THE BUILDER SEPTEMBER 1919

CORRESPONDENCE CIRCLE BULLETIN No. 30
DEVOTED TO ORGANIZED MASONIC STUDY

Edited by Bro. H. L. Haywood

THE BULLETIN COURSE OF MASONIC STUDY FOR MONTHLY LODGE MEETINGS AND
STUDY CLUBS

FOUNDATION OF THE COURSE

THE Course of Study has for its foundation two sources of Masonic
information: THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. In another
paragraph is explained how the references to former issues of THE
BUILDER and to Mackey's Encyclopedia may be worked up as
supplemental papers to exactly fit into each installment of the
Course with the papers by Brother Haywood.

MAIN OUTLINE:

The Course is divided into five principal divisions which are in
turn subdivided, as is shown below:

Division I. Ceremonial Masonry.

A. The Work of the Lodge. 
B. The Lodge and the Candidate. 
C. First Steps. 
D. Second Steps. 
E. Third Steps.

Division II. Symbolical Masonry.
A. Clothing. 
B. Working Tools. 
C. Furniture. 
D. Architecture. 
E. Geometry.
F. Signs. 
G. Words. 
H. Grips.

Division III. Philosophical Masonry.
A. Foundations. 
B. Virtues. 
C. Ethics. 
D. Religious Aspect. 
E. The Quest. 
F. Mysticism. 
G. The Secret Doctrine.

Division IV. Legislative Masonry.

A. The Grand Lodge. 
1. Ancient Constitutions. 
2. Codes of Law. 
3. Grand Lodge Practices. 
4. Relationship to Constituent Lodges. 
5. Official Duties and Prerogatives.

B. The Constituent Lodge.
1. Organization. 
2. Qualifications of Candidates. 
3. Initiation, Passing and Raising. 
4. Visitation. 
5. Change of Membership.

Division V. Historical Masonry.

A. The Mysteries--Earliest Masonic Light.
B. Studies of Rites--Masonry in the Making. 
C. Contributions to Lodge Characteristics.
D. National Masonry.
E. Parallel Peculiarities in Lodge Study. 
F. Feminine Masonry. 
G. Masonic Alphabets. 
H. Historical Manuscripts of the Craft. 
I. Biographical Masonry.
J. Philological Masonry--Study of Significant Words.

THE MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS

Each month we are presenting a paper written by Brother Haywood,
who is following the foregoing outline. We are now in "First Steps"
of Ceremonial Masonry. There will be twelve monthly papers under
this particular subdivision. On page two, preceding each
installment, will be given a list of questions to be used by the
chairman of the Committee during the study period which will bring
out every point touched upon in the paper.

Whenever possible we shall reprint in the Correspondence Circle
Bulletin articles from other sources which have a direct bearing
upon the particular subject covered by Brother Haywood in his
monthly paper. These articles should be used as supplemental papers
in addition to those prepared by the members from the monthly list
of references. Much valuable material that would otherwise possibly
never come to the attention of many of our members will thus be
presented.

The monthly installments of the Course appearing in the
Correspondence Circle Bulletin should be used one month later than
their appearance. If this is done the Committee will have
opportunity to arrange their programs several weeks in advance of
the meetings and the brethren who are members of the National
Masonic Research Society will be better enabled to enter into the
discussions after they have read over and studied the installment
in THE BUILDER.

REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTAL PAPERS

Immediately preceding each of Brother Haywood's monthly papers in
the Correspondence Circle Bulletin will be found a list of
references to THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. These
references are pertinent to the paper and will either enlarge upon
many of the points touched upon or bring out new points for reading
and discussion. They should be assigned by the Committee to
different brethren who may compile papers of their own from the
material thus to be found, or in many instances the articles
themselves or extracts therefrom may be read directly from the
originals. The latter method may be followed when the members may
not feel able to compile original papers, or when the original may
be deemed appropriate without any alterations or additions.

HOW TO ORGANIZE FOR AND CONDUCT THE STUDY MEETINGS

The lodge should select a "Research Committee" preferably of three
"live" members. The study meetings should be held once a month,
either at a special meeting of the lodge called for the purpose, or
at a regular meeting at which no business (except the lodge
routine) should be transacted--all possible time to be given to the
study period.

