Sovereign Grand Commander of the Thirty-third Degree, presided at the Triennial Convocation of the Grand Chapter of the Prince Masons of Ireland held on May 19, 1909. Brother Fitzgibbon submitted at that time some historical notes regarding the several developments of the organization over which he presided. He pointed out that the course of Freemasonry in Ireland is distinguished and has been peculiarly affected by two incidents. The first was its complete exemption from the differences of the Ancient and Moderns which divided Great Britain for more than sixty years and was happily closed on Saint John's Day, 1813, by the establishment of the United Grand Lodge of England. Irish Freemasonry owes much to this exemption and especially the primitive simplicity of its constitution, rites and workings. The other incident was personal and was the unexampled reign and influence of Augustus Frederick, Duke of Leinster, Ireland's only Duke, as he was then. For more than sixty years, 1813-74, he was the Grand Master of the Craft. He obtained and worked every Degree and became the head of every governing Body in the Order. He was installed in 1817 as Sovereign Commander of the Metropolitan College of Heredom which then ruled the Rite of Perfection. As Sovereign Grand Commander he was named in 1824 in the Warrant which constituted the Irish Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree. First principal in 1829 of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter, in 1836 he headed the Supreme Grand Encampment of Knights Templar. He presided over the Grand Council of Rites from 1838 until it merged into the Grand Chapter of Prince Masons, of which he was the first President. It is literally true that he left his mark upon every part of the Irish Masonic system. He was ever jealous of innovation. He disliked histrionic display. To him Irish Freemasonry owes the simple dignity of its ceremonies (see Ireland). Brother Fitzgibbon also says As to the History of Craft Freemasonry, I do not sympathize with those prosaic Annalists who deny, or who refuse to accept, anything of which it is impossible to produce better evidence than tradition or probability. PRINCE OF JERUSALEM In French, Prince de Jerusalem. This was the Sixteenth Degree of the Rite of Perfection, whence it was transferred to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, where it occupies the same numerical position. Its legend is founded on certain incidents which took place during the rebuilding of the second Temple, when the Jews were so much incommoded by the attacks of the Samaritans and other neighboring nations, that an Embassy was sent to King Darius to implore his favor and protection, which was accordingly obtained. This legend, as developed in the Degree, is contained neither in Ezra nor in the apocryphal books of Esdras. It is found only in the Antiquities of Josephus (Book 5I, chapter iv, section 9), and thence there is the strongest internal evidence to show that it was derived by the inventor of the Degree. Who that inventor was we can only conjecture. But as we have the statements of both Ragon and Kloss that the Baron de Tschoudy composed the Degree of Knight of the East, and as that Degree is the first section of the system of which the Prince of Jerusalem is the second, we may reasonably suppose that the latter was also composed by him. The Degree being one of those adopted by the Emperors of the East and West in their system, which Stephen Morin was authorized to propagate in America, it was introduced into America long before the establishment of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. A Council was established by Henry A. Francken, about 1767, at Albany, in the State of New York, and a Grand Council organized by Myers, in 1788, in Charleston, South Carolina. This body exercised sovereign powers even after the establishment of the Supreme Council May 31, 1801, for, in 1802, it granted a Warrant for the establishment of a Mark Lodge in Charleston, and another in the same year, for a Lodge of Perfection, in Savannah, Georgia But under the present regulations of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, this prerogative has been abolished, and Grand Councils of Princes of Jerusalem no longer exist. The old regulation, that the Master of a Lodge of Perfection must be at least a Prince of Jerusalem, which was contained in the Constitution of the Grand Council, has also been repealed, together with most of the privileges which formerly appertained to the Degree. A decision of the Supreme Council, in 1870, even obliterated Councils of the Princes of Jerusalem as a separate organization, authorized to confer the preliminary Degree of Knights of the East, and placed such Councils within the bosom of Rose Croix Chapters, a provision which, as a manifest innovation on the ancient system, the expediency, or at least the propriety, may be greatly doubted. Bodies of this Degree are called Councils. According to the old rituals, the officers were a Most Equitable, a Senior and Junior Most Enlightened, a Grand Treasurer, and Grand Secretary. The more recent instructions of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States has substituted for these a Most Illustrious Tarshatha, a Most Venerable High Priest, a Most Excellent Scribe, two Most Enlightened Wardens, and other officers. Yellow is the symbolic color of the Degree, and the apron is crimson, formerly white, lined and bordered with yellow. The jewel is a medal of gold, on one side of which is inscribed a hand holding an equally poised balance, and on the other a double-edged, cross-hilted sword erect, between three stars around the point, and the letters D and Z on each side. The Prince of Jerusalem is also the Fifty-third Degree of the Metropolitan Chapter of France, and the Forty-fifth of the Rite of Mizraim. PRINCE OF JERUSALEM, JEWEL OF Should be a gold incrustation on a lozenge-shaped piece of mother-of-pearl. Equipoise scales held by hand, sword, five stars, one larger than the other four, and the letters D and Z in Hebrew, one on either side of the scales. The five-pointed crown, within a triangle of gold, has also been a jewel of this Sixteenth Degree. PRINCE OF LEBANON See Knight of the Royal Ax PRINCE OF LIBANUS Another title for the Prince of Lebanon PRINCE OF MERCY The title in French is Prince de Merci. The Twenty-sixth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, called also Scottish Trinitarian or Ecossais Trinitaire. It is one of the eight Degrees which were added on the organization of the Scottish Rite to the original twenty-five of the Rite of Perfection. It is a Christian Degree in its construction, and treats of the triple covenant of mercy which God made with man; first with Abraham by circumcision; next, with the Israelites in the wilderness, by the intermediation of Moses; and lastly, with all mankind, by the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ. It is in allusion to these three acts of mercy, that the Degree derives its two names of Scottish Trinitarian and Prince of Mercy, and not, as Ragon supposes, from any reference to the Fathers of Mercy, a religious society formerly engaged in the ransoming of Christian captives at Algiers. Chemin Dupontes (Memoire Sur l'Ecossisime, page 373) says that the Scottish Rituals of the Degree are too full of the Hermetic philosophy, an error from which the French Cahiers are exempt; and he condemns much of its doctrines as "hyperbolique plaisanteric. " But the modern rituals as now practiced are obnoxious to no such objection. The symbolic development of the number three of course constitutes a large part of its lecture; but the real dogma of the Degree is the importance of Truth, and to this all its ceremonies are directed. Bodies of the Degree are called Chapters. The presiding officer is called Most Excellent Chief Prince, the Wardens are styled Excellent. In the old rituals these officers represented Moses, Aaron, and Eleazar; but the abandonment of these personations in the modern rituals was in the opinion of Doctor Mackey an improvement. The apron is red bordered with white, and the jewel is an equilateral triangle, within which is a heart. This was formerly inscribed with the Hebrew letter tau, now with the letters I.H.S.; and, to add to the Christianization which these letters give to the Degree, the American Councils have adopted a tessera in the form of a small fish of ivory or mother-of-pearl, in allusion to the well-known usage practices of the primitive Christians (see Tessera Hospitalis, and Mark). PRINCE OF ROSE CROIX See Rose Croiz, Prince of PRINCE OF THE CAPTIVITY According to the Talmudists, the Jews, while in captivity at Babylon, kept a genealogical table of the line of their kings, and he who was the rightful heir of the throne of Israel was called the Head or Prince of the Captivity. At the time of the restoration, Zerubbabel, being the lineal descendant of Solomon, was the Prince of the Captivity. PRINCE OF THE EAST, GRAND. In French, Grand Prince d'Orient. A Degree in the collection of Le Page. PRINCE OF THE LEVITES The French title is Prince des Lévites. A degree in the collection of the Lodge of Saint Louis des Amis Reunis at Calais. PRINCE OF THE ROYAL SECRET See Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. PRINCE OF THE SEVEN PLANETS, ILLUSTRIOUS GRAND In French, Illustre Grand Prince des sept Ptanetes. A Degree in the manuscript collection of Peuvret. PRINCE OF THE TABERNACLE The French title is Prince du Tabernacle. The Twenty-fourth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. In the old rituals the Degree was intended to illustrate the directions given for the building of the tabernacle, the particulars of which are recorded in the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus. The Lodge is called a Hierarchy, and its officers are a Most Powerful Chief Prince, representing Moses, and three Wardens, whose style is Powerful, and who respectively represent Aaron, Bezaleel, and Aholiab. In the modern instructions of the United States, the three principal officers are called the Leader, the High Priest, and the Priest, and respectively represent Moses, Aaron, and Ithamar, his son. The ritual is greatly enlarged; and while the main idea of the Degree is retained, the ceremonies represent the initiation into the mysteries of the Mosaic tabernacle. The jewel is the letter A, in gold, suspended from a broad crimson ribbon. The apron is white, lined with scarlet and bordered with green. The hap is sky blue. On the apron is depicted a representation of the Tabernacle. This Degree appears to be peculiar to the Scottish Rite and its modifications. Doctor Mackey had not met with it in any of the other Rites. PRINCE OF WALES See Wales, Princes of PRINCE OF WALES GRAND LODGE About the time of the reconciliation of the two contending Grand Lodges in England, in 1813, they were called, by way of distinction, after their Grand Masters. That of the Moderns was called the Prince of Wales Grated Lodge, and that of the Ancient the Duke of Kent's Grand Lodge. The titles were used colloquially, and not officially. PRINCE OF WALES LODGE A Red Apron Lodge, No. 259, constituted August 20, 1787, by Warrant from the Duke of Cumberland, Most Worshipful Grand Master, under the patronage and personal protection of the Prince of Wales who subsequently became George IV of England. George, Prince of Wales, was Worshipful Master 1787-1820, having at one time had as Wardens the Dukes of York and Clarence. The Duke of York was Worshipful Master 1820-7 and the latter having been Worshipful Master 1827-30. The Duke of Sussex, Most Worshipful Grand Master, was Worshipful Master 1830-43. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, was Worshipful Master in 1874. The membership consisted entirely of those who had been honored with appointments under its patron or men firmly attached to His Royal Highness's person and interests. This Lodge has the privilege of electing Grand Steward annually and also its members may wear "a royal medal, having the Prince of Wales' plume and motto within a garter, surmounted by the coronet," etc., for the purpose of being "worn by the members out as well as in the Lodge, as a public token of their sincere and devoted attachment to H. R. H.'s person and interests." At the time of King William IV's accession to the English throne in 1830 he was actual Master of the Prince of Wales Lodge and due to this distinction the other members of the Lodge were given the honor of having their aprons decorated with a narrow internal border of garter-blue (see the history of the Lodge as written by Brother Thomas Fenn) PRINCESS OF THE CROWN The French title is Princesse de la Couronne. The Tenth and last Degree of the Freemasonry of Adoption according to the French regime. The Degree, which is said to have been composed in Saxony, in 1770, represents the reception of the Queen of Sheba by King Solomon. The Grand Master and Grand Mistress personate Solomon and his wife, which one, the Cahier does not say, and the recipiendary or candidate plays the part of the Queen of Sheba. The Degree, says Ragon (Tuileur General, page 78) is not initiatory, but simply honorary. PRINCIPAL OFFICERS The number three, as a sacred number in the Masonic system, is, among many other ways, developed in the fact that in all Masonic bodies there are three principal officers. PRINCIPAL POINTS See Points of Entrance, Perfect PRINCIPALS The three presiding officers in a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, according to the system practised in England, are called the Three Principals, or King, Prophet, and Priest, and, under the titles of Z. X, and J. represent Zerubbabel, Haggai, and Joshua. No person is eligible to the First Principal's chair unless he has served twelve months in each of the others; and he must also be the Master or Past Master of a Lodge, and have served in the Chapter the office of Scribe, Sojourner, or Assistant Sojourner. At his installation, each of the Principals receives an installing Degree like that of the Master of a Blue Lodge. There is, however, no resemblance between any of these Degrees and the Order of High Priesthood which is conferred in Royal Arch ceremonies in the United States. The presiding officers of the Grand Chapter are called Grand Principals, and represent the same personages. The official jewel of Z. is a Crown; of H. an All-seeing Eye; and of J. a Book, each surrounded by a nimbus, or rays of glory, and placed within an equilateral triangle. PRINCIPAL SOJOURNER The Hebrew word an, ger, which we translate a sojourner, signifies a man living out of his own country, and is used in this sense throughout the Old Testament. The children of Israel were, therefore, during the captaincy, sojourners in Babylon, and the person who is represented by this officer, performed, as the incidents of the Degree relate, an important part in the restoration of the Israelites to Jerusalem. He was the spokesman and leader of a party of three sojourners, and is, therefore emphatically called the chief, or Principal Sojourner. In the English Royal Arch system there are three officers called Sojourners. But in the American system the three Historical Sojourners are represented by the candidates, while only the supposed chief of them is represented by an officer called the Principal Sojourner. His duties are those of a Conductor, and resembles in some respects, those of a Senior Deacon in a Symbolic Lodge; which office, indeed, he occupies when the Chapter is open on any of the preliminary Degrees. PRINTED PROCEEDINGS In 1741, the Grand Lodge of