184 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
184 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.II March, 1924 No.3
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THE HOLY BIBLE
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by: Unknown
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Upon the Altar of every Masonic Lodge, supporting the Square and Compasses,
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lies the Holy Bible. The old, familiar Book, so beloved by so many
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generations, is our Volume of Sacred Law and the Great Light in Masonry.
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The Bible opens when the Lodge opens; it closes when the Lodge closes. No
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Lodge can transact its own business, mush less initiate candidates into its
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mysteries, unless the Book of Holy Law lies open upon its Altar. Thus the
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Book of the Will of God Rules the Lodge in its labors, as the Sun Rules the
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Day, making its work a worship.
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The history of the Bible in the life and symbolism of Masonry is a story
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too long to recite here. Nor can any one tell it as we should like to know
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it. Just when, where, and by whom the teaching and imagery of the Bible
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were wrought into Freemasonry, no one can tell. Anyone can have his
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theory, but no one can be dogmatic. As the Craft labored in the service of
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the Church during the Cathedral-Building period, it is not difficult to
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account for the Biblical coloring of its thought, even in days when the
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Bible was not widely distributed, and before the discovery of printing.
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Anyway, we can take such facts as we are able to find, leaving further
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research to learn further truth.
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The Bible is mentioned in some of the old manuscripts of the Craft long
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before the revival of Masonry in 1717, as the book upon which the covenant,
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or oath, of a Mason was taken; but it is not referred to as a Great Light.
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For example, in the Harleian Manuscript, dated about 1600, the obligation
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of an initiate closes with the words: "So Help Me God, and the Holy
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Contents of this Book." In the old ritual, of which a copy from the Royal
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Library in Berlin is given by Krause, there is no mention of the Bible as
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one of the Lights. It was in England, due largely to the influence of
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Preston and his fellow workmen, that the Bible came to its place of honor
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in the Lodge. At any rate, in the rituals of about 1760 it is described as
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one of three Great Lights.
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No Mason needs to be told what a great place the Bible has in the Masonry
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of our day. It is central, sovereign, supreme, a master light of all our
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seeing. From the Altar it pours forth upon the East, the West, and the
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South its white light of spiritual vision, moral law, and immortal hope.
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Almost every name found in our ceremonies is a Biblical name, and students
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have traced about seventy-five references to the Bible in the Ritual of the
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Craft. But more important than direct references is the fact that the
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spirit of the Bible, its faith, its attitude toward life, pervades Masonry,
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like a rhythm or a fragrance. As soon as an initiate enters the Lodge, he
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hears the words of the Bible recited as an accompaniment to his advance
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toward the light. Upon the Bible every Masons takes solemn vows of
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loyalty, of chastity, and charity, pledging himself to the practice of the
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Brotherly Life. Then he moves forward from one degree to another, the
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imagery of the Bible becomes familiar and eloquent and its music sings its
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way into his heart.
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Nor is it strange that it should be so. As faith in God is the corner-
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stone of the Craft, so, naturally, the book which tells us the purest truth
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about God is its Altar-Light. The Temple of King Solomon, about which the
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history, legends, and symbolism of the Craft are woven, was the tallest
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temple of the ancient world, not in the grandeur of its architecture but in
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the greatest of the truths for which it stood. In the midst of ignorant
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idolatries and debasing superstitions the Temple on Mount Moriah stood for
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Unity, Righteousness, and Spirituality of God. Upon no other foundation
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can men build with any sense of security and permanence when the winds
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blow and the floods descend. But the Bible is not simply a foundation
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rock; it is also a quarry in which we find the truths that make us men. As
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in the old ages of geology rays of sunlight were stored up in vast beds of
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coal, for the uses of man, so in this old book the light of moral truth is
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stored to light the mind and warm the heart of man.
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Alas, there has been more dispute about the Bible than about any other
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book, making for schism, dividing men in sects. But Masonry knows a
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certain secret, almost too simple to be found out, whereby it avoids both
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intolerance and sectarianism. It is essentially religious, but it is not
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dogmatic. The fact that the Bible lies open upon the Altar means that man
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must have some Divine Revelation - must seek for a light higher than human
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to guide and govern him. But it lays down no hard and fast dogma on the
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subject of revelation. It attempts no detailed interpretation of the
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Bible. The great Book lies open upon its Altar, and is open for all to
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read, open for each to interpret for himself. The tie by which our Craft
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is united is strong, but it allows the utmost liberty of faith and thought.
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It unites men, not upon a creed bristling with debated issues, but upon the
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broad, simple truth which underlies all creeds and over-arches all sects -
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faith in God, the wise Master Builder, for whom and with whom man must
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work.
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Herein our gentle Craft is truly wise, and its wisdom was never more needed
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than today, when the Churches are divided and torn by angry debate.
