STOP!
Don't be deceived!

Learn the facts about
Freemasons!

Click below for
More Secrets Revealed

The History of Freemasonry

by Albert Gallatin Mackey

Chapter 50 - The General Grand Chapter of the United States

AS the system of Royal Arch Masonry which is practiced in the United States of America is really indebted to the organization of the General Grand Chapter for its existence and popularity, no history of that body could be complete without some account of the Masonic life of Thomas Smith Webb, who was the founder of both the system and the General Grand Chapter.

I shall therefore precede the history of the origin of the General Grand Chapter by a brief sketch of the Masonic services of that distinguished ritualist. (1)

Thomas Smith Webb was the son of English parents who had emigrated to this country a few years before his birth, and settled at Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, where he was born, on October 13, 1771.

Having received an elementary education in the public schools, he was bound as an apprentice to the art of printing, or perhaps of book-binding. There is some uncertainty about this question, but the testimony preponderates in favor of the former. It is, however, not material as, in after life, he did not pursue either calling.

Having soon after removed to Keene, in New Hampshire, he there married, and about the year 1792 was initiated in the primary degrees of Freemasonry.

Subsequently he removed to Albany in New York. It is probable that he there received the higher degrees, as we find him, while residing there, engaged in the establishment of a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons and a Commandery of Templars. We may also suppose

(1) In "Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry" will be found a copious memoir of Webb, from which, as the creation of my own pen, I have not hesitated to borrow the materials and indeed much of the language of the present sketch.

that while living in Albany he became acquainted with the Ineffable degrees of which Albany was an early seat.

It was about this time that Webb commenced his career as a Masonic ritualist and teacher. In 1797 he published the first edition of his Freemasons' Monitor, or Illustrations of Masonry. (1) In the Preface to this work he acknowledges his indebtedness to Preston for the observations on the first three degrees. But he states in his Preface that he has made an arrangement of the lectures which differs from that of Preston, because the latter's distribution of the sections is not "agreeable to the present mode of working." (2) If other proof were wanting this would be enough to show that the "Prestonian work," as it has been called, differed from that then practiced in the United States, and ought to be an answer to those who at a later period have attempted to claim an identity between the ritual and lectures of Webb and those of Preston.

About 1801 he removed to Providence, R. I., and commenced the manufacture of wall-paper on an extensive scale. But he did not abandon his labors in the field of Speculative Masonry. By invitation he became a member of St. John's Lodge number 2, of Providence. He passed through the various grades of office and was elected in 1813 Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island.

His labors in the constitution of a Grand, and afterward a General Grand Chapter, will be hereafter referred to.

While continuing his interest in the manufacture in which he was engaged he did not neglect his Masonic labors, but in 1816 visited the Western part of the United States and appeared to have been actively employed in the organization of Chapters and Encampments.

He died at Cleveland, O., where he was on a visit on July 6, 1819, and was buried with Masonic honors. The body was subsequently disinterred and carried to Providence, where it was reinterred by the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island.

(1) This edition is very rare. The title-page, in a copy now lying before me, is as follows: "The Freemasons Monitor; or Illustrations of Masonry: in two Parts. By a Royal Arch Mason, K. T. - K, of M. - &c., &c. Printed at Albany, for Spencer and Webb, Market street, 1797," p. 284. (2) "The observations upon the first three degrees are principally taken from Preston's 'Illustrations of Masonry,' with some necessary alterations. Mr. Preston's distribution of the first lecture into six, the second into four, and the third into twelve sections, not being agreeable to the present mode of working, they are arranged in this work according to the general practice First edition. Preface.

As to Webb's Masonic character and services, I see no reason to say otherwise than what I have already said on a former occasion.

His influence over the Freemasons of this country is to be ascribed almost wholly to his personal communication with them and to his oral teachings. He has made no mark in Masonic literature of any importance. His labors and his reputation as an author are confined to a single work, and that one of but little pretension. It is, indeed, only a meager syllabus of his Lectures. He seems, though the author of a Masonic system now universally practiced in the United States, to have been but very inadequately imbued with the true philosophical spirit of symbolism. He was an able workman of the ritual which he had invented, and an effective teachers and to this he owed his popularity. The deficiencies of his system are to be regretted, but Webb undoubtedly deserves commendation for his devotion and perseverance in the establishment or a system of ritualism which has been productive of such abundant fruit.