England adopted a regulation which Entiek (Constitutions, 1756, page 236) is careful to tell us, "was unanimously agreed to," forbidding any Brother "to print, or cause to be printed, the proceedings of any Lodge or any part thereof, or the names of the persons present at such Lodge, but by the direction of the Grand Master or his deputy, under pain of being disowned for a Brother, and not to be admitted into any Quarterly Communication or Grand Lodge, or any Lodge whatsoever, and of being rendered incapable of bearing any office in the Craft." The law has never been repealed, but the Grand Lodge of England issues reports of its meetings, as also do most of the Grand Lodges of the world. Bulletins are published at stated intervals by the Grand Orients of France, Italy, and Portugal, and by nearly all those of South America. In the Unite l States, every Grand Lodge publishes annually the journal of its proceedings, and many subordinate Lodges print the account of any special meeting held on an important or interesting occasion. PRINTER GILDS After years of argument and discussion historians of the great art of printing tend to agree that the honor of inventing the printing press goes to the Dutchman Laurens Coster, who was born about 1370 A.D. and died in 1440 A.D. Johann Gutenberg (1397-1468) will continue to be the most famous of the earliest printers because of his edition of the Bible, a single copy of which has sold for almost one million dollars. But it was Aldus Manutius (1495 1597) and his family in Venice who established the first great publishing house, and who made printing a world force for kings and popes to reckon with. Without printing there would have been no Renaissance, and without a Renaissance there would have been neither Humanism now the Reformation. Immediately this new power appeared, the Vatican moved in to chain it up, lest the common people in Europe should learn a number of inconvenient facts. How the printers themselves circumvented the Vatican, and a number of kings beside, is explained in Vol. II of Books and Their Makers During the Middle Ages, by George Haven Putnam, a companion piece to the same author's work on the Roman censorship of books (that censorship continues to be enforced wherever the Vatican has the power to enforce it, even in America); G. P. Putnam's Sons; New York; 1897. To a Mason who remembers what the gild system meant to Masonry, the most interesting chapter in Putnam's history is the one on the printer gilds; it shows how the printers and publishers themselves, and oftentimes against the State as well as against the Church, defended and maintained and expanded their epoch-making art, until it was at last beyond and above control by any Church or State in the world. (NOTE. It was not printing that Coster invented but the use of movable type; printing of books from engraved wood blocks, each block being as large as a page, had been done centuries before. In 1908 Sir Aurel Stein discovered in Buddhist eaves in the Gobi Desert near Funhwang a number of very old printed books. "One large black printed roll which bore a date corresponding to A.D. 868 was the oldest specimen of a printed book so far known...." Altogether Sir Aurel discovered in one series of eaves preserved by the dryness over 9,000 printed books and ms. rolls. See page 47 in The Gobi Desert, by Mildred Cable with Francesca French; the Macmillan Company; New York; 1944). PRIOR This word has in its uses several applications. 1. The Superiors of the different nations or Provinces into which the Order of the Templar was divided, were at first called Priors or Grand Priors, and afterwards Preceptors or Grand Preceptors. 2. Each of the languages of the Order of Malta was divided into Grand Priories, of which there were twenty-six, and over each of them a Grand Prior presided. Under him were several Commanderies. 3. The second officer in a Council of Kadosh, under the Supreme Council of the ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. 4. The Grand Prior is the third officer in the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. PRIOR, GRAND See Grand Prior PRIORY The jurisdiction of a Grand Prior in the Order of Malta or Saint John of Jerusalem. PRIORY, GREAT See Great Priory PRISEURS, ORDER OF THE See Nicotiates, Order of PRISON A Lodge having been held in 1782, in the King's Bench Prison, London, the Grand Lodge of England passed a resolution declaring that "it is inconsistent with the principles of Masonry for any Freemason's Lodge to be held for the purposes of making, passing, or raising Masons in any prison or place of confinement" (Constitutions, 1784, page 349). The resolution is founded on the principle that there must be perfect freedom of action in everything that relates to the admission of candidates, and such freedom is not consistent with the necessary restraints of a prison. PRIVATE COMMITTEE See Committee, Private PRIVILEGED QUESTIONS In parliamentary law, privileged questions are defined to be those to which precedence is given over all other questions. They are of four kinds: 1. Those which relate to the rights and privileges of the assembly or any of its members. PRIVILEGE, QUESTIONS OF In all parliamentary or legislative bodies, there occur certain questions which relate to matters affecting the dignity of the assembly or the rights and privileges of some of its members, and these are hence called Questions of Privilege; such, for instance, are motions arising out of or having relation to a quarrel between two of the members, an assault upon any member, charges affecting the integrity of the assembly or any of its members, or any other matters of a similar character. Questions referring to any of these matters take precedence of all other business, and hence are always in order. These questions of privilege are not to be confounded with privileged questions; for, although all questions of privilege are privileged questions, all privileged questions are not questions of privilege. Strictly speaking, questions of privilege relate to the house or its members, and privileged questions relate to matters of business (see Doctor Mackey's revised Jurisprudence of Freemasonry). PROBATION The interval between the reception of one Degree and the succeeding one is called the probation of the candidate, because it is during this period that he is to prove his qualification for advancement. In England and in the United States the time of probation between the reception of Degrees is four weeks, to which is generally added the further safeguard of an open examination in the preceding Degree. In France and Germany the probation is extended to one year. The time is greatly extended in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The Statutes of the Southern Supreme Council require an interval of two years to be passed between the reception of the Fourteenth and the Thirty-second Degrees. An extraordinary rule prevailed in the Constitutions of 1762, by which the Rite of Perception was governed. According to this rule, a candidate was required to pass a probation, from the time of his application as an Entered Apprentice until his reception of the Twenty-fifth or ultimate Degree of the Rite, of no less than six years and nine months. But as all the separate times of probation depended on symbolic numbers, it is not to be presumed that this regulation was ever practically enforced. PROBLEM, FORTY-SEVENTH See Forty Seventh Problem PROCESSIONS Public processions of the Order, although not as popular as they were some years ago, still have the warrant of early and long usage. The first procession, after the revival, of which we have a record, took place June 24, 1721, when, as Anderson tells us (Constitutions, 1738, page 112), "Payne, Grand Master, with his Wardens, the former Grand officers, and the Masters and Wardens of twelve Lodges, met the Grand Master elect in a Grand Lodge at the King's Arms Tavern, Saint Paul's Churchyard, in the morning, . . . and from thence they marched on foot to the Hall in proper clothing and due form" (see Clothing and Regalia). Anderson and Entick continue to record the annual processions of the Grand Lodge and the Craft on the Feast Day, with a few exceptions, for the next twenty five years; but after this first pedestrian procession all the subsequent ones were made in carriages, the record being, "the procession of March was made in coaches and chariots" (Constitutions, 1756, page 227). But ridicule being thrown by the enemies of the Order upon these processions, by a mock one in 1741 (see Scald Miserables), and in subsequent years, in 1747 the Grand Lodge unanimously resolved to discontinue them, nor have they since been renewed (Constitutions, 1756, page 248). on the subject of these mock processions, see an article by Dr. W. J. Chetwode Crawley (Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge, volume xviu). Public processions of the Craft were some years ago very common in America, nor have they y et been altogether abandoned; although now practiced with greater discretion and less frequently, being in general restricted to special occasions of importance, such as funerals, the laying of corner-stones, etc. The question has been often mooted, whether public processions, with the open exhibition of its regalia and furniture, are or are not of advantage to the Order. In 1747 it was thought not to be so, at least in London, but the custom was continued, to a great extent, in the provinces. Doctor Oliver (Symbol of Glory) was in favor of what he calls "the good old custom, so strongly recommended and assiduously practiced by the Masonic worthies of the eighteenth century, and imitated by many other public bodies of men, of assembling the Brethren of a Provence annually under their own banner, and marching in solemn procession to the house of God, to offer up their thanksgiving in the public congregation for the blessings of the preceding year; to pray for mercies in prospect, and to hear from the pulpit a disquisition on the moral and religious purposes of the Order." Processions are not peculiar to the Masonic Fraternity. The custom comes to us from remote antiquity. In the initiations at Eleusis, the celebration of the Mysteries was accompanied each day by a solemn procession of the initiates from Athens to the temple of initiation. Apuleius describes the same custom as prevailing in the celebration of the Mysteries of Isis. Among the early Romans, it was the custom, in times of public triumph or distress, to have solemn processions to the temples, either to thank the gods for their favor or to invoke their protection. The Jews also went in procession to the Temple to offer up their prayers. So, too, the primitive Christians walked in procession to the tombs of the martyrs Ecclesiastical processions were first introduced in the fourth century. They are now used in the Roman Church on various occasions, and the Pontificate Romanum supplies the necessary ritual for their observance. In the Middle Ages these processions were often carried to an absurd extent Polydore describes them as consisting of ''ridiculous contrivances, of a figure with a great gaping mouth, and other pieces of merriment." But these displays were abandoned with the increasing refinement of the age. At this day, processions are common in all countries, not only of religious confraternities, but of political and social societies. There are processions also in Freemasonry which are confined to the internal concerns of the Order, and are not therefore of a public nature. The procession "around the Hall," at the installation of the Grand Masters is first mentioned in 1791. Previous to that year there is no allusion to any such ceremony. From 1717-20 we are simply told that the new Grand Master "was saluted," and that he was "homaged" or that "his health was drunk in due form." But in 1721 a processional ceremony seems to have been composed, for in that year we are informed (Constitutions, 1735, page 113), that "Brother Payne. the old Grand Master, made the first procession round the Hall, and when returned, he proclaimed aloud the most noble Prince and our Brother." This procession was not abolished with the public processions in 1747, but continued for many years afterward. In the United States it gave rise to the procession at the installation of Masters, which, although provided for by the ritual, and practiced by Lodges, has been too often neglected by many. The form of the I procession, as adopted in 1724, is given by Anderson (Constitutions, 1738, page 117), and is almost precisely the same as that used in all Masonic processions at the present day, except funeral ones. The rule was then adopted, which has ever since prevailed, that in all processions the juniors in Degree and in office shall go first, so that the place of honor shall be the rear. An early Masonic procession is reported in Read's Weekly Journal or British Gazeteer, No. 606, April 13, 1736, as quoted in the Freemasons Magazine and Masonic Mirror, September 19, 1863 (page 223) as follows: Friday, about 2 o'clock, the Grand Cavalcade of the Most Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons, set forward from the Earl of London's house in Privy-garden to Fishmonger's hall in Thames street. PROCESSIONS, PAGEANTS, ASSEMBLIES With the subject of processions, discussed on page 808, may be connected pageants and assemblies, because at some three or four periods in the history of Freemasonry the three had the same importance for both the public and Craftsmen. In the earliest period of the Operative Craft assemblies were in general forbidden by the King, whether public or private—if public they were generally called assemblies or congregations, if private they were often called covines; it was feared lest large numbers of peoples met together might plan united action against their temporal or their religious rulers. An assembly could, however, be held on written permission, or patent, from some lord, prince, or king; and the author of the original version of the Old Charges made much of the fact that when it had held its General Assembly in York to receive a charter, the Fraternity held it by royal permission, which proved that it had not been an unlawful congregation or covine. Even after they had formed a new and permanent General Assembly, or Grand Lodge, in 1717, the Lodges did not feel easy in their minds until they had secured patronage from a member of the nobility, the Duke of Montague, and, as the events proved, they were wise, because when in 1799 the Parliament forbade secret societies ("covines") the Noble Patrons of the two Grand Lodges went in person and obtained exemption for the Fraternity by name. In the heyday of the gild system pageants were a prominent, established, constituted municipal event, provided for in the law, supervised by the Mayor and Aldermen, and belonging to the customs or rules of the gilds themselves. These pageants consisted of floats, each mounted on a wagon, each boat having some general significance, or else was one act in a connected series of acts. They were so elaborately and richly costumed, the "machinery" used was so ingenious, and the arrangements to be made were so extensive, that a pageant like the famous Corpus Christi at Chester might cost many thousands of dollars; and records of the gild and City Companies, each of which participated, show that there was often much complaint about costs. The custom was for each gild to contribute one float, or "waggon." It does not appear that Freemasons were very often in these pageants; where they had local gilds or companies they usually were small; where