THE BUILDER NOVEMBER 1915

THE ESTABLISHMENT AND EARLY DAYS OF MASONRY IN AMERICA

BY BRO. MELVIN M. JOHNSON, GRAND MASTER, MASSACHUSETTS

CONCLUSION.

MAY I conclude with a few words concerning recent Pennsylvania
claims to precedence? After conceding that the Pennsylvania
Lodges prior to 1734 were held without Charter or Warrant, a most
astounding argument is offered to the effect that they made
themselves regular by confederating in a Gland Lodge; in other
words, irregularity plus more irregularity, plus still more
irregularity equals regularity. It is contended that in 1731 these
unwarranted Lodges came together and formed a Grand Lodge which was
a "sister" and not a daughter to the Grand Lodge of England. The
complete answer to this argument is given by Pennsylvania herself.
Her application to Price in 1734; her sending Franklin as a proxy
several times to the Grand Lodge in Boston in the early days; her
application again to Massachusetts in 1749; her application
immediately thereafter direct to England for a confirmatory
Deputation which was issued to her and accepted and acted upon by
her in 1750; her payment April 10, 1752, of 31:10:0 to the Grand
Lodge in Boston as a charter fee; her acceptance and action under
a Warrant received from England bearing date July 15, 1761; and
indeed all her Masonic acts since 1731 are consistent only with the
complete recognition by Pennsylvania of the fact that all of her
lawful Masonic authority flowed directly or indirectly from
England. Just as it is sound law and good reasoning that a tenant
cannot deny the title of his landlord, so it is equally sound
reasoning that a deputized Lodge or Grand Lodge cannot deny the
authority of the source issuing the Deputation accepted and
exercised by it. After nearly two centuries of Masonic life during
which it has recognized the Grand Lodge of England as its lawful
predecessor, and as the one Body in the world having the primary
right in those early days to issue Warrants or Deputations covering
Pennsylvania, it is a little late to claim for the first time in
1908 and for a present day historian to contend that "The Grand
Lodge of Pennsylvania was a sister and not a daughter to the Grand
Lodge of England." It is, in fact, a daughter of the Grand Lodge of
Massachusetts and, therefore, a grand-daughter of the Gland Lodge
of England.

It is entirely correct that "the movement in Massachusetts was not
an independent one, but subordinate to the Grand Lodge of England."
But Pennsylvania having in the early days again and again
acknowledged itself to be subordinate to England and to
Massachusetts, it is now too late for Pennsylvania to expect that
the novel modern theory of some of her recent sons will be
permitted to upset the facts of history. Pennsylvania is too great
a jurisdiction; she has too grand a history; she is too highly
respected in the Masonic world; she has too much claim to Masonic
grandeur and pre-eminence in many directions to stoop at this late
day to belittle Franklin and others of her great men; to belittle
Price; to belittle Massachusetts; and indeed to belittle the Grand
Lodge of England itself by the attempt now being made to distort
history.

While it does not particularly concern this discussion, I cannot
let pass without notice the same historian's statement that the
legitimate Grand Lodge of England (which had been nicknamed
"Moderns") was superseded by the rival organization known as the
"Ancients" (this being the schismatic Grand Lodge), and that such
supersession has continued down to the present time. Every
impartial Masonic historian and student in the world knows better.
In 1813 there was a fusion or union of the two rival Grand Lodges
in England known as the "Moderns" and "Ancients." On St. John the
Evangelist's Day in 1813 there was a very elaborate ceremony of
union. The story of the union and its attendant circumstances are
thoroughly detailed by Bro. Albert G. Mackey in the fifth volume of
his History of Freemasonry, Chapter XLIII. A learned paper on this
subject is to be found in XXIII Transactions of the Quatuor
Coronati Lodge, 215. The ceremony of union is given in full in the
Minutes of the United Grand Lodge of England, and may be found also
in Bro. W. J. Hughan's "Memorials of the Masonic Union of A. D.
1813" published 1874; Revised, augmented and republished by the
Lodge of Research in 1913. Original programs of the ceremonies and
of the music are in the archives of Massachusetts. So far were the
"Moderns" from being superseded, that their Gland Master, the Duke
of Sussex, became then the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge.
I call attention to this statement more particularly that it may
illustrate how much weight is to be given to the other claims with
which we have been dealing made by the same historian.