The Freemasons of America have generally attributed to him the invention of the preliminary degrees of the Chapter. But of this fact we have no satisfactory evidence, while there is much to the contrary. It has been seen in a preceding chapter that the Mark and Past degrees, as well as the Most Excellent, though probably under a different name, had been conferred in Chapters before Webb had been exalted in Albany to the Royal Arch.

But what Webb really did, was to change the rituals of these degrees and to give to them the form which is now universally adopted in the Chapters of this country. For instance, the Mark Master's and the Most Excellent Master's songs, which now constitute essential parts of the working of those degrees, and are indispensably connected with their most important ceremonies, were composed by him and first published in his FreeMason's Monitor. They could therefore have been introduced into the work only after his composition of them.

In short, Webb can be deemed the founder of what is now called the "American Rite" only in so far that he modified the degrees which had previously existed, and gave to them not only a new and improved form, but established them in a legitimate sequence which has ever since been recognized by the constituted authorities.

Previous to his teaching, there was no regularity in the management of the preliminary degrees. In some Chapters they were conferred as preparatory to the Royal Arch; in others they were omitted, and the Royal Arch immediately followed the Third degree. For the permanent regularity now existing, we are certainly indebted to Thomas Smith Webb.

With this brief sketch of the Masonic life of this popular ritualist, we are now prepared to direct our attention to that portion of his labors which were especially given to the establishment of Royal Arch Masonry on a plan peculiar to this country.

The supplement of the Master's degree, which had been introduced by the Seceders into the English system, about the middle of the last century, was not long after imported into this country. This importation has been generally attributed to the military lodges which worked under the regime of the Atholl Grand Lodge, and which had received, at the time of their constitution, the instructions and the privileges of the Royal Arch.

It has been seen that the first American Chapter was instituted at Philadelphia in 1758, and that the degree had been received from an English military lodge, at that time stationed in that city.

At a somewhat later period in the century the Royal Arch degree was conferred in many lodges in the United States, under a Master's Warrant. This custom continued for several years to be observed in the Southern States, where distinct Chapters were unknown until the 19th century.

But in the Northern States, the control of the Royal Arch was assumed by independent Chapters at an earlier period.

From the records of the General Grand Chapter it appears that St. Andrew's Chapter was instituted at Boston, in 1769; King Cyrus Chapter at Newburyport, Mass., in 1790; Providence Chapter at Providence, R. I., in 1793; Solomon Chapter at Derby, Conn., in 1794; Franklin Chapter at Norwich, another of the same name at New Haven, Conn., and Hudson Chapter at Hudson, N. Y., in 1796. (1)

Temple Chapter at Albany, N. Y., is mentioned in the Proceedings of a convention held in 1797, and was probably instituted at an earlier period.

On October 24, 1797, a convention of Royal Arch Masons was held in Boston, for the purpose of forming a Grand Chapter.

At this convention delegates from three Chapters were present:

(1) "Compendium of Proceedings of the General Grand Chapter from 1797 to 1856," p. 8.

St. Andrew's, of Boston; Temple, of Albany, and King Cyrus, of Newburyport.

This convention, probably in consequence of the small number of Chapters represented, did no more than issue a circular addressed to the various Chapters in the Northern States, recommending a future meeting to be held at Hartford.

In this circular the delegates at Boston enunciated the principle which has since been universally accepted as the law of Royal Arch Masonry in the United States; namely, that "no Grand Lodge of Master Masons can claim or exercise authority over any convention or Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, nor can any Chapter, although of standing immemorial, exercise the authority of a Grand Chapter.'' (1)

On January 24, 1798, a convention of delegates from seven Chapters assembled at Hartford, in the State of Connecticut.

At this convention the following Chapters were represented: St. Andrew's, of Boston; King Cyrus, of Newburyport; Providence, of Providence; Solomon, of Derby; Franklin, of Norwich; Franklin, of New Haven; and Hudson, of Hudson.

The States represented were, therefore, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York.

It was then unanimously resolved that the delegates should establish a Grand Chapter for the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, and New York, to be denominated " The Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the Northern States of America." (2)

On the next day, delegates from Temple and from Horeb Chapter, both of New York, presented their credentials. These nine Chapters then proceeded to the organization of a Grand Chapter.

On January 26, 1798, a constitution was adopted and immediately afterward the officers were elected.

The preamble to this constitution ordains and establishes the body as "The Grand Royal Arch Chapter for the Northern States of America," a title under which jurisdiction was assumed over the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, and New York.

