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P.G.M. Parvin's Address.
in his lament over Saul , and "tell it not in Gain , publish it not in the treets of Askenon . " Such tales will surely , sooner or later , return to our hurt , as they ever should . It i 3 always the safest course to presume that the audience is quite
as intelligent as ourselves , and likely to be as well informed upon historical topics , whether relating to the history of the world , the church , tho nation , or to Masonry even , as an institution of great age and universal diffusion among men . History of Freemasonry is not one of our mysteries—secrets we truly have , and
"All secrets until they are once known , Are wonderful " Now it is too bad upon these annual occasions , and at homo , to repeat parrot-like such stale legends—no they are not legends even , which are defined to be " doubtful narratives , " for there is no doubt about these stories being falsehoods tending to mislead . How much
more grevious then would be the sin to go to Philidelphia the ensuing year and harrangue the assembled Masons of the world in the language of these legends , fables , myths—falsehoods in plain English , the language of freemen . This is no way to celebrate tho nation ' s jubilee or the Mason ' s part in it ; however humble it may have been . Nor may it be amiss to repeat our previous utterance , that the tests
which enlightened and judicious criticism has applied to the unravelling of the fabulous history of the early nations of tho world have been as successfully applied to the elucidation of Masonic history , and to the separation of tho truth from the fables that have so long led as willing captives so many of our brethren who are fond of the
marvellons . In the light of this evidence , then , we can assure even the enemies of our Order , that Adam and Enoch , and their long line of successors , ante and posdiluvian , are perfectly free from tho sin and odium the antis would attach to the "Morgan killers " of the nineteenth century .
"— 't is true , 't is pity : And pity 't is true , " that even Solomon was no Mason . With all his wisdom , great as it was , he knew no more of the mysteries of Freemasonry than did the beautiful ( of course she wa 3 beautiful ) Queen of Sheba who came from afar to adore his wisdom and tho temple he built , if not to love
his person . Nor is there any evidence , however faint , to prove that either of the St . Johns , tho austere and the lovely followers of all that is good in heaven or on earth , were Masons , beyond the wish that it were so , of the Christian portion of the universal brotherhood . Nor is it true that all the Presidents , from Washington to Grant incluled , were or are Masons . The first was , the last is not . And what would the spirits of those anti-Masons , the elder and younger
Adams , and Van Bnren , and Fillmore , say to the cruel accusation , conld they but wing their way to the earth and throw back tho lie in the faco of their falsifiers . It is true , however—and the truth should be told—that Arnold , tho single traitor of his age and country , was a Mason , as is well attested by the records of his Lodge in Connecticut , his native State . So much the worse , both for the traitor and those who , without evidence or trial , would exclude him from their
associates . But all those sins of commission affect only profano history , whose antiquarious critics havo successfully oxposed and corrected the
errors . Thei'c yet remains the last and the greatest : tho charge that Freemasonry is a Divine institution : that it was wedded to the church , and usurped from it the office of " exponent to the voice of Deity , " and such declarations are worse than heresy—they are blasphemous , and calculated to degrade tho institution in the estimation of every
believer in the Christian religion , and to bring it into just contempt among all honourable men , of whatever name they may be called . Tho institution of Freemasony did not originate among the Jews , nor even in Asia , nor at the time nor under tho circumstances so commonly , by even the moderates , assigned to its origin . It sprang , according to the best evidence attainable , in Europe , and during the
so-called dark or middle ages , and originated with the architects 01 buildors of those times . The oldest Masonic book in existence is not two centuries old , and it would be charitable to add five centuries to the oldest date or record that enlightened or persevering research has yet assigned to anything connected with the origin of the Institution of Freemasonry . And the remotest , even of these dates , fall
far short of the reign of Constantino tho Great , when , as has been represented , Masonry was married to the church . The bones of that great Emperor had crumbled to dust a thousand years before the world , circumscribed to atomic limits , knew of Masonry , or of that famous wedding . When and wherever Masonry did originate , it was the work of
man ' s hand , and although we believe it to bo the oldest , if not tho best of human benevolent and social institutions , it certainly commends itself to the enlightened consideration and unprejudiced judgment of men for what it is , and what it has done , as one of the conservators of human actions . It is not only wholly unnecessary to attempt to trace its origin to the fabulous ages , or what is worse , to
claim for its author atid founder the Creator of the Universe and of man , as all such pretensions only serve to cast ridicule upon tho sill y pretender , if not the institution itself . Nor did it commence its wonderful and universal mission fully developed , as we now find it , as sprang Minerva fnil fledged from Jupiter ' s brain—but it is the growth of ages , and its progress has largely adapted itself to the wants of men as the years have rolled by , notwithstanding the
equally vain boast of some of its followers that it has been and is as unchangeable as were the famed laws of the Medes and Persians . It originated in the wants of man , and was created to meet the demands of an age of transition when old things were beginning to pass away , and a new light began to dawn upon the world , coming forth to a newer and a higher civilization , in which Masonry was to exert , as it as ever proved , a powerful agency for good . Its value is inherent and is made manifest by what it as accomp-
P.G.M. Parvin's Address.
