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MASONIC CELEBRATION 1 
 
 ••:■■ f^ 
 
 OF 
 
 )t John iliQ Bap&t'g Dag, 
 
 Jldonday Evening, June 24i]i, 1889, 
 
 BY 
 
 Gftksemane Chapter of Knights Rose Croix, No. 5, 4 
 <?/" /^^ indent and Accepted Scottish Rite of 
 .^j^iJM^emqsonry of Oakland, California, with 
 'ifiJ' ) Master Masons as Invited Guests. 
 
 A. D D R E: S S 
 
 ^p0n the BfisioTy 0/ iRe. ^ntagMism and .Assantts cf iRe 
 papacy against S-reemasonry and 3'Tee government, 
 
 deuvered by 
 
 EDWIN A. SHERMAN, 33", 
 
 Wise Master of Gethsemane Chapter of Knights Rose Croix, ■., 
 Secretary of the Masofiic Veteran Association of the 
 Pacific Coast, Etc., Etc. 
 
 Carkcth & Cabruth, Printers, Oakland, Cai.. 
 1889. 
 
 
60 
 
 MASONIC CELEBRATION 
 
 -OF- 
 
 )t John tlie Bapftgl;'^ Dagj 
 
 fonday Ei]Bning, June 24tli, 1889, 
 
 BY ■ 
 
 Gethsemane Chapter of Knights Rose Croix ^ No. 5, 
 
 of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of 
 
 Freemasonry of Oakland^! California^ with 
 
 Master Masons as Invited Guests. 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 'Upon the. ^istory cf iRe .^niagonism and ^ssantts of tRe 
 papacy against 9^reemas0nry and ^ree government, 
 
 DELIVERED BY 
 
 EDWIN A. SHERMAN, jj°, 
 
 Wise Master of Gethsemane Chapter of Knights Rose Croix, 
 
 Secretary of the Masonic Veteran Association of the 
 
 Pacific Coast, Etc., Etc. 
 
 Cabruth & Carbtjth, Pbintebs, Oakland, Cal. 
 1889. 
 
II ST. JOHN THE baptist's DAY, JUNE 24, 1889. 
 
 The Statutes of the "Supreme Council (Mother Council of the World) 
 of Grand Inspectors General of the Thirty-Third Degree of the Ancient 
 and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for the Southern Jurisdic- 
 tion of the United States particularly require that the anniversaries of 
 St. John the Baptist on June 24th, and St. John the Evangelist on 
 December 27th, of each year, be strictly observed by the Subordinate , 
 Bodies of this Rite of Freemasonry as was formerly the custom and the 
 law of the York Rite which of late years with the exception of compara- 
 tively a few instances, has been allowed to fall into disuse. 
 
 In accordance with these Statutes, "Gethsemane Chapter op 
 KNiGHts Rose Croix No. s, of Oakland, on Monday evening, June 24th, 
 St. John the Baptist's Day, held an open meeting to which Master 
 Masons specially invited by ticket united with that Chapter in Masonic 
 commemoration of the day of the first of their Patron Saints John, to 
 whom in common their lodges are dedicated. 
 
 The lodge room of the Masonic Temple was handsomely' decorated 
 with the banners and standards of the order, and towards the East upon 
 the triangular altar covered with a beautiful crimson velvet cloth fringed 
 with gold, was the open Bible, the Great Light of Masonry, with the 
 working tools, the square and compass and triangle with crossed swords. 
 The altar was placed within a triangle of nine lights and between two 
 Corinthian columns surmounted by two large gilt candlesticks in which 
 were tall white wax candles burning, symbols of the two Saints John. 
 The canopies in the East, South, West, and North were crimson, 
 and crimson velvet coverings with gold fringe covered the pedestals in 
 front of the chief officers. 
 
 At eight o'clock sharp the officers and members of the Chapter in 
 full regalia assemlpled and took their respective stations, while the 
 Master Masons in large numbers entered and occupied both sides of 
 the hall. 
 
 Brother P. M. James h. Cogswell, President of the Masonic Veteran 
 Association of the Pacific Coast was given a seat in the East to the right 
 of the Wise Master, and at his left sat the Old Veteran Mason, Ebenezer 
 Winchester, Past Master of "American Union" Lodge No. i, of Marietta, 
 Ohio, (the first lodge created during the American Revolution, as a mili- 
 tary lodge to accompany Washington and his army, and at the close of 
 the war established at Marietta, Ohio, by Gen. Rufus Putnam and others, 
 and the first lodge west of the Alleghany Mountains.) Also in the 
 Bast to the left. Rev. Brother Joseph H. Wythe of Oakland. 
 
 The officers of Gethsemane Chapter of Knights Rose Croix are the 
 following: 
 
 Edwin A. Sherman, 33°, Wise Master. 
 Ernest M. Ferguson, 30°, Senior Warden. 
 GEORGE Patterson, 32°, Junior Warden. 
 Milburn a. Logan, 32°, Orator. 
 Ernest a. Nordhausen, 32°, Almoner. 
 
ST. JOHN THB baptist's DAY, JUNE 24, 1 889. Ill 
 
 CharlBS E. Gii<i,BTT, 33°, (p. w. m. ) Secretary. 
 
 George Goodman, 32°, Treasurer. 
 
 James B. Merritt, 33°, (p. w. m.) Master of Ceremonies. 
 
 Eugene Cormeny, 32°, Senior Expert. 
 
 Malachi T. McNeei<y, 11°, Junior Expert. 
 
 Richard Jones, 30°, Capt.ofthe Guard. 
 
 John P . V. Schlarbaum, 32°, Standard Bearer. 
 
 Bernard F. Stromberg, 30°, Guardian of the Temple. 
 
 When everything was in readiness the ceremonies of the occasion 
 ■were very imposing and carried out in precision of detail with exactness 
 under the direction of Brother James B. Merritt, 33°, as Master of 
 Ceremonies; all singing the following 
 
 OPENING ODE.— ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. 
 
 COMPOSED BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN AND DEDICATED TO HIS BRETHREN MASTER MASONS. 
 
 (Tuue, Auld Lang Syne.) 
 On this our Patron's natal day, 
 
 We greet you Brothers all; 
 And here let Love's dominion sway 
 
 All hearts within our hall. 
 St. John the Baptist's Day of Birth, 
 
 The nearest when the sun 
 Has reached the farthest to the north 
 
 And its return begun. 
 
 By Jordan's stream he preached the Word, 
 
 " Repentance for all sin; 
 " Make straight the pathway of the Lord, 
 
 " That he may enter in." 
 Beneath the river's flowing tide 
 
 He laid the Master down, 
 Again he raised him to his side 
 
 For DovB of Peace to crown. 
 
 He boldly dared the truth to preach. 
 
 That men in GoD should trust; 
 The king upon the tlirone did teach 
 
 He should not live in lust, 
 But leave his brother's harlot wife 
 
 And his adultery. 
 For this he bravely lost his life. 
 
 In his fidelity. 
 
 So then we'll keep his natal day, 
 
 Freemasons round the earth, 
 And to his memory will pay 
 
 Theirtribute to his Worth; "- 
 
IV ST. JOHN THE baptist's DAY, JUNE, 24,- 1 889. 
 
 While Freedom, ViRTtJE, Truth shall stand 
 
 Ivike granite mountains strong; 
 His fame shall sound in every land, 
 
 St. John shall conquer- wrong ! 
 
 Then let us pledge fealty anew 
 
 Upon our altar there, 
 That to each other we'll prove true, 
 
 With Level, Plumb and Square, 
 While blazing forth shines God's True Word 
 
 So clear, and liright, and FREE; 
 Protect the Trowel with the Sword, 
 
 St. John and Liberty ! 
 
 The Mystic banquet of fraternity and hospitality was then partaken 
 of by all, which consisted of bread, honey and milk, bread being sub- 
 stituted for locusts, the food of St. John the Baptist, (this not being the 
 "locust year,") but California, like the land of Palestine, flowing with 
 milk and honey, furnished these disciples of St. John. 
 
 When this ceremony was concluded, it was followed by prayer by 
 the Wise Master, concluding with the Lord's Prayer in which all united, 
 at the close of which all united in singing the following' 
 
 ODE. 
 (Tune, Old Hundred.) 
 The Royal Craft in days of old 
 
 On Mount Moriah's brow did raise 
 A temple, roofed with glowing gold. 
 Where Israel sang Jehovah's praise. 
 
 Here another Temple bright. 
 Where Truth and Love all hearts enshrine, 
 
 Enrobed each faithful " Son of Light," 
 By Father, Friend and Lord Divine. 
 
 And when these temples framed by Thee, 
 
 Our bodies, ope their portals wide. 
 And our imprisoned spirits fiee 
 
 To seek what Thou dost wisely hide ; 
 
 " Free and accepted" may we prove 
 
 And angels lead ns near to Thee, 
 That we, in Thy Grand Lodge above 
 May take our Last Sublime DEGREE. 
 Brother Edwin A. Sherman, 33° Wise Master, then delivered the 
 following address: 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 BY 
 
 ■WISE IVIASTEK. 
 