In each of these States there was to be under the jurisdiction of the Grand Chapter a Deputy Grand Chapter, over which a Deputy

(1) "Compendium of Proceedings," p. 6. (2) Ibid., p. 9

Grand High-Priest was to preside, assisted by a Deputy Grand King and a Deputy Grand Scribe.

The Grand Chapter was to be composed of its officers elected for the time, of the Past Grand High-Priests, Kings, and Scribes, and of the first three officers of the Deputy Grand Chapters.

The Deputy Grand Chapters were to be composed of the elected officers, of the Past Deputy Grand High-Priests, Kings, and Scribes, and of the High-Priests, Kings, and Scribes of the subordinate Chapters.

The Grand Chapter was to meet biennially and the Deputy Grand Chapters annually, and the first meeting of the former body was to be held at Middletown, Conn., on the following September.

In this Constitution the nomenclature and precedency of the Capitular degrees, which had hitherto been somewhat unsettled, was finally determined, so that the names and order of sequence should remain forever thereafter as they were then established.

This arrangement has ever since remained unchanged and makes the Mark Master, Past Master, and Most Excellent Master essentially preliminary degrees, to be followed by the Royal Arch degree as the consummation of the system.

This constitution gave to the Grand Chapter an exclusive power to hear and determine all controversies between Chapters within its jurisdiction, and an appellate jurisdiction over all the proceedings of the Deputy Grand Chapters.

As far as regards the States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York, which States were represented in the convention, the Constitution was definitely adopted. But the Chapters in Vermont and New Hampshire, not having sent delegates, a committee was appointed to solicit their concurrence in the organization.

The convention then proceeded to the first election on the newly adopted constitution, which resulted in the following choice of officers:

Ephraim Kirby, of Connecticut, Grand High-Priest; Benjamin Hurd, Jr., of Massachusetts, Grand King; Thomas Smith Webb, of New York, Grand Scribe; William Woart, of Massachusetts, Grand Secretary; Rev. Abraham Lynsen Clarke, of Rhode Island, Grand Chaplain; Stephen Titus Hosmer, of Connecticut, Grand Treasurer, and Gurdon Lathrop, of Connecticut, Grand Marshal.

It will be seen that the meeting here described was only that of a convention to take the preliminary steps for the organization of a Grand Chapter. The first meeting of the "Grand Chapter of the Northern States," after that organization, was holden on October 19, 1798, at the city of Middletown in Connecticut. The object of the meeting, as expressed in the Proceedings, was "for the choice of officers." Although these had already been elected, at the meeting of the convention in January preceding, that election was not by the Grand Chapter, which was at that time inchoate, and could hardly have been considered as regular. It was therefore legalized by the subsequent action on October 1, 1798, which was in fact the first meeting of the Grand Chapter.

"Agreeably to the Constitution," says the compendium, "the Grand Chapter proceeded to the choice of officers, when on sorting and counting the votes the old officers were all declared reselected." (1)

No other business was transacted, and the Grand Chapter adjourned to hold its second meeting on the second Wednesday of January, 1799, at Providence, in the State of Rhode Island.

The Grand Chapter accordingly convened at Providence on January 9, 1799, when the representatives of the Deputy Grand Chapters of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York were present.

At this Convocation some important changes in the regulations were made, and the constitution was revised.

The title of the Grand Chapter was altered to that of the "General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons for the six Northern States of America," and its meetings were changed from a biennial to a septennial period. The Deputy Grand Chapters were in future to be styled "State Grand Chapters." The powers of the General Grand Chapter were much abridged. The section giving it appellate jurisdiction over the State Grand Chapters was omitted from the new Constitution, and has never again been re-asserted. Its powers were confined to a control of the ritual and to the establishment of Chapters in States where there were no Grand Chapters. It continued, however, to maintain the prerogative of defining the powers and functions of State Grand Chapters. This prerogative has never been denied, and the law of Royal Arch Masonry, as it now exists and has ever since the close of the last century existed in this country, is dependent on the Constitution of the General Grand Chapter.

(1) "Compendium of Proceedings," p. 18.

Thus, the internal regulations of the State Grand Chapters and their subordinates are all directed by this Constitution. It prescribed the method of granting charters, the number of petitioners, the fee to be paid, the titles of the officers, the time of election, the price of the degrees, and the rule for receiving candidates, with several other points, all of which have always been implicitly obeyed.