many Masons worked on a cathedral they had not a gild but a Lodge. The Church and the State between them exercised a rigid control of these pageants, censored the words spoken, and the actions, costumes, and machinery. This fact explains the early fear Masons had of Masonic pageants; it explains also why Freemasons enacted their own ceremonies in secret; they knew, oftentimes, that the Church would condemn them for heresy, or at least would frown upon them as novelties or innovations; in a time when the people had no books, and priests preached few sermons, pageants became a book, and the Church made sure to see that it was an orthodox book. The ceremonies used by the Freemasons then would, if we could now see them, be innocuous and innocent in our eyes, and with no theological significance; but our own familiar and innocuous ceremonies, were we by miracle to enact them in the year 1200 A.D., would condemn us to burning at the stake; the Tiler at the door of the Medieval Lodge and the guard against eavesdroppers were of more than ceremonial importance; certainly no Freemason would wish to see his own emblems and ceremonies exhibited in a pageant. By the Eighteenth Century the pageant had become a procession, but even as processions they had their dangers, as Dr. Desaguliers and his Brethren discovered in the early years of Grand Lodge. Streets were narrow; a procession stopped traffic and interfered with stores and shops (the typical Medieval village or town had no stores); street arabs were inspired to rowdyism; the more solemn the procession the more likely it was to be parodied by a mock procession—an acted-out cartoon. Moreover, processions often were used for political propaganda, or as public protests, or as threats to gentlemen in power, or as invitations to popular revolt, or as a challenge to some rival party, etc. The Grand Lodge forbade Masonic processions, even the old custom of the ceremonial conducting of a new Grand Master from his home to be installed in the Grand Lodge room. When Preston and his fellow officers from the Lodge of Antiquity met at church, they walked together only a few feet, and wore no regalia except white gloves, yet they were expelled by the Grand Lodge. What a procession might mean in the terms of pubs lie order, and at times of political crisis, is best seen in the history of the troubles in Ireland which led to the foundation or the Orange Society; and in the history of Cambridge and of Oxford Universities when in the battles between Town and Gown what began as a procession would up as a riot. At the present time what we Americans call "Masonic processions" are not processions as Eighteenth Century Masons would have understood the word because they do not enact anything or signify anything; they are nothing but a walking together," not for the purpose of putting Masonic emblems or regalia on public view but in order that when the members of a Lodge attend a church or a funeral or go to lay a corner-stone they go together. The difficulties Grand Lodges and Grand Masters have of deciding whether to permit them or not may be owing to their confusing a present day "marching together" with the very different processions of the days when the first rules were made. (See Historical Reminiscence of the City of London and its Livery Companies, by Thomas Arundell; Bentley; London; 1869; it is very rich in materials OF gild processions, pageants, etc.; see Chapters XXIV and XX~Y, and consult Index.) PROCLAMATION At the installation of the officers of a Lodge, or any other Masonic Body, and especially a Grand Lodge or Grand Chapter, proclamation is made in a Lodge or Chapter by the installing officer, and in a Grand Lodge or Grand Chapter by the Grand Marshal. Proclamation is also made on some other occasions, and on such occasions the Grand Marshal performs the duty. PROCLAMATION OF CYRUS A ceremony in the American Royal Arch. We learn from Scripture , that in the first year of Cyrus, the Eing of Persia, the captivity of the Jews was terminated. Cyrus, from his conversations with Daniel and the other Jewish captives of learning and piety, as well as from his perusal of their sacred books, more especially the prophecies of Isaiah, had become imbued with a knowledge of true religion, and hence had even publicly announced to his subjects his belief in the God "which the nation of the Israelites worshiped." He was consequently impressed with an earnest desire to fulfil the prophetic declarations of which he was the subject, and to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem. Accordingly, he issued a proclamation, which we find in Ezra (I, 2 and 3) as follows: Thus saith Cyrus, Ring of Persia, The Lord God of heaven, hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judea. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judea, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, he is the God, which is in Jerusalem.With the publication of this proclamation of Cyrus commences what may be called the second part of the Royal Arch Degree. PROCLUS Known as the successor of Syrianus as the head of the Athenian school. Born in Constantinople, 412, died at Athens, 485. Proclus was a Neo-Platonist, and waged war against the new religion of Christianity, which caused him to be banished from the city; but was subsequently readmitted. His works were chiefly mystical, such as devoting hymns to the sun, Venus, or the poetic muses, and so far were harmless. PROFANE There is no word whose technical and proper meaning differs more than this. In its ordinary use profane signifies one who is irreligious and irreverent, but in its technical adaptation it is applied to one who is ignorant of sacred rites. The word is compounded of the two Latin words pro and canum, and literally means before or outside of the temple; and hence, a profanes among the ancients was one who was not allowed to enter the temple and behold the mysteries. "Those," says Vossius, "were called profane who were not initiated in the sacred rites, but to whom it was allowed only to stand before the temple—profane—not to enter it and take part in the solemnities." The Greek equivalent, had a similar reference; for its root is found in a threshold, as if it denoted one who was not permitted to pass the threshold of the temple. In the celebrated hymn of Orpheus, which it is said was sung at the Mysteries of Eleusis, we meet with this phrase, meaning I speak to those to whom it is lawful, but close the doors against the profane. When the mysteries were about to begin, the Greeks used the solemn formula, and the Romans, Procul, O procul este, profani, both meaning, Far hence, O far hence, be ye, ye outsiders! (see Vergil, Aeneid, book vi, line 258). Hence the original and inoffensive signification of profane is that of being uninitiated; and it is in this sense that it is used in Freemasonry, simply to designate one who has not been~initiated as a Freemason. The word profane is not recognized as a noun substantive in the general usage of the language, but it has been adopted as a technical term in the dialect of Freemasonry, in the same relative sense in which the word layman is used in the professions of law and divinity. Accepted as the word is for general use among Freemasons, its ancient meaning "outside the Temple, an outsider," may be misunderstood. A peculiar instance of this sort came up for consideration in 1926 at the Grand Lodge of the Philippine Islands. One of the Lodges objected to the use of the word profane, in either English or Spanish, when reference is made to persons not Freemasons, because it "has no proper place in modern Masonry." Accordingly the Grand Lodge adopted this resolution: That the use of the word profane when reference is made to persons not Masons be avoided wherever possible and the use of some other word or expression in its stead, such as uninitiated and non-Mason. PROFICIENCY The necessity that anyone who devotes himself to the acquisition of a science should become a proficient in its elementary instructions before he can expect to grasp and comprehend its higher branches, is so almost self-evident as to need no argument. But as Speculative Freemasonry is a science, it is equally necessary that a requisite qualification for admission to a higher Degree should be a suitable proficiency in the preceding one. It is true, that we do not find in express words in the Old Constitutions any regulations requiring proficiency as preliminary to advancement, but their whole spirit is evidently to that effect; and hence we find it prescribed in the Old Constitutions, that no Master shall take an apprentice for less than seven years, because it was expected that he should acquire a competent knowledge of the mystery before he could be admitted as a Fellow. The modern Constitution of the Grand Lodge of England provides that no Lodge shall confer a higher Degree on any Brother until he has passed an examination in open Lodge on the preceding Degrees (Rule 195) and many, perhaps most, of the Grand Lodges of the United States have adopted a similar regulation. The instructions of all the Symbolic Degrees, and, indeed, of the higher Degrees, and that too, in all rites, makes the imperative demand of every candidate whether he has made suitable proficiency in the preceding Degree, an affirmative answer to which is required before the rites of initiation can be continued. This answer is, according to the instructions, that "he has." But some Freemasons have sought to evade the consequence of an acknowledgment of ignorance and want of proficiency by a change of the language of the instructions into "such as time and circumstances would permit." But this is an innovation, unsanctioned by any authority, and should be repudiated. If the candidate has not made proper proficiency, the ritual, outside of all statutory regulations, refuses him advancement. Anderson, in the second edition of his Constitutions (page 71), cites what he calls "an old record," which says that in the reign of Edward III of England it was ordained "that Master Masons, or Masters of work, shall be examined whether they be able of cunning to serve their respective Lords, as well the Highest as the Lowest, to the Honour and Worship of the aforesaid Art, and to the Profit of their Lords." Here, then, we may see the origin of that usage, which is still practised in every well-governed Lodge, not only of demanding a proper degree of proficiency in the candidate, but also of testing that proficiency by an examination. This cautious and honest fear of the Fraternity lest any Brother should assume the duties of a position which he could not faithfully discharge, and which is, in our time, tantamount to a candidate's advancing to a Degree for which he is not prepared, in again exhibited in all the Old Constitutions. Thus in the Lansdown Manuscript, whose date is referred to the middle of the sixteenth century it is charged "that no Mason take on him no Lord's work nor other man's, but if he know himself well able to perform the work, so that the Craft have no slander." The same regulation, and almost in the same language, is to be found in all the subsequent manuscripts. In the Charges of 1729, it is directed that "a younger Brother shall be instructed in working, to prevent spoiling the materials for want of judgment, and for increasing and continuing of brotherly love" (Constitutions, 1723, page 53). It was, with the same view, that all of the Old Constitutions made it imperative that no Master should take an apprentice for less than seven years, because it was expected that he should acquire a competent knowledge of the mystery of the Craft before he could be admitted as a Fellow. Notwithstanding these charges had a more particular reference to the operative part of the art, they clearly show the great stress that was placed b) our ancient Brethren upon the necessity of skill and proficiency; and they have furnished the precedents upon which are based all similar regulations subsequently applied to Speculative Freemasonry. PRO GRAND MASTER The Latin word pro to be translated for, or instep of, or on behalf of the Grand Master. An officer known only to the English system, and the title adopted for the first time in 1782, when, on the election of the Duke of Cambridge to the office of Grand Master, a regulation was adopted by the Grand Lodge of England, that whenever a Prince of the Blood accepted the office of Grand Master, he should be at liberty to nominate any peer of the realm to be the Acting Grand Master, and to this officer is now given the title of Pro Grand Master. His collar, jewel, and authority are the same as those of a Grand Master, and in the case of a vacancy he actually assumes the office until the next annual election. The following Brethren have been Pro Grand Masters: 1782-1789 Earl of Effingham. 1790-1813 Earl of Moira 1834-1838 Lord Dundas. 1839-1840 Earl of Durham. 1841-1843 Earl of Zetlarld. 1874-1890 Earl of Carnarvon. 1891-1898 Earl of Lathom. 1898-1908 Earl Amherst. 1908 Lord Ampthill. PROGRESSIVE FREEMASONRY Our Freemasonry is undoubtedly a progressive science, and yet the fundamental principles of Freemasonry are the same now as they were at the very beginning of the Institution. Its landmarks are unchangeable In these there can be no alteration, no diminution no addition. When, therefore, we say that Freemasonry is progressive in its character, vie of course do not mean to allude to this unalterable part of its institution. But there is a progress which every science must undergo, and which many of them have already undergone, to which the science of Freemasonry is subject. Thus we say of chemistry that it is a progressive science. Two hundred sears ago, all its principles, so far as they were known, were directed to such futile inquiries as the philosopher's stone and the elixir of immortality Now these principles have become more thoroughly understood, and more definitely established and the object of their application is more noble at philosophic. The writings of the chemists of the former and the present period sufficiently indicate this progress of the science. Yet the elementary principles of chemistry are unchangeable Its truths were the same then as they are now. Some of them were at that time unknown, because no mind of sufficient research had discovered them; but they existed as truths, from the very creation of matter; and now they have only been developed, not invented. So it is with Freemasonry. It too has had its progress. Freemasons are now expected to be more learned than formerly in all that relates to the science of the Order. Its origin, its history, its objects, are now considered worthy of the attentive consideration of its disciples. The rational explanation of its ceremonies and symbols, and their connection with ancient systems of religion and philosophy, are now considered as necessary topics of inquiry for all who desire to distinguish themselves as proficients in Masonic science. In all these things we see a great difference between the Freemasons of the present and of former days. In Europe, a century ago, such inquiries were considered as legitimate subjects of Masonic study. Hutchinson published in 1760, in England, his admirable work entitled the Spirit of freemasonry, in which the deep philosophy of the Institution was fairly developed with much learning and ingenuity. Preston's Illustrations of Masonry, printed at a not Much later period, also exhibits the system treated, c in many places, in a philosophical manner. Lawrie's History of Freemasonry, published in Scotland in 1804, is a work containing much profound historical