Recapitulating briefly the facts, we find that prior to 1733 many
Lodges met without authority; that a regular Commission issued to
Daniel Coxe for a part of North America in 1730, but that this
Commission was never exercised; that after Masonry became an
organized Institution and meetings of Lodges without a Charter or
Warrant were prohibited, no lawful authority was ever exercised in
America until July 30, 1733, when Henry Price organized a
Provincial Grand Lodge in Boston under the authority granted him by
the Lord Viscount Montague, then Grand Master of Masons in England.
It is thus that the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts is the Mother
Grand Lodge of America, and that Henry Price is the "Founder of
Duly Constituted Masonry in America." 

NOTE.

Recognition has widely and frequently been made of Massachusetts as
the oldest Grand Lodge in the Western Hemisphere.

No effort has been made to collate with any thoroughness the
instances, but a few which come to mind as this is being prepared
for the printer are as follows:

By England. There has been frequent recognition by the Grand Lodge
of England of Massachusetts as the oldest jurisdiction in America.
The earliest instances have been heretofore referred to. More
recent is a letter from the Grand Master of England to the Grand
Master of Massachusetts, dated Feb. 7, 1912, in which he speaks of
that Grand Lodge as "The oldest Lodge on this (the North American)
continent, and which originally owed its Warrant to the Grand Lodge
of England." The most recent instance is a resolution of the United
Grand Lodge of England, unanimously passed on Sept. 2, 1914,
reading as follows:

"That Grand Lodge expresses its thanks to the Most Worshipful Grand
Master for communicating the letter his Royal Highness has received
from M.W. Bro. Melvin Maynard Johnson, Grand Master of Mason of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and desires to associate itself with
his Royal Highness' deep appreciation of the expressions therein
contained, as voicing a sincerity of Masonic feeling especially
welcome to Grand Lodge as coming from its 'eldest child in Western
Hemisphere.' "

By Canada. See the Address of Grand Master William David McPherson
at Grand Peace Festival, held at Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada,
July 16, 1914, to be published in memorial volume, also his 1915
annual address.

By Nova Scotia. See "Early History of Freemasonry in Nova Scotia,"
by M. W. Bro. Hon. William Ross, June, 1910.

By the District of Columbia. Massachusetts was given seniority in
ceremonies of dedication of Washington Monument, Feb. 21, 1885.
This was after a formal hearing by a Committee before which
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania presented their claims to seniority.
The decision was in favor of Massachusetts.

By Idaho. M.W. Curtis F. Pike, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of
Idaho, in a letter to the writer dated April 8, 1914, says, "It
occurs to me as I write that Massachusetts is the oldest Grand
Jurisdiction in America, if my memory of Masonic History is
correct."

By Indiana. See Proceedings. of May, 1852.

By Louisiana. See 11 Moore's Freemason's Magazine 167.

By Maine. See 1887 Mass. 236.

By Maryland. At a banquet in Baltimore, Md., in 1885, the
representative of Massachusetts was called upon to respond to the
toast "The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, the Mother Grand Lodge of
Masonry in America."

By Missouri. M.W. Van Fremont Boor, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge
of Missouri, in a letter to the writer, dated April 29, 1914,
refers to Massachusetts as "The oldest Grand Jurisdiction in the
United States."


By Pennsylvania. As set forth in earlier chapters. 

Also:

Wor. Alfred P. Reigh, a learned Masonic student and Past Master of
Washington Lodge No. 164 of Pennsylvania, in a letter dated Sept.
9, 1852, refers to Massachusetts as "The oldest Grand Lodge in the
United States."

The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania on June 16, 1834, on motion of a
Committee of which Past Grand Master Michael Nisbet was Chairman,
unanimously adopted a resolution, "For the celebration of St. John
the Baptist's Day, 24th of June A. D. 1834, A. L. 5834, being the
Centennial Anniversary of the Establishment of the First Lodge in
Pennsylvania, of which Lodge Bro. Benjamin Franklin was the First
Master."