 Brethren: — In accordance with the Statutes and Regulations of our 
 Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Free- 
 masonry, we assemble on this anniversary of the birth of St John the 
 Baptist, and hold fraternal communion with each other. And on this 
 occasion " Gethsemane Chapter of Knights Rose Croix, No. 5 " of 
 Oakland, California, in open session, at refreshment, extends a most 
 hearty welcome to our Brethren Master Masons, who are here pres- 
 ent by special invitation, to unite with us in the observance of the Natal 
 day of the first of the two distinguished Saints John, to whom our 
 l/odges in common are dedicated. 
 
 In view of a recent occurrence in Alameda County of the laying of 
 fhe corner stone of a public school edifice at Pleasanton, by Mosaic 
 Lodge No. 218 of Free and Accepted Masons of Livermore, and the at- 
 tack made by the Roman Catholic Priest, Carraher, of the Mission of San 
 Jose, through the public press upon the Masonic Fraternity in general, 
 caused by its laying the corner stone as requested by the Board of School 
 Trustees at Pleasanton, and the information also, of an effort on the part 
 of the priests or members of that sect to prevent the laying of the cor- 
 ner stone of the new building of the Academy of Sciences in San Fran- 
 cisco, by the Grand Lodge of California, has awakened an intense in- 
 terest in the minds of the members of the Masonic Fraternity in general 
 and in our own county in particular, as to the reason or cause of this 
 openly declared hostility to our Ancient and Honorable Fraternity ; and, 
 at the invitation of this Chapter of Knights Rose Croix and other Mas- 
 ter Masons, I have consented with your patience and attention to give 
 this matter something of an investigation. 
 
 Freemasonry embraces men of all creeds, colors and conditions ; 
 makes no attack on any religion, never persecuted or made one martyr 
 on account of difference in religious faith, or shed one drop of blood ; 
 
2 ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 
 
 but in the spirit of universal charity tolerates all, and by a common at- 
 traction and bond of brotherhood, brings and holds together "men in 
 every country and clime, who otherwise would have remained forever 
 apart. ' ' 
 
 Why the Papacy and its fanatical priesthood and adherents should 
 be continually in a state of active hostility against Freemasonry, and 
 which is so utterly unreasonable, and iutolerent, and persecuting where 
 it can exercise its powers, is a question which is constantly presenting 
 itself to every member of the Craft, as well as to the community at large. 
 For there is nothing said or done, either in or out of- our Lodge which 
 calls for any such exhibitions of hostility and denunciation, which are 
 puerile and foolish, and the ponderous blows of the Vatican and its sub- 
 jects which are dealt against Freemasojiry, are as effective as the strokes 
 of an imbecile old man in his second childhood pounding upon an an- 
 vil with a tack hammer, or a venomous old rattlesnake whose teeth are 
 gone trying to gnaw a file. 
 
 But let us go back to the beginning, to the very fountain head and 
 briefly trace the history of this antagonism from its commencement. 
 
 While Freemasonry was purely operative, and confined itself solely to 
 the erection of churches, cathedrals, monasteries, palaces, edifices and 
 fortifications, and was engaged in pursuing the science of architecture 
 only, it received the encouragement, support and patronage of Popes, 
 and of Kmperors and Kings who acknowledged the supremacy of the 
 papal authority ; but when scholars and philosophers began their inves- 
 tigations and researches in the realms of science and philosophy, pene- 
 trating deeply into the arcana of the hidden mysteries of nature and 
 the Universe, and brought forth the grandest discoveries of the age in 
 which they lived, that they too might travel in foreign countries like the 
 Wise Men of old, in following the blazing star of truth and philosophy,' 
 they united with the guilds of operative Freemasonry, were received and 
 accepted as b/ethreu, and the moral and philosophical tenets and princi- 
 ples of our Order were engrafted in the Constitution of the Craft ; and when 
 it ceased to be material and operative, excepting so far as the laying of 
 corner stones and the dedication of edifices, its working tools remained 
 symbols illustrative of moral truths ; and Freemasonry became entirely 
 philosophic and speculative in its doctrines and teachings of liberty of 
 person and conscience, a simple, trusting faith in God, hope of immor- 
 tality of the soul, and charity or kindness toward all mankind. They 
 claimed the right to think and investigate for themselves, not only the 
 cosmogony or science of the formation of the earth and Universe in 
 general, but also that which pertained to the wants and happiness of 
 man in this life, and each for himself to trace the ray of light which 
 illumined the spark of divinity within him, to its source in the bosom of 
 his Creator who had called him into being. This by our enemies is, and 
 always has been regarded as rank heresy ; and under this pretext of 
 heresy the cupidity, avarice, envy and hatred in the early part of the 
 
ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 3 
 
 fourteeuth century toward our ancient Brethren of the Knights Templar 
 who were deceived, entrapped and betrayed; their Grand Master, De 
 Molay with thousands of others was burned at the stake, their Order 
 disbanded and scattered, their property siezed and divided between the 
 cruel and rapacious Pope Clement the Fifth, and Philip the Fair, of 
 France, and the Knights of Malta, who had treacherously betrayed them 
 to death. 
 
 The Bible has been a chained prisoner in all the monasteries and re- 
 ligious houses of Europe. But few besides the monks were permitted to 
 see it or even to read it. Among the Templars were found a few who 
 could read and write, and they being operative Masons also, ' building 
 their own priories and preceptories, found time at intervals, to secretly 
 read, understand and explain the Scriptures for themselves. At that 
 time, figuratively speaking, the souls of men throughout Europe were 
 in irons. Edward the Second, son-in-law of Philip the Pair of France, 
 was upon the throne of England and engaged in a struggle to seize the 
 kingdom of Scotland ; but Robert Bruce, its rightful sovereign, with the 
 aid of the remnant of Knights Templar, who had found shelter under 
 his protection, with 40,000 men, on St. John the Baptist's Day, the 24th 
 of June, 1314, met their enemies, numbering over 120,000, at the little 
 brook of Bannockburn, and though outnumbered by more than three to 
 one, achieved a glorious victory, established the independence of Scot- 
 land and secured his throne. This remnant of Knights Templars were 
 consolidated with the Knights of St. Andrew of Scotland, and in honor 
 of the victory won on St. John the Baptist's Day, he instituted the Or- 
 der of the Rosy Cross from which we, Masonically speaking, are the des- 
 cendants. 
 
 A few years after this event, Pope John XXII was upon the papal 
 throne and Philip the Count of Poictiers became King of France. This 
 Pope, one of the most infamous in all history, stifled the universities, 
 called the discoveries of the learned, whether in physics, chemistry or 
 astronomy, infernal inventions, and burned for heretics those who 
 would enlighten the people, and bring them out of the shades of super 
 stition, and plunged reformers into dungeons to destroy the seeds of 
 liberty and emancipation of the people. He fixed a scale of the prices 
 of indulgences for every crime in the calendar which in the i6th cen- 
 tury was revised by Pope Leo X, but combatted successfully by Martin 
 I<uther, the Reformer, who lighted a lamp which, in time, was destined 
 to blaze like the sun, and illuminate even the darkest corners of the earth 
 and shine with increasing brilliancy and splendor until the end of time. 
 
 In 1492, for the first time in the history of the world, the philosophic 
 reasoning of a daring navigator was to be brought to a successful resvilt, 
 and Christopher Columbus sees a new continent risiiig above the stormy 
 waste of waters, and his rapturous vision is materialized from a dreamy 
 conjecture into a solid and permanent reality, which for four hundred 
 years has continued to exercise a most wonderful influence upon civili- 
 
4 ADDRBSS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 
 
 zation, to change the conditions and fix the destiny of millions upon 
 millions of mankind. The year befrre this discovery, there was born in 
 Spain, an individual, whose birth and career were destined to inflict un- 
 utterable woe upon the children of men ; and whose organization 
 created by him, a nest of vipers and serpents, murderers and assassins, 
 has continued even to our own day and in our own land, become strong, 
 rich, powerful and flourishing, threatening with brazen effrontery, not 
 only Freemasonry, but the life of the American Republic itself. 
 
