223 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
223 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XI May, 1933 No.5
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THY NEIGHBOR’S LANDMARK
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by: Unknown
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“Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor’s landmark, which they of old
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have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land
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the Lord thy God hath given thee (Deuteronomy XIX:14).
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The Masons “of old time set thine inheritance” (Masonry) certain
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fundamental principles which are named as “Landmarks” as early as the
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Constitutions of 1723.
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Men have quarreled about the stone markers set up as boundaries for
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land ever since sections of the earth were claimed as property; in
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like manner have Masons differed about what are and what are not
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Landmarks of the Order. In this country particularly, with forty-
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nine Jurisdictions, each sovereign within its own territory,
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arguments about Landmarks are never ending.
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This Bulletin attempts not to settle any of these numerous
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controversies, but only to bring before the average Lodge Member some
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of the reasons why his neighbor’s Masonic Landmarks may differ from
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those his own Grand Lodge may have set up for him to follow.
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In 1858 Albert Gallatin Mackey, the great Masonic jurist and
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authority, listed twenty-five fundamental principles as the true
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Landmarks of Freemasonry. Although critical scholarship has since
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riddled the list as to accuracy, Mackey’s ideas of what constitute
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the essential qualities of a Landmark - antiquity, universality and
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irrevocability - are still respected. This definition excludes from
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the classification of Landmarks any principle which is any two of
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these but no the third, It is by his own standards that many critics
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have measured Mackey’s Landmarks and found them wanting.
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As an example of what is meant; it is “ancient,” in the sense that it
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was recognized in the “Constitutions” of the Grand Lodge in 1723,
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that a Grand Master appoints own Deputy Grand Master. But the
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practice is by no means universal. Lodges are now universally
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governed by Grand Lodges, but the practice has antiquity of only two
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hundred and sixteen years. According to Mackey’s dicta, neither the
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manner of creating a Deputy Grand Master not the fundamental
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governing body of the Craft can be considered as Landmarks.
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A few principles are so universally recognized that they are freely
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admitted to be essentials, even in Jurisdictions which have no
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pronouncements as to the Landmarks. Belief in a Supreme Being, the
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Volume of sacred Law as a necessary part of the furniture of the
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Lodge, that a Masons must be a man are essentials all over the world,
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though not necessarily listed in all Jurisdictions.
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On the validity of certain principles all authorities agree, but
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differ as to their antiquity, universality and irrevocability. A
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substantial minority of American Grand Jurisdictions have Officially
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adopted Mackey’s twenty-five Ancient Landmarks, but a majority either
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follow other compilations, use other Old Charges, or decline to
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specify what are and what are not the Landmarks of the Craft.
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The right and power of any Grand Lodge to determine for itself just
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what is and what is not “law” in its Jurisdiction is unquestioned.
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Therefore, when a Jurisdiction sets forth any list of Landmarks in
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its Code, they have all the force of Ancient Landmarks in that
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Jurisdiction, whether they are actually so or not.
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“Actually so” refers to inherent nature; that which cannot be altered
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by law, no matter what the lawmaking authority. The National
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Legislature has the undoubted “right” to enact a law that unsupported
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objects must fall. “Per contra,” it then has the right to repeal the
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law of gravity, and forbid things to fall when no longer supported.
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But it has not the “power” to enforce, change or suspend the law of
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gravity! A Grand Lodge which says “Thus and such is an Ancient
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Landmark “in that Jurisdiction,” give that pronouncement the full
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force and effect of an Ancient Landmark “in that Jurisdiction, but
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its edict does not “actually” make it such.
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One Jurisdiction follows Lockwood’s list of nineteen landmarks, of
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which number 8 reads: “That every Lodge has an inherent right to be
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represented in Grand Lodge by its first three officers, or their
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proxies.”
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This is good Masonic law in most Jurisdictions, but not all; the
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Mason from this Jurisdiction (Washington, D.C.) who moves to New York
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or Texas and there affiliates finds that this is not a Landmark in
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either of these Jurisdictions, since neither New York not Texas admit
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Wardens to Grand Lodge.
