St. John's Day. Why We Masons Celebrate It.

Mr . ( afterwards Sir ) Christopher Wren and John Webb , his Wardens . " This assertion is unsupported by any valued authority , except Boberts ' s 1722 edition of the "Constitutions of Freemasonry . " A part of the statement we feel confident

is incorrect . Sir Christopher Wren was not made a Mason before 1691 , so that he could not have been a Senior G . Warden in 1663 . We set no especial value on this reference to a Masonic observance of St . John ' s Day . At all events it occurred subsequent to the Scottish observance of 1559 .

The next Masonic reference , in order of time , is to St . John the Baptist ' s Bay , 24 th June . Both of the Sts . John ' s Days have beeu observed for at least several centuries by Freemasons . Tbe Grand Lodge of England was " revived " on St . John the Baptist ' s Day , 24 th June ,

1717 : and the brethren sat down to their Feast annuall y on that day until 1727 , when they substituted for it St . John the Evangelist ' s Day , 27 th December . The former is often called " Summer St . John ' s Day , " and

the latter " Winter St . John ' s Day , " and Ancient Craft Masonry has been sometimes styled " St . John ' s Masonry , " because of the prominence of the two "Holy Sts . John " as patron saints of the Craft .

St . John the Evangelist ' s Day was Masonically observed in 1726 by the " Grand Lodge of all England , " at York , by " a speech delivered to the Worshipfnl and Ancient Society of Free and Ancient Masons by the

Junior Grand Warden . " This speech may be read in full in Bro . Hughan ' s " Masonic Sketches and Beprints " ( New York , 1871 ) . This is the earliest Grand Lodge address on St . John ' s Day , of which a complete record and report remains .

We may here allude to two references to St . John , carved in stone . One is on the ruined walls of Melrose

Abbey , which was erected by the Mediteval Operative Masous , wbo bave been proven to be our Masonic ancestors . The carving embodies a prayer , and reads as follows : And : sweet : St : John : keep : this : holy : kirk : fra : skaith : " " I : pray : to : God : and : Mary : baith :

" Thus early , " says Bro . Fort , " St . John appears to have been a patron saint of Operative Masons . " And in this connection he notices the fact that Bishop Henry , an architect as well as an ecclesiastic , when he erected the Wurzburg Cathedral , in the Eleventh century , dedicated it

to " Saint John , " and erected in front of it two " symbolic columns , " which stand isolated , supporting no superstructure , being distant from the main wall , and by the side of a Gothic portal . Bro . Fort says : " There is every reason to believe that these columns were raised with a

typical design by that Master Mason , " ( See Fort's Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry ) . The Masonic observance of the Sts . John ' s Days is not confined to the Scotch , English and American Craft , but extends also to that on the Continent of Europe . Bro Findel says of St . John the Baptist's Day :

" This day is celebrated by all German Lodges , as the day of the anniversary of the Society of Freemasons . It is the high-noon of the year , the day of light and of roses , and it ought to be celebrated everywhere . " ( Findel's History of Freemasonry . ) The Festival of St . John the Baptist was kept by the

Grand Lodge of Scotland until 1737 , when the annual election was changed to St . Andrew ' s Day . The Grand Lodge of England practically now holds its annual Festival on St . George ' s Day . Both of these customs are departures from primitive practice ; Masonry , has so far , been

sacrificed to patriotism . In Pennsylvania , for many years ( until about 1816 ) the subordinate Lodges elected their Masters twice a-year ; one term of service beginning on St . John the Baptist ' s Day , and the other on St . John the Evangelist ' s Day . Thus were both of these days em

phasised and utilised . In England , we believe , since the union of the two Grand Lodges in 1813 , Lodges are no longer dedicated to the Saints John , but only to " God and His service . " This also was a departure from previous practice , doubtless made in order to avoid the appearance

of sectarianism , but such exclusion of the Saints John was nnwise , being a departure from long-established Masonic custom . These great names have been for too many

centuries authoratively connected with Freemasonry to be thus cast aside . This action was probably in accordance with the " new day , new duty" theory , which we do not recognise as ever justifiable . We have commemorated the

St. John's Day. Why We Masons Celebrate It.

Saints John for at least three hundred years , so that they are , so to speak , now a part of the " body of Masonry . " Let no one among us dare to attempt to dismember Masonry by following so bad a precedent as that occasionally adopted abroad .

Having thus stated and substantiated our opinion of the observance of the Sts . John's Days in Freemasonry , we will next consider the ORIGIN of tbe Sts . John's Days . As our readers are aware , traditionally Freemasonry antedates tho Christian era , and therefore the period in which the Sts .

John lived . If our traditions be true , the Craft observed festival days before those saints were born . Our readers are aware of the frequent references to the SUN in Masonry . Now it is quite a remarkable coincidence , tbat has been noted by Masonic writers , that the sun enters the zodiacal

sign " Cancer , " just before St . John the Baptist's Day , and " Capricorn " just before St . John the Evangelist's Day , when we have , respectively , the longest and shortest days in the year . Freemasonry being so full of symbolic allusions to the sun , it is not surprising that its festivals should

have been observed at the two important heliacal periods , 24 th June and 27 th December ; and it was quite natural , when the vast majority of Masons had become Christians , that they should have continued to observe their original festival seasons under the designation of the two Sts . John .

St . John the Evangelist , especially , as the "Apostle of the mysteries , " the Grand Hierophant of the religion up to whicb it seemed to them their own religion , that of Judaism , naturally led , and into which it merged , was regarded as worthy of all honour and praise .

Perbaps we should now be prepared to answer tbe question , Were the Holy Saints John , or either of them , Masons ? But we are not . We have no historic information on the subject . Nothing but tradition . We do know that both of these " patron saints " were standard

bearers of TRUTH , and heralds of good news to the world . St . John the Baptist ' s career was meteoric , illuminating darkness with Light . St . John the Evangelist was undoubtedly a mystic , a hierophant of the mysteries of the

everliving God , and champion of a Love that was faithful and boundless—just such sincere Love and Charity as Masonry teaches and practises . The Saints John were good men and true in fact , if not in Masonry , and our traditions lead us to believe that they were Freemasons .

Some brethren are exceedingly specific m their Masonic allusions to tho Saints John , so that one might infer that they had a special revelation on the subject . For example : Bro . John Beach , in 1856 , said : " The most excellent Masonic authority , our ancient worthy brother and Past

Master , St . John the Evangelist , tells us that ' God is Love . ' " ( Morris's Gode of Masonic Law , Louisville , 1856 ) . Such allusions are a mistake . They assert too much , and thus weaken , and even tend to destroy , one ' s belief in the Masonic tradition on the subject .

We answer the question , Why do we celebrate St . John the Evangelist's Day ? by saying , Because Freemasons for three centuries have observed it , as we learn from our Lodge records ; and that it was observed in like manner

during many prior centuries we are informed by Masonic tradition . We deeply revere the cbaracters of both St . John the Baptist and St . John the Evangelist , and we trust the day will never dawn when the Craft shall cease to honour their names and commemorate their festivals .

Keystone . We are pleased to find that that valuable publication , the Civil Service Candidate , whose appearance in the field of journalism we recently noted , is apparently making such progress that there is every chance of its becoming ere

long a necessity with the class to whose needs it so ably ministers . We would especially draw attention to a very able article on " The Growth of Competition for Appointments in the Civil Service , " which was brought to a conclusion last week , as well as to an important feature which has

just been introduced , namely , a list of Text Books on the subjects of Civil Service Examinations . This list , so far as it goes , appears to contain most of the works which have been found serviceable by candidates for this class of appointment .

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