‘Hiram Lodge’s 1750 EA°’

    

Hiram Lodge 1 Worshipful Master Clint Potter, who sat in the South for the degree, displays the lodge’s banner despite the breeze yesterday at Fort Nathan Hale in New Haven. My attempt to liven the banner’s color turned his wig blue!

On October 14, 1789, the recently organized Grand Lodge of Connecticut adopted an ordinance that caused every lodge entering an apprentice to forward to the grand treasurer three dollars from the fee paid the lodge by each initiate. I’m guessing that assessment has been increased since then, but what apparently has not changed is the ritual of the EA° worked by Hiram Lodge 1.

Established at New Haven on August 12, 1750, Hiram was chartered by RW Thomas Oxnard, then in his sixth year as Provincial Grand Master of New England under the premier Grand Lodge of England. Because Hiram antecedes its own grand lodge, and—from what I understand—still possesses the Oxnard warrant, it retains the freedom to work its 1750 vintage ritual. That is what ninety of us witnessed yesterday in an outdoor conferral of the First Degree on two candidates for the mysteries of Freemasonry, and that is what drew me to Fort Nathan Hale, site of the initiation.

Grand Senior Warden Mark Hawkins and Grand Senior Steward Bob Eubanks were very pleasant dining companions at the YMA Club and Lounge before the degree.

Not knowing the content of this ritual, I was expecting tradition similar to what unfolds in the ritual exposures Masonry Dissected and Three Distinct Knocks, which date to that general mid eighteenth century era. Instead, I was shocked to find this ritual is almost identical to… to… contemporary Grand Lodge of New Jersey work!

We received a commemorative coin yesterday.

There are a few big differences, but in the floor work and the dialogue among the lodge officers, the Entered Apprentice Degree we saw yesterday is mostly the same as one could see tomorrow night in a New Jersey lodge. Having spent nineteen years in New Jersey Freemasonry, its ritual remains cut, carved, stamped, etc. in my brain, despite my having left there a decade ago for the bluer pastures of New York. Those big differences are:

‣ When imparting the grip, there is a gesture named the “slip of interrogation.” It was shown to me prior to the degree, but I’ve never seen nor heard of it before—and, no, I won’t describe it.

‣ In explaining to the new apprentices the centrality of the Bible to the lodge’s doings, there comes (I think it’s called) the Bible Charge. Also previously unknown to me.

‣ I imagine every lodge has an oration delivered at the apron presentation, but Hiram’s is unlike any I’ve heard or read. It struck me as sounding somewhat modern, so I don’t know what to make of it. I was delighted to see the new apprentices were given quality aprons replete with cords & tassels.

‣ Conversely, and after the fact, I think I discerned something missing from what most of us know. My memory may be failing me, but I think the word of the degree was not imparted to the initiates in that same highly precise way and manner the rest of us might expect. Maybe my mind wandered or I’m just not recollecting it, but I think that was done more simply.

Unsurprisingly, there is no EA Lecture as 1750 predates William Preston’s Illustrations by decades.

I do not know anyone from Hiram 1, otherwise I simply would ask about these things. Anyway, it all comprised a wonderful early evening (we were finished before eight o’clock) and, while the two new Masons looked utterly baffled, I don’t doubt this was a genuinely enlightening experience for them.

The ambiance amid the trees of Fort Hale was what one would expect for an outdoor degree: (very) casual attire among those of us on the sidelines, although some of us wore suits (I left my suit jacket in the car); tiki torches for illumination; bug spray in abundance; spotty audio quality (the mikes were not picking up half of what was being said). The lodge’s ritualists wore period wardrobe.

Wasn’t it too hot on that late August day, you ask? The Grand Architect’s Weather Department couldn’t have been more kind, giving sunlight-gilded azure skies enhanced by a calming breeze that seemed to sanctify the entire scene. Perfection.

Masons from a variety of places were in attendance. In addition to various points around Connecticut, brethren traveled from Massachusetts, New Hampshire (a delegation from Hiram Lodge 9), New York (me), and Pennsylvania. This resulted in diverse regalia on exhibit.

The Pennsylvanians, coming from Richmond-Solomon’s Lodge 3, dating to 1764, in Philly; and even Pittsburgh(!), were on hand because of their induction earlier in the day of MW Shane Dufresne into the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. Speaking of initiations, the TCL is on a roll lately in conferring its Sidonian Degree on grand masters. New Jersey’s MW Omar Morris will enter Elizabeth Forest on Thursday. I think my grandfather was a member there.