lished for the world as a pre-eminently social , moral , and benevolent institution . Societies in an organized form are a necessity of man ' s existence in a state conducive to his highest development and greatest happiness . And as the world as seon and felt the power and influence of Masonry , so have those who were not of the house , hold of faith organized one and another of the numerous societies of
the day , all offshoots in form and design of the Masonic institution , though modified to meet the particular and peculiar ideas or wants which have called them into existence . Each and all of these , no doubt , are accomplishing good in their way—some general , others local , and we bid them go on and do all the good they can , while we , their older sister or brother—we leave tho determination of the
gender to the grammarians of the future—will heartily bid them rejoice . Freemasonry of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries exists under two distinct forms or rites , the York and Scotch , each having symbolic Masonry of three degrees in common—the York rites of universal diffusion has but the three degrees , while the Scotch hasthirtyin addition . The Scotch rite universally prevails among
the English and the Latin nations of Europe and America . In the United States and Canada , Freemasonry is practised under what is called the "American system , " as such , which was largely manufactured by Thomas Smith Webb , during the closing year of the last century . Under this system , the York rite consists of Lodges , Chapters , Councils and Commanderies—though the Templars
are only Masonic in name . The Royal Arch degree , which is the Chapter in fact , the Council degrees aud the ordors of the Temple are taken largely from the Scotch rite and moulded into the York system . The Royal Aroh and tha Chapter is confined wholly to England , its colonies and the United States , and originated in its English form ( which is quite different from the American ) about the middle of the
last century . The Councils , as separate from the governing bodies of the Scotch rite , are of very recent origin and are the outgrowths of the Chapters designed and perpetuated to gratify the unholy ambition for separate organizations—and are confined wholly to the United States and Canada . The order of tho Temple exists in France whore it originated
about a century ago , and in England an independent form , and in the United States , where it has quasi connection with Masonry under modern nomenclature of the "American System . " Our fathers , a century since , were content with the three degrees of symbolic Masonry , which are universally diffused among men—but their children fell from the state of purity through 'the sin of
ambition , which is older than tho original sin of the most orthodox theologian of the old school—for by it an archangel fell , and men and Masons have inherited the taint , and we of to-day are taxed to keep up tho cumbersome machinery in order to gratify our pride and inherit the honours of official rank . Templars and Royal Arch Masons could accomplish in the Lodge all they do in
the Chapter and Commandery . To-day , as ever , when these several bodies " meet upon the level , " the Templars becomo the " observed of all observers . " There is iu their order a something which we dare not call " fuss and feathers , " in sympathy with our natures which calls forth our admiration , and awakens our interest . It is not its universalit y , for Templarism , as we practise the rite , is
wholly American , and tho Order of the Temple is confined to Eng . laud and France . It is not its antiquity , for it has not reached its centennial anniversary . It is ti-ue , however , with it , as with symbolic Masonry , that pretentious claims of remote antiquity have been advanced—many , even in this State , havo been asked , " Breathes there a Kni ght Mason with soul so dead as not to be
proud of the distinction of being , by adoption , tho successors of Do Molay , the martyred Grand Master , aud the last of the line of the old Templars , which , as such , became extinct A . D . 1314 , or more than live centuries before the modern Order of the Temple had its rise . So it may be humiliating to the pride of the Masou to learn that tho boastful antiquity of the institution has no basis ,
in fact , upon which to stand , and that in the future the historians and anniversary orators must drop off some ten centuries before , and as many sinco the founding of the Christian church , to which it has been claimed our institution was wedded . All this we must do if we would perform our vows of truth , which is the first lesson taught in Masonry , aud the corner stone upon which
Knighthood is erected as a system and an order . Iu future , then , men and brothers and Sir Kni ghts , let us be content to own the truth we profess to revere , and yield a willing allegiance to the spirit of research which is the grand characteristic of the age . The most notable event in the history of modern Masonry is the spirit of enquiry which now animates the intelligent brotherhood .
