The American Ritual.

•with the Square and Compasses , tho furniture of tho Lodge . " Bro . Robbins evidently gives the above from memory , and therefore requires a slight correction . The fact is , in 1 S 71 , Bro . Hughan and I had a friendly controversy in tho

Freemason about the Bible in tho Lodge , when I showed , from Anderson ' s Constitutions of 1738 , that tho Grand Lodge of England was opened in 1730 , "in due form , " without the Bible , & c , being placed on the pedestal ; and in a ritual to which I referred there were neither mentioned

great lights nor lesser lights ; thus , three lights were explained to refer to tho Sun , tho Master , and the Square ; then fhei-e were two other lights , " one to see to go in , and the other to see work . " but the Bible was not mentioned at

all . However , in a ritual of 1730 , I found tho Bible , Square and Compasses designated as the furniture of the Lodge , and this fact was afterwards confirmed , by no less an authority than Dr . Mackey . In his Masonic Cylopaedia , printed in 1874 ( Article " Bible , " pp 114 and 115 ) , he says :

The history of Masonic symbolism of the Bible is interesting . It is referred to in the manuscripts , before the Revival , as the book upon which the covenant was taken , but it was never referred to as a great light . In the oldest ritual that we have , which is that , of 1724—a copy

of which , from the Roval Library of Berlin , is given in Krause , there is no mention of the Biblo as one of the lights ( nor is the Bible mentioned at all ) . Preston made

it a part of the furniture of the Lodge ; but in a ritual of about 1760 it is described as one of the great lights . In the American system the Bible is both a piece of furniture and a great light . "

Mackey was wrong in ascribing to Preston the designation of the Bible as being part of tho furniture of the Lodge , for it was so designated before Preston was born ; and I will add , though the pre-1717 Mnsons obligated their

candidates on a " Book , " an old ritual clearly proves that the Masons , after the Revival , discontinued even the use of a book for that purpose , but obligated their candidates merely upon the Square .

Bro . Robbins further states , " We do not know at what time all the symbols now used in Masonry were introduced lDto the system , but we do know that some of them have been added since the system became what Bro . Bromwell

recognized as Symbolic Masonry . " And he goes on to show that the parallel lines and ladder were introduced in 1780 ( more probably soon after 1770 ) , and that the monument of Hiram was the work of Jeremy L . Cross , in 1819 . *

Now , there is no doubt whatever that Thomas Smith Webb was the originator of all the un-English symbols and notions enumerated above , together with et ceteras , save and except that of Hiram ' s monument , and the " lion of the tribe of Judah . " The former I unearthed in 1873 , but the

latter I dug up within a week . The fact is , Webb's ritual was not Christianized enough , and Cross—who was originally a disciple of Webb , and promulgated Webb ' s lectures , and sold Webb ' s Monitor for some years , —at last thought proper to tinker Webb ' s ritual ; so , in 1819 , he

published a small book , with forty pages of engravings , and made improvements , of course , in the various explanations of the symbols , among which he improved Webb ' s illustration of Weal's symbol , viz , the scythe . In this illustration , Cross interlarded something about Christian or

Christian Mason , together with " the lion of the Tribe of Judah ; " thus , for the first time in the history of that lion , since the days of the patriarch Jacob , our lion was Masonized by Bro . Cross . It seems , however , that Cross put the lion not quite in the right place , and either himself

or some other genius afterwards removed the lion to the centre of the ceremony of the third degree . But this removal did not take place all at once . In several rituals which I consulted , of about or near 1830 , I found but

a fragment of the lion in the ceremony of raising in the third degree , viz ., the lion ' s paiv ; thus the grip is variously called , " The strong grip of a Master Mason , " " the Master ' s grip or lion ' s paw , " " the strong grip or

The American Ritual.

lion ' s paw , " and " the lion ' s grip . " These very variations indicate that the "lion paw" was a recent notion , and tho precise wording of the sentence was still unsettled . But in 1842 , when I first visited a Boston Lodge , not only tho whoh lion of the tribe of Judah was

displayed at the raising ceremony , but the lion ' s paw from the older ritual was also retained , and so it remains unto this day . Now , with these facts before me , I must come to tho conclusion that Bro . Jeremy L . Cross was the veri - table father of tho American Masonic " Lion of the tribe of Judah . "

Bro . Robbins very justly calls attention to the fact that twenty years ago , when Bro . Bromwell wrote his oration , the results of recent researches and investigations were unknown to him . The only " new departure " known at that time was Steinbrenner ' s " Origin of Masonry , " in which the

origin of our Freemasonry is traced to the builders of the Middle Ages . It is not at all improbable that Bro . Bromwell read that book , and felt a shock somewhat similar to that of tho Hindu , when the microscope convinced him that he could not take a drink of water without destroying

animal life . Every American Grand Master of twenty years ago was at least a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight Templar ; and it is probable that Bro . Bromwell was a Scotch Riter too . His knowledge of Masonic history and literature was exclusively derived from the writings of

Oliver , Mackey , Moore , and the rituals of the degrees he had learned . Steinbrenner ' s theory destroyed his long cherished belief in the antiquity of Masonry . But he thought that it would not do to give it up so . Hence , he reasoned that the symbols in the American

ritual were a strong argument in favour of disconnecting onr Freemasonry with the Freemasonry of the building associations of the Middle Ages . It is possible also that he may not even have seen Steinbrenner ' s work at all . But be this as it may , Bro . Bromwell was certainly right in his conclusion that the mediffival builders did not trouble

themselves in their Lodges with pots of incense , Noah ' s Ark , parallel lines , & c . But he made a slight mistake . For , instead of imputing the invention of the symbols to English , French , and American Masonic degree manufacturers , and ritual tinkers , who flourished between 1717

and his own time , he ascribed the perfection and completion of the American ritual to imaginary philosophers , who were members of a Lodge more than eighteen hundred years before his time , which Lodge is denominated in the American ritual , " The Lodge of the Holy St . John at Jerusalem . "

I shall only add that , as long as false legends and ridiculous phrases are retained in the ritual , Masonic knaves , and Masonic fools , will continue in our midst to argue and fight against common sense , and historic facts .

The Weak Point In Masonic Lodges.

THE WEAK POINT IN MASONIC LODGES .

AN examination of the roll of Lodges , as shown by the Grand Lodge reports in all of the older States where Grand Lodges have been in existence for a large number

of years , discloses the fact that they have upon their rolls a great many vacant numbers . Every vacant number represents a defunct Lodge whose charter has been cancelled . A history of these Lodges would show that most of

them were once in a prosperous condition ; that they had live , working Masons in them , and that they stood well in comparison with the other Lodges now on the roll . Why these charters have been taken up and these Lodges

gone out of existence , is an important question for consideration by the Lodges that survive them , and especially by new Lodges , many of which have been organised

to take their places . Every succeeding Grand Lodge annual report exhibits new vacancies on its roll of Lodges , and so it will go on from year to year unless the errors that caused their failure can be eradicated .

Success in any enterprise in which men engage depends very largely upon good management , and conducting its affairs upon correct business principles . Failures seldom occur where this rule is observed . If they do occur , in such

cases it must be from a lack of the elements of success m the enterprise itself , or from some cause that was not foreseen , or some accident that could not be avoided . A Masonic Lodge has nothing of this sort to contend with .