"The Relation Of St. John The Evangelist To Freemasonry."

" The RELATION of ST . JOHN the EVANGELIST to FREEMASONRY . "

ANSWER BY BRO . CHALMERS I . PATON . ( Concluded from page 51 J There is another historic question , however , of no little importance . Were St . John the Baptist and St . John the Evangelist regarded by

Masons as their patron saints in the times when throughout Europe the worship of saints and a belief in the value of the patronage of saints were all but universal ? This I believe to have been the case , and that from the Freemasons of the

middle ages their successors of our own dayhave derived the use of the names of these saints in the designation of their lodges , and the practice of meeting on their festivals . And this I regard as affording a strong argument against

the notion of the very recent origin of Freemasonry ( the 1717 theory ) , or that—less in vogue at present—which ascribes the invention of the system to Elias Ashmole . How , indeed , can it be accounted for that zealous Protestants ,

in the middle of the seventeenth century or the beginning of the eighteenth , should inweave into a new system of their devising , so much that it might rather have been expected they would have sought to discard ? The truth rather

appears to be that they accepted these things as handed down to them from the past , although only modifying them so as to bring them into accordance with theirown religious opinions . It is not much more easy to imagine Desaguliers and

Anderson introducing the names of St . John the Baptist and St . John the Evangelist into connection with a system originated by themselves , than it would be to regard the Beltane fires and yule logs which were often kindled in Scotland ,

even since the days of the Reformation , as having been introduced by John Knox and his fellowreformers . They were traditions of the ancient Paganism , which Christianity supplanted as to all its beliefs and rites , but not as to all the

customs with which these were once connected , and which lingered to be interesting subjects of study to antiquaries . In like manner , the connection of St . John the Baptist and St . John the Evangelist to Freemasonry must be traced to a

time when their patronage was sought as powerful , although Freemasons who are Protestants reject this belief , and only contemplate their lives as worthy of admiration , their examples as fitted to encourage and incite to the practice of the highest virtues .

But what if we should deem it necessary to come to the conclusion that St . John the Baptist and St . John the Evangelist had no connection with Freemasonry during their lives ; or , which

comes very much to the same thing , if we should find that alleged connection unsustained by any evidence sufficient to give it strong probability , must we therefore cast aside as worthless all idea

of a relation between their names , and our Brotherhood , and remodel our system so far as no longer to take notice of them in any way in our lodges ? By no means . It is to

the honour of Freemasonry that it keeps these names continually in prominence before the Brotherhood , and calls to the imitation of their virtues . It is in this point of view that the existence of a relation between them and

Freemasonry is of real importance , and it is of comparatively little consequence when that relation was established , or when the Freemasons first began to recognise them as their patron saints . To this , therefore , it was that I chiefly directed attention in the article which Bro . Evans lias

thought worthy of so lengthy a criticism . " Thc fact , " says Bro . Evans , " that St . John taught the love doctrine , and inculcated fraternity nearly two thousand years ago , and in a country which , if it knows anything of Freemasonry to-day ,

received it from England , or from some organisation that did receive it from England , is no evidence of his relationship to Freemasonry , which also entertains and is based upon the

principles of fraternity . " I hold a very different opinion : that St . John the Evangelist did in his day much to diffuse what Bro . Evans calls " the love doctrine , " and to promote the recognition of the principle of fraternity amongst men , must

As to " thc story of St . John the Evangelist accepting the Grand Mastership in Freemasonry when he was ninety years old or thereabouts , " whioh Bro . Evans describes as a " long-ago

"The Relation Of St. John The Evangelist To Freemasonry."

surely be deemed sufficient to establish a relation between him md thn ** e whose very bonds of union were lrai-r : i--y . ,: ¦] lov-e , so that they may be expected to regard his memory with special respect , and think of him with a feeling which , if he were now actually present among us , would be fitly designed as love .

The case of Confucius , which Bro . Evans proceeds to introduce for the purpose of sustaining his argument , is by no means a parallel one , although probably , as Bro . Evans says " that Chinese sage taught truths which Freemasons accept , and which may be found exemplified in

Masonic rituals and lectures , " because there is far more argument between the teaching of St . John and that of Freemasonry than between the latter and the teaching of Confucius . It is in vain , therefore , that Bro . Evans asks , with an air of triumph , " What intelligent man or Mason

will pretend that Confucius had any actual relationship , as a person , with Freemasonry ? " His argument fails here also : —First , because such relationship , in the case of Confucius , has never been asserted , whereas in the case of St . John it has ; and , secondly , because it is not chiefly on

the ground of this assertion , which is to be tried by mere historic evidence , that an important relation is regarded as now subsisting between Freemasonry and the name and memory of St . John . I have already commented on Bro . Evan ' s

strong denunciation of all who admit the idea of saints' patronage as unworthy to be reckoned amongst intelligent men . On this subject nothing remains to be said , but that where religious opinions are involved , it behoves all Christians to express themselves with charity even

concerning thosewhose opinions they feel bound most strenuously to oppose . Many an acute and powerful mind has accepted as matters of implicit faith those doctrines of the Church of Rome which Protestants deem equally contrary to reason and Scripture . I do not hold this to

afford any argument , even of the weakest presumptive kind , in favour of their opinions ; but , on the other hand , I cannot , on account of my dislike to their opinions , refuse to acknowledge high and noble qualities which they display . However marvellous the fact may seem in some

of its aspects , there can be no doubt that many intelligent men are to be found amongst Mahommedans , Brahmins , Parsees , & c , & c , and that much ingenuity has been shown by some of them in framing arguments to repel the attacks of Christians upon their various religions .