In a word, the Constitution of the General Grand Chapter has been received as, in some sort, the common law of Royal Arch Masonry in this country. This law, derived from and formulated by that body, has universally been accepted, and it is admitted that it cannot be repealed or rescinded in any of its parts by any inferior body.

If the General Grand Chapter had accomplished no other good result by its organization, this alone would furnish a sufficient defense of its institution, and an answer to those discontented spirits who from time to time have sought for its dissolution.

The third convocation was holden at Middletown, Conn., on January 9, 1806. Representatives from only four States were present. The Constitution was again revised, and some important changes were made. Hitherto the General Chapter had claimed jurisdiction over only the six Northern States. But it now sought to extend its territorial limits over the whole country and assumed the more pretentious title of "The General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons for the United States of America." This title it has ever since retained.

An oath of allegiance was also for the first time prepared, and every officer of a lodge or Chapter under the jurisdiction of the General Body was required, on assuming office, to swear that he would support and maintain the General Grand Royal Arch Constitution.

The exclusive right of issuing charters to subordinate Chapters, in States where there were Grand Chapters, was conferred by this constitution on those bodies, while the General Grand Chapter reserved to itself the right of issuing warrants for Chapters which were to be established in States where no Grand Chapters existed.

The next septennial convocation of the General Grand Chapter should have taken place in 1813. But at that time the United States were engaged in a war with Great Britain, and the situation of the country incidental to such a cause was such as to prevent the General Grand Chapter from convening.

A special session was called in 1816 at the city of New York. But no business of any especial importance was transacted, except the admission of the Grand Chapter of Maryland and the District of Columbia, under a provision which permitted it to confer the degrees of Royal and Select Master as preliminary to the Royal Arch. This permission has always been refused to other Grand Chapters, as being in positive contradiction of the terms of the constitution, which recognizes only three preparatory degrees in the Chapter. In the subsequent history of the General Grand Chapter this too liberal action has been found to be productive of some trouble.

Indeed, in the very inception of this proceeding there was an evident irregularity. The Grand Chapter of Maryland proposed to enter the Union of the Grand Chapters and to support the Consti tution of the General Grand Chapter, but "requests that it shall not be forced to alter its mode of working."

This was reported to the General Grand Chapter by the Committee of conference, which recommended the admission of the Grand Chapter of Maryland, "under a consideration of all the circumstances," which of course must have referred to its request to continue its peculiar mode of working. The terms of the report were agreed to by the Maryland delegates, and accepted by the General Grand Chapter, which immediately afterward resolved that the Grand Chapter of Maryland and the District of Columbia be admitted under its jurisdiction, "subject to the Constitution and Regulations of the said General Grand Chapter."

It is very difficult to discover the real meaning and result of this action. The acceptance of the report permitted the Maryland body to confer its two additional preliminary degrees. The adoption of the subsequent resolution prohibited it from so doing, because the Constitution to which it was made subject as a condition of admission, recognized only three preliminary degrees, and excluded the two conferred in Maryland.

The Maryland companions selected the explanation which was most agreeable to their own views. They entered the Union of Grand Chapters, and continued, for a time, to confer the Royal and Select Master's degrees as preliminary to exaltation to the Royal Arch. Subsequently they dropped the Council Degrees and confined themselves to the usual four degrees.

In 1829 the General Grand Chapter recommended that these degrees, which have always been under the control of independent organizations, known as Grand Councils, should be conferred in Royal Arch Chapters, but in 1853 it retraced its steps and declared that the Mark, Past, and Most Excellent Master were the only captular degrees, thus returning to the original arrangement of Webb.

In 1870 another attempt was made by several of the Grand Chapters to get the two degrees of Royal and Select Master incorporated as preparatory steps in the Capitular system, but it did not succeed, and most probably never will.

According to adjournment another session of the General Grand Chapter was holden inthe city of New York on September 9, 1819. No business of great importance was transacted and it was ordered that the next convocation should be held at the city of Washington in February, 1823. No such meeting was held.

The sixth session of the General Grand Chapter was holden at the city of New York on September 14, 1826, which was the regular septennial convocation. The Grand Chapters were largely represented, delegates from no less than fifteen of them being present.

The Constitution was again revised, and among other amendments the word "triennial" was substituted for "septennial," so that the Convocations were thenceforth to be holden every three years. This regulation has ever since been continued.