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However religious teachers may differ in their doctrines, in the Lodge they
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meet with mutual respect and good will. At the Altar of Masonry they learn
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not only toleration, but appreciation. In its air of kindly fellowship,
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man to man, they discover that the things they have in common are greater
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than the things that divide. It is the glory of Masonry to teach Unity in
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essentials, Liberty in details, Charity in all things; and by this sign its
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spirit must at last prevail. It is the beautiful secret of Masonry that
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all just men, all devout men, all righteous men are everywhere of one
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religion, and it seeks to remove the hoodwinks of prejudice and intolerance
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so that they may recognize each other and work together in the doing of
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good.
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Like everything else in Masonry, the Bible, so rich in symbolism, is itself
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a symbol - that is, a part taken for the whole. It is a symbol of the Book
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of truth, the Scroll of Faith, the Record of the Will of God as man has
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learned it in the midst of the years - the perpetual revelation of Himself
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which God has made, and is making, to mankind in every age and land. Thus,
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by the very honor which Masonry pays to the Bible, it teaches us to revere
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every Book of Faith in which men find help for today and hope for the
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morrow. For that reason, in a Lodge consisting entirely of Jews, the Old
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Testament alone may be placed upon the Altar, and in a Lodge in the land of
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Mohammed the Koran may be used. Whether it be the Gospels of the
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Christian, the Book of the Law of the Hebrew, the Koran of the Mussulman,
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or the Vedas of the Hindu; it everywhere Masonically conveys the same idea
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- symbolizing the Will of God revealed to man, taking such faith and vision
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as he has found into a great fellowship of the seekers and finders of the
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truth.
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Thus Masonry invites to its Altar men of all faiths, knowing that, if they
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use different names for the "Nameless One of an Hundred Names," they are
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yet praying to the one God and Father of all; knowing also, that while they
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read different volumes, they are in fact reading the same vast Book of
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Faith of Man as revealed in the struggle and tragedy of the race in its
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quest of God. So that, great and noble as the Bible is, Masonry sees it as
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a symbol of that eternal, ever-unfolding Book of the Will of God which
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Lowell described in memorable lines:
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Slowly the Bible of the race is writ,
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And not on paper leaves, nor leaves of stone;
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Each age, each kindred, adds a verse to it,
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Text of despair or hope, of joy or moan,
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While swings the sea, while mists the mountain shroud,
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While thunder's surges burst on cliffs of cloud,
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Still at the Prophets' feet the nations sit.
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None the less, while we honor every Book of Faith in which have been
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recorded the way and Will of God, with us the Bible is supreme, at once the
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mother-book of our literature, and the master-book of the Lodge. Its truth
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is inwrought in the fiber of our being, with whatsoever else of the good
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and the true which the past has given us. Its spirit stirs our hearts,
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like a sweet habit of the blood; its light follows all our way, showing us
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the meaning and worth of life. Its very words have in them memories,
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echoes, and overtones of voices long since hushed, and its scenery is
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interwoven with the holiest associations of our lives. Our father and
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mothers read it, finding in it their final reasons for living faithfully
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and nobly, and it is thus a part of the ritual of the Lodge and the Ritual
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of Life.
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Every Mason ought not only to honor the Bible as a great Light of the
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Craft; he ought to read it, live it, love it, lay its truth to heart and
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learn what it means to be a man. There is something in the old Book which,
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if it gets into a man, makes him both gentle and strong, faithful and free,
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obedient and tolerant, adding to his knowledge virtue, patience,
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temperance, self-control, brotherly love, and pity. The Bible is as high
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as the sky and as deep as the grave; its two great characters are God and
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the soul, and the story of their romance. It is the most human of books,
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telling us the half-forgotten secrets of our own hearts, our sins, our
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sorrows, our doubts, our hopes. It is the most Divine of Books, telling us
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that God has made us for himself, and that our hearts will be restless and
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lonely until we learn to rest in Him whose will is our peace.
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"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require
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of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."
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Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
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and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as
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thyself."
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Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye
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even so to them; for this is the law and the Prophets."
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"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: To visit
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the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself
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unspotted by the world."
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"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved,
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we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the
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heavens."
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Copyright, 1924, by The Masonic Service Association of the United States.
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The contents of this Bulletin must not be reproduced, in whole or in part,
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without permission.
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Published monthly by The Masonic Service Association of the United States
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under the auspices of the member Grand Jurisdictions.
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Entered as second-class matter September 6, 1923, at the Post Office at
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Washington, D.C., under the Act of August 214, 1912. Acceptance for
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mailing at special rate of Postage provided for in section 1103, Act of
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October 3, 1917, authorized February 17, 1923.
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