After the lodge has been opened and all routine business disposed
of, the Master should turn the lodge over to the Chairman of the
Research Committee. This Committee should be fully prepared in
advance on the subject for the evening. All members to whom
references for supplemental papers have been assigned should be
prepared with their papers and should also have a comprehensive
grasp of Brother Haywood's paper.

PROGRAM FOR STUDY MEETINGS

1. Reading of the first section of Brother Haywood's paper and the
supplemental papers thereto.

(Suggestion: While these papers are being read the members of the
lodge should make notes of any points they may wish to discuss or
inquire into when the discussion is opened. Tabs or slips of paper
similar to those used in elections should be distributed among the
members for this purpose at the opening of the study period.)

2. Discussion of the above.

3. The subsequent sections of Brother Haywood's paper and the
supplemental papers should then be taken up, one at a time, and
disposed of in the same manner.
4. Question Box.

MAKE THE "QUESTION BOX" THE FEATURE OF YOUR MEETINGS

Invite questions from any and all brethren present. Let them
understand that these meetings are for their particular benefit and
get them into the habit of asking all the questions they may think
of. Every one of the papers read will suggest questions as to facts
and meanings which may not perhaps be actually covered at all in
the paper. If at the time these questions are propounded no one can
answer them, SEND THEM IN TO US. All the reference material we have
will be gone through in an endeavor to supply a satisfactory
answer. In fact we are prepared to make special research when
called upon, and will usually be able to give answers within a day
or two. Please remember, too, that the great Library of the Grand
Lodge of Iowa is only a few miles away, and, by order of the
Trustees of the Grand Lodge, the Grand Secretary places it at our
disposal on any query raised by any member of the Society.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The foregoing information should enable local Committees to conduct
their lodge study meetings with success. However, we shall welcome
all inquiries and communications from interested brethren
concerning any phase of the plan that is not entirely clear to
them, and the Services of our Study Club Department are at the
command of our members, lodge and study club committees at all
times.

QUESTIONS ON "THE MIDDLE CHAMBER IN SPECULATIVE MASONRY"

I
In what light have you heretofore interpreted the existence of the
"Middle Chamber" of Solomon's Temple as a literal fact or simply as
a symbol ? What is Sir Charles Warren's opinion ? What is Mackey's
opinion regarding it ? Do you agree with them ? If not, what
reasons have you for disagreeing with them ?

II
What is the modern biblical interpretation of the term "chamber" as
used in the present connection ? How many such chambers were there
in the Temple, and what were their uses ? Were they used as
"paymaster's offices," or as chambers of instruction?

What is a "myth" ? Were our ceremonies contrived as vehicles for
the conveyance of historical facts to candidates ? What thought
should we continually bear in mind while pursuing our Masonic
studies ?

III
Of what is the Middle Chamber a symbol? What does it represent in
the Second degree ritualism? How are we benefited by "learning" or
education ?

What part does the Second degree occupy in Ancient Craft Masonry?
Would the system have been complete without it? Have you gained a
new conception of the Second degree from this section of Brother
Haywood's present study paper from that which you formerly held of
it ?

IV
How were builders organized in medieval times, and for what purpose
? Why were they intrusted with signs, words and grips? Why were
they called "operative" Masons?

Why were persons who had no connection with the building trades
admitted into the Order prior to 1717? What attracted them to it?
What was the result of their admittance?

V
How does Brother MacBride describe the transition from operative to
speculative Masonry?

What influence had the speculative element on the operative
organization ?

What did the non-operative element undertake to do after their
acceptance into the organization, according to Brother Waite ? How
were Kabalistic and Rosicrucian ideas and symbolisms introduced
into the Order?

VI
What did Speculative Masonry inherit from the operatives? Was all
of our philosophy and mysticism handed down from the operatives ?

What was the work of the operative Mason, and what were his wages?
What is the work of the speculative Mason, and what are his wages?

Do you believe with those who claim that the race cannot be
improved; that because evils of one kind and another have always
existed, that they are always to remain with us? What is the
mission of Masonry ?

SUPPLEMENTAL REFERENCES

Mackey's Encyclopedia:

Middle Chamber, p. 483. 

THE BUILDER:

Vol. IV. What a Fellow Craft Ought to Know, p. 178; Symbolism of
the Three Degrees, p. 267.