and antiquarian research. And in the last century, the works of Doctor Oliver alone would be sufficient to demonstrate to the most cursory observer that Freemasonry has a claim to be ranked among the learned institutions of the day. In Germany and France, the press has been borne down with the weight of abstruse works on our Order, written by men of the highest literary pretensions. In the United States, notwithstanding the really excellent work of Salem Town on Speculative Masonry, published in 1818, and the learned Discourses of Dr. T. M. Harris, published in 1801, it is only within much more recent years that Freemasonry has begun to assume the exalted position of a literary institution. PROMISE In entering into the Covenant of Freemasonry, the candidate makes a promise to the Order; for his covenant is simply a promise where he voluntarily places himself under a moral obligation to act within certain conditions in a particular way. The law of promise is, therefore, strictly applicable to this covenant, and by that law the validity and obligation of the promises of every candidate must be determined. In every promise there are these two things to be considered: the intention and the obligation. As to the intention: of all casuists, the Jesuits alone have contended that the intention may be concealed within the bosom of the promiser. All Christian and Pagan writers agree on the principle that the words expressed must convey their ordinary meaning to the promisee. If we promise to do a certain thing to-morrow, we cannot, when the morrow comes, refuse to do it on the ground that we only promised to do it if it suited us when the time of performance had arrived. The obligation of every promiser is, then, to fulfil the promise that he has made not in any way that he may have secretly intended, but in the way in which he supposes that the one to whom he made it, understood it at the time that it was made. Hence all Masonic promises are accompanied by the declaration that they are given without equivocation or mental reservation of any kind whatsoever. All voluntary promises are binding, unless there be some paramount consideration which will release the obligation of performance. It is worth-while, then, to inquire if there be any such considerations which can impair the validity of Masonic promises. Doctor Wayland (Elements of Moral Science, page 285) lays down five conditions in which promises are not binding: 1. Where the performance is impossibleIt is evident that not one of these conditions will apply to Masonic promises, for, 1. Every promise made at the altar of Masonry is possible to be performed.This, then, is the proper answer to those adversaries of Freemasonry who contend for the invalidity of Masonic promises on the very grounds of Wayland and other moralists. Their conclusions would be correct, were it not that every one of their premises is false. PROMOTER, FATHER AND See Father and Promoter PROMOTION Promotion in Freemasonry should not be governed, as in other societies, by succession of office. The fact that one has filled a longer office gives him no claim to a higher, unless he is fitted, by skill and capacity, to discharge its duties faithfully. This alone should be the true basis of promotion (see Preferment). PROMULGATION, LODGE OF A Lodge of instruction which paved the way for the Union of 1813 of the Antient and Modern Grand Lodges. In 1809 the Grand Lodge of the Moderns resolved, on April 12, that, "This Grand Lodge do agree in opinion with the Committee of Charity that it is not necessary any longer to continue in force those measures which were resorted to, in or about the year 1739, respecting irregular Masons, and do therefore enjoin the several Lodges to revert to the Ancient Landmarks of the Society." A Warrant was issued, October 26, 1809, permitting certain Brethren to hold a Special Lodge with the purpose of "Ascertaining and promulgating the Ancient Land-Marks of the Craft." Meetings were held weekly at Freemasons Hall, beginning November 21, 1809. When the members agreed as to the exact form and manner of every ceremony they invited the Masters of the London Lodges to attend a rehearsal. Then they went through the Three Degrees and the ceremony of Installation, specified as "One of the two Land-Marks of the Craft." This word two is probably mistaken for true. After doing much good work in the way of bringing together factions and in the teaching of the accepted forms of ritual and ceremony, the Brethren disbanded in March, 1811. PROOFS What the German Freemasons call proben und prufungen, meaning trials and proofs, and the French, dpreuves Maconniques, or Masonic proofs, are defined by Bazot (Manuel, page 141) to be "mysterious methods of discovering the character and disposition of a recipiendary." They are, in fact, those ritualistic ceremonies of initiation which are intended to test the fortitude and fidelity of the candidate. They seem to be confined to Continental Freemasonry, for they are not known to any extent in the English or American systems, where all the ceremonies are purely symbolic. Krause ( Kunsturkunden, Book I, clii, 37) admits that no trace of them, at least in the perilous and fearful forms which they assume in the Continental Rituals, are to be found in the oldest English catechisms. He admits that, as appealing to the sentiments of fear and hope, and adopting a dramatic form, they are contrary to the spirit of Freemasonry, and greatly interfere with its symbolism and with the pure and peaceful sentiments which it is intended to impress upon the mind of the neophyte. PROPERTY OF A LODGE As a Lodge owes its existence, and all the rights and prerogatives that it exercises, to the Grand Lodge from which it derives its Charter or Warrant of Constitution, it has been decided, as a principle of Masonic law, that when such Lodge ceases to exist, either by a withdrawal or a surrender of its Warrant, all the property which it possessed at the time of its dissolution reverts to the Grand Lodge. But should the Lodge be restored by a revival of its Warrant, its property should be restored, because the Grand Lodge held it only as the general trustee or guardian of the Craft. PROPHET Haggai, who in the American system of the Royal Arch is called the Scribe. in the English system receives the title of Prophet, and hence in the order of precedence he is placed above the High Priest. PROPHETS, SCHOOLS OF THE Bee Schools of the Prophets. PROPONENDA The matters contained in the Notices of Motions, which are required by the Grand Lodge of England to be submitted to the members previous to the Quarterly Communication when they are to be discussed, are sometimes called the proponenda, or subjects to be proposed. PROPOSING CANDIDATES The only method recognized in the United States of proposing candidates for initiation or membership is by the written petition of the applicant, who must at the same time be recommended by two members of the Lodge. In England, the applicant for initiation must previously sign the declaration, which in the United States is only made after his election. He is then proposed by one Brother, and, the proposition being seconded by another, he is balloted for at the next regular Lodges Applicants for membership are also proposed without petition, but the Certificate of the former Lodge must be produced, as in the United States the dimit is required. Nor can any candidate for affiliation be balloted for unless previous notice of the application be given to all the members of the Lodge. PROPYLAEUM This word is also written Propylaeon. The court or vestibule in front of an edifice. The Propylaed is the celebrated entrance to the Parthenon, the Greek Doric temple at Athens, built by Pericles in honor of Minerva or Athena. PROSCRIPTION The German Freemasons employ this word in the same sense in which we do expulsion, as the highest Masonic punishment that can be inflicted. They also use the word uerbannung, meaning banishrnent, for the same purpose. PROSELYTE OF JERUSALEM In French, Proselyte de Jerusalem. The Sixty-eighth Degree of the Metropolitan Chapter of France. PROSELYTISM Making converts, to win over from one faith to another by argument or other means of persuasion. Brahmanism is, perhaps, the only religion which is opposed to proselytism. The Brahman seeks no convert to his faith, but is content with that extension of his worship which is derived from the natural increase only of its members. The Jewish Church, perhaps one of the most exclusive, and which has always seemed indifferent to progress, yet provided a special form of baptism for the initiation of its proselytes into the Mosaic rites. Buddhism, the great religion of the Eastern world, which, notwithstanding the opposition of the leading Brahmans, spread with amazing rapidity over the Oriental nations, so that now it seems the most popular religion of the world, owes its extraordinary growth to the energetic propagandism of Sakya muni, its founder, and to the same proselyting spirit which he inculcated upon his disciples. The Christian church, mindful of the precept of its Divine founder, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature," has always considered the work of missions as one of the most important duties of the Church, and owes its rapid increasers in its earlier years, to the proselyting spirit of Paula and Thomas, and the other apostles. Mohammedanism springing up and lingering for a long time in a single family, at length acquired rapid growth among the Oriental nations, through the energetic proselytism of the Prophet and his adherents. But the proselytism of the religion of the New Testament and that of the Koran differed much in character. The Christian made his converts by persuasive accents and eloquent appeals; the Mussulman converted his penitents by the sharp power of the sword. Christianity was a religion of peace, Mohammedanism of war; yet each, though pursuing a different method, was equally energetic in securing converts. In respect to this doctrine of proselytism, Freemasonry resembles more the exclusive faith of Brahms than the inviting one of Moses, of Buddha, of Christ, or of Mohammed. In plain words, FreemasonrY is rigorously opposed to all proselytism. While its members do not hesitate, at all proper times and on all fitting occasions, to defend the Institution from all attacks of its enemies, it never seeks, by voluntary laudation of its virtues, to make b new accessions of friends, or to add to the number of its disciples. Nay, it boasts, as a peculiar beauty of its system, that it is a voluntary Institution. Not only does it forbid its members to use any efforts to obtain initiates, but actually requires every candidate for admission into its sacred rites to seriously declare, as a preparatory step, that in this voluntary offer of himself he has been unbiased by the improper solicitations of friends. Without this declaration, the candidate would be unsuccessful in his application. Although it is required that he should be prompted to solicit the privilege by the favorable opinion which he had conceived of the Institution, yet no provision is made by which that opinion can be inculcated in the minds of the profane; for were a Freemason, by any praises of the Order, or any exhibitions of its advantages, to induce anyone under such representations to seek admission, he would not only himself commit a grievous fault, but would subject the candidate to serious embarrassment at the very entrance of the Lodge. This Brahmanical spirit of anti-proselytism, in which Freemasonry differs from every other association, has imprinted upon the Institution certain peculiar features. In the first place, Freemasonry thus becomes, in the most positive form, a voluntary association. Whoever comes within its mystic circle, comes there of his "own free will and accord, and unbiased by the influence of friends." These are the terms on which he is received, and to all the legitimate consequences of this voluntary connection he must submit. Hence comes the axiom, "Once a freemasons always a Freemason" that is to say, no manse having once been initiated into its sacred rites, can, at his own pleasure or caprice, divest himself of these obligations and duties which, 19 a Freemason, be has assumed. Coming to us freely and willingly, he can urge no claim for retirement on the plea that he leas unduly persuaded, or that the character of our Institution had been falsely represented. To do so would be to convict himself of fraud and falsehood, in the declarations made by him preliminary to his admission. If these declarations were indeed false, he at least cannot, under the legal maxim, take advantage of his own wrong. The knot which binds him to the Fraternity has been tied by himself, and is indissoluble. The renouncing Freemason may, indeed, withdraw from his connection vith a Lodge, but he cannot release himself from his obligations to the regulation, which requires every Freemason to be a member of one. He may abstain from all communication with his Brethren, and cease to take any interest in the concerns of the Fraternity; but he is not thus absolved from the performance of any of the duties imposed upon him by his original admission into the brotherhood. A proselyte, persuaded against his will might claim his right to withdraw; but the voluntary seeker must take and hold what he finds. Another result of this anti-proselyting spirit of the Institution is, to relieve its members from all undue anxiety to increase its membership. It is not to be supposed that Freemasons have not the very natural desire to see the growth of their Order. Toward this end, they are ever ready to defend its character when attacked, to extol its virtues, and to maintain its claims to the confidence and approval of the wise and good. But the growth they wish is not that abnormal one, derived from sudden revivals or ephemeral enthusiasm, where passion too often takes the place of judgment; but that slow and steady, and therefore healthy, growth which comes from the adhesion of wise and virtuous and thoughtful men, who are willing to join the brotherhood, that they may the better labor for the good of their fellow-men. Thus it is that we find the addresses of our Grand Masters, the reports of our Committee on Foreign Correspondence, and the speeches of our anniversary orators, annually denouncing the too rapid increase of the Order, as something calculated to affect its stability and usefulness. Hence, too, the Black Ball, that antagonist of proselytism, has been long and familiarly called the Bulwark of Freemasonry. Its faithful use is ever being inculcated by the fathers of the Order upon its younger members; and the unanimous ballot is universally admitted to be the most effectual means of preserving the purity of the Institution. And so, this spirit of anti-proselytism, impressed upon every Freemason from his earliest initiation although not itself a landmark, has come to be invested with all the sacredness of such a law, and Freemasonry stands out alone, distinct from every other human association, and proudly proclaims, "Our portals are open to all the good and true, but we ask no man to enter." PROTECTOR OF ENGLISH FREEMASONS This is a title accepted by King Edward VII of England on his accession to the throne in 1901. King Christian IX of Denmark became the Protector of the Craft in that country in 1885 when the Crown Prince Frederick Wilhelm Karl was Grand Master (see Patron). PROTECTOR OF INNOCENCE The French title is Protectur de Z'lnnoeence. A Degree in the nomenclature of Fustier, cited by him from the collection of