"THE HISTORY OF PRINCE HALL"
Prince Hall is recognized as the Father of Black Masonry in the United States. He made it possible for us to also be recognized and enjoy all priviliges of Free and Accepted Masonry.
Many rumors of the birth of Prince Hall have arisen. Few records and papers have been found of him either in Barbados where it was rumored that he was born, but no record of birth, by church or state, has been found there, and none in Boston. All 11 countries of the day were searched and churches with baptismal records were examined without a find of the name of Prince Hall.
One widely circulated rumor states that "Prince Hall was free born in British West Indies. His father, Thomas Prince Hall, was an Englisman and his mother a free colored woman of French extraction. In 1765 he worked his passage on a ship to Boston, where he worked as a leather worker, a trade learned from his father. Eight years later he had acquired real estate and was qualified to vote. Religiously inclined, he later became a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church with a charge in Cambridge." This account, paraphased from the generally discredited Grimshaw book of 1903, is suspect in many areas.
Black Freemasonry began when Prince Hall and fourteen other free black men were initiated into Lodge No. 441, Irish Constitution, attached to the 38th Regiment of Foot, British Army Garrisoned at Castle William (now Fort Independence) Boston Harbor on March 6, 1775. The Master of the Lodge was Sergeant John Batt. Along with Prince Hall, the other newly made masons were Cyrus Johnson, Bueston Slinger, Prince Rees, John Canton, Peter Freeman, Benjamin Tiler, Duff Ruform, Thomas Santerson, Prince Rayden, Cato Speain, Boston Smith, Peter Best, Forten Howard and Richard Titley.
When the British Army left Boston in 1776, this Lodge, No 441, granted Prince Hall and his brethren authority to meet as African Lodge #1 (Under Dispensation), to go in procession on St. John's Day, and as a Lodge to bury their dead; but they could not confer degrees nor perform any other Masonic "work". For nine years these brethren, together with others who had received their degrees elsewhere, assembled and enjoyed their limited privileges as Masons. Thirty-three masons were listed on the rolls of African Lodge #1 on January 14th, 1779. Finally on March 2, 1784, Prince Hall petitioned the Grand Lodge of England, through a Worshipful Master of a subordinate Lodge in London (William Moody of Brotherly Love Lodge No. 55) for a warrant or charter.
The Warrant to African Lodge No. 459 of Boston is the most significant and highly prized document known to the Prince Hall Mason Fraternity. Through it our legitimacy is traced, and on it more than any other factor, our case rests. It was granted on September 29, 1784, delivered in Boston on April 29, 1787 by Captain James Scott, brother-in-law of John Hancock and master of the Neptune, under its authority African Lodge No. 459 was organized one week later, May 6, 1787.
Prince Hall was appointed a Provincial Grand Master in 1791 by H.R.H., the Prince of Wales. The question of extending Masonry arose when Absalom Jones of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania appeared in Boston. He was an ordained Episcopal priest and a mason who was interested in establishing a masonic lodge in Philadelphia. Under the authority of the charter of African Lodge #459, Prince Hall established African Lodge #459 of Philadelphia on March 22, 1797 and Hiram Lodge #3 in Providence, Rhode Island on June 25, 1797. African Lodge of Boston became the "Mother Lodge" of the Prince Hall Family. It was typical for new lodges to be established in this manner in those days. The African Grand Lodge was not organized until 1808 when representatives of African Lodge #459 of Boston, African Lodge #459 of Philidelphia and Hiram Lodge #3 of Providence met in New York City.
Upon Prince Hall's death on December 4, 1807, Nero Prince became Master. When Nero Prince sailed to Russia in 1808, George Middleton succeeded him. After Middleton, Petrert Lew, Samuel H. Moody and then, John T. Hilton became Grand Master. In 1827, Hilton recommended a Declaration of Independence from the English Grand Lodge.
