Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

Multum in Parbo , or Masonic Notes and Queries .

In reply to the query of W . M ., in last week ' s FREEMASON , I beg to refer him to your own issue of October 30 th , 186 9 , wherein is given the full particulars of the initiation of H . I . H . THE PRINCE DEMETRIUS RHODOCANAKIS in the Saint

Andrew's Lodge , No . 48 , Edinburgh . The Mons . Demetrius Rodocanachi , or rather Demetrius Stamati Rodocanachi , was initiated in the Sefton Lodge , No . 680 , Liverpool , in the year 1859 , just ten years before the Prince's entrance into the Brotherhood , and , we believe , is now a 33 ° of France , and a resident of Galatz . P . M .

WHAT IS TO " HELE , " ETC . ? I have no doubt that many , like myself , have noticed how frequently an initiate is perplexed when called upon to pronounce the word hele , in one part of the ceremony through which he is

passed . He generally exhibits hesitation before he utters it , and then pronounces it as if he were not sure that he has caught the word aright . His perplexity is sometimes increased by tlie W . M . pronouncing the word as if written hail !

or hale—a pronunciation which some are ready to defend . I doubt not that you agree with me in deeming it very desirable , not only that our ritual should be correctly recited , but that it should be well understood—that the meaning

of every phrase and of every word should be thoroughly apprehended ; and this should be especially so in our obligations . Now , I do not think this is the case in relation to tlie word in question . What does the verb hele really

mean ? I dismiss the words hail and hale as being wholly out of the question . I believe the only Anglo-Saxon word so pronounced is hail , which we spell hale—healthy , sound , robust , & c . ; or when used as a salutation , spelt in English ,

hail , implying , probably , a good wish , as welcome ! or , as we sometimes say , " all right . " A hail-fellow is a companion—a good fellow . But neither of these words can have reference to secrecy , or concealment . Is not , then , the word

we should use , the old Saxon word hele , from he / an , to cover ? From this same word we get our hell , which signifies a covered or hidden place , and answers to tlie Hebrew sheol and the Greek Hades , both translated hell in our Bibles ,

although it is plain , in almost every place in which the word is used , that it simply means the unseen or hidden place in which departed spirits are kept , and not a place of punishment , which tlie word is now used to denote . Thus the psalmist

says ( Ps . cxxxix ., 8 ) , " If I make my bed in hell , thou art there . " If hele be the word we should use , and the meaning is to cover , I see why our Outer Guard is called a Tyler—his duty being to cover , that is , to hide or conceal , the

entrance to the lodge . This word to cover is often thus used to signify to protect , to guard , as a shield is said to cover or guard the body ; as also to hide , conceal , ox put out of sight . So Job says , " If I cover my transgressions , as Adam ;"

that is , if , like Adam , I try to conceal my transgressions . In like manner , the psalmist says , " If I say darkness shall cover me , " which is immediately explained by " The darkness hidelh not from Thee . " Thus , the Tyler covers , conceals ,

or protects the door of the lodge . Down to the present day , I believe , the meaning of the old word is retained in Cornwall , where tylers or tilers arc called hcllyers , or coverers , because they cover-in the roof of the house . But ,

then , why have we , " hele , conceal , and never reveal ? " Some say these are mere synonymes , heaped on one another to render the obligation more impressive . I do not think so—firstly , because an accumulation of words tends to

weaken a sentence rather than to give it strength or emphasis ; and secondly , because the construction of the sentence will not justify that assumption . " Hele , conceal , or never reveal " might do so , but "hele , conceal , and never

reveal" certainly will not . The conjunctive conjunction denotes that to revealis something in addition to what goes before . Why , then , are the three ' words used ? What is the difference in their meaning ? Will this do ?—

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

1 . Hele , to cover or hide ; that is , never to permit certain things to be seen . 2 . Conceal , to be so cautious in our words that even the most astute or quick-witted stranger shall never be able to discern or discover what

is not proper to be made known . 3 . Never reveal , to abstain from making known , in any way , what is entrusted to us as Masons . These * suggestions are offered with all

deference , and in the hope of eliciting something on the subject from some of our erudite brethren . I am obliged by Bro . Hughan ' s promise to say something on the word cowan , as I am also to Bro . Buchan for his reference to the

Freemasons' Magazine , although the reference is useless to me , as I have not access to it . I do not think we can derive the word , as Bro . Walford thinks we may , from the Hebrew cohen . WILLIAM CARPENTER .

BRO . YARKER AND THE A . AND A . RITE . As a general rule , I think it undesirable to prolong newspaper controversies , because they tend to degenerate into mere personal repartees , or into wranglings about what each writer is

supposed to have said , or really did say . In the present case , however , as a great moral principle is at stake , I trust you will permit me a few words of comment upon Bro . Yarker's communication in your issue of the nth inst . I ask my

brother Masons to read my letters side by side with his ; and I promise that this shall be the last with which I will intrude upon you , at least on the present aspect of the question . Bro . Yarker says , that " A very difficult point

in Masonry is raised " by the fact that " without any preparation beforehand the most solemn O . B . are dictated . " Now , I utterly deny that there is any difficulty in the point at all—at least , to a straightforward

mind . We , to forward some purpose of our own , voluntarily put ourselves in a position , in which we are perfectly well aware , that an unknown O . B . awaits us . Under these circumstances , any man of honour or right feeling is bound to adhere to his sacred promise , even though he

should , at some future tune , see cause to regret that he made it . Bro . Yarker prefaced his first communication to you with a text of scripture . Let me quote another passage , which is at least equally appropriate to the subject under discussion : — " He that sweareth to his own hurt ,

and changed , not , shall never fall . Bro . Yarker says that I " admit" my " inability to defend " the A . and A . Rite " on its own merits . " This is simply untrue . No word of my first letter can bear such a construction .