Viany. PROTECTRESS A title assumed by Catherine II of Russia (see Russia). PROTOCOL In French, the formulae or technical words of legal instruments; in Germany, the rough draft of an instrument or transaction; in diplomacy, the original copy of a treaty. Gadicke says that, in Masonic language, the protocol is the rough Minutes of a Lodge. The word is used in this sense in Germany only. PROTOTYPE The same as Archetype, which see PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE In each of the Counties of England is a Grand Lodge composed of the various Lodges within that district, with the Provincial Grand Master at their head, and this Body is called a Provincial Grand Lodge. It derives its existence, not from a Warrant, but from the Patent granted to the Provincial Grand Master by the Grand Master, and at his death, resignation, or removal, it becomes extinct, unless the Provincial Grand registrar keeps up its existence by presiding over the province until the appointment of another Provincial Grand Master. Its authority is confined to the framing of by-laws, malting regulations, hearing disputes, etc., but no absolute sentence can be promulgated by its authority without a reference to the Grand Lodge. Hence Doctor Oliver (Jurisprudence, page 272) says that a Provincial Grand Lodge "has a shadow of power, but very little substance. It may tally but it cannot act." The system does not exist in the United States. In England and Ireland the Provincial Grand Master is appointed by the Grand Master, but in Scotland his Commission emanates from the Grand Lodge. PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER The presiding officer of a Provincial Grand Lodge. He is appointed by the Grand Master, during whose pleasure he holds his office. An appeal lies from his decisions to the Grand Lodge. PROVINCIAL GRAND OFFICERS The officers of a Provincial Grand Lodge correspond in title to those of the Grand Lodge. The Provincial Grand Treasurer is elected, but the other officers are nominated by the Provincial Grand Master. They are not by such appointment members of the Grand Lodge, nor do they take any rank out of their Province. They must all be residents of the Province and subscribing members to some Lodge therein. Provincial Grand Wardens must be Masters or Past Masters of a Lodge, and Provincial Grand Deacons, Wardens, or Past Wardens. PROVINCIAL MASTER OF THE RED CROSS The Sixth Degree of the Rite of Clerks of Strict Observance PROVOST AND JUDGE The French title is Prevot et Juve. The Seventh Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The history of the Degree relates that it was founded by Solomon, King of Israel, for the purpose of strengthening his means of preserving order among the vast number of Crafts men engaged in the construction of the Temple. Tito, Prince Harodim, Adoniram, and Abda his father, were first created Provosts and Judges, who were afterward directed bv Solomon to initiate his favorite and intimate secretary, Joabert, and to give him the keys of all the building. In the old instructions, the Master of a Lodge of Provosts and Judges represents Tito, Prince Harodim, the first Grand Warden and Inspector of the three hundred architects. The number of lights is six, and the symbolic color is red. In the more recent instructions of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States there has been a slight change The legend is substantially preserved, but the presiding officer represents Azarias, the son of Nathan The jewel is a golden key, having the letter A within a triangle engraved on the ward. The collar is red The apron is white, lined with red, and is furnished with a pocket. This has been claimed as one of Ramsay's Degrees, and in French was originally called Mattre Irlandais, meaning Irish Master. PROXY INSTALLATION The Regulations of 1721 provide that, if the new Grand Master be absent from the Grand Feast, he may be proclaimed if proper assurance be given that he will serve, in which case the old Grand Master shall act as his proxy and receive the usual homage. This has led to a custom, once very common in the United States, but later on getting into disuse, of installing an absent officer by proxy. Such installations are called Proxy Installations. Their propriety is truly very questionable. PROXY MASTER In the Grand Lodge of Scotland, a Lodge is permitted to elect any Master Mason who holds a Diploma of the Grand Lodge, although he may not be a member of the Lodge, as its Proxy Master. He nominates two Proxy Wardens, and the three then become members of the Grand Lodge and representatives of the Lodge. Great opposition has recently been made to this system, because by it a Lodge is often represented by Brethren who are in no way connected with it, who never were present at any of its meetings, and who are personally unknown to any of its members. A similar system prevailed in the Grand Lodge of South Carolina, but was, after a hard struggle, abolished in 1860, at the adoption of a new Constitution. PRUDENCE This is one of the four cardinal virtues, the practise of which is inculcated upon the Entered Apprentice. Preston first introduced it into the Degree as referring to what was then, and long before had been called the Four Principal Signs, but which are now known as the Perfect Points of Entrance. Preston's eulogium on prudence differs from that used in the lectures of the United States of America, which was composed by Webb. It is in these words: "Prudence is the true guide to human understanding, and consists in judging and determining with propriety what is to be said or done upon all our occasions, what dangers we should endeavor to avoid, and how to act in all our difficulties." Webb's definition, which is much better, may be found in all the Monitors. The Masonic reference of prudence to the manual point reminds us of the classic method of representing her in statues with a rule or measure in her hand. PRUSSIA Frederick William I of Prussia was so great an enemy of the Masonic Institution, that until his death it was scarcely known in his de minions, and the initiation, in 1738, of his son. the Crown Prince, was necessarily kept a secret from his father. But in 1740 Frederick II ascended the throne and Masonry soon felt the advantages of a royal patron. The Baron de Bielefeld says (Letters i, page 157) that in that year the king himself opened a Lodge at Charlottenburg, and initiated his brother, Prince William, the hargrave of Brandenburg, and the Duke of Holstein-Beck. Bielefeld and the Counselor Jordan, in 1740, established the Lodge of the Three Globes at Berlin, which soon afterward assumed the rank of a Grand Lodge. There are now in Prussia three Grand Lodges, the seats of all of them being at Berlin. These are the Grand Lodge of the Three Globes, established in 1740, the Grand Lodge Royal York of Friendship, established in 1760, and the National Grand Lodge of Germany, established in 1770. There is no country in the world where Freemasonry is more profoundly studied as a science than in Prussia, and much of the abstruse learning of the Order, for which Germany has been distinguished, is to be found among the members of the Prussian Lodges. Unfortunately, they have, for a long time, been marked with an intolerant spirit toward the Jews, whose initiation was strictly forbidden until comparatively recently, when that stain was removed, and the tolerant principles of the Order were recognized by the abrogation of the offensive laws. PRUSSIAN KNIGHT See Noachite PSATERIANS A sect of Arians who maintained at the Council of Antioch, 360 A.D., that the Son was dissimilar to the Father in will; that He was made from nothing; and that in God, creation and generation were synonymous terms. PSEUDONYM A false or fictitious name. Continental writers on Freemasonry in the eighteenth century often assumed fictitious names, sometimes from affectation, and sometimes because the subjects they treated were unpopular with the government or the church. Thus, Carl Rössler wrote under the pseudonym of Acerrellas, Arthuseus under that of Irenaeus, Agnostus, Guillemain de Saint Victor under that of De Gaminville or Querard, Louis Travenol under that of Leonard Gabanon, etc. The Illuminati also introduced the custom of giving pseudonyms to the kingdoms and cities of Europe; thus, with them, Austria was Achaia; Munich, Athens; Vienna, Rome; Ingolstadt. Eleusis, etc. But this practice was not confined to the Illuminati, for we find many books published at Paris, Berlin, etc., with the fictitious imprint of Jerusalem, Cosmopolis, Latomopolis, Philadelphia, Edessa, etc. This practice has long since been abandoned. PUBLICATIONS, MASONIC The fact that, within the past few years, Freemasonry has taken its place and an imposing one. too—in the literature of the times; that men of genius and learning have devoted themselves to its investigation; that its principles and its system have become matters of study and research; and that the results of this labor of inquiry have been given, and still continue to be given, to the world at large, in the form of treatises on Masonic science, have at length introduced the new question among the Fraternity, whether Masonic books are of good or of evil tendency to the Institution. Many well-meaning but timid members of the Paternity object to the freedom with which Masonic topics are discussed in printed works. They think that the veil is too much withdrawn by modern Masonic writers, and that all doctrine and instruction should be confined to oral teaching, within the limits of the Lodge-room. Hence, to them, the art of printing becomes useless for the diffusion of Masonic knowledge; and thus, whatever may be the attainments of a Masonic scholar, the fruits of his study and experience would be confined to the narrow limits of his personal presence. Such objectors draw no distinction between the Ritual and the Philosophy of Freemasonry. Like the old priests of Egypt, they would have everything concealed under hieroglyphics, and would as soon think of opening a Lodge in public as they would of discussing, in a printed book, the principles and design of the Institution. The Grand Lodge of England, some 5 years ago, adopted a regulation which declared it penal to print or publish any part of the proceedings of a Lodge, or the names of the persons present at such a Lodge, without the permission of the Grand Master. The rule, however, evidently referred to local proceedings only, and had no relation whatever to the publication of Masonic authors and editors; for the English Masonic press, since the days of Hutchinson, in the middle of the eighteenth century, has been distinguished for the freedom, as well as learning, with which the most abstruse principles of our Order have been discussed. Many years ago the Committee of Foreign Correspondence of a prominent Grand Lodge affirmed that Masonic literature was doing more "harm than good to the Institution." About the same time the Committee of another equally prominent Grand Lodge was not ashamed to express its regret that so much prominence of notice is, "in several Grand Lodge proceedings, given to Masonic publications. Masonry existed and flourished, was harmonious and happy, in their absence." When one reads such diatribes against Masonic literature and Masonic progress—such blind efforts to hide under the bushel the light that should be on the hill-top—he is incontinently reminded of a similar iconoclast, who, more than tour centuries ago, made a like onslaught on the pernicious effects of learning. The immortal Jack Cade, in condemning Lord Say to death as a patron of learning, gave vent to words of which the language of these enemies of Masonic literature seems to be but the echo: Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm, in erecting 3 grammar-school; and whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally thou hast caused printing to be used and contrary to tie king, his crown, and dignity, thou hast built a paper-mill. It will he proved to thy face that thou hast men about thee that usually talk of a noun and a verb, and such abominable words as no Christian ear can endure to hear.We belong to no such school. On the contrary, we believe that too much cannot be written and printed and read about the philosophy and history, the science and symbolism of Freemasonry; prodded always the writing is confided to those who rightly understand their art. In Freemasonry, as in astronomy, in geology, or in any other of the arts and sciences, a new book by all expert must always be esteemed a valuable contribution. The production of silly and untutored minds will fall of themselves into oblivion without the aid of official persecution; but that which is really valuable—which presents new facts, or furnishes suggestive thoughts—will, in spite of the denunciations of the Jack Cades of Freemasonry, live to instruct the Brethren, and to elevate the tone and standing of the Institution. Doctor Oliver, who has written more on Freemasonry than any other author, says on this subject: I conceive it to be an error in judgment to discountenance the publication of philosophical disquisitions on the subject of Freemasonry, because such a proceeding would not only induce the world to think that our pretensions are incapable of enduring the test of inquiry, but would also have a tendency to restore the dark ages of superstition, when even the sacred writings were prohibited, under an apprehension that their contents might be misunderstood or perverted to the propagation of unsound doctrines and pernicious practices, and thus would ignorance be transmitted, as a legacy, from one generation to another.Still further pursuing this theme, and passing from the unfavorable influence which must be exerted upon the world by our silence, to the injury that must accrue to the Craft, the same learned writer goes on to say, that "no hypotheses can be more untenable than that which forebodes evil to the Masonic Institution from the publication of Masonic treatises illustrative of its philosophical and moral tendency." And in view of the meager and unsatisfactory nature of the lectures, in the form in which they are delivered in the Lodges, he wisely suggests that "if strictures on the science and philosophy of the Order were placed within every Brother's reach, a system of examination and research would soon be substituted for the dull and uninteresting routine which, in so many instances, characterizes our private meetings. The Brethren would become excited by the inquiry, and a rich series of new beauties and excellences would be their reward." Of such a result there is no doubt. In consequence of the increase of Masonic publications in this country, Freemasonry has already been elevated to a high position. If there be any who still deem it a merely social institution, without a philosophy or literature; if there be any who speak of it with less admiration than it justly deserves, we may be assured that such men have read as little as they have thought on the subject of its science and its history. A few moments of conversation with a Freemason will show whether he is one of those contracted craftsmen who suppose that Masonic brightness consists merely in a knowledge of the correct mode of working one's way into a Lodge, or whether he is one who has read and properly appreciated the various treatises on the "Royal Art," in which men of genius and learning have developed the true spirit and design of the Order. Such is the effect of Masonic publications upon the Fraternity; and the result of all my experience is, that enough has Clot been published. Books