The labours of such historians and antiquarians as Findel , in Germany , Lyon , in Scotland , and Hughau and Woodford in England , have done much , very much , to remove the rubbish which has so long blinded our way in our efforts to find tho truth . These men have done for Masonic history , what the Niebuhr ' s Masons and other historical inquirers and critics havo done for
profane history , eliminated the truths for the fables and myths of the past ages . Nor is the spirit of free enquiry confined to the few named above . Many Grand Lodges and individuals in this country have been imbued with the spirit which has animated the leaders , resulting in the founding of libraries or collections of books , old aud new , treating of secret societies of the olden times , and of all that
touches symbolism upon which they are founded . In this , our own Grand Lodge of Iowa , with an enli ghtened wisdom , commendable . in itself , and our Grand High Priest and Past Grand Commander , yonr enlightened , enterprising fellow citizen , Sir Robert F . Bower , are noted and conspicuous examples . We need not fear that these
researches will iu the least mililate against the value , utility , or interest of our ancient and honourable Institution . It is old enough to have learned the wisdom of the ages as they have proved , and honourable for the good it has done , and is still capable of doing , if directed with a wise forethought to the demand of the ages , present and to follow . In view , then , of what is hero revealed , we may affirm that Free-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
P.G.M. Parvin's Address.
in his lament over Saul , and "tell it not in Gain , publish it not in the treets of Askenon . " Such tales will surely , sooner or later , return to our hurt , as they ever should . It i 3 always the safest course to presume that the audience is quite
as intelligent as ourselves , and likely to be as well informed upon historical topics , whether relating to the history of the world , the church , tho nation , or to Masonry even , as an institution of great age and universal diffusion among men . History of Freemasonry is not one of our mysteries—secrets we truly have , and
"All secrets until they are once known , Are wonderful " Now it is too bad upon these annual occasions , and at homo , to repeat parrot-like such stale legends—no they are not legends even , which are defined to be " doubtful narratives , " for there is no doubt about these stories being falsehoods tending to mislead . How much
more grevious then would be the sin to go to Philidelphia the ensuing year and harrangue the assembled Masons of the world in the language of these legends , fables , myths—falsehoods in plain English , the language of freemen . This is no way to celebrate tho nation ' s jubilee or the Mason ' s part in it ; however humble it may have been . Nor may it be amiss to repeat our previous utterance , that the tests
which enlightened and judicious criticism has applied to the unravelling of the fabulous history of the early nations of tho world have been as successfully applied to the elucidation of Masonic history , and to the separation of tho truth from the fables that have so long led as willing captives so many of our brethren who are fond of the
marvellons . In the light of this evidence , then , we can assure even the enemies of our Order , that Adam and Enoch , and their long line of successors , ante and posdiluvian , are perfectly free from tho sin and odium the antis would attach to the "Morgan killers " of the nineteenth century .