In 1869 a fire destroyed Massachusetts' Grand Lodge headquarters and a number of its priceless records. The charter in its metal tube was in the Grand Lodge chest. The tube saved the charter from the flames, but the intense heat charred the paper. It was at this time that Grand Master S.T. Kendall crawled into the burning building and in peril of his life, saved the charter from complete destruction. Thus a Grand Master's devotion and heroism further consecrated this parchment to us, and added a further detail to its already interesting history. The original Charter No. 459 has long since been made secure between heavy plate glass and is kept in a fire-proof vault in a downtown Boston bank.
Today, the Prince Hall fraternity has over 4,500 lodges worldwide, forming 45 independent jurisdictions with a membership of over 300,000 masons.
"THE PERFECT POINTS OF ENTRANCE"
You may have noticed that there are parts of our ritual which are
not readily understood and are never explained, yet we commit them
to memory and at appropriate times recite them without question.
One particularly confusing phrase is "The Perfect Points of
Entrance." Does this have any special meaning and when and how did
it become a part of our ritual?
In the Entered Apprentice lecture we learn that there are four
Perfect Points of Entrance: The Guttural, Pectoral, Manual and
Pedal, which are illustrated by signs and exemplified by the four
Cardinal Virtues: Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, and Justice.
After a short lecture on each of these Cardinal Virtues, we are
treated to a demonstration of the sign for each of the points of
entrance, with a reference to its origin, but at no time are the
points or cardinal virtues associated with entrance. Thus we are
left with three separate and seemingly unrelated subjects. The only
other reference to the Perfect Points of Entrance occurs in the
dialogue between the Worshipful Master and the Senior Warden during
the opening and closing of the lodge on the Entered Apprentice
degree, but again the Points of Entrance are not defined.
Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia offers this definition: "The four
Perfect Points of Entrance constitute the esoteric closing of each
of the lectures on Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and Justice, to
which they respectively do not apply, illustrate, or in any way
belong, so that the esoteric portions of the four lectures have to
be somewhat manipulated to make a connection with them. Moreover,
Point of entrance is somewhat Cabalistic, since it does not
disclose what the entrance is into. Does it mean entrance of the
candidate into something, or of something into the candidate?
Whether the architects of our ritual had something specific in mind
when they designed this particular part of the work is unclear.
Perhaps it is one of those things that is intended to excite our
curiosity and leave each of us to draw our own conclusions.
When and how did this become a part of our ritual? There is no
ready answer to thls question because so much of our ritual is
esoteric and is handed down from mouth to ear, making it almost
impossible to determine the exact origin of any part of it. There
is a distinct possibility that the roots of this particular part of
the lecture date back beyond the establishment of Symbolic Masonry.
Since the conferral of the Entered Apprentice degree, in which
these points occur, deals with the subject of entrance; the
entrance of the Entered Apprentice into the lodge, and the entering
of his name on the rolls of the lodge, it seems logical to conclude
that they were points of instruction relating to the candidate's
entrance.
There is some evidence in the Old Manuscripts that there may have
been only one point originally, with the three others added and
attached to the lectures on the Cardinal Virtues during the 18th
century. None of the early exposed rituals had anything to say
about Guttural, Pectoral, Manual or Pedal until 1724, at which
time they were mentioned as Freemason's signs, and were not
connected in any way with the subject of entry. Later exposures,
while making reference to the points of entrance, did not associate
them with the signs of Guttural, Pectoral, Manual or Pedal, and as
late as 1740 there had been no mention of the Cardinal Virtues.
Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia gives this theory on the evolution of
the Perfect Points of Entrance in our ritual: "Modern rituals on
this subject, in a portion of the Entered Apprentice lecture,
combine in a single treatment of three different things, as
follows:
1. Entry on entrance, the points at which there were
secrets and penalties;
2. Certain signs classed as Guttural,
Pectoral, Manual and Pedal;
3. Cardinal Virtues, TEMPERENCE,
FORTITUDE, PRUDENCE and JUSTICE. In the earliest rituals, they were
entirely disassociated. At least up to 1750, points of entry were no
more than secrets, signs, tokens, etc., but undefined. These were
certain signs classified as guttural, pectoral, manual and pedal,
not further defined, but seeming to have no connection with
entrance. Evidently, cardinal virtues did not enter the ritual
until after the middle of the 18th century when they were taken
from the Christian church, which derived them from Plato... So the
four cardinal virtues were imposed on the four signs; guttural,
pectoral, manual and pedal, and the whole merged with the points of
entry, with the result that three matters of doubt and uncertainty,
which the ritualists were unable to rationalize were consolidated
into one incongruous mass of verbiage. The only part which has any
virtue or value is that of the Cardinal Virtues which, however,
could stand on their own merits, needing no assistance from the
other enigmatic parts."
The Cardinal Virtues aside then, we might consider the Perfect
Points of Entrance, not necessarily in the order in which they are
listed, as: the reception upon the point of a sharp instrument, the
due guard, the penalty sign, and the position in the northeast corner
of the lodge upon the first step of Freemasonry, which allude to
obligations, penalties, and moral responsibilities. These would
seem to be the principal points of a candidates's entry into the
lodge, and would explain, and perhaps justify, the retention of
"The Perfect Points of Entrance" in our ritual.
"SPECULATIVE SCIENCE"
In the symbolic degrees the neophyte is instructed on the difference
between the Operative and the Speculative divisions of
Masonry. We work in Speculative Masonry, but our ancient brethren
wrought in both Operative and Speculative.
There is a deference between the two, one is an art and the other is a
science. At one time each was an integral part of one undivided system.
Not that the period-ever existed when every Operative Mason was
acquainted with, or initiated into the Speculative science. Even now
there are thousands of skillful artisans who know as little about Masonry
as they do about the Hebrew language which was spoken by its 'founders.
But Operative Masonry was in some measure, even now, the skeleton upon
which was strung the living muscles and tendons and nerves of the
Speculative system. It was the block of marble, rude and unpolished it
may have been, from which was sculptured the life-breathing statue.
Speculative Masonry which is but another name for Freemasonry in its
modern acceptation may be briefly defined as the scientific application
and the religious consecration of the ruIes and principles, the language,
the implements, and. Materials of Operative Masonry to.the veneration of
God, the purification of the heart., and the inculcation of the dogmas of
a religious philosophy.
Speculative Masonry is a system of ethics and must therefore like all
other, ethical systems have its distinctive doctrines. The system of
Freemasonry has three classes,
1. MORAL 2. RELIGIOUS, 3.PHILISOPHICAL.
1. The Moral Doctrines
These are dependent on and spring out of its character as a social
institution. Among its numerous definitions is one that declares it to
be a Science of morality. Morality is one of the precious jewels and
freemasonry is in its most patent and prominent sense that which most
readily and forcibly attracts the attention of the uninitiated, they see
it as fraternity, an association of men bound together by a peculiar tie;
and therefore it is essential to its successful existence, that it should
as it does, inculcate, at the very threshold of its teaching, s
obligation of-kindness, man,s duty to his neighbor. To that end we can say
that there are three great duties of a Mason, the duty to God, the duty
to Your Neighbor, and the duty to Yourself. The duty to our neighbor is
that we should act upon the square and do unto him as we wish that he
should do unto ourselves.
Freemasonry in this moral point of view, is to carry out to their fullest
practical extent those lessons of mutual love and mutual aid that are
essential to the very idea of a brotherhood.
There is a socialism. in Freemasonry from which spring all-Masonic
virtues. Masonry is a community of sentiment, of principle, of design,
which gives to Masonry all its social and hence its moral character.
"That virtue has not left mankind Her social maxims prove, for stamped
upon masons mind are unity and love
The moral design of Freemasonry , based upon its social character is to
make men better, not only to themselves , but to each other. It is the
nature and duty of every mason to cultivate brotherly love and to
inculcate the practice of.all those virtues which are essential to the perpetuation of a brotherhood.
