Daily Mason

In the Institutes, Statutes, and Regulations, signed by Adillgton, Chancellor, Which are given in the Rectueil des Actes du Supréme Consetél du France, or Collection of the Acts of the Supreme Council of France, as a Sequence to the Constitutions of 1762, this title is given to any subordinate Body of the Scottish Rite. Thus in Article XVI: “At the time of the installation of a Sacred Asylum of High Masonry, the members composing it shall all make and sign their pledge of obedience to the Institutes, Statutes, and General Regulations of High Masonry.” In this document the Rite is always called High Masonry, and any Body, whether a Lodge of Perfection, a Chapter of Rose Croix, or a Council of Kàdosh, is styled a Sacred Asylum.

Masonic Poetry – Br. Charles P. Forshaw M.D.

THE GODDESS OF MASONRY
From (The Freemason’s Chronicle)

Goddess of Purity,
Spotless and rare;
Emblem of Charity
Unsullied, fair;
Symbol of Meekness-
Radiant, bright,
‘Minding the Brethren
Of realms of Light-
Strong in the knowledge
Virtuous might.

Symbol of Chastity,
Spirit of Bliss,
Coming to cheer us,
Through the abyss,
Token of faithfulness-
Be thou our guide;
Emblem of Hopefulness–
Keep by our side:
Help us and lead us oer
Every dark tide!

Masonic Poetry – Br. Charles P. Forshaw M.D.

THE BUILDERS

Baltimore House, Bradford, Eng., August 14th, 1916
(From Masonic Sun, Toronto, Can., October, 1916)

If in the rearing of an edifice
We form one stone that makes the perfect whole;
To us ‘twould be the beau-ideal of bliss
And prove glad unction to the work-wom soul.
A Temple with proportions just and true
Can but erected be by Masons skilled,
Instructed by an Architect who knew
Exactly bow to tell them what to build.
And -he taught us-however small the stone– plumb and level by th’
unerring Square– make it pattern, so that all might own
‘T was strong and beautiful beyond compare,–
Chisel and with Gavel we have wrought
To gain “Well Done,” — The Tongue of Good Report.

Masonic Poetry – Br. Rev. Charles Mackey

TUBAL CAIN
From Masonic Bulletin, Des Moines, Iowa, April, 1915

Old Tubal Cain was a man of might,
In the days when earth was young;
By the fierce red light of his furnace bright
The strokes of his hammer rung;
And he lifted high his brawny hand
On the iron glowing clear,
Till the sparks rushed out in scarlet showers,
As he fashioned the sword and spear;
And lie sang, “Hurrah for my handiwork!
Hurrah for the spear and sword!
Hurrah for the hand that shall wield these well,
For lie shall lie king and lord!”

To Tubal Cain came many a one,
As lie wrought by his roaring fire,
And each one prayed for a strong blade,
As the crown of his desire;
And lie made them weapons sharp and strong,
Till they shouted loud for glee
And gave him gifts of pearl and gold,
And spoils of the forest free;
And they sang, “Hurrah for Tubal Cain,
Who hath given us strenght anew!
Hurrah for the smith! Hurrah for the fire!
And hurrah for the metal true!”

But a sudden change came o’er his heart,
Ere the setting of the sun;
And Tubal Cain was filled with pain
For the evil he had done.
He saw that men, with rage and hate,
Made war upon their kind;
That the land was red with the blood they shed,
In their lust for carnage blind;
And he said, “Alas! that ever I made,
Or that skill of mine should plan
The spear and the sword, for men whose joy
Is to slay their fellow man!”

And for many a day old Tubal Cain
Sat brooding o’er his woe,
And his hand forebore to smite the ore,
And his furnace smouldered low.
But he rose at last with a cheerful face
And a bright, courageous eye,
And bared his strong arm for work,
While the quick flames mounted high,
And lie sang, “Hurrah for my handiwork!”
And the red sparks lit the air;
” Not alone for the blade was the bright steel made.”
And he fashioned the first plowshare.

And the men taught wisdom from the past,
In friendship joined their bands,
Hung the sword in the ball, the spear on the wall,
And ploughed the willing lands.
And sang, “Hurrah for Tubal Cain!
Our staunch good friend is he;
And for the ploughshare and the plough,
To him our praise shall be;
But while oppression lifts its bead,
Or a tyrant would be lord,
Though we may thank him for the plough,
We’ll not forget the sword!”

A miter in the Amsterdam Journal of November 3, 1735, of an article on the subject of Freemasonry, which caused an edict from the States General forbidding Masonic gatherings throughout the country (see Thory, Acta Latomorum 11, 306).

The word tow signifies, properly, a line wherewith to draw. Richardson (Dictionary) defines it as  The word is purely Masonic, and in some writings of the early part of the eighteenth century we find the expression cable rope. Prichard so uses it in 1730. The German word for a cable or rope is kabeltauw, and thence our cable tow is probably derived.

In its first inception, the cable tow seems to have been used only as a physical means of controlling the canidate, and such an interpretation is still given in the Entered Apprentice’s Degree. But in the Second and Third Degrees a more modern symbolism has been introduced, and the cable tow is in these grades supposed to symbolize the covenant by which all Freemasons are tied, thus reminding us of the passage in Hosea (xi, 4), “1 drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love.”

Kenning’s Cyclopaedia states that Backhouse reported to be an alchemist and astrologer and that Ashmole called him father. He published a Rosicrucian work, The Wise Man’s Croton, or Rosicrucian Physic, by Eugenius Theodidactus, in 1651at London. John Heydon published a book entitled William Backhouse’s Way to Bliss, but Ashmole claims it in his diary to be his own.

1. The 11th month of the Hebrew civil year and corresponding to the months July and Augustus, beginning with the new moon of the former.
2. It is also a Hebrew word, signifying father, and will be readily recognized by every Freemason as a component part of the name Hiram Abif, which literally means Hiram his father (see Abif).

The Greek wording of Zebulun, the tenth son of Jaeob. Delaunay (Thuileur, page 79) says that some ritualists suppose that this was the true form of the word of which Jabulum is a corruption. This is incorrect. Jabulum is a corrupt form of Giblim. Zabulon has no connection with the advanced Degrees, except that in the Royal Arch he represents one of the stones in the Pectoral or Breastplate.

Born in Westmorland, England, April 17, 1833, died March 20, 1913, and was long identified actively with Freemasonry in Manchaster but connected with Masonic Bodies in all parts of the world. He was initiated on October 25, 1854, in Integrity Lodge No. 189, later No. 163, at twenty-one years of age.

He contributed an article on Military Masons in 1858 to the Freemason’s Magazine and Masonic Mirror. Thereafter he was a frequent writer on Masonic matters to the publications of the Craft. His book, The Arcane Schools: A Review Of Their Origin And Antiquity With A General History Of Freemasonry,  with a general history of Freemasonry and its relation to the theosophic, scientific and philosophic matters, was published in 1909 after some ten years’ labor, as the preface tells us, and is a book of 566 pages dealing with the traces of a speculative system from the ancient days.