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BACK NEXT Spring 2007 Issue 40 Letter from the Editor News Briefing News and Views On The Level News Beyond the Craft International News Julian Rees Prince Hall Freemasonry Freemasonry and Hinduism A Life Study of Freemasonry The Three Degrees John Wilkes Book of Records It's a Masonic Thing Sussex Masonic Centre Brother Lightfoote's Journal Letters to the Editor Review: Masques of Solomon Review: The Priestly Order Review: Secret Germany Review: The Warriors and the Bankers Canon Richard Tydeman Copyright 1997-2008 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint Limited

FREEMASONRY TODAY Spring 2007 - Issue 40 - Index Letter from the Deputy Editor One of the joys of being involved in editing a magazine such as Freemasonry Today is the enormous spectrum, the wide breadth of subjects, interests, threads, topics and debate with which we come in contact and which, taken together, make the rich tapestry which is Freemasonry. In this issue, we report on education – the annual Festival of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, scholarships in Massachusetts as well as another programme of masonic education being run by the Province of Berkshire. We report on Prince Hall Masonry, a branch of worldwide Freemasonry based in the United States, with its own fiercely proud tradition. The links of the Hindu faith to Freemasonry ... News Briefing: Appointment of New Grand Secretary — Music Exhibition in the Library — Grand Superintendent for Yorkshire North and East Ridings — Grand Charity Help for Hospices — New Masonic Samaritan Fund Festival 2012 News and Views: Masonic Education in Berkshire — Emulation Lodge of Improvement Festival — Museum in Canterbury — Essex Masonic Library and Museum — Saxon Hall is Dedicated — Dorset Provincial Grand Master back in the Classroom — Andrew Prescott Leaves Sheffield — Bucks Freemasons go to the Community On the Level: Cheshire Gift to Hospice — City of London Masonic Walks: For Freemasons and Friends — Newbury Freemasons in the Community — Hants Masons Provide Scanner — Canonbury Masonic Research Centre — Centre for Research into Freemasonry — The Cornerstone Society — Quotuor Coronati News Beyond the Craft: Provincial Grand Master Mark Province of Monmouth — Red Cross of Constantine Surrey Charity — Allied Masonic Degrees Expand — Mark Master Masons Provide for Hospital in Hereford International News: New Grand Master of Ireland — National Association of Masonic Scouters Formed in California — Masonic Scholarships in Massachusettes — Israel: Third Annual Masonic Holy Land Tour — Breaking Ground in Wisconsin — Cambodian Experience Humbling Respect of Persons Disrespect and violence so often occupy centre stage in life today. We have had instances recently where respect appeared to be, at best, lacking, perhaps wilfully ignored. Two such instances spring to mind. First, we have had a distressing instance of lack of respect in a recent reality television programme, where one participant was subject to racial abuse by some of the others. The target of this abuse was a lady who, by virtue of her own nobility of spirit, did not hit back, but maintained a serenity and composure which spoke volumes about her place at her own centre. Even worse of course are the tragic deaths resulting from the increasing gun culture in some of our cities ... Prince Hall Freemasonry Prince Hall Freemasonry began with a single lodge in Boston, Massachusetts, chartered in 1784. Today the Prince Hall fraternity spans the globe, with Grand Lodges or lodges on every habitable continent except Australia. The warrant for African Lodge, No. 459, was granted by the Grand Lodge of England (the Moderns) to a group of African Americans, led by a man named Prince Hall. Much has been written about Prince Hall, but most of it is ... Freemasonry and Hinduism Masonic ritual has so many references drawn from the Judaeo-Christian sacred texts that we can lose sight of the fact that many Brethren belong to other faiths. Increasingly in England the fraternity is made up of those whose religious and cultural imprint come from other countries and other continents. Hence the holy book on which aspirants take their vow will often not be the Bible that traditionally rests on the Master’s pedestal or altar ... A Life Study of Freemasonry From 25 to 27 May 2007, the Grand Lodge of Scotland in Edinburgh will stage the first major academic conference to be held on Freemasonry in the British Isles. Hosting more than seventy speakers, the conference is