 "Ignatius Loyala, the founder of the Society of the Jesuits, from 
 a drinking and fighting soldier, having been wounded by having his 
 right leg broken with a stone, deforming him for life, abandons his cas- 
 tle for a monastery, adopts the life of a recluse and becomes a fierce and 
 fanatical monk. He sold his property, gave the proceeds to his convent, 
 hung his sword to a pillar in his chapel, allowed his beard, nails and 
 hair to grow, besmeared his face with hog's dung and left the Abbey of 
 Montserrat to beg. His exterior inspired disgust and alarm, rather than 
 compassion and consequently he went hungry for many days at a time. 
 He retired to a den and for a whole week he received no nourishment. 
 He was drawn from it by some mendicant monks, and taken to the Ifos- 
 pital of Monzesa, where he remained eight days in a profound trance ; 
 when he returned to life, he affirmed that angels had carried him to 
 heaven, that he had distinctly seen the Trinity, the Virgin, and especi- 
 ally Jesus Christ ; that the Savior had ordered him to found a mysteri- 
 ous society, which should labor in the propagation of his faith." 
 j' This organization^ commenced by this one man was destined to 
 jdrench the earth in slime a nd blood, and everywhere to poison the at_ 
 jmosphere inhaled by the breath of men. Said the Archbishop of Dublin 
 'i" 1555 • "A. new congregation has risen among us, which styles it- 
 self the 'Militia of the Pope.' These satsllites_.Qf the pontifical 
 tyranny seek to replace"1rnth'by''}alsehood, light by darkness. They 
 will, no doubt, obtain their ends, my brethren , by reason of their astute- 
 ness, which clothes them with a miiltitude of forms to be combatted. 
 With the pagans, they adore idols ; with theathei&tSj they deny God • 
 with the IsraeK£esn;T5ry]gfo|eaaJudaisin-;-with-the Protestants, they call 
 themselves ' reformers^and all, this is done to discover the plans, 
 thoughts and in9linations of their enemies, to lead men into the way of 
 perdition, to say, ' there is i;ione other God but the Pope, ' They spread 
 themselves over the whole earth, and obtain admittance to the councils 
 of princes, the more surely to rule the nations, to subjugate humanity, 
 to bend it beneath the yoke of the Bishop of Rome." 
 
 By intrigue and craft, this terrible organization has insinuated itself 
 everywhere among the nations of Europe and its respective govern- 
 ments. Intelligent men of all creeds were becoming wearied with the 
 effort to keep alive the light of reason, philanthrophy, and philosophy. 
 The mind of humanity manacled and fettered, still struggled to free 
 itself from the bonds of sacerdotal power and religious fanaticism. 
 
ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 5 
 
 Some beacons of hope were occasionally lighted and the flames would 
 then go out, leaving the darkness greater than before. Fortunately, 
 however, the Bible having been translated by Martin Luther, by means 
 of the newly discovered art of printing, the great light of Masonry 
 soon shed its rays throughout the whole of Germany, and lighted up 
 the humble peasant's cottage and family fireside as well as the palaces of 
 princes and noblemen. 
 
 It soon made its way into Prance and Switzerland, and was slowly 
 but surely leading men out of the realms of darkness, superstition and 
 mental slavery, to the geeen fields of intellectual freedom and enlight- 
 enment, preparng them for a happier and better life on earth, and giv- 
 ing them a foretaste of that to be enjoyed hereafter. But this improved 
 condition of things could not be gained nor maintained, without the 
 fiercest of struggles, through contest of flame and blood, in which the 
 whole Western, Northern and Southern Kurope was involved. Pro- 
 gress was necessarily slow, and Liberty had to swim through seas of 
 blood, before a solid footing could be found where she could stand 
 erect, redeemed and disenthralled. 
 
 The lustful monarch of England, Henry the Eighth, after having 
 written and published his work against the Reformation under Luther, 
 and having had conferred upon him by Pope Leo X, the title of " De- 
 fender of the Faith," renounced his allegiance to the Papacy, and con- 
 stituted himself the head of the Church in England, not because he 
 had changed his religious convictions, for he seemed to have had none, 
 but he wanted a change of wives, which he frequently made of his own 
 supreme volition, committing the discarded and divorced ones to lose 
 their heads upon the block under the axe of the headsman. He, 
 however, caused a translation of the Bible to be made from the 
 Latin into English, and founded the Church of England upon the prin- 
 ciples of the Reformation under Luther, with himself as the ■ normal 
 head, with the archbishops to direct and govern it. But in his royal 
 declaration forbid the exercise of conscience in the interpretation of 
 the Scriptures. He said : — 
 
 " That, therefore, in these both curious and unhappy differences, 
 which have for so many hundred years, in different times and places, 
 exercised the Church of Christ, we will, that all further curious search 
 be laid aside, and these disputes be shut up in God's promises, as they 
 generally be set forth in the Holy Scriptures, and the general meaning 
 of the Articles of the Church of England according to them. And that 
 no man hereafter, shall either print or preach to draw the Articles 
 aside any way, but shall submit to it in the plain and full meaning thereof; 
 and shall not put his own sense, or comment, to be the meaning of the 
 Article ; but shall take it in the literal and grammatical sense. 
 
 "That if any public reader, in eitherof our Universities, or any head 
 or master of a College, or any other person respectively, in either of 
 them, shall afiix any new sense to any Article, or shall publicly read, de 
 
6 ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 
 
 termine, or hold any public disputation, or suifer any such to be held 
 either way, in either of the Universities or Colleges respectively ; or if 
 any Divine in the Universities, shall preach or print anything, either 
 ■way, other than is already established in Convocation, with our Royal 
 assent, he or they, the offenders, shall be liable to our displeasure, and 
 the Church's censure in our Commission Ecclesiastical, as well as any 
 other ; and we will see there shall be due execution upon them." 
 
 Among these thirty-nine Articles, there are a few things especially 
 to be noted: 
 
 "The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in England." 
 
 "Bishops, priests and deacons are not commanded by God's law, 
 either to vow the estate of single life or to abstain from marriage. There- 
 fore it is lawful for them, as for all other Christian men, to marry at 
 their own discretion, as they shall judge the same better to godliness." 
 
 The complete severing of relations with the Church of Rome, gave 
 a new impetus to the study of philosophy and science, and a great step 
 forward had been made toward religious emancipation. 
 
 Henry the Eighth, in his fifty-sixth year and the thirty-eighth of 
 his reign, died a horrible and loathsome death : and borrowing the lan- 
 guage of Dickens, "Henry VIII has been favored by some Protestant 
 writers, because the Reformation was achieved in his time. But the 
 mighty merit of it, lies with other men, and not with him ; and it can be 
 rendered none the worse by this monster's crimes, and none the better 
 by any defense of them. The plain truth is, that he was a most intol- 
 erable ruffian, a disgrace to human nature, and a blot of blood and 
 grease upon the History of England." 
 
 The short reign of Edward VI and that of "Bloody Mary," in turn 
 brought Elizabeth to the throne of England. Speculative or philoso- 
 phic Freemasonry was slowly crystallizing into shape, and consisted of 
 but one degree only ; and which was of the simplest form and character, 
 with but a single obligation of honor and duty, and allegiance to the 
 crown as a loyal subject. 
 
 "As there were so many secret cabals and assemblies of one sort and 
 another, and especially of the Jesuits and other enemies to her reign, 
 Elizabeth, hearing that the Masons were in possession of secrets which 
 they would not reveal, and being jealous of all secret assemblies, sent 
 an armed force to York, with intent to break up their Annual Meeting. 
 This design, however, was happily frustrated, by the interposition of Sir 
 Thomas Sackville, who took care to initiate some of the chief officers, 
 whom she had sent on this duty. They joined in commission with the 
 Masons and made so favorable a report to the Queen on their return, 
 that she countermanded her orders, and never afterwards attempted to 
 disturb the meetings of the Fraternity." 
 
 The massacre of St. Bartholomew in Paris, August 24th, 1572, in 
 which fell the noble Coligny, and the assassination twelve years 
 afterwards of William the Silent, Prince of Orange, his son-in-law. 
 
ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. ^ 
 
 July loth, 1584, caused hundreds of thousands of Huguenots and 
 Reformers to find refuge in England, among whom were some of the 
 profoundest scholars and philosophers of that age, many of whom, 
 quietly and secretly, swelled the Masonic ranks. Pope Gregory XIII. 
 freed from his most formidable adversary, William the Silent, armed a 
 Jesuit wretch by the name of Wm. Parry of Venice to murder Elizabeth, 
 Queen of England. Fortunately for her the satellite ef the pope, on 
 arriving in London, was indiscreet enough to impart his plan to one of 
 his relatives who dwelt in that city; he was immediately arrested and ex- 
 ecuted for high treason. 
 
 In 1585, Sextus V ascended the papal throne and was determined 
 with the aid of Philip II of Spain, to crush England and destroy Eliza- 
 beth, and the cardinals being assembled in full consistory, he fulminated 
 the following bull: 
 
 "We, Sextus the fifth, the Universal Shepherd of the flock of Christ, 
 the supreme chief, to whom the government of the whole world apper- 
 tains, considering that the people of England and Ireland, after having 
 been so long celebrated for their virtues, their religion, and their sub- 
 mission to our see, have become putrid members, infected and capable of 
 corrupting the whole Christian body ; and, that on account of their sub- 
 jection to the impious, tyrannical and sanguinary government of Eliza- 
 beth, the bastard queen, and by the influence of her adherents, who 
 equal her in wickedness, and who refuse, like her, to recognize the au" 
 thority of the Roman Church ; regarding that Henry the Eighth, for- 
 merly, for purposes of debauchery, commenced all these disorders, by 
 revolting against the submission he owed to the Pope, the sole -and true 
 sovereign of England ; considering that the usurper Elizabeth has fol- 
 lowed the path of this infamous 'king, we declare, that there exists but 
 one mode of remedying these evils, of restoring peace, tranquility and 
 union of Christendom, of re-establishing religion, and of leading back 
 the people to obedience to us, which is to depose from the throne that 
 execrable Elizabeth, who falsely arrogates to herself the title of queen of 
 the British isles. 
 