SECOND STEPS
BY BRO. H.L. HAYWOOD

PART V THE MIDDLE CHAMBER IN SPECULATIVE MASONRY

I
WHAT the Middle Chamber is a symbol, and not a bit of history,
there is every evidence to show. Sir Charles Warren, while Master
of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Research, gave expression to the
opinion of the best modern scholars in saying that "There was never
a Middle Chamber in the Temple. . . As the Fellow Crafts were only
employed during the building of the Temple, they could not have
used this chamber for the service mentioned (you will recall,
reader, what this service is supposed to have been) even if it had
existed.... Even if this chamber had existed they would not have
been allowed to desecrate it by use as a pay office."

Albert Mackey, who was one of the most conservative of men, and who
wrote his "Symbolism of Freemasonry" some twenty years before
Brother Warren delivered his speech, took the same position. As we
may read in that work, "The whole legend is, in fact, an historical
myth, in which the mystical number of the steps, the process of
passing to the chamber, and the wages there received, are
inventions added to or ingrafted on the fundamental history
contained in the sixth chapter of Kings, to inculcate important
symbolic instruction relative to the principle of the Order."

II

The passage in the book of Kings to which Mackey here refers, is in
the authorized version of the bible as follows: "They went up with
winding stairs into the Middle Chamber." Modern biblical
scholarship has shown that the term here translated "chamber"
really means a "story" and that there were three such stories on
one side of the Temple composed of small rooms in which the priests
kept their vestments, utensils, etc. That workmen were paid their
wages in this middle story, or that Fellow Crafts were there
prepared for a higher grade, there is not a hint in the record to
show. This account of the matter, as Mackey has said, is "an
historical myth."

But what of it ? A myth has been defined as "philosophy in the
making." It is an allegorical piece of fiction designed to convey
some abstract teaching. The purpose of our ceremonies is not to
furnish history but truth, and that truth is nowise affected by the
accuracy or inaccuracy of the narrative behind which it is veiled.
To remember this in all connections will save one from those
pitfalls of literalism into which so many earlier Masonic students
fell.

III
When understood simply as a symbol, the Middle Chamber stands for
that place in life in which we receive the rewards of our
endeavors. This is the broadest sense of it; its narrower sense, as
found in the Second degree lecture, is that it represents the wages
of education, of mental culture, for learning is described as the
peculiar work of the Fellow Craft. Learning stores the mind with
facts, preserves one from bigotry and superstition, offers to one
the fellowships of great minds, quickens perception, strengthens
the faculties, gives one, in short, a masterful intellect. It is
into the possession of such riches as these that the Winding Stairs
of the Liberal Arts and Sciences brings a man at last.

We may rejoice that William Preston gave this teaching so large a
place in our lectures, for without it Masonry would have been
wholly inadequate as a complete system of life. Ignorance is a sin,
in most cases at least, and the sooner we thus regard it the better
it will be for all of us, Masons and profane. In olden days when
men had so few opportunities for learning it was inevitable that
the common man should be ignorant; but in these days with public
schools, correspondence schools, cheap books and periodicals, and
free libraries, a man who remains content with not possessing the
best that has been thought and said in the world is wholly without
excuse. Always and everywhere men should have in the house of life
a winding stair of art and science up which to climb into a middle
chamber wherein to hold converse with the good and great of all
ages !

IV
In medieval times the builders were organized into a secret
fraternity composed of separate lodges for the purpose of self-
protection and for preserving the secrets of the trade, and men
were given words, grips and tokens on their admittance to a lodge.
This fraternity had an ancient traditional history and it used its
tools and trade processes as emblems and symbols whereby to teach
a code of morality far above the average ethical standards of the
time. This was called operative Masonry because its followers were
engaged in the work of actual building.

At the time of the Reformation ecclesiastical building, in which
the Freemasons were mostly engaged, fell into a decline and during
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the operative lodges began
to receive a large number of members who had no intention of
engaging in practical building, but were attracted by the history
and symbolism of the Order. In course of time this speculative
element outnumbered the operative so that, at the Revival of 1717,
Masonry became a wholly speculative body.