I got into town later than I wanted, but still had time for a beer at The Owl Shop. The beer of the week was Coors, which gave me and the bartender a laugh, so I had a glass of Peroni. A perfect lager on a warm summer day. Although not a great distance, the drive is an unpleasant slog through the most crowded highways in the Northeast. Didn’t buy any pipe tobacco this time.

The pre-degree supper was very good. I had a succulent chicken breast with thick zucchini rounds, broccoli florets, and penne. We gathered for the meal about a mile up the street at a historic banquet hall.

IYKYK.

I wish there had been the chance to explore Fort Nathan Hale. Its history involves the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and even the Civil War, although, naturally, there was no fighting then.

The customary group photo. After the degree, everyone gathered in the West just before 8 p.m. Sunset was more than twenty minutes earlier, so it actually was pretty dark when snapping the picture. Some crude editing makes the photo somewhat publishable.

If Hiram plans to repeat this outstanding event, make sure you get there.

     

‘Colonial EA° at New Haven’

    

Hiram Lodge 1

Hiram Lodge 1 in New Haven plans a Colonial EA° four weeks from today.

Dinner will be served at the Annex YMA Club, and the degree will be conferred at Fort Nathan Hale. (Hale was a Connecticut native.) Bus transportation is arranged to convey us the one-mile distance.

I’ve got my ticket, and you should go too.

Click here for tickets.

I wish I had more information for you. For example, I don’t know what exactly the Colonial EA° entails ritual-wise. I hope Hiram 1 is basing the degree on the available source material, like the ritual exposures of the eighteenth century, unless Connecticut has something in its archives that we haven’t seen before. We’ll find out soon.

Saturday the 29th would have been the John Skene Conference in Jersey, but with that cancelled, maybe you have the date free. Click here and I’ll see you there.

     

‘How many Apprentices can dance on the head of a pin?’

    

Honestly, some guys look to be confounded.

This question was posed on Faceypage several weeks ago:

A good friend recently asked me the following great question: ‘Which is the correct reading? To learn to subdue my passions and improve myself in Masonry; or To learn, to subdue my passions, and improve myself in Masonry? One of my brothers brought this to my attention and I’m curious as to how different lodges put this into their ritual. It doesn’t change overall purpose, but is it two commands or three commands?’

You recognize the phrase from the Entered Apprentice Degree. In the Grand Lodge of New York, this appears in Part I of the Second Section. There is no ambiguity thanks to the absence of that first preposition, so it reads: “Learn to subdue my passions and improve myself in Masonry,” meaning there are two purposes, not three. In my previous grand lodge, the catechism does say “To learn to subdue my passions…” I’ve never seen a comma after “to learn” in any ritual text. I never knew this was a question anyone would ponder.

Sure, some of us came here to learn, but the Entered Apprentice is introduced to personal growth and new community, not formal education. Instruction in thinking, speaking, and understanding the world will come in the Second Degree.

That said, the Middle Chamber Lecture here in New York (and elsewhere) includes: “By Speculative or Freemasonry, we learn to subdue the passions, act upon the square, keep a tongue of good report, maintain secrecy and practice charity.”

That comes from William Preston’s Illustrations of Masonry (1775): “Masonry passes and is understood under two denominations: it is operative and speculative… By the latter, we learn to subdue the passions, act upon the square, keep a tongue of good report, maintain secrecy, and practice charity.” 

Subduing the passions is not human nature; it must be cultivated through deliberation and diligent action. That’s why we, as Free and Accepted Masons, must learn to subdue our passions and improve ourselves. Instruction in subduing the passions is revealed in the discussion of the Four Cardinal Virtues and is symbolized by the Common Gavel working tool. Capisce?

From my initiation almost twenty-nine years ago, I understood “to learn to subdue my passions” to mean something like I must train to restrain the impulses of enmity and anger; to gain a victory over myself; to be not merely kind to men of virtue, but also be indulgent and reconcilable to the injurious. Thanks, Plutarch.

In his Parallel Lives, the second century biographer, writing of the ancient Greek philosopher Dion of Syracuse, puts these words in his mouth: “...by being long conversant in the academy, I have learned to subdue my passions, and to restrain the impulses of enmity and anger. To prove that I have really gained such a victory over myself, it is not sufficient merely to be kind to men of virtue, but to be indulgent and reconcilable to the injurious.” It is possible this 1770 translation is influenced by our ritual. And you see the Four Cardinal Virtues at work here.