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In the General Assemblies of Ancient times each Mason, Craftsman or
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Entered Apprentice, represented himself. In Grand Lodges Masons are
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represented by their officers. Evidently a change has been made in
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the manner of governing the Craft. As a Landmark is not subject to
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change, this particular principle of law does not conform to Mackey’s
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definition of a Landmark.
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No wonder his neighbor’s landmark is a matter of confusion to
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brethren from neighboring but differing Jurisdictions!
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Mackey’s fourteenth Landmark asserts that every Mary Mason has the
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right of visitation. Just what is a “right?” Until that word is
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defined this so-called Landmark cannot be discussed intelligently.
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If it here means “power superior to all other powers,” then it is
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merely nonsense. If it here means “privileged until a higher
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privilege overcomes it,” how may it be considered to conform to the
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requirements of a Landmark?
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Even so, how can the word “right” be translated “privilege?” A
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privilege may be withdrawn; an inherent right cannot! as many
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Jurisdictions rule on the “right of visit” in different ways - even
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those which have adopted Mackey’s list - it can hardly be considered
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a true Landmark, “if” we judge by Mackey’s own pronouncement on what
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constitutes a Landmark and “if” the word “right” means what it says.
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In some jurisdictions a Mason cannot visit without a good standing
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card; in others any member may object to any visitor and the Master
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must exclude; in still others, some Masters close the doors of their
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lodges to all visitors on election nights, and so on.
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Occasionally there is a conflict between ritual and Landmarks as
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adopted. A certain Jurisdiction lists fifty-four Landmarks, of which
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Number 18 reads: “Every Lodge, Grand or Subordinate, when lawfully
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congregated, must be regularly clothed, tyled and opened before it
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can proceed to work.” Many other Jurisdictions agree that it is a
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Landmark that a Lodge must be “duly tiled.”
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Our ancient brethren met on high hills and low vales to observe the
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approach of cowans and eavesdroppers. Did they “truly tile?”
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California Lodge No. 1 of the District of Columbia was chartered to
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go to California during the gold rush of 1849. Had that Lodge (now
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California No.1 on the register of the Grand Lodge of California)
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been wrecked going around the horn; had only the members of the
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Lodge, with their charter, been saved upon an otherwise uninhabited
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island; if they then held meetings with no tiler - since there were
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no cowans or eavesdroppers against whom to tile - would they have
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violated the so-called Landmark?
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Many rituals give “three” as the irreducible minimum for a Master
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Mason’s Lodge; a Lodge must have a Master and two Wardens. If under
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some strange circumstances, three and only three met as a Lodge, what
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becomes of the so-called Landmark which requires a Tiler?
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Secrecy undoubtedly conforms to the classification of the three
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essentials of a Landmark; but about “the means” of securing secrecy
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is at least room for argument.
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Other Masonic laws, good where in force but not necessarily
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Landmarks, are Mackey’s 8th: “The prerogative of the Grand Master to
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make Masons at sight” and the 11th Landmark of a Western Grand Lodge
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which reads: “Every person, to be made a Mason must be a man of
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lawful age, free born and; hale and sound, as a man ought to be.”
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Several Grand Jurisdictions have enacted legislation preventing a
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Grand Master from convening an Emergent Lodge for the purpose of
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Making a Mason “at sight.” Others consider that it is an inherent
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right of Grand Masters to convene Emergent Lodges (that is, give a
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certain number of brethren a dispensation to hold a Lodge) and that
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no law can take this right from him.
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If a Landmark cannot be changed, and this “has been” changed, is it
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truly a Landmark, or merely a matter of common law?
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All will agree that no woman can be made a Mason. But what becomes
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of the “lawful age” provision in the face of the fact that Washington
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- and many another man - was made a Mason before he was twenty-one?
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He would be a daring debater who argued that the Father of His
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Country was not regularly and legitimately initiated. The “hale and
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sound” provision is by no means universal; many Jurisdictions stick
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to the strict letter of the “doctrine of the perfect youth” while
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others admit the lame and the halt under a Grand Master’s
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dispensation, Worshipful Master’s judgment or even Grand Lodge law
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relaxing restrictions in favor of men of the Army or Navy who had
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arms or legs shot off in the war!
