A portion of William's book is shown below in order to provide additional
background and to illustrate the content and writing style of the book. The
first four components of the book are included.
FOREWORD.
To the Masonic Fraternity
and Brethren of every degree:
We, the undersigned,
having been connected with Free-Masonry for many years, served in every
elective position known to the Craft, established Lodges, Chapters, Councils,
and Encampments of the various orders of Free masonry in America among colored
men, under and by authority of the Grand Lodge of England, 1717, and other
Grand Governing bodies of competent jurisdiction, in this capacity have
examined the manuscript of W. H. Grimshaw, P.D.G.M., entitled
"OFFICIAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY AMONG THE COLORED PEOPLE IN NORTH
AMERICA,” and cordially recommend it to the. perusal of every Freemason, and
especially to the race, as being a correct statement of facts. It begins with
the Mother Grand Lodge, London, England, 1717, and traces the growth of
Masonry (especially among the colored people) down to the present day,
bringing out interesting facts unknown to many members of the Craft and gives
the origin, dates of organization, and establishment of Subordinate and Grand
Lodges, Royal Arch Chapters, Commanderies, the Scottish Rite, Nobles of Mystic
Shrine and the Rite of Memphis etc., in the several States and Territories.
The book is an official reference not only as to Freemasonry in
North America, but as to the growth and progress of the race
as well. It will be found to be a valuable work, 5ince it is the only history
published which deals with Freemasonry, together with the growth and wealth of
the colored people in
America.
We are confident that its
reception by the Craft will be equally sustained and its merits will place it
among the most valuable reference books of the Twentieth Century. Many of its
chapters furnish suggestive reading for those who would like to know something
of the great Brotherhood prior to seeking admittance to its ranks.
We can, as Craftsmen, take
our stand on actual minutes of Lodges, Chapters, Councils and Commanderies,
beginning in the United States as early as 1775, and presenting an unbroken
series of records to the present year, supported on one hand by copies of the
“Old Charges” and laws dating from the Fourteenth Century, and, on the
other, by special regulations of the Craft some three centuries later .
Fraternally yours,
R.
H. Gleaves, P.G.M. 33d degree; 96 degree.
Thornton
A. Jackson, 33d degree; 96 degree. M.P. Sir Commander; U.S. Council,
33d
degree A.A.S.R. Southern
Jurisdiction,
U.S.
John
A. Gray, Sr., 33d degree.
John
W.Freeman, 33d degree.
Masonic
Temple
Washington,
D. C.
A.
D. 1902 A. L. 5902
PREFACE.
In sending forth to the
Masonic Fraternity and the public account of this description, it, would be
well to state that it was the original intention of the author and compiler,
to only prepare a history of the Craft in the District of Columbia, but upon
the earnest solicitation of many Masonic friends, he has consented to enlarge
the work so that it will also include the history of thc Craft in each State
of the Union.
In the preparation of this
work, two objects have been kept in mind. First that Masons and other readers
might have a true official history of the Masonic Fraternity among colored men
in the
United States. Heretofore there has been no publication to
which we could conveniently refer concerning the legitimacy of the order in
America, consequently our detractors have taken advantage of this weakness and
invariably tried to convince the world that negro Masonry in America did not
emanate from the same source as white Masonry, hence it was of a spurious kind
and could not be recognized.
Every fair minded reader
will see at a glance that the origin and practice of Freemasonry among colored
men in the
United States, came direct from the Mother Grand Lodge of
the world,
London,
England, in 1784. This is substantiated by the
original charters, old records of lodges, and the manuscripts of old Masons in
the
United States. This disposes at once of our detractors' bill
of complaint for want of truth.
Second, the author
believes it to he his duty to write this book, having in his possession many
facts relative to the advancement of the colored people since the close of the
Civil War, which might serve to enlighten the uninformed, and also inspire the
younger generation to a higher development.
In presenting this work,
the author is fully conscious of its literary defects, but dare not
sacrifice the truth of history even for literary excellence.
If, in treating the events
of the past, injustice has been done to the living or the dead, the author
wishes it under stood that it was not with evil intention.
INTRODUCTION.
No institution of ancient
or modern times has done more for the uplifting of the human race and the
upbuilding of what is known as society, than Freemasonry.
The secret order of
Freemasonry is one of the most inspiring and elevating influences of
civilization and its power for good is as limitless as its lessons are far
reaching.
The search and the longing
for merely material things is bound to bring distress and disaster. Recall the
fate of
Sodom and Gomorrah, whose sin caused its own destruction;
consider the fate of egotistical
Greece; learn the lesson taught by the life of the
Great Alexander.
Where would modern
civilization be to-day were it not for the uplifting and ennobling influence
of the teachings of the Saviour? What would the
United States be had it not been for
the band of devoted men
– those godly people, of undaunted courage, who braved every danger to found
a nation, where spirituality and brotherly love should prevail and rule.
