Freemasonry In Tennessee.

FREEMASONRY IN TENNESSEE .

Every now and then we lay before our readers some mere or less detailed account of the proceedings of one of the older Grand Lodges in the United States , New York , for instance , or Pennsylvania , Massachusetts , & c , and of the condition of tha Craft within its jurisdiction . But the space at our disposal is too limited to permit of our furnishing sketches , as we should

gladly do , of Freemasonry in other Statesof the Union , in which ithashad fewer opportunities of development , or has been established for a shorter period . Yet there is hardly a Grand Lodge under the Stars and Stripes from which we may not occasionally derive some useful lessons , and whose proceedings we may not study with greater or less interest . The Grand Lodge of

Tennessee is one of those which may be said to occupy a midway position between those which derive their existence from the lodges that were set up in the old British North American Colonies prior to the stirring days of the great American War of Independence , and those which have been established in more recent times . It held its Sist

annual communication in Nashville , on the 30 th January of the current year and the two following days , so that its constitution must date from the year 1814 , or shortly after the union of the " Ancient " and " Modern " Societies of Freemasons in this country . Yet in the interval that has elapsed the progress of the Craft within its jurisdiction , though by no means

characterised by exceptional rapidity , has been on a very considerable scale . The number of lodges on its roll was reported at this communication to be 428 , while the number of subscribing members was returned as 17 , 931 . Its receipts during the past year were just a trifle short of 20 , 000 dollars (^ 40110 ) , raising the total of its general fund to about 35 , 800 dollars ( £ 7 160 ) , while

the disbursements , including 3500 dollars to the Masonic Home , exceeded 29 500 dollars ( £ 5900 ) . It has its Masonic Charity or Home , the total of the subscriptions to which since its organisation is , in round figures , 42 , 000 dollars , nearly the whole of which had been disbursed when the latest accounts were compiled , though the Grand Lodge subscriptions for

1895 and the donations and subscriptions which have been promised by lodges and individual brethren are said to amount to a goodly sum . The number of those who are in receipt of the benefits of the Home are 71 , and there are some 40 applicants awaiting admission as vacancies occur , or as the state of the funds will allow of additions being made to the

establishment . These particulars , for which we are indebted to a review of the proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee , which is published in the April number of our worthy contemporary , the Voice of Masonry bear out what we have said as to the steady and substantial progress which Freemasonry has made in this State during the Si years that have elapsed since its

establishment . As for the work done during the past year , and the manner in which the affairs of the Craft are regulated and directed , what general information we have been able to glean is eminently satisfactory . The Grand Master , in readingan account ol his labours during 1 S 94 , reported among other matters the formation of five new lodges by dispensation , the constitution of seven lodges

the laying of nine cornerstones by proxy , and the dedication of the Masonic Home . He spoke in terms of the warmest commendation of the result of establishing the system now in vogue of supervising lodge work and lectures by means of certain officers known as Custodians ol the Work and Lectures and by the District Lecturers . Owing to the praiseworthy diligence of the

brethren appointed to these offices , every lodge and set of officers is visited in each year , with the result that the duties of the lodge are discharged in a manner very closely approximating to perfection . Nor was the benefit due to this system limited to this , for the visitations made by these officers had led to an increased degree of

interest and activity among the members . "Due culture of lodges /' remarks the Grand Master , " pays an increase of interest , in better attendance of members and payment of dues , in the gaining of new members , and in belter knowledge and practice of Masonry . " Seeing how great were the advantages to the brethren derived from these arrangements , it is not

surprising to find that " regulations contemplating still greater efficiency were proposed by the Custodians of the Work and adopted by the Grand Lodge . " Other matters of interest appear to have received their due share of attention from the Grand Master during his term of office , and , as the brethren generally appear to be animated by an earnest desire to make further

progress in the study of Masonry , we doubt not that future Grand Masters will find themselves in a condition to report as favourably of the condition of the Craft as Bro . HENRY A . CIIA . MHKRS , who occupied the chair of the Gr ; nd Lodge during the year 1894 , and was succeeded , in January last , by Bro . GEORGE H . MORGAN , of Ccoksville , the present head of Masonry in this well-ordered jurisdiction .

The Secrets Of Freemasonry.

THE SECRETS OF FREEMASONRY .

PAI ' ER READ RY WOR . BRO . CATT . J . H . LESLIE , D . G . J . W . PUN . IAII , AT TIIE COMMUNICATION OF THE DISTRICT GRAND LODGE OF THE PUN . IAII ON 27 TH DECEMBER , 1 S 94 . Right Worshipful Dis ' rict Grand Master and Brethren—When you reflect what Freemasonry really is , you will at once perceive that it is not

every educated man or cultivated mind whicli is so constituted as to be able to appreciate the beauties of its imagery . How much less then is an imperfectly educated man , or a mind of a lower order likely to appreciate

it ? The characters and attainments of men should be considered before they are admitted , or even proposed , as Freemasons . The Constitutions speak distinctly on the point , and Masonic writers of all times have noli ed how great an injury has b : en done to the Craft by negiect in this matter . We

The Secrets Of Freemasonry.

must aim at a high standard , and it Iks with all Freemasons to try to attain that standard . The mnjorlty of uncultivated minds demand , require , or are satisfied with , a lower state cf things than most civilised minds require , and the lowered requirement inevitabl y leads to a general debasement of ideas and a grosser standard of thought . That this has occurred in Freemasonry

by indiscriminate admission of members is certain . By this in the past , the shadow has been mistaken for the substance , pure ideal emblems have been treated as ^ though they were a fetish-like power . Even our lectures have not been understood , or , if understood , not properly appreciated , and are thus un instructive . And so it has come to pass that the highest Masonic principles produce no inspiration , and have no vivifying influence on many members .