Probably the most important event that occurred at this meeting was an attempt made to dissolve the General Grand Chapter. This was the first effort at a suicidal policy which has since been several times repeated, but always without success.

The attack was made by the Grand Chapter of Kentucky, which presented a memorial, copies of which had previously been transmitted to the different Grand Chapters with the hope that they would unite in the action.

In this memorial the Grand Chapter of Kentucky set forth at great length its reasons for desiring a dissolution of the organization. They are the same arguments which have since been advanced at different times.

The objections urged against the General Grand Chapter were its nationality, the danger of its usurping the functions and destroying the sovereignty of the State Grand Chapters, the existence in it of life members, whose voice and numbers might become more potential than the votes of the elected delegates who would soon be in a minority, and, finally, the great expense of supporting such an organization.

But the arguments, plausible as they might have appeared, had no weight with the Grand Chapters, nearly all of which expressed their opposition to any such movement. When the question was submitted to the convocation, only two votes, those of the delegates from Kentucky, were found in its favor. Every other officer and member voted against a dissolution.

It is "passing strange" that an institution whose utility has been proved by ample experience, should ever have met with opposition to its existence. We have already seen that to it we are indebted for that common and universal law, which has done so much good in the establishment of an organized system.

When we remember the discordant condition of Royal Arch Masonry at the close of the last century, when the number of the degrees, their names and the order of their sequence, which varied in every State and sometimes even in adjacent Chapters, when there was no positive and generally recognized principles of Masonic law, and no authority to which to appeal for the settlement of controversies in ritual or in custom, and when we view the uniformity which now prevails in all parts of the country, which is undoubtedly owing to the weight and influence of the General Grand Chapter as a well- organized head, it can not be denied that all American Royal Arch Masons owe a debt of gratitude to the founders of that institution which thus wisely brought order out of chaos.

It is not worth while to extend this history beyond the period at which we have arrived. From the year 1826 the General Grand Chapter, now placed on a stable foundation, has continued to meet triennially at different cities of the United States. There has been but one interruption to this continuity. In 1862 a civil war then dividing the country into two hostile sections so that there was a military impossibility for the convocation to be held at the appointed place, which was Memphis in Tennessee, the General Grand High Priest, Albert G. Mackey, suspended the meeting until the restoration of peace, and by his proclamation the session was held at Columbus, O., in 1865. The session lasted but one day, when it adjourned to meet in the same place and on the next day in a new triennial session.

Its jurisdiction now extends over the whole of the United States, embracing all the Grand Chapters except those of Pennsylvania and Virginia, which have never entered into the confederation, and Texas, which withdrew during the war, 1861 - 65, and has never reunited.

The following list of all the Presiding officers of the body since its organization will be of interest as an historical document. It will be seen to embrace the names of some who have been distinguished in Freemasonry or in political life:

1798, EPHRAIM KIRBY, of Connecticut. 1799, EPHRAIM KIRBY. 1806, BENJAMIN HURD, of Massachusetts 1816, DEWITT CLINTON, of New York. 1819, DEWITT CLINTON. 1826, DEWITT CLINTON. 1829, EDWARD LIVINGSTON, of Louisiana 1832, EDWARD LIVINGSTON. 1835, Rev. PAUL DEAN, of Massachusetts 1838, Rev. PAUL DEAN. 1841, Rev. PAUL DEAN. 1844, Rev. PAUL DEAN. 1847, ROBERT P. DUNLAP, of Maine. 1850, ROBERT P. DUNLAP 1853, ROBERT P. DUNLAP. 1856, CHARLES GILMAN, of Maryland. 1859, ALBERT G. MACKEY, of South Carolina. 1865, JOHN L. LEWIS, of New York. 1868, JAMES M. AUSTIN, of New York 1871, JOSIAH H. DRUMMOND, of Maine 1874, ELBERT H. ENGLISH, of Arkansas. 1877, JOHN FRIZZELL, of Tennessee. 1880, ROBERT F. BOWER of Iowa. 1883, ALFRED F. CHAPMAN, of Massachusetts. 1886, NOBLE D. LARNER, of District of Columbia. 1889, DAVID F. DAY, of New York. 1891, JOSEPH P. HORNOR, of Louisiana. 1894, GEORGE L. MCCAHAN, of Maryland. 1897, REUBEN C. LEMMON, of Ohio. 1900, JAMES W. TAYLOR, of Georgia. 1903, ARTHUR G. POLLARD, of Massachusetts. 1906, JOSEPH E. DYAS, of Illinois. 1909, NATHAN KINGSLEY, of Minnesota.