on all Masonic subjects, easily accessible to the masses of the Order, are necessaries essential to the elevation and extension of the Institution. Too many of them confine their acquirements to a knowledge of the signs and the ceremonies of initiation. There they cease their researches. They- make no study of the philosophy and the antiquities of the Order. They do not seem to know that the modes of recognition are simply intended as means of security against imposition, and that the ceremonial rites are worth nothing without the symbolism of which they are only the external exponents. Freemasonry for them is nerveless—senseless—lifeless; it is an empty voice without meaning—a tree of splendid foliage, but without a single fruit. The monopteral instructions of the Order, as they are technically called, contain many things which probably, at one time, it would have been deemed improper to print; and there are some Freemasons, even at this day, who think that Webb and Cross were too free in their publications. And yet we have never heard of any evil effects arising from the reading of our Monitors, even upon those who have not been initiated. On the contrary, meager as are the explanations given in those works, and unsatisfactory as they must be to one seeking for the full light of Freemasonry, they have been the means, in many instances, of inducing the profane, who have read them, to admire our Institution, and to knock at the door of Freemasonry for admission—while we regret to say that they sometimes comprise the whole instruction that a candidate gets from an ignorant Master. Without these published Monitors, even that little beam of light would be wanting to illuminate his path. But if the publication and general diffusion of our elementary text-books have been of acknowledged advantage to the character of the Institution, and have, by the information, little as it is, which they communicate, been of essential benefit to the Fraternity, we cannot see why a more extensive system of instruction on the legends, traditions, and Symbols of the Order should not be productive of still greater good. Years ago, Doctor Mackey, as in the foregoing paragraphs, uttered on this subject sentiments which we now take occasion to repeat: Without an adequate course of reading, no Freemason can now take a position of any distinction in the ranks of the Fraternity. Without extending his studies beyond what is taught in the brief lectures of the Lodge, he can never properly appreciate the end and nature of Freemasonry as a speculative science. The lectures constitute but the skeleton of Masonic science. The muscles and nerves and blood-vessels, which are to give vitality, and beauty, and health, and vigor to that lifeless skeleton, must be found in the commentaries on them which the learning and research of Masonic writers have given to the Masonic student. The objections to treatises and disquisitions on Masonic subjects, that there is danger, through them, of giving too much light to the world without, has not the slightest support from experience. In England, in France, and in Germany, scarcely any restriction has been observed by Masonic writers, except as to what is emphatically esoteric; and yet we do not believe that the profane world is wiser in those countries than in our own in respect to the secrets of Freemasonry. In the face of these publications, the world without has remained as ignorant of the aporrheta or mysteries of our art, as if no work had ever been written on the subject; while the world within—the Craft themselves—have been enlightened and instructed, and their views of Freemasonry—not as a social or charitable society, but as a philosophy, a science, a religion—have been elevated and enlarged The truth is, that men who are not Freemasons never read authentic Masonic works. They have no interest in the topics discussed, and could not understand them, from a want of the preparatory education which the Lodge alone can supply. Therefore, were a writer even to trench a little on what may be considered as being really the arcana or inner secrets of Freemasonry there is no danger of his thus making an improper revelation to improper persons. PUBLIC CEREMONIES Most of the ceremonies of Freemasonry are strictly private, and can be conducted only in the presence of the initiated. But some of them, from their nature, are necessarily performed in public. Such are the burials of deceased brethren, the laying of corner-stones of public edifices, and the dedications of Masonic halls. The installation of the officers of a Lodge, or Grand Lodge, are also sometimes conducted in public in the United States. But the ceremonies in this case differ slightly from those of a private installation in the Lodge room, portions of the ceremony having to be omitted. The reputation of the Order requires that these ceremonies should be conducted with the utmost propriety, and the Manuals and Monitors furnish the fullest details of the order of exercises Preston, in his Illustrations, was the first writer who gave a printed account of the mode of conducting the public ceremonies, and to him we are most probably indebted for their ritual. Anderson, however, gave in the first edition of the Constitutions the prescribed form for constituting new Lodges, and installing their officers, which is the model upon which Preston, and other writers, have subsequently framed their more enlarged formulas. PUBLIC SCHOOLS Brother DeWitt Clinton founded the New York Free School Society, which later became the Public School Society of New York, generously heading the subscription list and promising $200 a year for the support of the organization. He was Chairman of the Board of Trustees and very active until his death in 1898. In Cubberley's History of Education (page 661) there is a description of the Society promoted by Brother DeWitt Clinton: This Society was chartered by the Legislature " to provide schooling for all children who are the proper objects of a gratuitous education." It organized free public education in the city, secured funds, built schoolhouses, provided and trained teachers, and ably supplemented the work of the private and church schools. By its energy and its persistence it secured for itself 3 large share of public confidences and aroused a constantly increasing interest in the cause of popular education. In 1853, after it had educated over 600.000 children and trained over 1200 teachers, this Society, its work done. surrendered its charter and turned over its buildings and equipment to the public school department of the city, which had been created by the Legislature in 1842.The New York Mercury, December 31, 1753, refers to a meeting of the Grand Lodge on the previous Thursday, the Festival of Saint John the Evangelist. The report goes on to say that the Brethren donated fifteen pounds to be spent in clothing for the poor children belonging to the Charity School and that a contribution was also made for the relief of indigent prisoners. This interest in the schools is characteristic of Freemasons and at a quarterly meeting of the Grand Lodge of New York, December 7, 1508, a Committee was appointed to "devise and report to this Grand Lodge a plan for the education of children Of poor Masons." This Committee reported in 1809. recommending that a fund be raised "sufficient to defray the expense of an establishment to consist of fifty children." The Committee had several conferences with the Trustees of the Free School in order to ascertain the probable expense of tuition, including all books and supplies necessary for the purpose. We are told that the Trustees "agreed to educate in their seminary fifty children constantly for $300 annually, which is more than one-half less than would be required for their education in a separate school." The Grand Lodge vas accordingly asked to contribute $80 a year to make up the 3300 required to carry the plan into effect. Each of the Lodges contributing to the Fund vas given the right of "naming two children to receive the benefit of this charity." Six places were assigned to the Grand Lodge School Committee, which was also given authority to fill "all vacancies as they occur from the individual Lodge declining or neglecting to recommend as aforesaid." In that year, 1809, the first school building was opened and Brother DeWitt Clinton delivered an address at the time. He was instrumental in establishing the educational system of the State and served the Grand Lodge from 1806 to 1820 as Grand Master and was for eight years Governor of New York State. The Masonic School Committee on June 3, 1812, suggested for the consideration of the Grand Lodge the propriety of establishing a school to be under the entire management of the Grand Lodge, but this suggestion was not adopted. We find that the number of children that the Brethren had decided to educate amounted to fifty and that they were provided with comfortable clothing. From time to time the School Committee provided for purchases of shoes and stockings, overcoats and hats for the children. The Free School was from the start supported by voluntary donations, but as the legislature began to recognize the value of the work that was accomplished, sums of money were granted. About the end of 1817 the Free School was formally established under the supervision of the State and further support from the Masonic Fraternity was no longer required. For an account of the relations between the Public School project and the Grand Lodge see a chapter in the History of Freemasonry in the State of New York by Brother Ossian Lang (pages 91-5) to which we are indebted for information. Education generally, as it has been fostered by Freemasons everywhere, is not confined to the promotion of Public Schools and therefore requires no extended mention here. But note should be taken of the active interest in common-school education by the Brethren, the Freemasons in Latin lands being especially worthy of remembrance in this connection. There is also the promotion by the Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, United States of America, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, which in 1920 openly declared itself in favor of the creation of a Department of Education with a Secretary in the President's Cabinet, and the passage of what was then known as the Smith-Towner Educational Bill embodying the principle of Federal Aid to the Public Schools in order to provide funds for the equalization of educational opportunities to the children of the nation. The Brethren declared their belief in the compulsory attendance of ad children upon the Public Schools and that it was the duty of all parents to see that school facilities are both adequate and efficient, "to strengthen the Public Schools by promoting their efficiency, so that their superiority over all other schools shall be so obvious that every parent will have to send his children to them if they are to progress and keep step with the Public School students in life's race" (see Transactions, 1925, pages 218-9, Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite). The former Grand Secretary of Scotland, Brother William A. Laurie (bristly of Free Masonry, 1849, page 70) gives briefly several interesting instances: In Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, charity-schools were erected by the Lodges for educating the children of Free Masons whose poverty debarred them from this advantage. In that which was formed at Brunswick they were instructed in classical learning and various Blanches of mathematics, and were regularly examined by the Duke of Brunswick who rewarded the most deserving with suitable premiums. At Eisenach, several seminaries of this hind were established, the teachers were endowed with fixed salaries, and in a short time after their institution these sent into the world 700 children instructed in the principles of science and the doctrines of Christianity. In 1771 an establishment of a similar kind was formed at Cassel in which the children were maintained and educated till they could provide for themselves. In 1773 the united Lodges of Dresden, Leipsic, and Gorlitz, erected at Frederickstadt a seminars for children of every denomination in the Electorate of Saxony, the Masonic subscriptions were so numerous that the funds of the institution were sufficient for its maintenance and in the space of five years, above 1100 children received a liberal education.In the same year an extensive workhouse was erected at Prague. in which the children were not only instructed in the rudimentary principles of education but in those branches also of the useful and fine arts which might qualify them for commercial and agricultural situations. It deserves to be remarked that the founders of these institutions, amid their anxiety for the public prosperity, never neglected the spiritual interests of the children; they saw that early piety is the foundation of all that is useful and Honorable in life, and that without this, speculative knowledge and practical skill are of little avail. Fully in line with the subject under discussion is another item also mentioned in the above work (page 193), "At the Quarterly Communication on 4th February, 1820, a letter was read from Leonard Corner, Esquire, Secretary to the Edinburgh School of Arts, thanking the Grand Lodge for the very liberal manner in which they had granted the use of the Hall for the accommodation of that Institution, thereby enabling it to extend its usefulness to a degree that would not have been practicable without this cordial co-operation." Brother Lauriesac's "This was the first School of arts instituted in Scotland, if not in Great Britain, and the parents of the numerous Mechanics' Institutes since established" (see also Sunday Schools). PUERILITY OF FREEMASONRY "The absurdities and puerilities of Freemasonry are fit only for children, and are unworthy of the time or attention of wise men." Such is the language of its adversaries, and the apothegm is delivered with all that self-sufficiency which shows that the speaker is well satisfied with bus o an wisdom, and is very ready to place himself in the category of those wise men whose opinion he invokes. This charge of a puerility of design and object of Freemasonry is worth examination. Is it then possible, that those scholars of unquestioned strength of intellect and depth of science, who have devoted themselves to the study of Freemasonry and who have in thousands of volumes given the result of their researches, have been altogether mistaken in the direction of their labors, and have been seeking to develop, not the principles of a philosophy, but the mechanism of a toy? Or is the assertion that such is the fact a mere sophism, such as ignorance is every day uttering, and a conclusion to which men are most likely to arrive when they talk of that of which they know nothing, like the critic who reviews a book that he has never read, or the skeptic who attacks a creed that he does not comprehend? Such claims to an inspired infallibility are not uncommon among men of unsound judgment. Thus, when Gall and Spurzheim first gave to the world their wonderful discoveries in reference to the organization and the functions of the brain discoveries which have since wrought a marked revolution in the sciences of anatomy, physiology, and ethics—the Edinburgh reviewers attempted to demolish these philosophers and their new system, but succeeded only in exposing their own ignorance of the Science they were discussing. Time, which is continually evolving truth out of every intellectual conflict, has long since shown