The training contemplated in our ritual shows that this was , ages ago , foreseen as a possible calamity ; and the preparation by the chisel of education for a h'gher perception of duty i . s thus insisted on as tutoring the mind , before the beauty of the imagery of Freemasonry is acquired . Without this appreciation , the Mason cannot pass beyond a grovelling performance of ceremony , with no higher intelligence than marks the performance of a parrot , or that of an animal in a circus .

It is a lamentable , yet an undoubted fact , that there are many thousands of men who style themselves Freemasons , who , because Freemasonry allows anyone to enter its communion who practises morality and believes in the existence of an Architect of the Universe , because , I say , Freemasonry , allows them to enter its institution with this elementary qualification ,

apparently believe , and do not hesitate to state that Freemasonry itself is narrowly confined to a belief in a Deity and the practice of morality . In other words , despite that they know that Masonry is asserted to be a progressive science , they assume that the dark state in which they enter our Institution is never lightened by Masonic teaching , but that Freemasonry

will allow them to remain in the condition in which they first entered it ; that we are supplied with the rough ashlar and never render it a more perfect stone . What can be more monstrous than this ? What can be the use of Freemasonry , and what sincere and honest man can remain in it if this is all 1 The object of Freemasonry is to raise its members above the

elementary condition which was required at their entrance . Does any Institution act in this manner ? Does any Academy , College , or University , which requires certain qualifications in candidates , before admitting them to the benefits of the Institution , content itself by allowing the ! newly-created members to remain with no further enlightenment than that which they

possessed before they joined ? It is open to every Freemason , as it is open to any secular or theological student , to instruct himself . But , if he will not do so , he must be instructed . The first principles and the original conception of Freemasonry must bj forced upon his understanding . We know what the neglect of the first principles has led to .

I beg that I may not bs understood as meaning that the monopoly of appreciation , or refinement of ideas lies with any particular social class . 1 should be no Mason did I say or think so . The Operative Masons who first saw how admirable an emblem could be evolved from the application of the uses of Masonic tools to the morals of mankind , an . I who saw that the

emblematic use of the building of a material temple could be applied with an exquisite fitness to the building of a spiritual temple in the jninds and hearts of all , were surely not deficient in their appreciation of the beauty of allegory . The Mason who now fails to grasp that Freemasonry is but an allegory illustrated by various symbols is still in the condition he was in when

he first entered a lodge in an emblematic state of darkness . He has not yet received that light he once stated he yearned for , and as is stated in one of our lectures he still possesses the shackled , contaminated , and unenlightened mind of the slave ; not the mind of the man who , has loosened himself from the shackles of vice and superstition , with his soul properly

free to take wing to the boundless and unexplored expanse above . By progressive study in Freemasonry , many of the anomalies he has imagined to exist will disappear , and the Institution will stand out before him as a powerful engine for the regeneration of mankind . It is from a sense of the imperfect knowledge which exists of

Freemasonry that we ought to insist so forcibly on the necessity for instruction in lodges . Not only instruction by means of the lectures , which are to be found in any book of ritual , although these of course are primarily important , but also by the delivery of addresses , or lectures , by any brother who

is competent on matters relating to Freemasonry . Ihe lectures to some extent explain our symbolism , and lodges of instruction are most useful in securing regularity of working and the consequent preservation of allegory and symbols in their orig ' nal state of purity . Any alteration of either must render a real comprehension of Freemisonry . impossible . Many of our

allegories and symbols would be utterly incomprehensible , if they were even but slightly altered , so tha : a correct working in lodge is , as I have said , primarily essential , and no change of words , even if they apparently convey the same sense as the original ones , should be allowed . Wilh correct

working , the comprehension of Freemasonry becomes comparatively easy , but before it cm be entirely comprehended , or its principles and object fully grasped , a correct knowledge of its history is required . In France , as ) OU are probably aware , the principles of Frecmasenry have been so entirely lost that the Institution is no > v purely a secular bslie .

The Master of a lodge , and in his absence the Wardens , are responsible for the instiuction of the brethren and members : and Article 183 of u' >

Constitutions particularly emphasises tins . The secrets and objects of Freemasonry are lo be found in the ritual ol every Digrtc , ar . d com ist in good being done to ourselves and others . The object is the seciet . The necessity for a society which should hold up a light in dark places has been felt in all ages , and , advanced and enlig htened as the world now is , I believe Freemasonry would still be a brig ht lig ht ,