REPRINT

In Deo Fiducia Nostra.

Or .'. of Washington, June 24th, 1881.

THE GRAND COMMANDER OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL FOR THE SOUTHERN JURISDICTION OF THE UNITED STATES:

To the Free-Masons of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite throughout this Jurisdiction

DEAR BRETHREN: Sickness and old age have brought the ending of his days to the Dean of the Supreme Council, its Secretary-General, Brother ALBERT GALLATIN MACKEY, Born at Charleston, in South Carolina, on the 12th of March, 1807, made a Mason there, it is said, in the year 1831, he became a member of the Supreme Council and Secretary General in 1844, and continued to be both until his death, at Fortress Monroe, in Virginia, on the 20th of June, 1881.

The Masonic Text-books written by him for the Symbolic Lodge, the Chapter of Royal Arch, and the Council of Royal and Select Masters, his Treatises on Masonic Jurisprudence, on Parliamentary Law as applied in Masonry, and on Symbolism, his Lexicon and Encyclopaedia of Free-Masonry, and the Masonic Periodicals at different times edited by him, have made his name as an Author widely and well known in this and in other countries. He stood, indeed, at the head, facile princeps, of all the Masonic writers of the world. A ripe scholar and an accomplished writer as well as an educated physician, he would have won even a larger fame in other and wider fields of literature.

Bro.'. Mackey was Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of South Carolina for many years, a Commander of Templars, Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of the State, and General Grand High Priest of the General Grand Chapter of the United States. In the Sessions of 1856 and 1859 of that Body, he was especially prominent in debate. In our Supreme Council, in 1870, he was elected Lieutenant Grand Commander, and declined, preferring to continue to be Grand Secretary. The Symbolic Masonry, above all, is his debtor, because most of his works were written for the use of the Masons of the Blue Degrees; and he intended to render it further service, if he had lived, by exploding some of the fictions that have been imposed upon Masons for history and truth.

Bro.'. Mackey had lived all his iife among gentlemen, and had the manners and habits of a gentleman. Tall, erect, of spare but vigorous frame, his somewhat harsh but striking features were replete with intelligence and amiability; he conversed well, and was liked as a genial and companionable man, of a cheerful, tolerant and kindly nature, who if he had quarrels with individuals, had none with the world. Idolized by his wife and children, he loved them devotedly, and suffered intensely when, one after another, his two intelligent and amiable daughters died. He had many friends, and made enemies, as men of strong will and positive convictions will always surely do. He plotted no harm against any one, and sought no revenge, even when he did not forgive, not being of a forgiving race, for he was a McGregor, having kinship with Rob Roy.

Masonry will not soon lose as great a man, and she may well put dust upon her head and wear sackcloth in her Lodges, where, in Masonry, his heart always was.

Of course, as he grew old, he had his crosses and troubles, and fortune was not kind to him. Adversity may be profitable; but the world goes too hardly with too many of us; and Sallust truly says:

'In luctu argue miseries mortem arumnarum requtem, non cruciatum, esse:'

'In grief and sorrows, death is a rest from troubles, and not a misfortune.

A great man hath fallen in Israel; and, in the words of Pushmataha the Chahta Chief, it is like the falling of a huge oak in the woods The fall will be heard afar off, and the sound be re-echoed from many and far-off lands.

Upon the reading of this letter in the Bodies of our Obedience, the altars and working-tools will be draped in black, and the Brethren will wear the proper badge of mourning during the space of sixty days. And may our Father Which is in Heaven have you always in His holy keeping!

Albert Pike 33d, Grand Commander.

Supreme Council, 33d, A.'. A.'. S.'. Rite, For the Northern Masonio Jurisdiction of the U.S. ORIENT, BOSTON, MASS

Offiice of the the M.'. P.'. Sov.'. Gr.'. Commander, Milwaukee, Wis., July 10th, 1881.

The M.'. P.'. Sovereign Grand Commander, to all Free Masons of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of the obedience of the said Supreme Council.

Sorrow ! Sorrow ! Sorrow !

BRETHREN:

With profound sorrow I announce to you the decease of our Illustrious Brother ALBERT GALLATIN MACKEY of the A.'.A.'.Scottish Rite of the Southern Masonic Jurisdiction of the U. S. He died at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, on the 20th of June, 1881. Bro.'. MACKEY was born at Charleston, South Carolina, on the 12th of March, 1807. and had long since passed the allotted span of three score years and ten.