that the German philosophers were right and that their Scottish critics were wrong. How common is it, even at this day, to hear men deriding Alchemy as a system of folly and imposture, cultivated only by madmen and knaves, when the researches of those who have investigated the subject without prejudice, but with patient learning, have shown, without any possibility of doubt, that these old Alchemists, so long the objects of derision to the ignorant, were religious philosophers, and that their science had really nothing to do with the discovery of an elixir of life or the transmutation of the baser metals into gold, but that they, like the Freemasons, with whom they have a strong affinity, concealed under profound symbols, intelligible only to themselves, the search after Divine Truth and the doctrine of immortal life Truth was the gold which they eliminated from all mundane things, and the immortality of the soul was the elixir of everlasting life which perpetually renewed youth, and took away the power of death. So it is with Freemasonry. Those who abuse it know nothing of its inner spirit, of its profound philosophy, of the pure religious life that it inculcates. To one who is at all acquainted with its organization, Freemasonry presents itself under two different aspects: First, as a Secret society distinguished by a peculiar ritual. Second, as a society having a philosophy on which it is founded and which it proposes to teach to its disciples. These by way of distinction may be called the ritualistic and the philosophical elements of Freemasonry. The ritualistic element of Freemasonry is that which relates to the due performance of the rites and ceremonies of the Order. Like the rubrics of the church, which indicate when the priest and congregation shall kneel and when they shall stand, it refers to questions such as these: What words shall be used to such a place, and what ceremony shall be observed such an occasion? It belongs entirely to the inner organization of the Institution, or to the manner in which its Services shall be conducted, and is interesting or important only to its own members. The language of its ritual or the form of its ceremonies has nothing more to do with the philosophic designs of Freemasonry than the rubrics of a church have to do with the religious creed professed by that church. It might at any time be changed in its most material points, without in the slightest degree affecting the essential character of the Institution. Of course, this ritualistic element is in one sense portent to the members of the Society, because, by a due observance of the ritual, a general uniformity is preserved. But beyond this, the Masonic Ritual makes no claim to the consideration of scholars, and never has been made, and, indeed, from the very nature of its secret character, never can be made, a topic of discussion with those who are outside of the Fraternity. But the other, the philosophical element of Freemasonry is one of much importance. For it, and through it, we do make the plea that the Institution is entitled to the respect, and even veneration, of all good men, and is well worth the careful consideration of scholars. A great many theories have been advanced by Masonic writers as to the real origin of the Institution, as to the time when and the place where it first had its birth. It has been traced to the Mysteries of the ancient Pagan world, to the Temple of King Solomon, to the Roman Colleges of Artificers, to the Crusades for the recovery of the Holy Land, to the Gilds of the Middle Ages, to the Stone-Masons of Strasburg and Cologne, and even to the revolutionary struggle in England in the time of the Commonwealth, and to the secret efforts of the adherents of the House of Stuart to recover the throne. But whatever theory may be selected, and wheresoever and whensoever it may be supposed to have received its birth one thing is certain, namely, that for generations past, and yet within the records of history it has, unlike other mundane things, presented to the world an unchanged organization. Take, for instance, the theory which traces it back to one of the most recent periods, that, namely, which places the organization of the Order of Freemasons at the building of the Cathedral of Strasburg, in the year 1975. During all the time that has since elapsed, full six hundred years, how has Freemasonry presented itself? Why, as a Brotherhood organized and controlled by a secret discipline, engaged in important architectural labors, and combining with its operative tasks speculations of great religious import If we see any change, it is simply this, that when the necessity no longer existed, the operative element was laid aside, and the speculative only was retained but with a scrupulous preservation—as if it were for purposes of identification—of the technical languages the rules and regulations, the working tools, and the discipline of the Operative Art. The material only on which they wrought was changed. The disciples and followers of Erwin of Steinbach, Master Builder of Strasburg, were engaged, under the active influence of a profoundly religious sentiment, in the construction of a material edifice to the glory of God. The more modern workers in Freemasonry are under the same religious influence, engaged in the construction of a spiritual temple. Does not this long continuance of a Brotherhood employed in the same pursuit, or changing it only from a material to a spiritual character, but retaining its identity of organization, demand for itself some respect, and, if for nothing else, at least for its antiquity, some share of veneration? But this is not all. This Society or Brotherhood, or Confraternity as it might more appropriately be called, is distinguished from all other associations by the possession of certain symbols, myths, and, above all else, a Golden Legend, all of which are directed to the purification of the heart, to the elevation of the mind, to the development of the great doctrine of immortality. Now the question where and when these symbols, myths, and legends arose is one that is well worth the investigation of scholars, because it is intimately connected with the history of the human intellect. Did the Stone-Masons and Building Corporations of the Middle Ages invent them? Certainly not, for they are found in organizations that existed ages previously. The Greeks at Eleusis taught the same dogma of immortal life in the same symbolic mode, and their legend, if it differed from the Masonic in its accidents, was precisely identical in its substance. For Hiram there was Dionysus, for the Acacia the Myrtle, but there were the same mourning, the same discovery, the same rejoicing, because what had been lost was found, and then the same ineffable light, and the same sacred teaching of the name of God and the soul's immortality. So an ancient orator, who had passed through one of these old Greek Lodges—for such, without much violence of language, they may well be called—declared that those who have endured the initiation into the Mysteries entertain better hopes both of the end of life and of the eternal future. Is not this the very object and design of the legend of the Master's Degree? And this same peculiar form of symbolic initiation is to be found among the old Egyptians and in the island of Samothracia, thousands of years before the light of Christianity dawned upon the world to give the seal of its Master and Founder to the Divine Truth of the Resurrection. This will not, it is true, prove the descent of Freemasonry, as now organized, from the religious histories of antiquity; although this is one of the theories of its origin entertained and defended by scholars of no mean pretension. But it will prove an identity of design in the moral and intellectual organization of all these institutions, and it will give the Masonic student subjects for profound study when he asks the interesting questions—Whence came these symbols, myths and legends? Who invented them? How and why have they been preserved? Looking back into the remotest days of recorded history, we find a priesthood in an island of Greece and another on the banks of the Nile, teaching the existence of a future life by symbols and legends, which convey the lesson in a peculiar mode. Now, after thousands of years have elapsed, we find the same symbolic and legendary method of instruction, for the same purpose, preserved in the depository of what is comparatively a modern institution. Between these two extremes of the long past and the present now, we find the intervening period occupied by similar associations, succeeding each other from time to time, and spreading over different countries, but all engaged in the same symbolic instruction, with substantially the same symbols and the same mythical history Does not all this present a problem in moral and intellectual philosophy, and in the archeology of ethics, which is well worthy of an attempted solutions How unutterably puerile seem the objections and the objurgations of a few contracted minds, guided only by prejudice, when we consider the vast questions of deep interest that are connected with Freemasonry as a part of those great Brotherhoods that have filled the world for so many ages. So far back, indeed, that some philosophic historians have supposed that they must have derived their knowledge of the doctrines which they taught in their mystic assemblies from direct revelation through an ancient priesthood that gives no other evidence of its former existence but the results which it produced. Man needs something more than the gratification of his animal wants. The mind requires food as well as the body, and nothing can better give that mental nutriment than the investigation of subjects which relate to the progress of the intellect and the growth of the religious sentiment. Again, man was not made for himself alone. The old Stoic lived only for and within himself. But modern philosophy and modern religion teach no such selfish doctrine. Man is but part of the great brotherhood of man, and each one must be ready to exclaim with the old poet, Homo sum humani nihil a me alienum puto. This means in the Latin I am a man, and I deem nothing relating to mankind to be foreign to my feelings. Men study ancient history simply that they may learn what their Brother men have done in former times, and they read the philosophers and poets of Greece and Rome that they may know what were the speculations of those old thinkers. They strive to measure the intellect of man as it was then and as it is now, because the study of the growth of intellectual philosophy and the investigation of the mental and moral powers come home to us all as subjects of common interest. Looking then, upon Freemasonry as one of those associations which furnish the evidence and the example of the progress of man in intellectual, moral, and religious development, Doctor Mackey concludes by saying we may well claim for it that its design, its history, and its philosophy, so far from being puerile, are well entitled to the respect of the world, and are worth the careful research of scholars. PUISSANT A title given to the presiding officer in several of the advanced Degrees. PUISSANT IRISH MASTER The Eighth Degree of what has been claimed as Ramsay's Irish Colleges PULLEN, WILLIAM HYDE An eminent and accomplished Craftsman of England, who divas renowned among English and American Workmen for his excellence in the conduct of the forms and varied ceremonies of Freemasonry. PULPIT From the Latin word Pulpitum, meaning a stage or scaffold, applied originally to the space where the actors played their parts in the Roman theater. PULSANTI OPERIETUR Latin, meaning to him undo knocks it shall be opened . An inscription sometimes placed over the front door of Masonic temples or Lodge-rooms. PUNISHMENTS, MASONIC Punishment in Freemasonry is inflicted that the character of the Institution may remain unsullied, and that the unpunished crimes of its members may not injuriously reflect upon the reputation of the whole society. The nature of the punishment to be inflicted is restricted by the peculiar character of the Institution, which is averse to some forms of penalty, and by the laws of the land, which do not give to private corporations the right to impose certain species of punishment. The infliction of fines or pecuniary penalties has, in modern times at least, been considered as contrary to the genius of Freemasonry, because the sanctions of Masonic law are of a higher nature than any that could be furnished by a pecuniary penalty. Imprisonment and corporal punishment are equally adverse to the spirit of the Institution, and are also prohibited by the laws of the land, which reserve the infliction of such penalties for their own tribunals. Masonic punishments are therefore restricted to an expression of disapprobation or the deprivation of Masonic rights, and they are: 1. Censure 2. Reprimand 3. Exclusion 4. Suspension, Definite or Indefinite; and 5. Expulsion all of which see under their respective titles. PUNJAUB Freemasonry was founded in Punjaub, India, in 1872, by an ardent Freemason, Worshipful Brother Major Henry Basevi, whose failing health caused him to forsake his post shortly thereafter, leading as his successor Major M. Ramsay, who became R. W. Deputy Grand Master. Many years ago, the Institution began the maintenance, the clothing, and education of the young, in 1879 having twenty-one children in its care. PURANAS A Hindu word meaning knowledge. The text-books of the worshipers of Vishnu and of Siva, forming, with the Tantras, the basis of the popular creed of the Brahmanical Hindus. There are about eighteen Puranas, and as many more minor works, called Upapuranas, all written in Sanskrit, and founded to some extent upon the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Otherwise, their date is very uncertain. PURCHASE In the Cooke Manuscript (line 630) it is said that the son of Athelstan "purchased a free Patent of the king that they—the Freemasons— should make assembly." This does not mean that he bought the Patent, but that he obtained or procured it. Such was the use of purchase in old English. The booty of a thief was called his purchase, because he had acquired it. Colloquially, the word is still used to designate the getting of a hold on anything. PURE FREEMASONRY See Primitive Freemasonry PURGING THE LODGE An old expression for the ceremony of ascertaining the Masonic right to be present when a Lodge is opened (see also Fencing the Lodge). PURIFICATION As the Aspirant in the Ancient Mysteries was not permitted to pass through any of the forms of initiation, or to enter the sacred vestibule of the Temple, until, by water or fire, he had been symbolically purified from the corruptions of the world which he was about to leave behind, so in Freemasonry there is in the First Degree a symbolical purification by the presentation to the candidate of the common gavel, an implement whose emblematic use teaches a purification -of the heart (see Lustration). PURITY In the Ancient Mysteries purity of heart and life was an essential prerequisite to initiation, because by initiation the aspirant was brought to a knowledge of God, to know whom was not permitted to the impure. For, says Origen (Against Celsus vi), "a defiled heart cannot see God, but he must be pure who desires to obtain a proper view of a pure Being." In the same spirit the Divine Master says: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." But "to see God" is a Hebraism, signifying to possess Him, to be spiritually in communion with Him, to know His true