 "Being then, inspired by the Holy Spirit, for the general good of the 
 church, we renew, by virtue of our apostolic power, the sentence pro- 
 nounced by our predecessors, Pius the Fifth and Gregory the Thir- 
 teenth, against this modern Jezebel; we proclaim her deprived of royal 
 authority, of the rights, titles or pretensions to which she may lay claim, 
 over the kingdoms of Ireland and England, affirming that she possesses 
 them unlawfully and by usurpution.. We relieve all her subjects from 
 the oaths they may have taken to her, and we prohibit them from ren- 
 dering any kind of service to this execrable woman; it is our will, that 
 she be driven from door to door, like one possessed of a devil, and that 
 all human aid should be refused her; we declare, moreover, that foreigners 
 or Englishmen, are permitted, as a meritorious work, to sieze the person 
 of Elizabeth, and surrender her living or dead, to the tribunals of the 
 
8 ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 
 
 Inquisition. We promise to those who shall accomplish this glorious 
 mission, infinite recompenses, not only in the life eternal but even in 
 this world. 
 
 "Finally, we grant plenary indulgences to the Catholic army, which 
 is going to combat the impious Elizabeth, under the orders of our dear 
 son, Philip the Second, to whom we give the British Isles, in full sover- 
 eignty, as a recompense for the zeal he has always shown towards our 
 see, and for the particular affection he has shown for the Catholics of 
 the Low Countries." 
 
 This terrible bull was published in the ecclesiastical states, with toll- 
 ing of bells, and by the light of candles. At Madrid, they dressed the 
 chapel of the palace of the Escurial in black and followed by all the 
 grandees of his court, Philip II caused the anathema pronounced 
 against the queen of England to be read by the Nuncio. 
 
 Events advanced the policy of Pope Sextus V in regard to Spain ; 
 the fleet surnamed the "Invincible Armada" was almost destroyed by a 
 frightful tempest which assailed it at the mouth of the Thames. The 
 vessels which escaped the violence of the sea, were routed by Sir Francis 
 Drake, the Vice Admiral of England, and obliged to return in disgrace to 
 Spain. (It was this same Francis Drake, who sailed past the Golden 
 Gate without discovering it and anchored in what is known as Drake's 
 Bay near Bodega, and named Upper California "New Albion." Commo- 
 dore John Drake Sloat who raised the American flag and took possession 
 of California, July 7th, 1847, was a lineal descendant of Sir Francis Drake. 
 Col. Jonathan Drake Stevenson, our first Grand Master, and Colonel of 
 a regiment of U. S. Volunteers during the Mexican War, was of the same 
 stock.) 
 
 Elizabeth reigned forty-four years and then died a natural death. 
 Learning, the arts and sciences, and philosophy advanced under her 
 reign. Shakespeare, and his contemporaries, added luster to those 
 times, while Freemasonry continued to flourish slowly but steadily, in 
 detached, independent lodges, without any Grand Lodge or Grand Mas- 
 ter. To Shakespeare are Freemasons indebted for some portions of 
 their ritual. 
 
 Upon the accession of James, the First, of the House of the Stewarts, 
 Pope Paul V was determined with the aid of the Jesuits to destroy both 
 the King and his Parliament ; and thirty-iix barrels of gunpowder, were 
 placed vmder the House of Parliament, to be fired when the King, his 
 counsellors, and the lawmakers were assembled. Fortunately this was 
 discovered in time, and the chief Jesuit conspirator, with his accom- 
 plices was captured and hung. 
 
 This affair determined King James to make his subjects take the 
 famous oath of allegiance by which they recognized that the sovereign 
 of Great Britain was independent of every foreign power ; that neither 
 Pope nor Archbishop, nor Bishop could depose him, nor free his sub- 
 jects from the oath of fidelity they had sworn to him ; that none had a 
 
ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 9 
 
 right to seize on his domaius, nor dispose of his kingdom, nor make an 
 attempt on liis life ; that the doctrine professed by the Roman Catholics, 
 ■which authorized subjects to put to death their princes on the order of 
 the Pope, was impious and execrable. This oath was made obligatory 
 on all the inhabitants of England, no matter what were their religious 
 opinions. 
 
 Pope Paul V immediately addressed several briefs to the faithful in 
 Great Britain to prohibit them from obeying the King, which caused 
 banislnneut to be inflicted on some, and even decapitation on the most , 
 obstinate, who were convicted of treason. King James now took an 
 important step which was deemed necessary for the spiritual instruction 
 and welfare of his people. He selected forty-seven divines, each taking 
 a portion of the Scriptures in Hebrew and Greek, to translate into En- 
 glish, which was revised by the whole body ; and when their labors were 
 finished, in their dedicatory address or report to the King, in conclusion 
 they said : — 
 
 " And now at the last, by the mercy of God, and the continuance of 
 our labors, it being brought into such a conclusion, as that we have great 
 hopes that the Church of England shall reap good fruit thereby ; we 
 hold it our duty to offer it to your Majesty, not only as to our King and 
 Sovereign, but as to the principal mover and author of the work ; hum- 
 bly craving of your most sacred Majesty, that since things of this 
 quality have ever been subject to the censures of ill-meaning and dis- 
 contented persons, it may receive approbation and patronage from so 
 learned and judicious a Prince as your Highness is, whose allowance 
 and acceptance of our labors shall more honor and encourage us than 
 all the calumniations and hard interpretations of other men shall dis- 
 may us. So that if we shall be traduced by Popish persons at home or 
 abroad, who therefore zvill malign us, because we are poor instruments 
 to make G-od's holy truth to be yet m.ore and more known unto the people, 
 whom they still desire to keep in ignorance and darkness," etc. 
 
 • This Bible was received by the Masonic Lodges throughout the 
 kingdom, which still conferred but one degree. It was received be- 
 tween the two hands closed, and upon it the brethren took their obliga- 
 tion as Masons, and oath of allegiance to the king, invoking the pen- 
 alty of the various modes of punishment for high treason, for the vio- 
 lation of their sworn obligation of allegiance and duty to the govern- 
 ment which gave them protection. 
 
 This same King James' version has continued from that day to the 
 present to be the only one used in all the Masonic Lodges of Great 
 Britain and her dependencies throughout the world, with this dedica- 
 tion and declaration against popery in it. King James I. formulated 
 the ceremonies of the coronation of the kings and queens of Great Brit- 
 ian, from which the ceremonies of the installation of Masters of Ma- 
 sonic Lodges and the carrying of the Bible in processions were largely 
 
lO ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 
 
 borrowed to publicly show their loyalty but without supporting any dis- 
 tinctive creed. 
 
 Section XIII of the coronation ceremonies reads as follows: — ■ 
 
 The Presenting of the Holy Bidte— "Then shall the Dean of 
 Westminster take the Holy Bible which was carried in the procession, 
 from,, off the altar, and deliver it to the Archbishop, who with the 
 rest of the Bishops going along with him, shall present it to the 
 King, first saying these words to him : 
 
 ' Our gracious King, we present you. with this Book, the most valu- 
 able thing that this world affords. Here is Wisdom. This is the Royal 
 Law. These are the Lively Oracles of God. Blessed is he that readeth, 
 and they that hear the words of this Book ; that keep and do the things 
 contained in it, for these are the words of eternal life, able to make you 
 wise and happy in this world, nay wise unto salvation, and so happy 
 forevermore, through faith, which is in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory 
 forever. Amen ! ' 
 
 Then the King delivers back the Bible to the Archbishop who 
 gives it to the Dean of Westminister to be reverently placed again upon 
 the holy altar." 
 
 James the First also took up the pen and attacked the doctrines of the 
 Jesuit Cardinal Bellarmine in several controversial works. The Jesuit 
 Suarez replied to the king, and placing himself as the champion of the 
 papacy, endeavored to crush his royal adversary. In his book he said: — 
 
 " The sovereign power of the Pope is all powerful to direct kings ef- 
 ficaciously in the exercise of their authoritj' ; he can also constrain 
 princes to obey him in that which he has justly ordained, and to punish 
 those who do not obey him, for he is armed with a two-edged sword, and 
 the proof that this right has devolved on him, is, that the Chiefs of the 
 Church have always used it in excommunicating emperors and kings, in 
 deposing them, in freeing their subjects from their oaths of fidelity, and 
 in giving their dominions to Catholic princes. The popes are invested 
 with -a. power so great that their decree of death pronounced against a 
 king is enough to place the condemned beyond the protection of the 
 law ; all the faithful, however, are not authorized to fall upon the en- 
 emy of the church, and they should leave the care of executing the sen- 
 tence to those who are charged with it. 
 
 Another Jesuit, Emanuel Sa, took part in these disputes. He main- 
 tained that the revolt of an ecclesiastic against a king did not constitute 
 a crime of lese-majesty, since priests could not be regarded as subjects 
 of a king. 
 
 Henry III of France, on the 31st day of July, 1589, was assassinated 
 by the Jesuit Monk, Jacques Clement, who plunged his knife in that 
 king's abdomen and struck him in the face. The monk was killed on 
 the spot by the guards. 
 