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A number of Grand Jurisdictions have never adopted any list or
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classification of Landmarks. The thought back of such absence of
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legislation may be understood from the following, from R.W. Charles
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C. Hunt, Grand Secretary and Grand Librarian of the Grand Lodge of
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Iowa.
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“We hold that the power of the Grand Lodge of Iowa in the
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Jurisdiction of Iowa is limited only by the Ancient Landmarks. We do
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not attempt to make a list of the Landmarks.
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“We believe it as unnecessary to adopt an official list of scientific
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laws, such as the law of gravitation. The Landmarks. like scientific
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laws, are valid only in so far as they are true and their adoption by
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any so-called body has no effect whatever on their validity.
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Individual scientists may list what they conceive to be the laws of
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nature, but no scientific society would undertake officially to adopt
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these laws as the official laws of the science in which they are
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interested.
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“The very definition of a Landmark is a fundamental law or principle
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of Masonry which no body of men or Masons can change or modify.
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Anything that can be adopted can be repealed. If a Grand Lodge has
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the power to adopt, it has the power to modify or repeal. It is the
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very fact that they unalterable that makes them similar to scientific
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laws which cannot be changed or altered by any man or body of men.”
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Some authorities have attempted to formulate lists of Ancient
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Landmarks which no Mason would question. For instance, one very old
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Jurisdiction states that the Landmarks are:
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a. Monotheism, the sole dogma of Freemasonry.
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b. Belief in immortality.
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c. The Volume of Sacred Law, an indispensable part of the furniture
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of a Lodge.
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d. The legend of the Third Degree.
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e. Secrecy.
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f. The symbolism of the operative art.
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g. A Mason must be a freeborn male adult.”
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But then adds “The above list of Landmarks is not declared to be
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exclusive.”
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Dr. Joseph Fort Newton suggests five fundamentals on which all Masons
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can agree: “The Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, the moral
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law, the Golden Rule and the hope of a life everlasting.” Those who
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question these as Landmarks usually qualify by agreeing that they are
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teachings of the Order, but are in doubt as to just how old all of
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them may be, as such.
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Dean Roscoe Pound, whose “Masonic Jurisprudence” is generally
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considered to be among the most profound analyses of Landmarks,
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thinks seven are unquestionable: (1) Belief in God; (2) Belief in
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the persistence of personality; (3) a Book of the Law as an
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indispensable part of the furniture of every Lodge; (4) The legend of
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the Third Degree; (5) Secrecy; (6) The symbolism of the operative
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art; and, (7) That a Mason must be a man free born and of age.”
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Of thirty-nine Jurisdictions of our forty-nine, eighteen either have
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adopted, recognized or follow Mackey’s list of twenty-five Landmarks;
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two use the Old charges, or Old Charges and General Regulations as
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Landmarks; eight have adopted, recognized or follow lists of
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Landmarks of their own, and eleven either have not adopted, do not
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recognize, or do not follow any special compilation of Landmarks,
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preferring to leave the question untouched.
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Reduced to a percentage basis, Mackey is followed in 46.1% plus of
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these thirty-nine Jurisdictions; Old charges and Regulations in 5.1%;
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own Landmarks in 20.5% plus and no special list in 28.2% plus.
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Obviously there is no universality of opinion as to what is and what
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is not a Landmark, and yet all Jurisdictions agree there “are”
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Landmarks.
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Many “Laws of Nature” recognized in former times are believed in no
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longer; knowledge of science and of nature is in a state of flux.
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What appears to be the truth today may be the error of tomorrow.
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Possibly this is true also of our conception of the ancient
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Landmarks, and that no list of all those fundamentals of the Craft
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which are “actually” Landmarks is possible.
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Both that statement and this bulletin are without prejudice to the
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undoubted fact that in those Jurisdictions which have adopted any
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list of Landmarks, whether all inclusive or not, the principles there
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denominated as Landmarks have the force of Landmarks within the
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borders of those Jurisdictions.
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