But Bro . Evan ' s says , " This harping on St . John the Evangelist , Baptist , or Almoner , is evil , and only evil ; as our expression of that sectarianizing influence so rife now in England and America—which every believer in cosmopolitan Freemasonry must deeply mourn the presence of

—with increasing activity within the borders of our Institution . " I am somewhat at a loss to make out the drift of this sentence . Freemasonry is cosmopolitan , indeed , and admits into its membership men of all various religious opinions who profess their belief in God and a future

state ; but are Masonic lodges in a Christian country therefore to put away from them everything which may possibly be construed into a recognition of Christianity ? for to this ancl nothing less it amounts to stigmatise as sectarianizing the reference to names such as those

which Bro . Evans has specified . The Bible is always to be seen on the altar of a lodge ; must this also be given up so that we may appear as men of no religion ? And what then would remain to remind ourselves in all our meetings , and to show forth to all who behold us in public solemnities the great first principles of religion ,

which are essential to true Freemasonry whereever it may exist upon the earth . On similar grounds , to be thoroughly unsectarian—in the sense in which I am afraid I must regard Bro . Evans as employing tlie word " sectarianizing " —it would he necessary for us to cease from appointing Chaplains , and to cease from hallowing our meetings and our works by prayer .

"The Relation Of St. John The Evangelist To Freemasonry."

exploded fable and baseless legend , " he does not seem to have duly observed that I only mention it as a story which has been related by ancient and eminent Masonic authority . It seemed that my article would have been incomplete without some reference to it . Bro . Evans

says that , by narrating this story as I have done , I have conferred upon him the right to challenge me , " in the interests of archeology itself , and of the readers of THE FREEMASON also , " to give in the columns of THE FREEMASON the name of that ancientand eminent Masonic authority . He saves

me the trouble , however , of answering his challenge , although made with such flourish of trumpets , by the words which he himself employ when , he designates it a " long-ago exploded fable and baseless legend . " He does not seem to be aware that he thus admits all that

I have stated , unless it be that the Masonic authority from which it is derived is eminent . Bro . Evans may satisfy himself on this point by pursuing his own investigations a little , or I will do so , if he shows what right he has to assail me as if I were purposely or wantonly endeavouring to mislead the readers of THE FREEMASON on

this subject . That the story has been related is certain enough ; upon what authority it ultimately rests I would be as glad as any of your readers to ascertain ; and perhaps some help would be afforded to this through the previous researches of others , if Bro . Evans were to state how long ago it was exploded , and by whom .

As the name of St . John the Almoner may not be familiar to some of the readers of THE FREEMASON , perhaps it may be proper to mention that he was Patriarch of Alexandria in the beginning of the seventh centuty . He was raised to the patriarchate in A . D . , when he was

upwards of fifty years of age , and held that high ecclesiastical office till his death in A . D . 619 . He was particularly distinguished for his charity to the poor , denying himself , not only the luxuries , but even the ordinary comforts of life in order to relieve their necessities .

Encyclopedia Metropolitana.

ENCYCLOPEDIA METROPOLITANA .

BY BRO . C . G . FORSYTH . ( Concluded from page $ - ¦) The first legal enactment which we find is an old one of 34 of Edward III . c . 9 . that has any bearing with regard to Masons , wherein it is

declared that all alliances and covins of masons and carpenters , and congregations , chapters , ordinances , and oaths between them made shall be void . In the twenty-third year of that reign there was a great pestilence , and in consequence

of which the first Statute of Labourers was passed ( 23 of Edward III ., followed by 25 th Edward , st . 1 ., cap . 4 ) , there being a scarcity of servants of all descriptions from the mortality that had taken place among them and those

that survived endeavoured to get excessive wages ; those forbidden meeting were probably thought to have for their object in part a monopoly of trade and combination for keeping up the price of labour . This was supposed to be

the case also in 1425 , when the Act of 3 Henry VI ., c . 1 . was passed , as the preamble states , that by the congregations and confederacies made by Masons in their general assemblies the good course and effect of the Statute of

Labourers was openly violated and broken , wherefore , "Chapiters and congregacyons shall be punyshed as felons , and other Masons commynge to the same shal be imprysoned , and make fyne and ransome at the Kynge's wyll . "

This statute , however , does not seem to have been acted on , and Henry VI . is said to have heen himself initiated when he came to manhood . Wherever Freemasons are mentioned in any of the statutes or ordinances respecting wages , they

arc classed with the highest rates , and in some instances higher than any other artificiers . Leaving St . Alban altogether out ofthe question

( who , according to the manuscript before-mentioned , allowed the Masons 3 s . 6 d . per week ) , 011 c of the earliest statements respecting their wages appears in a roll of expenses of King