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Martinism (entry B)

Louis Claude de Saint-Martin was born in Amboise, France, January 18, 1743; he was therefore fifty-six years of age in the Revolution year of 1799; and since he was in ill health much of the time he was unable to take any active part in the French Revolution during the four years he continued to live (he died in 1803) except in private circles; and it is certain that he did not have any part in planning or preparing for it. He was sensitive, aristocratic, a warm friend to a chosen few, a mystic. (See page 901.) It is probable that Martin would have played no part in Freemasonry had it not been for Martines de Pasqually, his early teacher and for many years his friend and colleague. Pasqually was a Rosicrucian, though it is impossible to use that adjective as in any sense a descriptive one because it was so loosely employed in France, and often had no connection with Rosicrucianism properly so called--indeed Rosicrucianism properly so called was little understood at any time and ever will be because there is in the Pama Fraternitatu, its bible, no clear, consistent system of teachings but only a congeries of visions, legends, cloudy pictures which can easily accept what meanings an occultist chooses to attribute to them. In his capacity as a Rosicrucian, Pasqually compiled a Degree, or Rite, which he called Elect Cohens ("cohen" meaning priest); and it is believed that Pasqually had some connection with the founding of the Rite of Swedenborg but not that he was in any sense its creator.

In Martin's eyes, and after Pasqually had died, his old teacher's Pite had been conceived as a ritualistic mystery of a mystical Christianity but being such it had, he felt, certain defects and lacks; therefore he contrived a Rite of his own, which he called the Rectified Rite.

Both St. Martin and Pasqually, as well as the author (or authors) of the Swedenborgian Rite, are typical of the Frenchmen, of whom over a century there may have been a hundred or so, who were Masons in their own special sense only; which was a sense the true and ancient Fraternity could not have recognized as even remotely like itself;

they swept six or seven centuries of Masonic history aside, cutting their own "Masonry" off from its roots, acknowledged no Ancient Landmarks, concocted private "Rites" out of their private theories, used them as a vehicle for teachings which often regular Freemasonry would have wholly repudiated, constructing them eclectically out of scraps of text, or symbolism, or legend to which they had taken a fancy in various obscure works of occultism, metaphysics, and theology. Pasqually's Rite and Martin's Rectified Rite are interesting for themselves, as a book by either of them might be interesting (they were in essence little more than books in the form of ceremonies), but they have no discoverable connection with Freemasonry, which never was a cult of aristocracy, or of occultism, or of mysticism.

Martin signed a few of his small books by the pseudonym Philosophe Inconnu, the Unknown Philosopher. Because of this, because his Rite has in it certain references to or traces of Kabbalism and other little-known sources, and because no biography was written in English, he was for American Masons a vague, mysterious figure, and a number of American writers have placed him somewhere back in the late Middle Ages, along with Raymund Lully.

Martin was on the contrary a modern man; younger than Benjamin Franklin, whom he could have known; and moved in a circle about whom whole libraries of memoirs have been written. The achievement by which he is better known is not his Rite (in which he himself took little interest) but a number of slender books or treatises in which he set forth his own difficult and private version of religious mysticism, and which was, though such a generalization is hazardous, an attempt to describe the universe from within; seen, as it were, through the eyes of God. An account of this work, and a portrait of the man, by an author who admired him much and who, in part and at a distance, was his disciple, is The Life of Louis Claude de Saint-Martin: The Unknown Philospher, by Arthur Edward Waite; William Rider 45c Sons; London.

ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY

sixth president and son of John Adams. second president; born July 11, 1767; president, 1825; died February ('3. 1848. A native of Massachusetts, his name has often been mistaken for that of another resident of Boston. Brother John C. Hurll, Acting Secretary, Saint John's Lodge, Boston, August 25, 1919. answering an inquiry of ours, copied the Lodge record of December 5, 1826, thus: " 'Brother John Quincy Adams, a regular candidate for membership, was inquired for and being well recommended, was voted to be balloted for, and on balloting was unanimously admitted a member of Saint John's Lodge.' It would seem from this that he did not receive the Degrees in this Lodge, but what Lodge he says raised in is not stated. There is no reference to the presidency and I think he was another Adams." Certainly the president was not then at Boston- The Second Session of the Nineteenth Congress opened at Washington the previous day and President Adams himself records that from December 4 to 6, from early morn to late afternoon he had no leisure for reflection or writing However, there is on record his own emphatic denial of membership (page 345, volume vii, Memoirs, Lippincott), on October 25, 1825, in reply to the plain question, he writes: "I told Watkins he might answer Tracy that I am not, and never was, a Freemason."

BUCHANAN, JAMES

fifteenth president; born April 23, 1791; president, 1857; died, June 1, 1868; received Masonic burial from his Brethren of Lodge No. 43, in his native state, Pennsylvania, on June 4, 1868. Brother J. Fred Fisher, Secretary of Lodge No. 43, furnished on August 16, 1919, the following Masonic record of Brother James Buchanan: "He was made a Mason in Lodge No. 43 on December 11, 1816. Entered by W. M. Brother John Reynolds, and was Passed and Raised by W. M. Brother George Whitaker, January 24, 1817. He was elected Junior Warden, December 13, 1820, and Worshipful Master, December 23, 1822. At the expiration of his term of office, he was appointed the first District Deputy Grand Master of this District. He was elected an honorary member of Lodge No. 43, March 10, 1858. He died on June 1, 1868. He was also a member of Royal Arch Chapter No. 43, F. and A. M., but the only record we have is that he was Exalted on May 90, 1826."

FILLMORE, MILLARD

thirteenth president; born February 7, 1800; elected vice-president, 1848, and on death of President Taylor succeeded him July 9, 1850, and died March 8, 1874. Said to have received the Degrees but afterwards recanted during the Anti-Masonic era in which he was active against the Craft (see page 548, Annual Report American Historical Association, volume i, 1902). No evidence of his Masonic affiliation obtained. In his official capacity as president he attended the laying of the eorner-stone of the Capitol extension by the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, July 4, 1851 (see History, Federal Lodge No. 1, Washington).

GARFIELD, JAMES ABRAM

twentieth president; born November 19, 1831; president, 1881; died September 19, 1881. Masonic Eclectic, September, 1881 (pages 430-1), published the following: "Initlated, Novernber 19, 1861; Passed, December 3, 1861, in Magnolia Lodge No. 20, Columbus, Ohio, and Raised in Columbus Lodge No. 30, by request of Magnolia Lodge, November 11, 1864. Affiliated vith Garrettsnille Lodge No. 24G, October 10, 1865; 1 remaining a member until 1870, and was Chaplain in the years 1868-9. United with Pentalpha Lodge No. 23, Washington, District of Columbia, as a charter member, May 4, 1869, and so remained until death. By special dispensation was admitted to Columbia Royal Arch Chapter No. 1, in Washington, District of Columbia, April 4, 1866, and exalted to the Royal Arcl1 Degree, April 18, 1866; received the Red Cross and Templar Order in Columbia Commanderv No. 9 at Washington, WIav 18, 1866 rthis Commander) acting as escort from Washington to Cleveland faith the remains after Brother Gaffield's death). Received the Select and Most Excellent Architect's Degrees, February 9, 1871; received the bourth and Fifth Degrees, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, in Mithras Lodge of Perfection No. 9, at Washington, May 9, 1871, and the intermediate Degrees to the Thirteenth included during the year (Brother W. L. Bowden, Librarian of the Supreme Couneil records these were communicated by General Albert Pike) and the Fourteenth Degree, January Id 1822, with four other Brethren, three of whom died before him, named: Francello G. Daniels, Robert NI. Johnson, ex-,Senator from Arkansas. and Henry Harrison Bradly, the only survivor of the five being Wm. Pieree Bell, Eso.. lawyer, Washington City." Under date of September 2, 1919, Brother NV. S. Lanfersiel;, Secretary, Magnolia Lodge No. 90, by letter, confirmed the above Lodge references and Past Grand Master Campbell M. Voorhees of Ohio, November 11, 1921, also wrote explaining the division of the Degrees between the two Craft Bodies in his city, "During the Civil War times Columbus Lodge and Magnolia Lodge frequently exchanged courtesies in the conferring of Degrees upon soldiers in the service, and this was done in the conferring of the Degrees upon General Garfield. He received his First and Second Degrees in Magnolia dodge and his Third Degree was conferred by Columbus Lodge for Magnolia."