"— 't is true , 't is pity : And pity 't is true , " that even Solomon was no Mason . With all his wisdom , great as it was , he knew no more of the mysteries of Freemasonry than did the beautiful ( of course she wa 3 beautiful ) Queen of Sheba who came from afar to adore his wisdom and tho temple he built , if not to love
his person . Nor is there any evidence , however faint , to prove that either of the St . Johns , tho austere and the lovely followers of all that is good in heaven or on earth , were Masons , beyond the wish that it were so , of the Christian portion of the universal brotherhood . Nor is it true that all the Presidents , from Washington to Grant incluled , were or are Masons . The first was , the last is not . And what would the spirits of those anti-Masons , the elder and younger
Adams , and Van Bnren , and Fillmore , say to the cruel accusation , conld they but wing their way to the earth and throw back tho lie in the faco of their falsifiers . It is true , however—and the truth should be told—that Arnold , tho single traitor of his age and country , was a Mason , as is well attested by the records of his Lodge in Connecticut , his native State . So much the worse , both for the traitor and those who , without evidence or trial , would exclude him from their
associates . But all those sins of commission affect only profano history , whose antiquarious critics havo successfully oxposed and corrected the
errors . Thei'c yet remains the last and the greatest : tho charge that Freemasonry is a Divine institution : that it was wedded to the church , and usurped from it the office of " exponent to the voice of Deity , " and such declarations are worse than heresy—they are blasphemous , and calculated to degrade tho institution in the estimation of every
believer in the Christian religion , and to bring it into just contempt among all honourable men , of whatever name they may be called . Tho institution of Freemasony did not originate among the Jews , nor even in Asia , nor at the time nor under tho circumstances so commonly , by even the moderates , assigned to its origin . It sprang , according to the best evidence attainable , in Europe , and during the
so-called dark or middle ages , and originated with the architects 01 buildors of those times . The oldest Masonic book in existence is not two centuries old , and it would be charitable to add five centuries to the oldest date or record that enlightened or persevering research has yet assigned to anything connected with the origin of the Institution of Freemasonry . And the remotest , even of these dates , fall
far short of the reign of Constantino tho Great , when , as has been represented , Masonry was married to the church . The bones of that great Emperor had crumbled to dust a thousand years before the world , circumscribed to atomic limits , knew of Masonry , or of that famous wedding . When and wherever Masonry did originate , it was the work of
man ' s hand , and although we believe it to bo the oldest , if not tho best of human benevolent and social institutions , it certainly commends itself to the enlightened consideration and unprejudiced judgment of men for what it is , and what it has done , as one of the conservators of human actions . It is not only wholly unnecessary to attempt to trace its origin to the fabulous ages , or what is worse , to
claim for its author atid founder the Creator of the Universe and of man , as all such pretensions only serve to cast ridicule upon tho sill y pretender , if not the institution itself . Nor did it commence its wonderful and universal mission fully developed , as we now find it , as sprang Minerva fnil fledged from Jupiter ' s brain—but it is the growth of ages , and its progress has largely adapted itself to the wants of men as the years have rolled by , notwithstanding the
equally vain boast of some of its followers that it has been and is as unchangeable as were the famed laws of the Medes and Persians . It originated in the wants of man , and was created to meet the demands of an age of transition when old things were beginning to pass away , and a new light began to dawn upon the world , coming forth to a newer and a higher civilization , in which Masonry was to exert , as it as ever proved , a powerful agency for good . Its value is inherent and is made manifest by what it as accomp-
P.G.M. Parvin's Address.