Second only to the church
has been the influence wielded by Freemasonry, whose noble precepts and
incentives to higher purposes has made it a power for untold good. And many a
deed of unsung heroism has been done in the cause of Freemasonry, that its
teachings might live and its secrecy be undefiled. Equally countless are the
good deeds done in its name done for no prospective reward, nor selfish
remuneration. Whatever Freemasonry has done was inspired by the spirit of
fraternal helpfulness and love for fellowman.
Since the foundation of
Solomon's Temple, when Freemasonry is supposed to have been
founded, to the present day, this great body has kept its original forms and
laws. Human thought has not been able to improve upon them nor adverse
criticism to change them, for they hold the fundamental truism of life,
and shed from the radian altar of their holy purpose, the light of divine
truth.
The world's greatest men
have been Masons; its most famous warriors; its most gentle scholars. Within
the realms of Freemasonry these beings of diverse occupation, of one
common mind, have met in the broad communion of brotherly love.
Could self-interest,
greed, venality and kindred short comings of humanity be eliminated and the
watchword of Freemasonry be emblazoned on every heart and in every home, this
world would be within hail of the millennium.
In literature, as in other
lines of progressive endeavor, there are many unexplored fields, which await
the master hand and mind of the learned author to place them before the
reading public. The pages of this book contain authoritative facts which are
as interesting as they are valuable as records. They tell a hitherto
unpublished chapter in the history of Freemasonry among the negro.
For centuries the negro
has been, through circumstances and environment, degraded and oppressed.
Generations passed, and until within the memory of living man, knowledge has
been denied him. The last few years has seen a change and soon the negro will
take his stand among the rest of mankind, his mental, physical and social
equal. And Freemasonry has had much to do with the remarkably rapid advance
the negro has made, hence the value of this book.
The author has done his
work well and thoroughly, and having had access to various Masonic libraries
and manuscripts, he has produced a volume which should be of use alike to the
casual reader and to the student.
JOSEPH
TYLER BUTTS.
OFFICIAL
HISTORY OF
FREEMASONRY
AMONG THE
COLORED
PEOPLE IN
NORTH AMERICA.
CHAPTER 1.
ORIGIN OF
FREEMASONRY.
The origin of Freemasonry
was formerly vague and uncertain. At the present day, however, owing to the
scientific researches of a few Masonic historians, who have entered this field
of darkness with the determination to lay aside all the commonly received
opinions and traditions upon the subject, this obscurity has disappeared.
The foundation of Masonry
was laid when men commenced to inhabit the earth. "They associated
themselves together in tribes or lodges for mutual support, thereby being
better enable to guard themselves against the attacks of the wild
beasts of the forest. They held their assemblies often on the
highest hills, or in the lowest vales, to prevent being taken by
surprise."
Our ancient brethren
continued these convocations until the year 715 B. C. Brother Numa Pompilius,
a Mason of high standing and integrity, discovered the art of cement
ing rocks together by the use of clay. He was acknowledged at once to be a
master builder. He built and dedicated public buildings to the sun, moon and
stars. He was also the founder of the College or Roman Constructors, embracing
all tile arts and trades. In this year also, the mysteries of the Egyptians
passed through Moses to the Jewish people and were disseminated among the
Greeks and Romans. Among the latter they were introduced in part into the
College
of
Builders or Masons, instituted by Numa Pompilius.
The colleges were, at
their organization, religious societies as well as fraternities of artisans.
They had their own laws determined with precision. In
Persia and in
India
many were to be found anterior to this period.
They had the exclusive
privilege of constructing temples and monuments, and, usually after the labors
of the day, convened in their respective lodges, where they determined the
distribution and execution of the work. Here also were initiated the new
members into the secrets and particular mysteries of the art.
These initiates were
divided into three classes, Apprentices, Fellows and. Masters. They bound
themselves by oath to afford each other Succor and assistance. They elected a
master builder. Before opening their lodges, they entered into religious
ceremonies, and each apprentice was carefully instructed in the use of the
level, square, mallet and chisel, and certain signs and symbols. Emperor
Tiberius Claudius organized in the year 43, A.D., in the
British Isles, a lodge of builders or Masons. Here the
feeling of common brotherhood spread and was developed among them and gave to
the Masonic Lodges the peculiar character which distinguished them at this
period. Carausius landed on the
Britain
Island, and in 281, A.D., declared his independence
of
Rome
and took the title of Emperor.
The two cities, St. Albans
and York, became, in 295, the most influential in Britain, and here were
founded the rest Lodges of the Masonic corporation, and this latter city, from
that time, became the center of all the Lodges of Freemasons in Britain.