As for a documented entry point of this idea into Masonic ritual, it helps to consult Masonry Dissected, that early ritual exposure from 1730, which gives us reliable insight into what the lectures of the degrees sounded like at that time. Please understand that a lecture in a degree back then was not the long monologue delivered from memory that most of us in America have today, but was in question-and-answer format, with the lodge Master asking the brethren in lodge, who took turns responding. (Also, you should know Q&A dialogue lives on in our candidate examinations and Opening and Closing ceremonies.)

Query three is: What do you come here to do? 

Answer:

Not to do my proper Will,

But to subdue my Passion still;

The Rules of Masonry in hand to take,

And daily Progress therein make.

This quatrain is a creative way of saying “To learn to subdue my passions and improve myself in Masonry.”

In his St. John the Baptist Day address to Fulton Lodge 98 and Halo Lodge 5 in Alabama in 1855, Rev. George Cushman, Halo’s Chaplain, explains the urgency of Masons learning to subdue their passions:

“… it will be asked whence is it that Masonry derives its power. Its antiquity, its universality, and its unity are alike remarkable. Other organizations are limited in duration and extent. They spring up and die by reason of the strife and discord that are generated in their birth. The obvious answer is that Masonry retains its power because it is true to its own genius and principles. It has a mission to perform, and it turns neither to the right hand nor to the left, but studies to be quiet and to do its own business. This is the secret—the great secret of its success and favor with men. To every person seeking admission to its Light, it is asked what comest thou hither to do, and he is taught to reply, to learn to subdue my passions and improve myself in the sacred arts and mysteries of ancient Free Masonry. This is our only aim—to subdue our passions to act upon the square—to keep the tongue of a good report, and practice charity.”

It is safe to say Masonry Dissected reports how ritual worked during the 1720s, if not earlier, and I believe much of our thinking derives from Christian life in England, for which we’d delve further back for subduing the passions.

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor (1613-67), the famous Anglican theologian, who wrote so poetically for the common man (he was called the Shakespeare of Divines), published The Worthy Communicant in 1660. This text instructs the faithful on receiving the Eucharist, and it ranks character and conduct over knowledge of the church’s laws.

He writes:

Thou givest thy self to be the food of our souls in the wonders of the Sacrament, in the faith of thy Word, in the blessings and graces of thy Spirit: Perform that in thy Servant, which thou hast prepared and effected in thy Son; strengthen my infirmities, heal my sicknesses; give me strength to subdue my passions, to mortifie my inordinations, to kill all my sin: increase thy Graces in my soul; enkindle a bright devotion; extinguish all the fires of hell, my lust and my pride, my envy, and all my spiritual wickednesses; pardon all my sins, and fill me with thy Spirit, that by thy Spirit thou maist dwell in me, and by obedience and love I may dwell in thee, and live in the life of grace till it pass on to glory and immensity, by the power and the blessings, by the passion and intercession of the Word incarnate; whom I adore, and whom I love, and whom I will serve for ever and ever.

This is too much for a reply to a Facebook post, but if Bro. Gilbert happens to see this, I hope it helps. Two commands, not three.

     

’The First Degree, 1717 style!’

    

RCI Lodge 3556

A lodge in London, which specializes in unconventional communications augmented with finer dining, has an exemplification of a rare initiation planned for next month. Royal Colonial Institute Lodge 3556, meeting at Freemasons’ Hall, will demonstrate how the First Degree of Masonry might have looked in 1717.

I’m assuming this will be based on ritual exposures from later in the eighteenth century, but still I’d expect a faithful recreation of the experience. Click here for tickets for the June 13 meeting, demonstration, and dinner.

The lodge has a fascinating history. According to the Metropolitan Grand Lodge’s website:

It was consecrated on January 10, 1912 for the purpose of enhancing the ties of the then Empire and Craft; and between the resident and non-resident Fellows and Members of the Royal Commonwealth Society (formerly the Royal Colonial Institute).

Connections with brethren abroad remained strong throughout the First World War and when, in 1939, the Duke of Connaught resigned as Grand Master of UGLE, he remained as Worshipful Master of the lodge and was able to welcome the District Grand Master of Japan, as well as representatives of the grand lodges of Cuba, Peru, Greece, Yugoslavia, and more. Upon Connaught’s death in 1942, the Grand Master noted at his successor’s Installation “…it is the meeting place of brethren who are now in London but whose homes are many thousands of miles away… Though the members of this Lodge may be drawn from many parts of the Empire, they meet in lodge on common ground and for a common purpose.”