lished for the world as a pre-eminently social , moral , and benevolent institution . Societies in an organized form are a necessity of man ' s existence in a state conducive to his highest development and greatest happiness . And as the world as seon and felt the power and influence of Masonry , so have those who were not of the house , hold of faith organized one and another of the numerous societies of
the day , all offshoots in form and design of the Masonic institution , though modified to meet the particular and peculiar ideas or wants which have called them into existence . Each and all of these , no doubt , are accomplishing good in their way—some general , others local , and we bid them go on and do all the good they can , while we , their older sister or brother—we leave tho determination of the
gender to the grammarians of the future—will heartily bid them rejoice . Freemasonry of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries exists under two distinct forms or rites , the York and Scotch , each having symbolic Masonry of three degrees in common—the York rites of universal diffusion has but the three degrees , while the Scotch hasthirtyin addition . The Scotch rite universally prevails among
the English and the Latin nations of Europe and America . In the United States and Canada , Freemasonry is practised under what is called the "American system , " as such , which was largely manufactured by Thomas Smith Webb , during the closing year of the last century . Under this system , the York rite consists of Lodges , Chapters , Councils and Commanderies—though the Templars
are only Masonic in name . The Royal Arch degree , which is the Chapter in fact , the Council degrees aud the ordors of the Temple are taken largely from the Scotch rite and moulded into the York system . The Royal Aroh and tha Chapter is confined wholly to England , its colonies and the United States , and originated in its English form ( which is quite different from the American ) about the middle of the
last century . The Councils , as separate from the governing bodies of the Scotch rite , are of very recent origin and are the outgrowths of the Chapters designed and perpetuated to gratify the unholy ambition for separate organizations—and are confined wholly to the United States and Canada . The order of tho Temple exists in France whore it originated
about a century ago , and in England an independent form , and in the United States , where it has quasi connection with Masonry under modern nomenclature of the "American System . " Our fathers , a century since , were content with the three degrees of symbolic Masonry , which are universally diffused among men—but their children fell from the state of purity through 'the sin of
ambition , which is older than tho original sin of the most orthodox theologian of the old school—for by it an archangel fell , and men and Masons have inherited the taint , and we of to-day are taxed to keep up tho cumbersome machinery in order to gratify our pride and inherit the honours of official rank . Templars and Royal Arch Masons could accomplish in the Lodge all they do in
the Chapter and Commandery . To-day , as ever , when these several bodies " meet upon the level , " the Templars becomo the " observed of all observers . " There is iu their order a something which we dare not call " fuss and feathers , " in sympathy with our natures which calls forth our admiration , and awakens our interest . It is not its universalit y , for Templarism , as we practise the rite , is
wholly American , and tho Order of the Temple is confined to Eng . laud and France . It is not its antiquity , for it has not reached its centennial anniversary . It is ti-ue , however , with it , as with symbolic Masonry , that pretentious claims of remote antiquity have been advanced—many , even in this State , havo been asked , " Breathes there a Kni ght Mason with soul so dead as not to be
proud of the distinction of being , by adoption , tho successors of Do Molay , the martyred Grand Master , aud the last of the line of the old Templars , which , as such , became extinct A . D . 1314 , or more than live centuries before the modern Order of the Temple had its rise . So it may be humiliating to the pride of the Masou to learn that tho boastful antiquity of the institution has no basis ,
in fact , upon which to stand , and that in the future the historians and anniversary orators must drop off some ten centuries before , and as many sinco the founding of the Christian church , to which it has been claimed our institution was wedded . All this we must do if we would perform our vows of truth , which is the first lesson taught in Masonry , aud the corner stone upon which
Knighthood is erected as a system and an order . Iu future , then , men and brothers and Sir Kni ghts , let us be content to own the truth we profess to revere , and yield a willing allegiance to the spirit of research which is the grand characteristic of the age . The most notable event in the history of modern Masonry is the spirit of enquiry which now animates the intelligent brotherhood .
The labours of such historians and antiquarians as Findel , in Germany , Lyon , in Scotland , and Hughau and Woodford in England , have done much , very much , to remove the rubbish which has so long blinded our way in our efforts to find tho truth . These men have done for Masonic history , what the Niebuhr ' s Masons and other historical inquirers and critics havo done for
profane history , eliminated the truths for the fables and myths of the past ages . Nor is the spirit of free enquiry confined to the few named above . Many Grand Lodges and individuals in this country have been imbued with the spirit which has animated the leaders , resulting in the founding of libraries or collections of books , old aud new , treating of secret societies of the olden times , and of all that
touches symbolism upon which they are founded . In this , our own Grand Lodge of Iowa , with an enli ghtened wisdom , commendable . in itself , and our Grand High Priest and Past Grand Commander , yonr enlightened , enterprising fellow citizen , Sir Robert F . Bower , are noted and conspicuous examples . We need not fear that these
researches will iu the least mililate against the value , utility , or interest of our ancient and honourable Institution . It is old enough to have learned the wisdom of the ages as they have proved , and honourable for the good it has done , and is still capable of doing , if directed with a wise forethought to the demand of the ages , present and to follow . In view , then , of what is hero revealed , we may affirm that Free-