M. W. Sereno D. Nickerson of Massachusetts on June 10, 1903, said:
"At the time of this Centennial the orator (R. W. George W. Dallas)
was the Attorney General of Pennsylvania and ex-United States
Senator; afterwards Minister to Russia, Vice-President of the
United States and Minister to England. He was Deputy Grand Master,
and six months later was elected Grand Master. He was then fighting
the battle with anti-Masonry in his State. His father was a
distinguished lawyer in Philadelphia, Secretary of the Commonwealth
when Franklin died, and Secretary of the Treasury under President
Madison; he must have known Franklin well, and lived until the son,
born only two years after Franklin's death, was twenty-seven years
old. It is simply absurd to claim that the orator, under such
circumstances, did not know the history of his Grand Lodge, did not
know whether they were celebrating the true date of the
'Establishment of the First Lodge in Pennsylvania, of which Lodge
Bro. Benjamin Franklin was the First Master.' It is not improbable
that there were Brethren present who had heard the story from
Franklin's own lips. Only forty-four years had elapsed since
Franklin's death, and probably the incidents of his life were as
familiar as household words to some Brethren then present."

On Sept. 26, 1855, Bro. James King was orator at the dedication of
the new hall on Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, and there and then
referred to the illustrious Franklin as "The First Master of a
Masonic Lodge in Pennsylvania."

On Sept. 26, 1873, Past Grand Master Robert A. Lamberton of
Pennsylvania, President of Lehigh University, in an oration at the
dedication of the Temple in Philadelphia said: "The Lodges in
Philadelphia, doubtless desiring to place themselves under the
immediate jurisdiction of that Grand Lodge (Massachusetts),
accepted and recognized the power of R.W.G.M. Price to appoint
Benjamin Franklin as the Grand Master; Massachusetts authority
gives the date of this appointment the 24th of June, 1734. From a
contemporary account it is certain that on that day at the
celebration of the Feast of St. John the Baptist he appeared as
'Grand Master.' Franklin evidently had doubts of the regularity of
the powers of the Lodge or Lodges over which he exercised
authority, for, signing himself as Grand Master on the 28th of
November, 1734, he wrote from Philadelphia to the 'R.W.G.M. and
Most Worthy and Dear Brethren in Boston,' requesting that a
Deputation or Charter be granted by the R.W.G.M. Price, by virtue
of his commission from Britain."

He continued: "It is needless to follow on the history of the Grand
Lodge, as then constituted, and of which Franklin, in 1749, again
became the Grand Master by appointment of R. W. Thomas Oxnard." It
would seem that Brother Lamberton was disposed to give full credit
to Massachusetts.

By Tennessee. See 9 Moore's Freemason's Magazine 316.

By Vermont. At the laying of the corner-stone of the Bennington
Monument.

By Lafayette. In this connection it is interesting to recall a
letter written by General Lafayette on Aug. 29, 1824, to the Master
of St. John's Lodge of Boston, in which he refers to that Lodge as
"The first Lodge on the Continent of America."

AGNOSTICISM

Agnosticism, as now stated, assumed not simply the impotence of the
human, but of the Divine reason; for a God man cannot know is at
the same time a God who. cannot make himself known. Our inability
to reach Him is possible, only because of His inability to become
intelligible.

--Albert Pike


THE END OF EVIL

Evil on itself shall back recoil, 
And mix no more with goodness, when at last, 
Gathered like scum, and settled to itself, 
It shall be in eternal restless change 
Self-fed and self-consumed.
--John Milton.

THE MYSTERY

If it touches the heart of a Poet, 
The gods and the ages will know it;
For over the waters and crags of time 
The winds of the world will blow it.
--Edwin Markham.

MY BROTHER KNEELS

My Brother kneels, so saith Kabir, 
To stone and brass in heathen wise, 
But in my brother's soul I hear 
My own unanswered agonies; 
His God is as his fates assign; 
His prayer is all the world's--and mine.
--Poems of Kabir.