GRANT, ULYSSES SIMPSON

eighteenth prescient; born April 27, 1822; president, 1869; died July 93, 1885. A letter in the Blue and Gray, from Major Bryant S. Parker of South Carolina, was freely copied in other journals and convened the impression that General Grant was a Freemason. Major Parker told of being taken to headquarters as a prisoner of war that General Grant asked him if he was a Freemason and that the prisoner soon convinced him of it and thereupon was promptly freed. General John Corson Smith attacked this story in the Rough Ashlar, a Masonic journal of Richmond, Virginia, and his essay was reprinted, November, 1895, in the Masonic Tidings, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and other magazines. Briefly, Brother Smith's finding, as in Proceedings, Grand Commandery of Illinois, 1908 (page 165) is that the General was too much of a soldier and not at all a Freemason for any such affair. Jesse R. Grant, Simpson S. Grant, and Orville S. Grant, father and brothers of the General, were all three Freemasons.

Simpson a member of Galena Lodge No. 17, with Brother John Corson Smith, where the father, Jesse, visited on his trips from Covington, Kentucky; and Orville was imitated in Miners' Lodge No. 273, Galena, Illinois. General, or Captain Grant as he was then known, came to Galena in 1859 and moved his family there in 1860. The father told General Smith that he knew his son would like to be a Freemason and the subject was discussed between them on an excursion to Dubuque, Iowa, and on other occasions. General Grant was at home when Galena Commandery No. 40, Knights Templar, was instituted in 1871, with Brother Smith as Eminent Commander. In the evening President Grant received the Brethren for a pleasant hour of conversation and then the visitors returned to the Asylum.

At that reception the president's favorable opinion of Freemasonry was expressed and it was agreed that at the first opportunity he would sign a petition to Miner's Lodge No. 273 of which Brother Smith was then Master. During the political campaign of 1872-3 General Grant was again home and Grand Master James A. Hawley agreed to make the president a Freemason "at sight" but affairs of state recalled him unexpectedly to Washington and the subsequent ill- health and removal from Galena of Brother Smith brought the plans unsuccessfully to an end. The matter does not appear to have ever been received.

HARDING, WARREN GAMALIEL

twenty-ninth president; born November 9, 1865; president 1921; died August 9, 1923. From a letter written by the late Grand Secretary, J. H. Bromwell, and from the announcement sent out by the Grand Master, Harry S. Johnson, of Ohio, on August 8, 1923, these details are obtained: Brother Harding, was initiated in Marion Lodge No. 70 at Marion, Ohio, on June 2S, 1901; Passed, August 13,1990; Raised, August 27, 1990. In Clarion Chapter No. 6 , Royal Arch Masons; at Wiariol1, Ohio. he received the Mark Master, Past and Most excellent Master's Degrees on January 11, 1921, and the Exaltation of the Royal Arch Degree on January 13, 1921. In Marion Commandery No. 36, Knights Templar, at Marion, Ohio, he received the Order of the Re(l Cross, and the Orders of Knight of Malta and Knight Templar, March 1, 1921.