For a full half century he had been an active, zealous Mason, always laboring where his work was most needed, to elevate and dignify Masonry and enlarge the sphere of its usefulness. During his long and active masonic career he honored many exalted official stations, the duties of all of which he discharged with signal fidelity. He was for many years Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of South Carolina, "a Commander of Templars, Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of the State and General Grand High Priest of the General Grand Chapter of the United States."

In the Ancient Accepted Rite he was the Dean of the Supreme Council of the Southern Masonic Jurisdiction, and at the time of his decease and for many years prior thereto, the Grand Secretary General of our sister Supreme Council. A ripe scholar and an accomplished writer, his taste naturally led him to enter the literary field of the craft, in which his labors were of immeasurable value to the Great Brotherhood he loved so well. The various works he prepared and published, and without which no masonic library is complete, have rendered his name a household word among the fraternity everywhere, and constitute a fitting monument of his love for masonry and his patient and intelligent labor in its behalf. After a long and useful life he has been called to rest, his departure leaving a void to be filled - when ? by whom ? Others may indeed extend and enlarge the work he commenced, but it was he who laid the foundation, and first reared the superstructure. In addition to the various text books prepared by him for the use of Lodges and Chapters, and his other works of a more general character, the Fraternity are more indebted to him than to any other one man for its present admirable system of masonic jurisprudence. When such a man falls, it is meet that his brethren, who alone can appreciate his entire worth, should deplore his loss.

While we tender our sincere sympathy to our Brethren of the Southern Jurisdiction, who were more immediately connected with our deceased Brother, we also feel the loss we have all sustained, and mingle our tears with theirs.

Let these letters be read in all the Bodies of our obedience at the first meeting thereof held after its receipt, and let the altars and working tools be draped with the usual badge of mourning for the space of sixty days.

Given at the Grand Orient, the day and year aforesaid.

REPRINT

ROYAL ORDER OF SCOTLAND IN CRUCE STAT SECURUS AMOR

Washington, 24 June, 1881, A. O. 568.

The Brethren of the Provincial Grand Lodge of the United States will already have learned that their Brother, the Senior Provincial Grand Wardens SIR ALBERT GALLATIN MACKEY, closed his eyes upon this world, and his life here ended, at seven of the clock on the morning of the 20th day of this month of June. Worn and wasted by age and disease, he fell into unconsciousness a little while before he died, and his life passed painlessly away, as when one falls asleep.

He was Forn at Charleston, in South Carolina, on the 12th of March, 1807, and so was an old man. Made a Mason in 1831, he had laboured in Masonry during half a century, and the works of his brain, published for the use of Masonic Bodies and for the instruction of the Brethren, are known to all reading Masons at home, and to many abroad By them he will be long remembered. He was a man of mark, who toiled in the Masonic field assiduously, an accomplished writer and impressive speaker, and one who made many friends, a genial and companionable man, whose death a host of Masons will regret.

I invite the Brethren of the Provincial Grand Lodge to wear with me the badge of mourning of the Order, on account of the death of this Veteran Brother and Knight, during the space of thirty days from the receipt of this letter.

Morte detur aliquando otium Quiesque fessis.