The details of this picture may be filled out by a remarkable
paragraph in Brother MacBride's "Speculative Masonry" (page 124):

"The view we wish to consider is, that down through the Roman
Collegia and the medieval craft gilds, along with certain
traditions, there was probably transmitted some of the symbolism of
the Ancient Mysteries, and that the great quickening of
intellectual life in the sixteenth century, resulting from the
social and political upheaval of the Reformation, gave new life and
a more developed form to the symbolic speculative element within
the old craft lodges. The mental activities of men had so long been
dribbed, cabined and confined' under ecclesiastical rule that,
having burst its bonds, it fairly revelled and rioted in all sorts
of ways. Hence we find Cabalism, Theosophy, Alchemy and Astrology
receiving attention and support from the learned scholars of the
age.... The spirit of enquiry was rampant, and ill-directed as it
was in many respects, it had on the whole a wonderfully stimulating
effect.. Science, in all its branches, expanded and developed;
literature, art, and social and political life acquired fresh
vigor. It is from this period we can mark the presence of the
speculative element in the old craft lodges. Our view is, that the
seed of our present speculative system, lying latent in these old
lodges, was quickened into life through the influence of the
Reformation period and, later on, in 1717, developed into the
present organized form."

On another page of the same work Brother MacBride gives a more
specific description of the moral and symbolic germ in the craft
gilds which later expanded into speculative Masonry:

"Taking the Old Charges and reading them over one cannot fail to be
impressed with the moral precepts they contain, and how the
speculative bulks over the purely operative parts. In every ease
the Mason is charged first of all to be true to God, the king and
to his fellows. Stealing and vice are explicitly named to be
avoided. Falsehood and deceit are condemned and the general
impression left after reading these ancient documents is that they
are not those of a mere trades union or operative gild. There is an
element in them, apart from and above the operative work, that
refers to conduct and morals, and it is in this, more than anything
else, that their relationship with modern Masonry shows itself.
After all, what is the purpose of our speculative system but to
shape life and conduct to noble ends."

V
In the foregoing passages Brother MacBride takes the position that
speculative Masonry is the expansion of a germ that lay in
operative Masonry. Other writers, while holding to this, also
believe that the nonoperatives, accepted during the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, brought with them an entirely new element.
Brother Arthur Edward Waite speaks for these writers in his little
booklet "Deeper Aspects of Masonic Symbolism":

"The interest in operative Masonry and its records, though
historically it is of course important, has preceded from the
beginning on a misconception as to the aims and Symbolism of
speculative Masonry. It was and it remains natural, and it has not
been without its results. but it is a confusion of the chief
issues. It should be recognized henceforth that the sole connection
between the two arts and crafts rests on the fact that the one has
undertaken to uplift the other from the material plane to that of
morals on the surface, and of spirituality in the real
intention.... My position is that the traces of symbolism which may
in a sense be inherent in operative Masonry did not produce; by a
natural development, the speculative art and craft, though they
helped undoubtedly to make a possible and partially prepared field
for the great adventure and experiment."

On another page of the same book Brother Waite contends that among
the men who were accepted into the operative lodges were many
"Latin-writing" scholars who brought with them ideas and symbolisms
from Kabalism and Rosicrucianism. With this position Albert Pike
and many other authorities are agreed.

Brother Waite's argument, it seems to me, does not contradict, but
rather supplements Brother MacBride's position. If this be the case
we may say that from operative Masonry our speculative system has
received an organization, a moral element, and certain emblems and
symbols derived from the building art; but there is an element of
philosophy and mysticism in our ritual, in the Third degree more
especially, derived from other sources.

VI
Leaving for future articles a discussion of the mystical and
philosophical element, we may examine here only the elements
inherited from the operative gilds. The operative Mason used actual
tools to erect structures of wood and stone; for this he received
material wages. The speculative Mason uses moral, mental and
spiritual forces to erect himself into a nobler manhood and society
into a nobler Brotherhood; his wages consist in the enrichment of
his own and his race's life.

These words are familiar enough to every Mason, indeed, they have
become almost hackneyed and threadbare, but familiarity must not be
permitted to blind us to the radical (I had almost said the
revolutionary) character of this teaching. For it implies that
human nature may be modified, reformed, regenerated; and the world,
likewise.

The cry of the reactionary, the obstructionist, the ultra-
conservative, has ever been, "As the world is, so it has always
been, so it will ever be. Poverty, vice, ignorance these are fated
things, built into the nature of the race, and can in no wise be
improved." Against this position Masonry throws itself with all its
weight, and contends that out of the stuff of the Present a nobler
Future can be made; that a man's nature is plastic material out of
which a better man can be fashioned; that the world of today is a
rough quarry out of which may be hewn the stones for a Temple of
Tomorrow, in which a God may be found to dwell. If this philosophy
of Masonry be true; as we Masons are most profoundly convinced that
it is, it gives us the one Great Hope of Man, the one certain
pledge of Progress.