When the present matter of principle lias been settled , then I am perfectly willing to enter upon the further question of the comparative merits and de-merits of a professedly hereditary Governing Body in connection with any Masonic

Institution ; but that which we , as Freemasons , want to attain is Light and Truth . This can only be done by the calm discussion of ascertained facts , and general principles ; and the introduction of personal grievances and private insinuations renders such discussion impossible . Nor will I ,

for one , take part in any controversy in which these weapons are allowed . Bro . Yarker asks how I , as " a Christian clergyman , under sacred vows , " can conscientiously belong to a degree like the 30 , " which stinks in the nostrils of the rigidly orthodox . "

The " sacred vows '" which a clergyman takes , are to be found in the " Ordination Service , " and can be read hy all who choose to consult that service . I am aware of nothing in those vows which can deter any clergyman from joining any

degree of Christian or Philosophical Masonry . As to the opinion of the " rigidly orthodox , " let me say , once and for all , that such a phrase as this is well enough for bigots , or inquisitors , to hold over the heads of those whom they wish to terrify into submission ; but it could not be

used by any man whose sole desire is either to acquire , or to impart , truth . If Bro . Yarker seriously wishes to raise the question whether any Christian man can conscientiously join the 30 , let him say so , and I , as a member of that degree , see no reason why

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

the question cannot be discussed publicly , without revealing one jot or tittle of the secrets of the degree . I will only further remark that if in the 30 there be anything really " unchris tian " in principle , it must be equally so to the laymen and to the cleric .

P . H . NEWNHAM , Frome , Vauchurch Rectory , Dorchester .

THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED RITE . Bro . Frank M . Pixley , Grand Orator of Grand Chapter of California , thus addressed the Grand Lodge , Oct . 12 , 1869 : — " The ancient Craft Masonry consists of three

degrees—the Entered Apprentice , the Fellow-Craft , and the Master Mason . These , with the appendage of the Royal Arch , form a system complete in all its parts This is the true Masonic Institution ; and what is beyond

this in the way of fancy degrees , Scottish rites , modern French rites , and all the various systems of modern origin , are new and ornamental only Among them are to be found Provosts and Judges , Illustrious Elects of

Fifteen , & c , & c , & c , Sovereign Grand Inspectors-General , all which is simply Masonry run crazy . None of these new-fangled systems , rites , and titles have ought to do with Masonry as practised by those early brethren whose lives

were the embodiment of the highest lessons of Masonic wisdom , the impersonation of temperance , courage , self-sacrifice , heroic suffering for conscience's sake—the very types of a simple , holy , earnest life . Well has a standard writer upon

Masonry remarked , that , when titles such as Sovereign Prince , Sovereign Grand Commander , Thrice Puissant Grand Master , & c , appear in

the public prints , they are only calculated to make the vulgar stare , and with the right-feeling , sensible Mason—aman of the world—excites only derision and contempt . " HISTORICUS .

THE APEX -49 ° = 81 ° . A very serious mistake occurs in THE FREEMASON of the 16 th ult , in which it is affirmed that " there are only three holders of the Apex in the world , who exist by the succession of

triplicate warrants from Frederick the Great , " and that the symbols ofthe degree are a " Cord and Dagger . " Now , brethren should not be precipitate in their revelations on the subject of this climax of

our Grand Historico-Masonic mysteries , for I am in a position to assert , most emphatically , that the warrants in question were not promulgated by Frederick the Great , and that the three socalled Apexes were , in fact , no other than the

three sponsors of the ONE SUPREME APEX , whose very style proclaims his crowning and solitary grandeur , and tlie succession of whose high office comes by an Act of Grace on the part of the existing Apex , who , under circumstances of the

greatest solemnity , and himself strictly veiled , transmits to his successor ( if practicable , in the presence of one or more of the Sponsors ) the rituals of all other orders ( some of which are scarcely known in England ) , contained in an

antique leaden casket cased in cedar of Libanus ( or Lebanon ) . By this means tlie Apex-elect is , if of one of the lo-vcr degrees ( but in no case under that of P . M . ) under a peculiar dispensation put in possession of the working of all the others .

True enough , the Cord and Dagger are the symbols of the Sponsors , but not of the one unapproachable Apex , for he has seven ( hence the con-fraternity known in tlie East as the '

Sathhac , seven brothers ) , but which failed under a secret suspension of the then ( 1845 ) Sublime Climax Apex , who , at that period , happened to be on one of his tours of secret inspection in India .

From the nature of tlie oflice of Grand Climax Apex , 8 i ° , it has been a time-immemorial law that his name should never be divulged nor his actual identity known to any hut a Sponsor . Sometimes it happens , where Apex dies in any

remote locality , his successor cannot be known to the Sponsors , but the latter can always identify the true Apex by the seven symbols which lead to tlie leaden casket that crowns the mystic edifice , and which , with reverence , I venture to