ALBERT PIKE PROV'L GRAND MASTER

THE HISTORY OF THE INTRODUCTION AND PROGRESS OF FREEMASONRY IN THE UNITED STATES

THE HISTORY OF THE SYMBOLS OF FREEMASONRY

AND THE

HISTORY OF THE A.'. A.'. SCOTTISH RITE

WlLLIAM R. SINGLETON, 33D

PART THREE THE HISTORY OF THE INTRODUCTION AND PROGRESS OF FREEMASONRY IN THE UNITED STATES

SALUTATORY

THE death of Dr. Albert Gallatin Mackey, June 21, 1881, prevented the completion of his great work on the "History of Freemasonry." The preceding chapters, ending on page 1302, were all written by him, and, as he had contemplated continuing his labors until the whole history of the Masonic Orders and Degrees should have been completed, his publishers have complimented the present writer by selecting him to do, imperfectly as it will appear, what so able a writer as Dr. Mackey would have done, had his life been spared a little longer. Dr. Mackey's long and useful career as a Masonic savant and writer had endeared him to all Masonic students over the wide world of Masonry. Wherever the English language is spoken may be found the Masonic works of our distinguished brother. In the conclusion of the admirable "Historical Sketch of the Order of Knights Templar," by Theodore S. Gourdin, of Charleston, S. C., 1855, he says: "The history of our Order remains yet to be writs ten. It can not be attempted by an American, alone and unaided. in fact, it can not be written at all in this country; for we have not the materials. But this great work can and ought to be undertaken by the Templars of the United States. . . . Let them select a Brother, who, from his great learning and his thorough knowledge of the principal modern languages, as well as the dead, is fully qualified for the work. I know but two brethren in the United States who are qualified to execute the work proposed: Bro. Albert G. Mackey, of Charleston, S. C.; and Bro. William S. Rockwell, of Milledgeville, Ga."

We thus see that, at as early a date as 1855, Bro. Mackey shared, with that other eminent and distinguished Brother, Rockwell, the highest reputation for scholarship among all the Masons of the United States. He then continues: "Then would a history be written worthy of our illustrious Order, and of the distinguished body which governs it in this country ! The author of such a work would earn, for himself, an immortal reputation, and each individual brother who contributed his mite would enjoy the delightful consciousness that the Masonic world was, in a measure, indebted to him for a work which would prove the great desideratum of the age."

The rapid and continued increase of the membership of the Templar Order has kept pace with the growth of the population of the United States, and the progress in all branches of human knowledge, in science, and arts, as we shall demonstrate when we give a history of the Order and show in each particular State, what is the present membership, and the great field for usefulness laid open and the prospect before us, for the great battles which are yet to come, between truth and error, light and darkness, ignorance and enlightenment, crime and obedience to lawful authority, fanaticism, bigotry, and persecution against toleration, liberality and freedom of thought.

The Templars, in the Crusades, for two hundred years fought with material armor against the Infidels and Turks of Syria, but our modern Templars are engaged against more powerful and insidious foes, scattered everywhere in our midst. The Templars of the Crusades were carried from the West to the East, to fight for the Christianity as then known and practiced, a system of ignorance, the great parent of superstition, bigotry, fanaticism, intolerance, and persecution; these are the elements which finally culminated in the Middle Ages, in the Inquisition; and by which the Templar Order, for so many centuries the instrument of the Church of Christ in oppressing mankind, was totally destroyed, and the leaders burned at the stake by Clement V. and Philip the Fair, after they had no further use for them.

"God works in a mysterious way His purpose to fulfill ! "

The Templars, now only such in name, may be the instruments of God, in turn, in the next century, to deliver His true children from the fangs of the monster who for so many ages has kept mankind, so far as they could be, within his power, in total ignorance of the TRUTH as it was, and is yet, in Christ the Lord, for whose sake and in whose name the original Templars fought, bled, and died upon so many hard-fought battle-fields of Syria. Let this thought be in the mind of every Knight Templar of the present day and in the future, whose eyes may see these words, written in the year 1899: That this great country, beginning with a few emigrants from several European nations, bringing with them to Virginia, first, at Jamestown, the descendants of the pride and chivalry of Old England; then the Puritans in New England - while these differed greatly in their method of interpreting the Scriptures, they were yet agreed in the great principles therein inculcated, viz.: EQUALITY, FRATERNITY, AND LIBERTY.

These, the descendants of the Reformation, have grown from the original Thirteen Colonies, despised and looked down upon by the great monarchies of Europe and Asia, with scorn and sometimes with contempt. Now these scornful peoples begin to appreciate what is before them in the future.

We therefore say to the Commanderies, Preceptories, and Encampments, and also to each private member of the Knightly Order of the Temple, remember your vows of obedience to the Grand Master of all Temples. The sword which you wield is not a weapon of carnal warfare, but a symbol, whose significance you have learned, and should ever put in practice in the defence of Truth, not as explained by the Mother Church of the Middle Ages, for the purpose of propagating error, but the truth as so well understood by every Templar, and in whose cause he should be prepared to make every sacrifice, and perform his pilgrimage even to the loss of life while engaged therein, and remember that you shall reap your reward if ye faint not.

"Magna est Veritas, et prevalebit."

WILLIAM R. SINGLETON

Masonic Secrets recommends the following sites:

Masonic Secrets

Chapters in Part 2

Back to Masonic Secrets Revealed

Masonic Secrets recommends the following sites:

Sacred-Magick.Com: The Esoteric Library