In Scioto Consistory, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, he (the only candidate at that time) received all the grades from Fourth to Thirty-second inclusive, on January 5,19 1. He became a member of Aladdin Temple, S9obles of the Mystic Shrine, at Columbus, Ohio, on January as, 1921. By special dispensation the Order of Veiled Prophet was conferred upon him at the White House, Washington, May 11, 1921, by E. W. Libbey, E. S. Schmid, C. P. Boss, and W. W. Jermane, of Rallipolis Grotto. Brother Harding had been elected to receive the Degrees in Marion Council tso. 29, Royal and Select Masters, at Marion, Ohio. as well as the Thirty-third Degree of the Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, but death intervened (see Proceedings, Grand Lodge of Ohio, 1923, pages 10, 75,87). JACKSON, ANDREW seventh president; born March 15, 1707; president, 18 9; died June 8, 1845. He was elected Grand Master of Tennessee on October , 1829, and re-elected on October 6, 1823, but his Lodge was not named and in the Proceedings, Grand Lodge of Tennessee. 184o, when his Masonic services were affectionately acknowledged (pages 559-3, 570-1, 57a-80 of Reprint) there is no more information than in the obituary notice prepared by Grand Chaplain Philip P. Neeley, who says (page 578), "We have not received information as to the Lodge where he was made a Mason, but learn that he was for some time, during the early part of his life, in connection with one that met at Clover Bot, tom, held under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky." Philanthropic Lodge No. 12 was granted a Charter from Kentucky on September 18, 1805 (see Dozngs of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky, 1800-1900, page 25, by H. B. Grant, Grand Secretary). However, the practice prevailed of Lodges reporting their members in full to the Grand Lodge of Kentucky and careful search made for us by the late Grand Secretary Dave Jackson failed to find the name of Andrew Jackson.

Philanthropic Lodge No. 12 ceased to be on the Kentucky roll in 1812. But Jackson was present as a Freemason at the opening of the Lodge at Greenville September 5, 1801, under a Dispensation from the Grand Lodge of North Carolina which possesses the original transcript of the Minutes showing that the Senior Warden named in the Dispensation being absent Andrew Jackson served as "S. W."Pro Tem" of this first meeting of Greenville Lodge No. 43, afterwards No. 3 of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee. Brother Jackson made the motion for the appointment of a Committee on By-laws at this meeting under Dispensation but two others were assigned to that duty and the probability is that he was only a visitor on that occasion.

Another Lodge, at Nashville, chartered on December 17, 1796, No. 29 of North Carolina, Saint Tammany, afterwards Harmony Lodge No. 1 of Tennessee, following the division into the two Grand Lodges, shows that Jackson was a member but the records being incomplete do not determine the date of his initiation but he became a resident of Nashville in 1788 and Brother William L. Boyden, Librarian of the Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, finds Andrew Jackson a member as early as 1800 because he was present on March 24 of that year at the first meeting of Tennessee Lodge No. 2, formerly No. 41 under North Carolina, held in Knoxville and was then credited as a member of Harmony Lodge No. 1. Past Grand Master Charles Comstock of Tennessee believed him to have received the Royal Arch Degree under authority of a Craft Lodge Warrant and probably did not affiliate with any Chapter though he officiated as Deputy General Grand High Priest at the institution of the Grand Chapter of Tennessee on April 4, 1826, and is recorded later as present in Cumberland Chapter No. 1 at Nashville, assisting at installation of officers.

Andrew Jackson took part in several Masonic functions and at Nashville on May 4, 1825, introduced General Lafayette to the Grand Lodge of Tennessee. The Charter of Harmony Lodge No. 1 was arrested on December 9, 1808, and this would leave General Jackson a non-affiliate which may account for the appearance of his name in the records as a Past Master without mention of any Lodge connection. For much interesting information here summarized we are indebted to Past Grand Master A. B. Andrews, North Carolina; Past Grand High Priest C. H. Smart, and Past Grand Master Charles Comstock, Tennessee; W. L. Boyden, Librarian, Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; Dave Jackson, late Grand Secretary, Kentucky. An article by Brother Andrews on Andrew Jackson the Freemason appeared in the New Age, Washington, January, 1921.

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