 Henry IV of France, the plumed King of Navarre, ascended the 
 throne, and he too on the loth of May 1610, was assassinated by the 
 
ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. II 
 
 Jesuit Ravillac, who struck him two blows with a Icnife in the region of 
 the heart. The assassin could have easily escaped bvit he remained 
 there with his knife in his hand, boasting how well he had struck. On 
 him was found a chaplet, a dagger on which were engraven a tiara, a 
 cross and ,a death's head with the motto, ' ' In the name of the Pope, the 
 Society of Jesus ; " a paper on which was written three times on different 
 folds the name of JeSus, and a pasteboard heart which he wore around 
 his neck. 
 
 In after years, the Jesuits caused the Bishop of the Catholic Church 
 in France to assemble a national council, and address Ivbuis XV^ the 
 king, in the following memoir — 
 
 "Sire, an imperious duty leads us to the foot of the throne, to warn 
 you that the thick smoke which is spoken of jn the holy books, which 
 rises from the depth of the abyss, and obscures the air and the sun, ap- 
 pears to have spread itself over the surface of your kingdom, Know 
 that royalty cannot subsist with the liberty which the French arrogate, 
 of speaking and writing ; know that it is the interests of kings to main- 
 tain darkness, to prevent bold minds from reasoning about the origin of 
 religions and governments ; do not forget that the throne and the altar 
 are intimately united, and that kings cannot reasonably maintain their 
 rule without the aid of priests, and that it would be a great imprudence 
 to take the part of the people against theui. Be fearful lest men, en- 
 lightened by the philosophers, accustom themselves to regard the pow- 
 ers which govern them as usurpations ; fcfr from that day the monarchy 
 will be lost. They elevate themselves from proud heights against ■ the 
 vicar of God. Philosophers first overthrow the altars of Christ 'and then 
 beat down the throne of Csesar. Foresee these frightful , evils, imprison 
 the dangerous writers, gag the printers who lend the aid of their presses 
 to the propagation of these pernicious doctrines which filter through all 
 the pores of society, and "tvhich will end in corrupting the nation. Ex- 
 terminate, sire, the infamous apostles of liberty ; force them to silence 
 by the most frightful tortures, and the most terrible punishments, and 
 let their viprous breath not vibrate longer but beneath the dark and im- 
 penetrable vaults of the dungeons of the Bastile." 
 
 The Seventeenth Century was an age of constant struggles for civil 
 and religious liberty ; the overthrow of Charles the First of England 
 followed by his trial and execution by the people ; the protectorate and 
 rule of Oliver Cromwell, upon whose death Charles the Second ascended 
 the throne, and whose licentious course of life and arbitrary measures, 
 swelled the emigrations of exiles to America. Succeeded by James II, 
 who violated his oath as king, and was driven from England by the people, 
 "William, Prmce of Orange and Nassau, the grandson of William the 
 Silent, was called to the throne. 
 
 The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 by Louis XIV, with 
 the proclamation and ma.ssacres which immediately followed, drove a 
 million or more of Huguenots out of France to I^ngland, Holland and 
 
12 ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 
 
 America. Scholars and educated men among them received a cordial 
 welcome from the men of letters in England, and gradually the Masonic 
 lodges augmented their numbers from the Huguenot exiles, who sought 
 fraternization with their English brethren. After the fruitless attempt 
 of James the Second to regain his throne by the invasion of Ireland with 
 his Catholic troops, in which he was ignominiously driven from the 
 kingdom, William III observing the fidelity and loyalty of the Free- 
 masons to the Government of England, became their patron, and as a 
 distinguishing mark of his favor and appreciation, directed that their 
 lambskin aprons should be bordered with blue and that the insignia of the 
 Masters and Wardens and other officers should also be blue, as a badge of 
 honor and fidelity, which color has been continued by the Craft every- 
 where to the present time, and our symbolic lodges are generally known 
 as "Blue Lodges' ' for this reason . 
 
 Freemasonry continued to be both operative and speculative, but the 
 lodges were separate and independent of each other until the so-called 
 "revival of Freemasonry" on St. John the Baptist's Day, June 24th, 1717, 
 when the Grand Lodge of England was duly organized and a Grand Mas- 
 ter (Anthony Sayre) was elected to preside over the deliberations of the 
 Craft. 
 
 A French Huguenot Reformer, born at Rochelle, France, and a thor- 
 oughly educated gentleman, who had been initiated in the "Lodge of 
 Antiquity" in St. Paul's churchyard, secured the assistance of several 
 older Masons to aid in the formation of the Grand Lodge of England 
 and in 1719, two years thereafter, became the third Grand Master and 
 the division of the work of the lodges was made into three degrees to 
 conform to the custom of the operative portion of the Craft. 
 
 The Apprentice received the Great Light in both hands and served 
 seven years as such. Asa Fellow Craft or Journeyman with his right 
 resting upon it and the other raised as if appealing to heaven as in a 
 court of justice to witness the sincerity of his oath, he traveled or jour- 
 neyed five years as a faithful workman, at the end of which time he re- 
 turned and served as a Warden and under-overseer for three years more, 
 when he was duly qualified as a Master Mason, confirmed by an obliga- 
 tion of entire consecration to the duties which he owed to God, to his 
 country, to the Craft, to his neighbor and to himself and was entitled to 
 wear his apron at an angle of 45°, being the hypothenuse of a perfect 
 square whose sides were equal. 
 
 The second section of the third degree was then added by Desagui- 
 liers after the manner of the ancient Egyptian and Eleusinian ceremonies 
 of initiation, with the tragical legend of the fate of the master builder of 
 King Solomon's Temple, fabricated for the purpose of concealing by 
 symbolism, the death of the Grand Master of the Templars and others 
 who became martyrs for conscience, who were the victims of thai terrible 
 power which for so many centuries has been the curse of mankind. 
 
 From that time forth, speculative or philosophic Freemasonry gradu- 
 
ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. I J 
 
 ally spread itself over the world. Men of all shades of religious belief, 
 who were liberal and tolerant, could meet their fellows in a fraternity on 
 a common level without violation of their consciences. Freemasonry 
 became the patron of the liberal arts and sciences. It did not meddle 
 with questions of theology nor attempt to divide the unity of God, nor 
 teach that the Creator of the Universe had a mother made pregnant 
 by his breath, reduce himself to an atomic bioplasm and be 
 developed into a human form of the masculine gender in the 
 womb of a woman he had himself created through the common process 
 of nature. Such a stupendous mystery and problem with many others 
 was left to theologians alone outside of the pale of the Fraternity, to 
 rend the veil of nature and investigate and explain for themselves. Such 
 questions will never find complete satisfactory solution among intelli- 
 gent men on this side of eternity, and with which as with other like 
 matters. Freemasonry does not concern itself in any manner whatever; 
 in a few words, Freemasonry has a faith in God without creed or sect, 
 politics of the principles of a free and enlightened government of the 
 people without party, and puts forward no candidates or platforms and 
 is fraternity without distinctions of nationality or race. 
 
 Whilst the Jesuits and the Pope were struggling for the rule of the 
 world and were discussing the right to plunge nations into brutality, a 
 war cry arose from the middle of France, which, repeated by a tliousand 
 voices, taught Rome and its black cohorts that God was watching over 
 humanity. The Pleiad of philosophers ranged themselves together and 
 battled in the breach against the civil and religious authority of popes, 
 bishops and priests, those implacable enemies of all advancement. Mon- 
 tesqieu combatted in the cause of liberty and published his famous Per- 
 sian letters ; Rousseau, Diderot and d'Alembert entered the lists and re- 
 enforced the battalions of the encyclopedists. Maupertuis, Clairault, 
 Camus, Le Moutais, etc., determined geometrically the figure of the earth 
 by measuring a degree from the meridian under the equator, and another 
 under the poles, and Galileo, the astronomer, philosopher and martyr 
 was vindicated. 
 
 All these great men impressed an irresistible impulse on their con- 
 temporaries and forced the third estate and even the nobility to march in 
 their train, in their progressive route to the conquest of a new order of 
 things. The political movement, though less apparent, was not the less 
 real. Secret associations were everywhere organized to labor for the 
 overthrow of kings and priests ; the sacred love of liberty, that divine 
 sentiment, the lightnings of which despots had restrained for so many 
 years was reanimating all hearts. Rome was moved by this revolution- 
 ary tendency of the mind, and to arrest it Pope Clement the Twelfth de- 
 clared war on secret societies and fulminated a terrible bull against the 
 Freemasons whose lodges were established in England, Scotland, France, 
 Germany, Italy and America. 
 
 His holiness prohibited his subjects, under penalty of death, from be- 
 
1 4 ADBRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 
 
 coming affiliated with or from- assisting at an assembly of Freemasons, 
 or only from rendering aid, succor, conncil or a retreat, to one of its 
 members. He also enjoined on the faithful, under the penalty of the 
 most severe corporeal punishments, to denounce those whom they sus- 
 pected of being connected with them and to reveal all they could learn , 
 touching this "heretical and seditious association." 
 