character. Now to acquire this knowledge of God, symbolized by the knowledge of His Name, is the great object of Masonic, as it was of all ancient initiation; and hence the candidate in Freemasonry is required to be pure, for "he only can stand in the holy place who hath clean hands and a pure heart" (see White). PURITY, BROTHERS OF An association of Arabic philosophers, founded at Bosra, in Syria, in the tenth century. Many of their writings, which were much studied by the Jews of Spain in the twelfth century, were very mystical. Steinschneider (Jewish Literature, 174, 295) calls them the Freemasons of Bosra, and says that they were "a celebrated Society of a kind of Freemasons." PURPLE Purple is the appropriate color of those Degrees which, in the American Rite, have been interpolated between the Royal Arch and Ancient Craft Masonry, namely, the Mark, Past, and Most Excellent Masters. It is in Freemasonry a symbol of fraternal union, because, being compounded of blue, the color of the Ancient Craft, and red, which is that of the Royal Arch, it is intended to signify the close connection and harmony which should ever exist between those two portions of the Masonic system. It may be observed that this allusion to the union and harmony between blue and red Masonry is singularly carried out in the Hebrew word which signifies purple. This word, which is argamun, is derived from ragam or rehem, one of whose significations is "a friend." But Portal (Comparison of Egyptian Symbols with Those of the Hebrews) says that purple, in the profane language of colors, signifies constancy in spiritual combats, because blue denotes fidelity, and red, war. In the religious services of the Jews we find purple employed on various occasions. It was one of the colors of the curtains of the Tabernacle, where, Josephus says, it was symbolic of the element of water, of the veils, and of the curtain over the great entrance; it was also used in the construction of the ephod and girdle of the Heigh Priest, and the cloths for Divine Service. Among the Gentile nations of antiquity purple was considered rather as a color of dignity than of veneration, and was deemed an emblem of exalted office Hence Homer mentions it as peculiarly appropriated to royalty, and Vergil speaks of purpura regum, or the purple of Kings. Pliny says it was the color of the vestments worn by the early kings of Rome; and it has ever since, even to the present time, been considered as the becoming insignia of regal or supreme authority. In American Freemasonry, the purple color seems to be confined to the intermediate Degrees between the Master and the Royal Arch, except that it is sometimes employed in the vestments of officers representing either kings or men of eminent authority —such, for instance, as the Scribe in a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons. In the Grand Lodge of England, Grated Officers and Provincial Grand Officers wear purple collars anal aprons. As the symbolic color of the Past Master's Degree, to which all Grand Officers should have attained, it is also considered in the United States as the appropriate color for the collars of officers of a Grand Lodge. PURPLE BRETHREN In English Freemasonry, the Grand Officers of the Grand Lodge and the Past Grand and Deputy Grand Masters and Past and Present Provincial Grand Masters are called purple brethren, because of the color of their decorations, and at meetings of the Grand Lodge are privileged to sit on the dais. PURPLE LODGES Grand and Provincial Grand Lodges are thus designated by Doctor Oliver in his Institutes of Masonic Jurisprudence. The term is not used in the United States. PURRAH A society of Sussu negroes exercising similar powers to, and for a somewhat similar purpose as, the Vehmgerichte. The Vehmgerichte were Tribunals once flourishing in Germany, and particularly in Westphalia, during the Middle Ages. Their privileges were curtailed in the sixteenth century and the institution came to an end about 1811. These were courts receiving from the Emperor power over life and death. Their proceedings were in the hands of a society to which freemen were eligible and their jurisdiction was administered much as in an ordinary court. There was a process of initiation, with secret signs and pass-words suggestive of Freemasonry and a certain Degree in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite utilizes a court proceeding of this kind very effectively. The Vehmgerichte had a secret system of investigation and its methods were of an autocratic character. PURSUIVANT The third and lowest order of heraldic officers. In Freemasonry the lowest officer in rank except the Tiler, if he may be termed an officer. PUTNAM, GENERAL ISRAEL A hero of the American Revolutionary War. Born at Salem. Massachusetts, January 7, 1718; died May 29, 1790. A member of Hiram Lodge No. 1, New Haven, Connecticut, according to the New Age, January, 1924, but his name is not listed among the members of that Lodge (see Hiram Lodge No. 1, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, 1758-1916). It has also been stated that he was Raised in a Military Lodge at Crown Point while in the British Army (Masonry in the Formation of Our Government, Philip A. Roth, 1927. pages 354). Brother McClenachan records the following anecdote: "In 1758 Putnam was captured by the Indians near Crown Point. While he was being tied to an oak tree to be burned, Putnam, as a last resort, gave the Masonic sign of distress, which was observed by a French officer named Molang, who immediately, at his own risk, ordered Putnam released- This tree was called Putnam's Oak, and grew near Putts Creek, Indian Ridge" (History of Freemasonry New York, C. T. McClenachan, page oo4; see further mention of him in History of Freemasonry in the State of New York, Ossian Lang, 1922, page 52). PUTNAM, GENERAL RUFUS A general in the American Revolutionary War. Born at Sutton, Massachusetts, April 9, 1738; died May 1, 1824, at Marietta, Ohio (see New Age, April, 1925). Raised a Freemason in American Union Lodge No. 3, at Philadelphia April 13, 1779. When the Grand Lodge of Ohio was organized in 1808 he was unanimously chosen Grand Master, although by that time he deemed himself too aged for active service and felt forced to decline. PYRON, JEAN BAPTISTE PIERRE JULIEN A distinguished French Freemason of the latter part of the eighteenth and beginning of the last century, who died at Paris in September, 1821. He was the author of many Masonic discourses, but his most important work was a profound and exhaustive History of the Organization of the Ancient and Accepted Rite in France, published in 1814. He was one of the founders of the Grand Orient, and having received the Thirty-third Degree from the Count de Grasse Tilly, he afterward assisted in the organization of the Supreme Council of Italy, at Milan, and the Supreme Council of France. In 1805, his name was struck from the register of the Grand Orient in consequence of his opposition to that Body, but he remained the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council until his death. Ragon calls him an intriguer and bold innovator, but Thory speaks more highly of his Masonic character. He was undoubtedly a man of talent, learning, and Masonic research. He made a manuscript collection of many curious Degrees, which Thory has liberally used in his Nomenclature of Rites and Degrees. PYTHAGORAS One of the most celebrated of the Grecian philosophers, and the founder of what has been called the Italic School, was born at Samos in the period of 586-69 B.C., the year 582 being favored as the probable one of his birth. Educated as an athlete, he subsequently abandoned that profession and devoted himself to the study of philosophy. He traveled through Egypt, Chaldea, and Asia Minor, and is said to have submitted to the initiations in those countries for the purpose of acquiring knowledge. On his return to Europe, he established his celebrated school at Crotona, a Dorian Colony in the south of Italy, about 529 B.C., much resembling that subsequently adopted by the Freemasons. His school soon acquired such a reputation that disciples flocked to him from all parts of Greece and Italy. Pythagoras taught as the principal dogma of his philosophy the system of metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls. He taught the mystical power of numbers, and much of the symbolism on that subject which we now passes is derived from what has been left to us by his disciples, for of his own writings there is nothing extant. He was also a geometrician, and is regarded as having been the inventor of several problems, the most important of which is that now known as the forty-seventh problem of Euclid. He was also a proficient in music, and is said to have demonstrated the mathematical relations of musical intervals, and to have invented a number of musical instruments. Disdaining the vanity and dogmatism of the ancient sages, he contented himself with proclaiming that he was simply a seeker after knowledge, not its possessor, and to him is attributed the introduction of the word philosopher, or lover of wisdom, as the only title which he would assume. After the lawless destruction of his school at Crotona, he fled to the Locrians, who refused to receive him, when he repaired to Metapontum, and sought an asylum from his enemies in the temple of the Muses, where tradition says that he died of starvation at near the end of the sixth or the beginning of the fifth century. Some claim the date to be 506 B.C., when he was about seventy-six years old. PYTHAGORAS, SCHOOL OF The schools established by Pythagoras at Crotona and other cities, have been considered by many writers as the models after which Masonic Lodges were subsequently constructed. They undoubtedly served the Christian ascetics of the first century as a pattern for their monastic institutions, with which institutions the Freemasonry of the Middle Ages, in its operative character, was intimately connected. A brief description of the school of Crotona will not therefore be inappropriate. The disciples of this school wore the simplest kind of clothing, and having on their entrance surrendered all their property to the common fund. they then submitted for three years to voluntary poverty, during which time they were also compelled to a rigorous silence. The doctrines of Pythagoras were always delivered as infallible propositions which admitted of no argument, and hence the Greek expression he said it, was considered as a sufficient answer to anyone who demanded a reason. Aristotle, by the way, in his accounts of Pythagorean doctrines, refers with what appears to be a studied and cautious vagueness to the Pythagoreans, not to Pythagoras. The teaching was probably, according to recent investigation, as a rule credited to the founder. The scholars were divided into Esoterics and Exsoterics. This distinction was borrowed by Pythagoras from the Egyptian priests, who practiced a similar mode of instruction. The exoteric scholars were those who attended the public assemblies, where general ethical instructions were delivered by the sage. But only the esoterics constituted the true school, and these alone Pythagoras called, says Jamblichus, his companions and friends. Before admission to the privileges of this school, the previous life and character of the candidate were rigidly scrutinized, and in the preparatory initiation secrecy was enjoined by an oath, and he was made to submit to the severest trials of his fortitude and self-command. He who after his admission was alarmed at the obstacles he had to encounter, was permitted to return to the world, and the disciples, considering him as dead, performed his funeral obsequies, and erected a monument to his memory. The mode of living in the school of Crotona was like that of the modern Communists. The Brethren, about six hundred in number, with their wives and children, resided in one large building. Every morning the business and duties of the day were arranged, and at night an account was rendered of the day's transactions. They arose before day to pay their devotions to the sun, and recited verses from Homer, Hesiod, or some other poet. Several hours were spent in study, after which there was an interval before dinner, which was occupied in walking and in gymnastic exercises. The meals consisted principally of bread, honey, and water, for though the table was often covered with delicacies, no one was permitted to partake of them. It was in this secret school that Pythagoras gave his instructions on his interior doctrine, and explained the hidden meaning of his symbols. There were three Degrees: the first or Mathematic, being engaged in the study of the exact sciences; and the second, or Theoretic, in the knowledge of God and the future state of man; but the third, or highest Degree, was communicated only to a few whose intellects were capable of grasping the full fruition of the Pythagorean philosophy. This school, after existing for thirty years, was finally dissolved through the machinations of Sylo, a wealthy inhabitant of Crotona, who, having been refused admission, in revenge excited the citizens against it, when a lawless mob attacked the scholars while assembled in the house of Milo, set fire to the building and dispersed the disciples, forty of them being burned to death. The school was never resumed, but after the death of the philosopher, summaries of his doctrines were made by some of his disciples. Still many of his symbols and his esoteric teachings have to this day remained uninterpreted and unexplained. After this account of the Pythagorean school, the Freemason will find no difficulty in understanding that part of the so called Lowland Manuscript which is said to have so much puzzled the great metaphysician John Locke. This manuscript—the question of its authenticity is not here entered upon—has the following interesting paragraphs: How comede ytt—Fremasonryn Engellonde? Peter Gower, a Grecian, journeyeded for kunnynge ye Egypte and in Syria, and yn everyche londe whereat the Venetians hadde plauntedde Maconrye, and wynnynge entraunce yn al Lodges of Maconnes, he lerned muche and retournedde and worked yn Grecia Magna wachsynge and becommynge a myghtye wysacre and gratelyche renowned, and here he framed a grate Lodge at Groton, and maked many Maconnes, some whereoffe dyd journeye yn Fraunce, and maked manye Maconnes wherefromme, yn process of tyme, the arte passed yn Engelonde.Locke confesses that he was at first puzzled with those strange names, Peter Gower, Groton, and the Venetians; but a little thinking taught him that they were only corruptions of Pythagoras, Crotona, and the Phenicians. It is not singular that the old Freemasons should have called Pythagoras their "ancient friend and Brother," and should have dedicated to him one of their geometrical symbols, the forty-seventh problem of Euclid; an epithet and a custom that have, by the force of habit, been retained in all the modern instructions of the Craft. Recent conclusions ascribe to Pythagoras and his followers equal esteem to that accorded them by the old Freemasons. In their mathematical work the leading characteristic was a combination of arithmetic and geometry. The studies containing the germ of algebra were developed in the Pythagorean School into a true scientific method in its theory of proportion and in fact Pythagoras has been not only credited with a method common in value to all branches of mathematics but to be personally comparable himself with Descartes who decisively combined geometry and algebra.
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