It was in the 1950s that the lodge began a tradition of hosting talks and lectures. Fast forward to 1972, and the links with the Commonwealth were further strengthened at an emergency meeting of the lodge where members were joined by 203 members of other Commonwealth lodges. This meeting was to be the forerunner of the Commonwealth Lodges’ Association, a relationship which the Royal Colonial Lodge proudly still retains.

The Centenary History of the Lodge, written in 2012, concludes: “…the lodge has provided a meeting place for Commonwealth brethren through two World Wars and through times of hardship, financial depression and financial prosperity... Perhaps in looking back we can gain more strength to move forward.”

The Royal Colonial Institute Lodge is a Metropolitan Lodge, meeting at Freemasons’ Hall twice a year. The June meeting is aligned to UGLE’s Quarterly Communication so that members and brethren visiting from abroad can maximise their time in London. It attracts Past Masters with an appetite for finer dining across London in a more relaxed atmosphere, with Festive Boards held at private clubs and non-mainstream specialist venues.

The lodge does not take initiates and therefore performs no ceremonial work other than the annual Installation. Instead, the aim of the lodge is to have fun, unique, and educational meetings. Aiming to reach 100+ members by the end of this year [2023], the RCI supports the development of the Commonwealth Lodges’ Association (of which it is a member).

But about this event, the lodge says:

The regular business meeting of Royal Colonial Institute Lodge 3556 will tyle at 5 p.m. and will last approximately thirty minutes. After the lodge has closed, the Elizabethan Lodge will quickly set up, and the demonstration will begin, which is anticipated to finish around 6:15.

Please note: this event is for Master Masons and above only. No EAs or FCs are allowed to attend, as per Information for the Guidance of Members of the Craft.

For those who wish to dine afterwards, there will be pre-dinner drinks at 7 p.m. in the private drawing room at Fortnum & Mason (Piccadilly) with dinner served at 7:30.

Click here to see the impressive dinner menu and to purchase tickets.

     

‘Scottish EA° Working Tools’

    

My lodge had the honor of initiating two candidates for the mysteries of Freemasonry Monday night. I’ve always enjoyed the variety shown in rituals around the Masonic world; the following example offers not only different language in defining the familiar Working Tools of the Entered Apprentice Mason, but also reveals a Working Tool unknown to lodges in the United States.

Under the Grand Lodge of Scotland, there is no single ritual promulgated by headquarters. Instead, lodges are free to customize the work. This doesn’t produce anarchy. Masons are responsible. It just means there isn’t a down-to-the-letter standardization of ritual.

What follows comes from The Scottish Ritual of the Three Degrees of St. John’s Masonry, printed by Lewis in London in 1895.

I now present to you the Working Tools of an Entered Apprentice Free Mason, which are, the Twenty-four inch Gauge, the Common Gavel, and the Chisel.

The Twenty-four inch Gauge is to measure our Work, the Common Gavel to knock off all superfluous knobs and excrescences, and the Chisel to further smooth and prepare the stone, and render it fit for the hands of the more expert Craftsman.

The Twenty-four inch Gauge is the first instrument placed in the hands of a workman, as it enables him to measure the work he is about to begin, so that he may estimate the time and labour it will cost.

The Gavel is an instrument of labour. Known to Artists under various appellations, it is still admitted by them all that no work of manual skill can be completed without its aid.

The Chisel is a small instrument, solid in its form, but of such exquisite sharpness as fully to compensate for the diminutiveness of its size. It is calculated to make impression on the hardest substances, and the loftiest structures are indebted to its aid.

But as we are not operative, but rather Free and Accepted, or Speculative Masons, we apply those Tools to our Morals.

In this sense the Twenty-four inch Gauge represents the twenty-four hours of the day,—part to be spent in Prayer to Almighty God; part in Labour, Refreshment, and Sleep; and part to serve a friend or Brother in time of need, that not being detrimental to ourselves or our connections.

The Common Gavel represents the force of conscience, which should keep down all vain and unbecoming thoughts, so that our words and actions may appear before the Throne of Grace pure and unpolluted.

The Chisel points out to us the advantages of Education and Perseverance, by which means alone we are rendered fit members of regularly organized Society. That the rude material can receive a fine polish from repeated efforts alone. From the whole we deduce this moral: That Knowledge, aided by Labour and prompted by Perseverance, will finally overcome all difficulties, raise ignorance from despair, and establish truth in the paths of Nature and Science.

I can’t locate this quotation, but it fits Aristotelian thought.