 These proscriptions, instead of checking the advance of Freemason- 
 ry contributed to give it extraordinary lustre, and Europe was soon cov- 
 ered by a prodigious number of lodges. 
 
 The unjust taxation and oppression of the British Colonies in Ameri- 
 ca had aroused a feeling of resentment and resistance, and the Western 
 shores of the Atlantic were ablaze with the light of liberty. Filty-two 
 out of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of American Independence 
 were free and accepted Masons. Jefferson, Franklin, I^ivingston and 
 Sherman from the committee of iive appointed to draft it, were brethren 
 of the "mystic tie," as well as John Hancock, the President of the Conti- 
 nental Congress which adopted it. "All men are created equal and are 
 endowed with the inalienable right of life, libertj- and the pursuit of 
 happiness," was to thunder the voice of a free people down through the 
 the ages, until time should be no more. 
 
 They had been taught in the temples of Freemasonry, the triune 
 principles of I^iberty, Equality and Fraternity. That "the lamb-skin or 
 white-leather apron is an emblem of innocence and the badge of a Ma- 
 son, more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, more hon- 
 orable than the Star and Garter or any other order that could be con- 
 ferred upon him as king, prince or potentate or any other person, except 
 he be a Mason, and which every one ought to wear with equal pleasure 
 to himself and honor to the fraternity." 
 
 Says the pope of Rome in his books prescribed for the rule of his 
 subjects in this country : "The Blessed Virgin Mary, conceived without 
 sin, is the patroness (or governess) of the United States;" or in other 
 words, in her name the pope must rule this country. 
 
 Says the oath of the priest prescribed by the Council of Trent, (still 
 in force), among other things, "I most firmly admit and embrace apos- 
 tolical and ecclesiastical Traditions and all other constitutions and ob- 
 servances of the same church. 
 
 " I also admit the Sacrecj Scriptures, according to the sense in which 
 our Holy Mother, the Church, has held and does hold them, to whom it 
 belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Holy 
 Scriptures; nor will I ever take and interpret them otherwise than ac- 
 cording to the unanimous consent of the Fathers. 
 
 "I promise true obedience to the bishop of Rome, the successor of 
 St. Peter, prince of the Apostles and vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, and 
 I also condemn, reject and anathematize all things contrary thereto and 
 all heresies whatsoever condemned, rejected and anathematized by the 
 Church. This true Catholic faith, without which none can be saved 
 
ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 1 5 
 
 and which I now freely profess and truly hold, I promise, vow and 
 SWE^AR most constantly to hold, and to profess the same, whole and 
 entire, with God's assistance, to the end of my life ; and to take care, to 
 the best of my power, that it shall be held, tatight and preached by 
 those over whom I shall have authority, or with the care of whom I 
 shall be charged by virtue of my office. Amen!" 
 
 The Declaration of Independence and the principles of Freemason- 
 ry are diametrically opposed to those of the papal power. With the 
 former in one hand and his sword in the other, the beloved Father of 
 his Country, George Washington, also a Freemason, went forth to battle 
 for the freedom of his country. Benjamin Franklin, the Provincial 
 Grand Master of Pennsylvania, is sent as Minister to France, and our 
 French brethren under lyafayette, Rochambeau and De Grasse, volun- 
 teer to aid their American brethren in the cause of liberty, American 
 nationality and independence, to return in triumph again to their own 
 country, to light the beacon fires of freedom, which were to continue to 
 blaze forever throughout western Europe, while the Baslile is thrown 
 down and Lafayette sends the key to Washington. 
 
 The Jesuits, driven repeatedly out of one nation and then another, 
 again returning to afilict mankind with their terrible power, have 
 at last fastened their fangs upon our own land and conspired to ruin the \ 
 American Republic. Through their intrigues and machinations, they ' 
 were successful in their efforts to plunge our country into a terrible 
 civil war, that they might fill up the places of the dead with their 
 own scum of corruption imported from Europe. 
 
 By direction of Pope Pius IX, Roman Catholics, naturalized citi- 
 zens were absolved from their oaths of allegiance to the Government 
 of the United States and the arms and flags of their treason and per- 
 jury were placed in their hands by Romau bishops and priests, con- 
 secrated by order of the pope and they had his sanction to lake even 
 the bells out of their churches to be cast into cannon, to be used 
 against the Constitutional government of the Union, which they had 
 sworn to support. ' 
 
 Foiled at last in their schemes in that direction, the hour appointed 
 for his assassination comes, and the JesuiljiQiispiratQrS-witiL.Uieir instru- 
 ments, murder AhraViaTnTjnpn^li tVlp martyr Prpsiflpnj pf tllCSC United 
 
 State^p^plrose^cleatn Ey"them had been decieed-neariy-ten- years before. : 
 The Jesuit Archbisho prBourget of M antreal_a[itli-other Jesuit priests, Lee 
 Pierre aitd-^tmcEienire accessories to _tll.e_crime. More cunning and j 
 adroit in "thelFnext" act^oflbui assassination. . in covering their tracks, 
 and James A. GarfieTd, ouFb7oflier_arid_Presi^deiiLt_qfJhe_ Unite States, 
 is added tJjMi£3-!lg2JZ--lr°Eili£g-gJ^JlMrdgrjjid J b ggausejcertain 
 
 appointments would not be made by him to suit them. Will not our 
 people open their eyes and see ? 
 
 The~consfant"'"afficks made upon our free in.stitutions, must be met 
 courageously and boldly by the American people. The balance of politi- 
 
1 6 ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 
 
 cal power is now in the hands of the enemies of Freemasonry and 
 free government, while the people are duped, betrayed with false issues, 
 and played off against each other by thieves and scoundrels, while Rome 
 triumphs. 
 
 For more than a century, our Grand Lodges have been called upon 
 to lay the corner stones of public edifices and monuments, and their 
 Masonic work in connection with the National and State governments 
 .and of societies, and their labors have kept pace with the progress and 
 development of the Republic. Shall they at the dictation and mandates, 
 and influence of the satellites of the Pope of Rome now cease? Shall 
 their influence in the halls of legislation where there seems to be so little 
 conscience, and in the timid administration of government, fearing to lose 
 the prestige of power, be so great as to prevent the further public labors of 
 the Craft ? is a question of vital interest to our ancient and honorable 
 Fraternity. 
 
 The foundation and cap stones of Bunker Hill Monument and of the 
 Washington Monument at Baltimore, and thousands of public buildings 
 were laid with Masonic ceremonies, and nof a murmur of discontent, 
 or protest was ever raised by any person or organization on the soil of 
 America. 
 
 The Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, laid the foundation 
 stone of that proudest shaft on earth, in honor of the Father of his 
 Country, George Washington, who as President of these United States, 
 and the Master of his Lodge, acting as Grand Master for the occasion, 
 laid the corner-stone of the Capitol of the Republic in the City to be 
 honored by his name forever. When the Grand Lodge of the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia assembled to place the cap-stone on the top of that 
 splendid shaft, then Rome howled through its organs and protested 
 against it, but in vain. More than a third of a century before, the Pope 
 had sent a block of stone, marked and gilded with the papal coat of 
 arms to be placed in a conspicuous place in that monument, but a few 
 true Freemasons and true American citizens determined that it should not 
 pollute or mar the beauty of that magnificent structure, broke it in 
 pieces at its base, and cast the fragments into the Potomac river. All 
 honor to them for their fidelity to the Craft, to their country and to the 
 memory of Washington. 
 
 The Pope may plant his fortress in the shape of a great university 
 in that city, from which to intimidate and intrigue through the channels 
 of the government, and endeavor to awe the nation ; but that shaft, 
 pointing to heaven, will stand like the finger of a watchful and aveng- 
 ing God, as if saying "bsware that ye disturb not nor harm my 
 chosen people. ' ' 
 
 Foreign Roman Catholic bishops besides those born in this coun- 
 try, subjects of the Pope, have their military organizations as guards, 
 armed and equipped with papal uniforms, belts, cartridge boxes, mus- 
 kets and bayonets, while the American flag is debased to do honor 
 
ADDRESS BY EDWIN A.. SHERMAN. 1 7 
 
 to a foreign religions despot and his minions, the sworn enemy of 
 our country and its free institutions. 'The National Guard fully uni- 
 formed and equipped, marching in companies, battalions,' and regi- 
 ments, with the flag of our country dishonored and disgraced, under 
 the orders of Roman Catholic bishops and foreigners surrounded by 
 their cohorts, performs escort duty at the laying of corner-stf nes of 
 convents, monasteries, cathedrals and churches, in violation of the 
 spirit and letter of our constitution and laws, by bishops who in 
 their own names, hold the title deeds to property of a foreign insti-: 
 tution in our cities, while mayors and other officials accept invita- 
 tions and are present as invited guests, to their shame and that of 
 the people, as the enemy constructs its fortifications in their midst, 
 to destroy their liberties, plunge the Republic into irretrievable ruin, 
 while the responsible heads of our National, State and municipal gov- 
 ernments, dreading to incur the enmity of this terrible power, and fear- 
 ing that to do their sworn and solenm duty, will entail the loss of pres- 
 tige, political influence and strength in future elections. 
 