A mason is bound to obey the moral law
and of this law the very keystone is the divine preceptor the Golden
Rule. It is a moral law to relieve the distressed, to give good counsel
to the erring, to bear evil with fortitude, to be prudent in life and
conversation, and to dispense justice to all men, are duties that are
inculcated on every Mason by the moral doctrines of his Order.
These doctrines of morality are not of recent origin. They are taught in
all the Old Constitutions of the Craft and moreover they are a big part
of the Ancient Mysteries and the workmen at Solomon,s Temple. Even when
the-Institution was operative in its organization and long before the
speculative element was made its predominating characteristic. Thus it
is that Masons shall be true, each one to another; That is to say, to
every Mason of the science of Masonry that are Masons "ye shall do unto
them as ye would that they should do unto you".
AS we look at the symbolism of morality we look at the square deal, we
see that the, word (Square) here as in masonry mean truth. Morality
squared is truth. The square is a symbol denoting morality. It teaches
us to apply the unerring principles of moral science to every action of
our lives, to see that all the motives and-results of our conduct shall
coincide with the dictates. Of divine justice, and that all our
thoughts, words, and deeds shall harmoniously conspire, like the
well-adjusted and rightly squared joints of an edifice to produce a
smooth unbroken life of virtue.
2. The Religious Doctrines
The Religious Doctrines of freemasonry are very simple and self-evident.
they are darkened by-no perplexities of sectarian theology, but stand out
in the broad light, intelligible and acceptable by all minds, for they--'
ask only:,' or belief, in God and in the immortality of the soul. He who
denies these tenets can be no Mason, for the religious doctrines of the
Iristitution.signifcantly impress them in every-part of its ritual. The
neophyte no sooner crosses the threshold of the Lodge, but he is called
upon to recognize as his first duty an entire trust in the superintending
care and,love of the Supreme Being, and the series of initiations into
Symbolic Masonry terminate by revealing the awful symbol of a life after
death and an entrance upon immortality.
For we must first know and feel the universal fatherhood of God before we
can rightly appreciate the universal brotherhood of man. The first
charge is that a Mason shall be true to God. In the Charges published in
1723, which professes to be a compilation made from those older records,
prescribe that a mason, while left to his particular opinions? must be of
that religion in which all men agree . that is to say the religion which
teaches the existence of God and an eternal life.The first Mason was God;
When we look in the Bible we see that Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Moses ,
and others , Patriarchs have been Masons are.members of what is 'today
called masonry then was called the Mysteries.We go back to the Egyptian
religion of Osiris and Ra and Amen.The Mysteries is the place where God
and religions was the secret worship of the ancients.
3.The Philosophical Doctrines
The Philosophical Doctrines Of Freemasonry are scarcely less important ,
although they are less generally"understood than either of the preceding
classes. The object of these philosophical doctrines is very different
from that of either the moral or the religious. For the moral and
religious doctrines of the Order are intended to make men virtuous, while
its philosophical doctrines are designed to make them zealous Masons.'He
who knows nothing Of the philosophy of Freemasonry will be apt to become
in time lukewarm and indifferent, but he who devotes himself to its
contemplation will feel an ever increasing ardor in the study. Now these
philosophical doctrines are developed in that symbolism which is the
especial characteristic of Masonic teaching, and relate altogether to the
lost and recovering word. In the search after the divine truth that was
apart of the Ancient Mysteries of our fore-fathers in a time when the
Black Man was King. The rewards that awaits the faithful and
successful. searcher.'is great..
It brings.us into close relation to the profound thoughts of the ancient
world, and makes us familiar. with every subject of mental science that
lies within the grasp of the human intellect. We find that the moral,
religious, and philosophical doctrines of Freemasonry respectively relate
to the social, the eternal, and the intellectual progress of man.
TRAVEL ON
POETRY & ART
