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BACK NEXT Spring 1998 Issue 04 Tobias Churton - Letter from the Editor The Eye The Inquisitor The Craft and the Committee We Will Face the Challenge Together Masonic Music The London Coffee House Enlightenment from Ritual America's Pioneer Railroad Light Almost Invisible On Euclid Review: The Templar Revelation Review: Freemasonry Old Fireglass Ridiculous to Sublime Letters to the Editor Lu Ban Copyright 1997-2008 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint Limited

FREEMASONRY TODAY Spring 1998 - Issue 04 - Index Tobias Churton - Letter from the Editor Just what does Chris Mullin MP think he’s doing with the Home Affairs Select Committee? If you want to know what he thinks he’s doing, then read our interview with him. What are we to make of it? As we reported in last year’s summer edition, the committee as chaired by Ivan Laurence MP (he lost his seat in the election) exonerated the Craft from the slur that justice is compromised by members of the judiciary or police force being Freemasons. So why the new demands for disclosure by the judiciary and law-enforcement agencies? According to Mullin, it’s because there’s a public suspicion, and if we had nothing to hide then we wouldn’t mind disclosure. But suspicion alone ... The Eye James Daniel, Grand Secretary Designate — 500 Pour in to Clerkenwell Open Day — Mercy Trek to Ethiopia — Handel's Messiah at Freemasons' Hall — Raby Gala will Contribute to £2.7 Million Target — Sky High! — Unique Temple Transformation — Stunning Sarbu at Queen Elizabeth Hall — International Conference — Liverpool Masonic Hall Needs You! — Safe, in the Freemason's Arms — Incredible £10,668,361 for New Masonic Samaritan Fund! The Inquisitor Millions saw it on television. The MP later dubbed “The Grand Inquisitor” sat in the chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee and warned Grand Secretary Commander Michael Higham he could be in contempt of Parliament. It was high drama and later the newspaper headlines screamed “Masonic Prison Threat” and “Leaders are told ..." The Craft and the Committee Grand Secretary, Commander Michael Higham, RN and Head of Communications, John Hamill appeared before the Home Affairs Select Committee to be questioned about providing names of Freemasons. The meeting was a follow-up to the earlier report of the Committee published in the last Parliament. Only one of the new Committee had previously served on the Committee - Mr Chris Mullin, who is the new chairman. At the start of the meeting a number of general questions were put by Members, and this enabled Commander Higham to explain the Craft's attitude ... We Will Face the Challenge Together Brethren, we must never lose sight of the fact that English Freemasons are at liberty to disclose their membership. The only restriction is that they must not do so for the purpose of personal advantage. Indeed every Mason is actively encouraged to be open about his membership of the Craft. The names of all Grand Officers are published in the Year Book and that book is readily available to the public. In many Masonic Provinces there are similar publications and the names of the vast majority of those who hold Provincial Rank are therefore also available ... Masonic Music Many brethren would testify to the way in which music can add to the dignity and significance of masonic ritual. From the earliest days of Freemasonry music has played an important role and many distinguished musicians and composers have been members of the Craft. Mozart, who was initiated into the lodge Zur Wohlthatigheit in Vienna in 1784, is of course the most famous musical mason. He wrote a considerable amount of masonic music, including choral and instrumental pieces. I always use The Priests’ March from Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute for the entry of the Master and his Wardens. Other masonic musicians include Haydn, Franz Liszt, Arthur Sullivan and ... The London Coffee House Built on the site of the Old Ludgate Prison on Ludgate Hill (Lud was, appropriately, the Celtic god of Light), the London Coffee House stood on the left when facing S.Paul’s Cathedral. Opening its doors during the reign of King George II, its proprietor issued the following advertisement in May 1731 : Whereas, it is customary for Coffee Houses and other Public-Houses, to take 8s, for a quart of Arrack, and 6s for a quart of Brandy or Rum, made into Punch : This is to give notice That James Ashley Has opened, on Ludgate Hill, The London Coffee House ... Enlightenment from Ritual The Ceremony of Passing. The Worshipful Master faces the candidate: ... as in the previous Degree you made yourself acquainted with the principles of Moral Truth and Virtue, you are now permitted to extend your researches into the hidden mysteries of Nature and Science. (Emulation Ritual. Lewis Masonic; London, 1991.p.137). The Ceremony of Raising. The Worshipful Master speaks: ... Proceeding onwards, still guiding your progress by the principles of moral truth, you were led in the Second Degree to contemplate the intellectual faculty ... America's Pioneer Railroad The masonic links of some of the major figures in the American Independence story may be familiar to many readers. Some decades prior to Independence in 1734, Benjamin Franklin was Grandmaster of Pennsylvania Freemasons. George Washington, the fledgling nation’s first President, took his oath of office on a Masonic Bible at his inauguration. Some sources suggest the association between Freemasonry and American patriotism stems from Washington’s own involvement with the Craft along with several of his generals ... Light Almost Invisible “It’s a blessing in disguise”, people say. They seem to mean, “Don’t take it so hard - things aren’t really that bad.” We have a problem when we confront adversity. We would like to be able to face trouble square-on - but we seldom feel we can. If you think about it, we often clothe problems in the appearance we prefer, rather than in their true colour. When we think of ‘realism’, in films say, we think of toughness, violence and we experience a frisson of fear. The great playwright Bertolt Brecht did not think this idea of ‘realism’ really got into reality : “Realism does not consist in reproducing reality, but in showing how things really are.” We must get beyond appearances ... On Euclid Freemasonry’s concern with geometry goes back to its beginnings, setting a precedent to that academic research which in the last 100 years or so has flourished in the west as the history of Mathematics. Few who have devoted themselves to research in this field have underestimated the knowledge of previous generations - and just as each mathematician should know the history, so too should Freemasons understand something of the geometry which informs their rituals and their social existence. In times gone by, masons in search of ... Review: The Templar Revelation Review: Freemasonry Old Fireglass Old Fireglass has been a wanderin’ round Wiltshire, wallowing in an oasis of Wadworths’ wonderful brews. As a moonraker born and bred, I was elated to be back in my old stomping-ground on the rollin’ downs. They hold a magic for me as alluring as a pint of Waddies 6X, imbibed slowly ... Ridiculous to Sublime At the end of my last rather gloomy piece about supermarket claret, I promised to find something inexpensive that I could recommend, rather than warn my readers off. Just before Christmas, I went into my local Oddbins in search of something that could be mulled. Personally, I think ... Letters to the Editor Roller-Coaster — Women Masons — Fit to Talk — Was Shakespeare a Freemason? — Templars — Unusual Meeting Place — Carpet Wanted — Lessons of Conflict Lu Ban, The Chinese Masonic God It is a little known fact that within the mythology of Chinese deities there is a god of artisans, concerned with bricklayers, painters, carpenters - and stonemasons. This god is particularly revered in Hong Kong, and is called Lu Ban or Lu Pan. According to tradition, Lu Ban was born Kung-shu Tze in 506 BC in the Kingdom of Lu where he became a skilled carpenter. Becoming a recluse on the Shi Lan mountain, he perfected his skills. He is reputed to have constructed the palace of the Queen of the Western Heaven, Xiwang Mu upon the K’un Lun mountains ...   Issue 04, Spring 1998 © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2008