 "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." Our free institutions and 
 our public schools, where we have placed the liberal arts and sciences, 
 demand our watchful care and protection. Hitherto in our own country, 
 Freemasonry has remained silent and conservative when attacked by its 
 enemies. Conscious of its strength it has received blows but returned 
 none ; but as in other countries, it will have to arouse itself, or ere long 
 its own freedom of action will be restrained and it will fall to decay 
 through its own mistaken confidence in itself, its' supineness and care- 
 lessness. 
 
 Our institutions must be defended against the assaults of the enemy, 
 and we must say to them, hands off from our free public schools, for if 
 it need be, we will fence them in with bayonets and intrench them 
 within walls of fire. 
 
 On December 8th, 1864, Pope Pius IX, issued his papal Syllabus of 
 Errors, which was approved by the Ecumenical Council on July i8th, 
 1870, and which is rigidly enforced wherever that hierarchy has any 
 power. 
 
 Section IV is against Freemasonry and other secret societies and we 
 are living under a declared sentence of death. 
 
 Section VI (45) declares that it is au error, that the entire direction . 
 of public schools, in which the youth of Christian States are educated, 
 may and must appertain to the civil power and belong to it, so far 
 that no other authority whatsoever, shall be recognized as having any 
 right to interfere in the discipline of the schools, the arrangement of 
 the studies, the taking of degress or the clioics and approval of the 
 teachers. 
 
 Section V. (24). It is an error that the Church has not the power 
 of availing herself of force or any direct or indirect temporal power. 
 
 Section VI. (55). It is an error that the Church ought to be separate 
 from the State and the State from the Church. 
 
1 8 ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 
 
 In the Roman Catholic Bishops' oath is the following : 
 
 "The rules of the Holy Fathers, the Apostolic decrees, ordinances 
 or disposals, reservations, provisions and mandates, I will observe with 
 all my might and cause to be observed by others. Heretics^ schismatics, 
 and rebels to our said Lord or to his foresaid successors, I wiLi, To my 
 UTMOST POWER, PERSECUTE AND WAGE WAR WITH." 
 
 A state of openly declared war exists not only against Freemasonry, 
 but against every liberal government on the face of the earth. Self de- 
 fense'and the preservation of the lives and property of Masons in Italy, 
 France and nearly every Spanish American country have compelled our 
 brethren to combine with each other iii the support and defense of those 
 powers which would shelter them under tlieir protection. Under Maz- 
 zini, Cavour, Victor Emanuel and that unconquerable hero. Garibaldi, 
 who were all Masons and all Grand. Masters, gave liberty to the people, 
 unity to Italy, with Rome for its Capital and the sword of temporal 
 power was wrenched from the grasp of the pope, while Freemasonry 
 flourishes in the Capital of the Caesars, the Bible is an open book to the 
 people, guarded by the constitutional king, Humbert, the son of Victor 
 Emanuel, and himself a Freemason and honorary Grand Master. 
 
 Mexico, which for nearly four hundred years has been crushed deep 
 into the earth and so long buried in ignorance, superstition and mental 
 slavery, its people plundered, betrayed and kept in gross darkness, is 
 arising from the awful depths to which it had been sunk by that terrible 
 power. 
 
 Every convent has been abolished, free public schools are held in 
 its once monasteries, civil marriages are provided for by law, and the 
 altar fires of Freemasonry are glowing like electric lights from the 
 Halls of the Montezumas to the Gulf and the Pacific Ocean, while its 
 President Diaz is a Freemason and one of the highest officers of the Fra- 
 ternity in that Republic, the honorable successor of the faithful Brother 
 and President Benito Juarez. 
 
 In all the Republics of Spanish America, with the exception of Bo- 
 livia, Freemasonry is firmly established, new altars are continually being 
 erected and the light is radiating and the darkness of the night of igno- 
 rance and superstition is disappearing like the mists of the morning 
 before the rising sun. 
 
 Too l6ng has our American Freemasonry been idly reposing under 
 the shade of the tree of liberty, which our Masonic fathers planted and 
 watered with tears of sorrow and their blood. While we have slept, the 
 vermin and the serpents have crept in among us, soiled our couches and 
 covering with a pest a thousand times worse than the lice and other 
 plagues of Egypt and which, ere long, if we do not arouse ourselves, it 
 will take a greater than the Red Sea, to cleanse and wash out. 
 
 We are not only to hold to our obligations as Masons, to maintain 
 and support the free Government and institutions under which we live, 
 but also to strictly watch and guard against the plots and conspiracies of 
 
ADDRESS BY SDWIN A. SHERMAN. ^ 19 
 
 that power whose declaration of war is perpetual and whose efforts 
 are being constantly made to destroy it. 
 
 In the year 1778, during our American Revolution for Independence, 
 Frederic the Great of Prussia, and the friend of Washington whom he 
 admired as a patriot and Freemason and to whom he sent the present of 
 a sword, and for whom Fredericksburg, Virginia, was named, found 
 trouble in his own dominions which he promptly suppressfed. 
 
 The superior of the Dominican Convent at Aix-la-Chapelle, Father 
 Greinemum and a Capuchin monk, Father Schiff, were trying to excite 
 the lower classes against the Lodge of Masons at that place, which had 
 been re-constituted by the Motlier Lodge at Wetzlar. When Frederic 
 heard of this, he wrote the following letter, dated February 7th, 1778, to 
 the instigators : 
 
 "Most Reverend Fathers: Various reports confirmed through 
 the papers, have brought to my knowledge, with how much zeal you are 
 endeavoring to sharpen the sword of fanaticism, against quiet, virtuous 
 people called Freemasons. As a former dignitary of this honorable body, 
 I am compelled, as much as it is iu my power, to repel this dishonoring 
 slander, and remove the dark veil, that causes the temple we have erect- 
 ed to all virtues, to appear to your vision as a gathering point for all 
 vices. Why, my most reverend Fathers, will you bring back upon us, 
 those centuries of ignorance and barbarism, that have so long been the 
 degradation of human reason ? Those times of fanaticism, upon which 
 the eye of understanding cannot look back but with a shudder? Those 
 times, in which hypocrisy, seated on the throne of despotism, with su- 
 perstition on one side and humility on the other, tried to put the world 
 in chains and commanded a regardless burning of all tliose who were 
 able to read? 
 
 "You are not only applying the nickname of Masters of Witchcraft 
 to the Freemasons, but you accuse them to be thieves, profligates, 
 forerunners of anti-Christ, and admonish a whole nation to annihilate 
 such a cursed generation. 
 
 "Thieves, my most reverend Fathers, do not act as we do, and make 
 it their duty to assist the poor and the orphans. On the contrary, thieves 
 are those who rob them sometimes of their inheritance, and fatten on 
 their prey, in the lap of idleness and hypocrisy. Thieves cheat. Free- 
 masons ENLIGHTEN HUMANITY. 
 
 "A Freemason, returning from his lodge, where he has only listened 
 to instructions benefitted to his fellow-beings, will be a better husband in 
 his home. Fore-runners of Anti-Christ would in all probability direct 
 their efforts towards an extinction of Divine law. But it is impossible 
 for Freemasons to sin against it without demolishing their own struc- 
 ture. And those be a cursed generation, who try to find their glory in 
 the indefatigable efforts to spread those virtues which constitute the 
 honest men . Frederic. ' ' 
 
20 ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 
 
 The satellite of the Roman hierarchy, who several years ago in San 
 Francisco, delivered the oration in honor of the 25th anniversary of the 
 reign of Pope Pius the Ninth, the openly declared enemy of our pub- 
 lic schools, by speeches and pamphlets in your own midst, was appointed 
 as the chief assistant of the Attorney General, a cabinet officer of the 
 United States Government, himself a subject of the pope, whose term 
 has but recently expired. 
 
 The Jesuit volunteer, who with others left Ireland to fight for the 
 Pope of Rome against the people of Italy, and was created a Knight 
 Chevalier of the Order of St. Michael and the honorary aide-de-camp of 
 I'ope Pius the Ninth, is now a high commissioned United States Army 
 officer, the son-in-law of the Chief Counsellor of the President and 
 whose children have received the mark of the beast vipon their fore- 
 heads. 
 
 Subjects of the Pope with scarcely a year of citizenship, whose 
 oaths of naturalization with mental reservation in favor of their spir- 
 itual and temporal Lord and Master, the Pope, are sent to represent 
 the American people to countries that have for years been strug- 
 gling to free themselves from the iron rule of the papacy and its min- 
 ions. We hang our heads in shame, indignation and sorrow, at this 
 besmirching of our national pride and honor, and mourn over our coun- 
 try's disgrace. 
 
 A subject of the Pope once sat in the seat of the Chief Justice of the 
 Supreme Court of the United States', which he filled for years, and one 
 decision of his against humanity and the rights of man, set the flames of 
 civil war blazing to the skies, while an ocean of blood and misery inun- 
 dated the fairest portion of America. 
 
 Says the Jesuit Manual of Instructions, Chap. XVII, ?3. 
 
