‘Treason and reason in one of those busy weekends’

    

Yesterday, at New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786, W. Bro. Gerald, of Congdon-Overlook Lodge 163, presents his findings on the history of a Pennsylvania lodge chartered in Colonial times at Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

I enjoyed one of those four busy weekends per year I get when there are three meetings squeezed into a 24-hour period: Scott Council on Friday night, New Jersey’s research lodge the following morning, then my AMD council last night. It’s a lot of driving, but it’s been a routine for decades at this point, so I feel obligated.

Scott Council 1, of Royal and Select Masters, meets every other month at Freemasons Hall, home of Union Lodge 19, in North Brunswick, New Jersey. Almost always a good time, and we benefitted from Light from the East, thanks to T.I.M. Michael. He presented a talk on Jephthah from the Book of Judges—his life and times, as well as his importance in Masonic theory and ritual.

In the morning, I was back in the same lodge room for New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786. (Maybe I should just stay the night in a local hotel.) If you want to celebrate America250 in New Jersey Freemasonry, the research lodge is the place to be!

Senior Deacon Glenn examined the treason of Gen. Benedict Arnold vis-à-vis the morality of our gentle Craft’s teachings, leading to a philosophical discussion of what does it mean to be a rebel disloyal to the rebellion. W. Bro. Gerald of Congdon-Overlook 163 (not a member of our research lodge—yet), presented “Basking Ridge #10: The Mysterious and First Masonic Lodge of the Jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey.” This history of the origins and life of the lodge, which was located in Gerry’s town, illustrated how central it was to the New Jersey Masonic story.

Magpie file photo

This artifact is found inside the Museum of Masonic Culture at the Trenton Temple.

We segued from Solomon’s Lodge 1 to Haym Solomon to conclude the program portion of our meeting with a screening of the Oscar-winning Warner Bros. short film from 1939 Sons of Liberty. Starring Claude Rains, this was made by the director who would go on to direct Casablanca. The 20-minute biography of Haym Solomon told the story of how part of the Revolution came to be financed.

Charmingly corny, it also inadvertently gives us a look at how patriotism was expressed in an America that still was pro-America. The past is a foreign country, indeed.

Secretary Erich shared the progress being made in the publication of our first book of transactions in a dozen years.

Click to enlarge.

We talked about the Skene Conference coming in August. Buy your tickets already! The line-up of speakers is amazing, and you’re going to miss it? Are you serious?

We ended somberly, noting the death last Sunday of Gordon S. Wood. The Pulitzer-winning historian was an authority on the American Founding. Not a Mason (as far as I know), but he wrote of the Masonic Order of that era, describing its essentiality as a social network that united elites and nobodies in workshops of democracy, learning self-governance through practical local actions. Age 92. Hit by a car. Terrible.

And we were out by noon. A hearty lunch at a nearby restaurant ensued, but attendance was scant due to a variety of other events in the general area, from a ribs cookout to the Rosicrucian College’s convocation to a Third Degree.

I then headed to Hightstown for the quarterly meeting of J. William Gronning Council 83 of Allied Masonic Degrees. It was afternoon still, so I sat in the shade for a time and read the new Collectanea. In the meeting, I milked my Thomas Reid paper yet again, which seemed to have been well received. Reid was the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher whose words are heard in lodges today in our Middle Chamber Lecture. Sovereign Master Robert presented an overview of our actual allied Masonic degrees, explaining why AMD exists and where its role fits in the overall Masonic fraternity as a nexus of philosophy, scholarship, and research.

Looking to our September meeting, a degree will be conferred, which is always a good thing. Read all about it this summer in the Gronning Gazette.

Seriously, a lot of driving. It’s a good thing I like being a Freemason.

     

‘A Historic 1820s Table Lodge’

    

Ben Hoff has researched the period accuracy of the ritual to be employed in this table lodge, so expect something different from the usual.

Tonight’s convocation of Scott Chapter 4 in New Jersey was most enjoyable. I think I counted fifteen Royal Arch Masons in attendance for the occasion of the Official Visit of RE Michael Flaherty, District Deputy GHP.

We elected two Master Masons to membership by initiation, and two Royal Arch Masons to membership by affiliation. Companion Flaherty delivered an educational talk on the veils. Drawing from ritual, Scripture, and personal reflections, he explained meaningful symbolism of the banners to help us better understand what we Royal Arch Masons do in our chapters.

U.S. Mint

The Keystone State.

A good question was posed afterward: Why do chapters in New Jersey hang four banners, but chapters in Pennsylvania hang three? No one was certain of the exact answer. I kept my mouth shut—I’m learning!—because some people get cranky when I offer some information. Questions like this usually can be answered simply, as historical facts circumvent poetic interpretations. Long story short: Jeremy Ladd Cross wrote the four-banner arrangement into his book of 1819, therefore that is what the General Grand Chapter stipulates. New Jersey, being a member of the General Grand Chapter, consequently uses the four. Pennsylvania is not part of the GGC, and they use a ritual inherited from the Ancients of England. Just as Pennsylvania lodge ritual is distinct from everything else in America, their Royal Arch ritual too is different. It’s the Keystone State! Let ’em do what they want.

And, while I was there, I learned of this event coming next month.

Union Lodge 19 is our landlord—as it has been through most of our history since the 1850s—and its Master, W. Bro. Eric, is our Principal Sojourner in chapter. He told us about this table lodge.

I know the story of William Morgan is nothing to celebrate but, being how 2026 is the bicentenary of that disaster, which ignited the anti-Masonic panic of the 1820s and ’30s, we ought to teach each other about it. I’m always surprised when I encounter a Mason who knows nothing about the “Morgan Affair” and the resulting political turmoil in the Northeast, but not everyone knows.

So, the particulars are shown in the flier above. All I can add is Eric says the table lodge ritual is authentic to the period, as researched by Ben Hoff, New Jersey’s “go to guy” for the history of Masonic ritual. If Ben says this is the way they did it 200 years ago, you can toast with confidence. He is a Past Master of New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786, where he writes prodigiously about how Masonic rituals evolved over the centuries.

Keynote speaker Craig Applebaum is our immediate Past Master at the research lodge. While I haven’t heard this specific talk from him, I don’t doubt it will be informative and engaging.

Sorry to say I probably won’t be able to attend. My speaking engagement in Oklahoma will be St. John’s Day, and the cable tow stretches only so far. But you should go!

If this subject interests you, please add the research lodge’s meeting of Saturday, September 12 (9:30 a.m.) to your calendar. That’s when I will discuss the Anti-Masonic Party in New Jersey. I’ll talk about the Morgan Affair as a necessary introduction to the topic of the political movement in the Garden State that almost killed off the Masonic fraternity there. By the time the hysteria abated, there were only a couple of lodges and a few dozen Masons still standing. (And you thought there were problems now!) The lodge also meets at Union 19 in North Brunswick.