being organised in cooperation with specialist centres from the University of Sheffield, the University of Bordeaux, the CNRS/Sorbonne, Paris, and the Free University of Brussels. And one of the conference’s five key-note speakers will be Dr. Jan Snoek, a specialist in religion and rituals based at the University of Heidelberg; it therefore seemed ... The Three Degrees The temptation to see the three degrees as separate ceremonies in themselves is almost unavoidable; yet these three stages are in reality parts of a whole. There are many correspondences between the three degrees, and these need to be examined for what they can teach us. The first degree, we are told, deals with the emergence out of darkness into light. This is the journey from unknowing to knowing; the first stage on the path to ... John Wilkes John Wilkes is primarily remembered today as a notorious wit and rascal, and as the prime mover in a popular radical movement that emerged in England during the early reign of King George III. Yet few people know that Wilkes was also a Freemason. And even fewer are aware he was actually initiated in prison at a time of great social and political unrest. Born in London, well educated and married to a rich Buckinghamshire heiress, Wilkes fraternised ... Book of Records At Freemasonry Today we have received many letters from Brethren aspiring to various masonic records. We decided to bring these together in the "Book of Records". If you can better any of these, or add some other record, then please contact The Editor, Freemasonry Today, Freemasons' Hall, Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5AZ. email: editor@freemasonrytoday.co. ... Sussex Masonic Centre The City of Brighton, the masonic capital of the Province of Sussex, is dominated by the stupendous Royal Pavilion. There is a strong masonic connection in this context, which starts with HRH The Prince of Wales (1762-1830 and, from 1820, King George IV), who was initiated into Freemasonry in 1787 and served as ... Brother Lightfoote's Journal Saint Wulfram was much admired for his rigorous regime of self mortification. He was much given to starvation, prostration, the wearing of chain mail and frequent immersions in cold water. Sounds like school to me, without the flagellation. The point is that school puts one through hell for a few years when life would probably be hell anyway but that brief experience prepares one for the rest of one’s life, and one is sustained, whilst under the rod, by the thought of how nice it will be when it stops. The same could be said of Lent, of course, by those who keep the fast ... Letters to the Editor Whither Directing our Course? — Publicity for Freemasonry — Freemasonry and Religion — Unknown Apron — Near-Death Experience It's a Masonic Thing Freemasonry is steeped in traditions and local customs, all of which make it so difficult to accept change. Change happens, and the rate of transition from ‘the way we’ve done it for centuries’ to the way the world dictates we must do it in the future is critical. Worcestershire Province has a very forward thinking executive and Colin Young, Assistant Provincial Grand Master has the responsibility for training and education within the Province. One of the areas for which Colin is responsible is the matter of e-communication between lodges and their members and between Province and the lodges. Lodges do want the changes – they want to save the hours of stuffing envelopes ... Review: Masques of Solomon - The Origin of the Third Degree Review: The Priestly Order - The History of the Holy Royal Arch Knight Templar Priests, 1792 to 2002 Review: Secret Germany - Stauffenberg and the Mystical Crusade Against Hitler Review: The Warriors and the Bankers - A History of the Knights Templar from 1307 to the Present. Faith and Trust In all cases of difficulty and danger, in whom do you put your trust?’ The answer, of course, is ‘In God’, and with faith so well founded a candidate for Freemasonry may advance with a firm but humble confidence. What, exactly, do we mean by faith? A child who was asked this question once replied, ‘Faith means believing in something that you know to be untrue’ which I think is a fairly common error today. The Bible puts it very differently, in a passage quoted word for word in the First Masonic Lecture (unfortunately seldom heard these days): ‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen’. Yes, evidence. Faith is not limited to vague religious ...   Issue 40, Spring 2007 © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2008