 "We must inculcate this doctrine with kings and princes, that the 
 Catholic faith cannot subsist in the present state without politics; but 
 that in this, it is necessary to proceed with much certainty. Of this 
 mode, we must share the affection of the great, and be admitted to the 
 most secret counsels. ' ' 
 
 "I 8. But if we do not hope that we can obtain this, supposing that 
 it is necessary that troubles shall come in this world, we must be careful 
 to change our politics, conformiilg to the times, and excite the princes, 
 friends of ours, to mutually make terrible wars, that everywhere, the 
 mediation of the society will be implored; that we may be employed in 
 the public reconciliation, for it will be the cause of the common good; 
 and we shall be recompensed by the principal ecclesiastical dignities, 
 and the greater beneficiaries." 
 
 "I 9. In fine, that the society afterwards, can yet count upon the 
 favor and authority of princes, procuring that those who do not love us 
 shall fear us. ' ' 
 
 Said General Foy of France, "The Jesuit is a sword whose hilt is in 
 Rome and its blade everywhere." 
 
ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 21 
 
 How easy for such false representatives of this government, to com- 
 promise and entangle this nation in useless and foreign wars tjirough 
 their scheming and intrigues, to advance the cause of the enemy of ovir 
 country and Freemasonry, under the delusive pretext of defending our 
 national honor and American rights. What a sight for an American 
 ship of war going into battle, with the American flag at the mast head, 
 not beneath the cap of liberty but under a bishop's mitre or the tiara 
 and cross keys of the Pope of Rome. 
 
 Our Ship of State seems to be rapidly drifting towards the treacher- 
 ous maelstrom in the Papal seas and it will be necessary eie long for the 
 Craft to launch the Ark again as in the old Ark Mariners Degree, 
 to tow her into safer waters and see that she is safely anchored in a 
 securer harbor and thoroughly fumigated, overhauled, refitted, and re- 
 manned with a more loyal and faithful crew. 
 
 But a few more words and I am done. 
 
 Here in America as in England and her dependencies. Freemasonry, 
 with its drama, based upon the history of King Solomon's Temple, the 
 re-building under Zerubbabel, simply applies its morals for the self 
 government of the individual brother and contemplates a continual state 
 of perfect peace. The teachings of its principles and the illustrations of 
 the drama, and the lessons given to the candidate, absorb the mind in 
 the work preformed with letter exactness, precision of detail, and the 
 bond of brotherhood, with the mutual satisfaction of association and 
 fellowship, with the interest of promoting each other's welfare. Relying 
 upon the strong hand and arm of the civil government, for security and 
 protection of person, property and rights. In England, the sovereign is 
 the daughter and the mother of Freemasons, and the heir apparent to 
 the throne is a 33d and the Grand Master of England, chosen as such 
 upon the apostacy of the last Grand Master, the Marquis of Ripon, who 
 by reason of his high Masonic position, was sent as a peace-maker to 
 these United States, to propose arbitration concerning the Alaljama 
 claims, in which he was successful, returns to England, and for unac- 
 countable reasons renounces his Masonry, joins the Rom^n Catholic 
 Church and becomes the subject of the Pope. 
 
 Our Scottish Freemasonry not only contemplates a state of peace, in 
 the enjoyment of all its blessings, but the sword is always allied with 
 the trowel to defend and maintain it. We not only build temples and 
 tabernacles among the nations of the earth, upon the same foundation 
 stones, but also in the hearts of men. The history of the erection and 
 destruction of the temple of Solomon, not only tells us how to build, but 
 also, that after it is built, how it must be defended against those enemies 
 who have sworn to destroy it. The invasion of Jerusalem, the destruc- 
 tion of the temple and city, the overthrow of the nation and driving the 
 people out of their own country in chains into captivity; the return from 
 bondage to freedom, and rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple, with 
 the further history of that nation of the Israelites, now scattered over the 
 
22 ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 
 
 earth, have sharper lessons for us to learn, to save our own temple of 
 civil and religions liberty; and as Freemasons, good citizens, and lovers 
 of mankind to be constantly on the alert, with voice and vote, as well 
 as sword and trowel, in the defense of our country and its liberties 
 against those who have declared war against them and us and constantly 
 engaged in their efforts to destroy them and us together in one common 
 ruin. Scottish Freemasonry accepts the gage of battle. 
 
 Each for himself, and in his own way like the bee, working inde- 
 pendently and armed for his own defense, flying from flower to flower, 
 gathers the honey dew of heaven and when laden, returns bearing the 
 fruits of its industry it has gathered, and stores it with that of its fellows 
 in the common hive. Theri "behold how gocd and pleasant it is for 
 brethren to dwell in unity" animated with a common desire and purpose, 
 to defend and preserve the priceless jewel of liberty and independence, 
 bequeathed us by our Masonic fathers. 
 
 As "in the begining the Spirit of God moved over the face of the 
 waters and God said 'let there be light and there was light,' " so let the 
 spirit of true Freemasonry move like the magnet, attracting the respon- 
 sive steel to itself, prepare the fraternity for the conflict between light 
 and darkness, freedom and slavery, education and ignorance, reason and 
 superstition, loyally to God and Country, against Satan and treason. 
 
 I cannot close without repeating that grand poem by our poetess of 
 our beloved Golden State of California, entitled 
 
 THE JESUIT. 
 
 (MRS. ELIZA .\. PITT.SINGER. ) 
 In Rome a tyrant, and in Spain a thing 
 / That wears a mask and bears a poisonous sting; 
 , In India a strangler, in France a knave, 
 . In Ireland a bigot and a slave; 
 , In our Republic a designing tool 
 ; And traitor warring with the public school — 
 And whether in Greece, Hindostan or Spain, 
 His record bears the progeny of Cain. 
 
 In the black arts a chieftain and a king, 
 Moving en rapport with a sudden spring; 
 And in the game of infamy and sin. 
 He steals a march long ere his foes begin; 
 His dupes he marks, and with a ruthless greed. 
 Wherein his conscience glorifies the deed. 
 No means are left untried by which to take 
 The last lone Peter's pence, for Jesus' sake. 
 
 In a- most marvelous and crafty way. 
 
 He flatters, fawns, and pounces on his prey; 
 
 If at his hands a kindly deed is done, 
 
ADDRESS BY EDWIN A. SHERMAN. 23 
 
 O, then beware of some dark plot begun! 
 
 The robes of light he dons, and serves his creed 
 
 In garments filched, and suited to his need! 
 
 Hid from the light in some dark, musty aisle. 
 He learns to feif^n, to meddle and beguile; 
 And in his skill avoids no toil nor care, 
 As link on link he weaves his wily snare. 
 Spins his dark web, and most adroitly flies 
 On poor confiding bats and helpless plies, 
 The vilest of all arts and blackest of all lies. 
 
 His breath is like some dire and dread simoom. 
 Forever blasting with a curse and doom ; 
 Whate'er he touches, droops beneath the spell 
 Of some dark, hauntiilg shade, cruel and fell — 
 Wher'ere he journeys, wheresoever toils, 
 There virtue weeps and innocence recoils. 
 And the fair cup of life doth overflow 
 With desolation , infamy and woe. 
 
 And thus he stands a stigma and a blot. 
 
 With deeds confined to no especial spot — 
 
 Where carnage, superstition, death and crime. 
 
 Despoil an age or devastate a clime, 
 
 There hath he wandered, and on every shore 
 
 Placed his leprous hand, and left a plague spot and a sore. 
 
V ST. JOHN THE baptist's DAY, JUNE 24, 1 889. 
 
 Although the address occupied an hour and a quarter in delivery, yet 
 it was listened to with interest and wrapt attention to its close. Its telling 
 points and deductions met with frequent and hearty applause from all 
 present, and at its close, on motion of Bro. James B. Merritt, 33°, it was 
 unanimously ordered to be printed, and a collection was taken up to aid 
 in the payment for the same. 
 
 An intermission of ten minutes followed when the ceremonies closed 
 by singing the improved 
 
 CLOSING ODE. 
 (Tune, America.) 
 Hail Slasonry Divine, 
 Glory of ages shine ; 
 
 Long may'st thou reign ! 
 Where'er thy Lodges stand 
 May they have great command 
 And always grace the land ; 
 Thou art divine. 
 
 Great fabrics still arise 
 And grace the azure skies; 
 
 Great are thy plans. 
 Thy noble orders are, 
 Matchless beyond compare; 
 No art with thee can share; 
 
 Thou art divine. 
 
 We'll build thy Temples sure, 
 Thine Altars here secure. 
 
 From Rome's foul hands ; 
 We'll build them strong and great. 
 Bulwarks of Freedom's State, 
 Against the blows of Hate 
 
 And Popes' Commands. 
 
 Our Father's God, to Thee, 
 Author oe Masonry, 
 
 To Thee we pray. 
 Long may our Li^nd be bright 
 With Freedom's Holy Light; 
 Protect us by Thy Might, 
 
 'Till Thy Great Day. 
 

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 Address upon the history of the antagoni 
 
 3 1924 030 282 267 
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