In those days it was
customary to dedicate and consecrate to some saint every. structure intended
for the worship of God, and with the like idea all the corporations of
artists, artisans, and trades chose patron saints. The Freemasons chose
St.
John the Baptist for theirs, because his feast
fell on the 24th of June, the date of the Summer solstice. This day had always
been celebrated by the people of antiquity, and by Masons, since the
foundation of their fraternity, as the period of the year when the sun has
attained its greatest height. Nature is clothed and deports herself in the
greatest abundance of her richest products. As successors of the ancient
colleges of the Romans, the Freemasons of England preserved these cherished
feasts.
THE ROMAN FORUM. – If
there is classic ground any where in Rome, it is at the spot shown in the preceding
picture. [Not included on this webpage.]
Mr. George S. Hillard
said: “Who that has the least sense of what the present owes to the past,
can approach such a spot without reverence and enthusiasm? Especially, what
member of the legal profession, unless his heart be dry as parchment, and worn
as the steps of a court house, can fail to do homage to the genius of a place
where jurisprudence was reared into a perfect system, while Druids were yet
cutting the mistletoe on the site of Westminster Hall?"
Here in the vicinity of
the few standing columns, we ponder over
Rome's ancient glory.The relics are reminders of
famous names and deeds which long ago passed into eternity.
FREEMASONRY TRANSMITTED.
– The institution of Free masonry reaches back until it loses itself among
the mythological shadows of the past. Its grand rituals and eloquent language
of signs and symbols originating in those distant ages, afford a field for
exploration which can never be thoroughly traversed.
Transmitted to us by
remote generations, it is plain that before we can, in any degree, appreciate
Freemasonry, or understand the significance of its mysteries, we must go back
to the past, and question the founders of the order. W-e must learn in what
necessities of human nature, and for what purpose it was created. We must
discover the true genesis of our rites, and become familiar with the ideas
which the fathers intended to shadow forth through them, and impress upon the
mind. From age to age, through countless generations, these rites have
conveyed their sublime lessons of wisdom, hope, peace and warning.
To the Sons of Light the
same lessons are taught to-day. But do we see in them what they did.? Do they
impress us as they impressed them? Or do they pass before our eyes like a
panorama of some unknown land, which had no delineator to tell us what or
where it is, or give us any intelligible notion regarding it? It is our duty
to make Freemasonry the object of a profound study. We must consult the past,
we must stand by Osiris in Egypt, enter the caverns of
Phrygia
and hold communion with the Cabiri, penetrate the Collegia Fabrorum of
Ancient Rome, and work in the mystic circle of
Sidon.
We must pursue our
researches until we find the thought that lay in the minds of those who
created the institution and founded our mysteries. Then we shall know
precisely what they mean; we shall see in them a grand series of moral and
philosophical dramas, most eloquent and instructive., gleaming with sublime
ideas, as the heavens glow with stars.
OBJECT OF FREEMASONRY. -
The
real object of Freemasonry, in a philosophical and religious sense, is the
search for truth. This truth is therefore symbolized by the world from the
first entrance of the apprentice into the Lodge and until his reception of the
highest degree, this search is continued. It is not always found; yet whatever
may be the labor he may perform, whatever the ceremonies through which he may
pass, whatever the symbols in which he may obtain, the true end of all is the
attainment of truth.
This idea of truth is not
the same as that expressed in the lectures of the first degree when brotherly
love, relief and truth are there said to be the "three great tenets of
the Mason's profession." In that connection, truth which is called a
divine attribute, the foundation of every virtue, is synonymous with
sincerity, honesty of expression and plain dealing.
The higher idea of truth
which pervades the whole Masonic system, and which is symbolized by the world,
is that which is properly expressed in a knowledge of God.
Independent of God, there
is no knowledge, no wisdom and no truth; and without Him they cannot exist. It
is impossible for man to discover a truth which has not always existed;
therefore we say, the truths of Masonry are co-equal and co-external with the
Supreme Ruler of the universe.
The principles of
Freemasonry have survived the fall of man, the destruction of the flood and
the confusion of tongues; yea, they have survived the rise and fall of empires
and the decay of republic; these principles were matured at the cradle of
new-born nations, and have hallowed the graves of sleeping heroes; were
triumphant as the mighty flood and everlasting as the mountains; have spanned
the vast oceans and planted the banner of Mason ry in eyery clime and nation
under the sun.
Masonry has tamed the
savages, helped to civilize nations, establish law and order, upheld personal
liberty and human rights, patronized the liberal arts and sciences,
disseminated knowledge and wisdom, proclaimed the universal brotherhood of man
and the great central truth one eternal and immutable Grand Master of Heaven
and earth, to whom every Mason owes his unswerving and undying allegiance.
Like all truths, the
principles of Masonry are founded on the everlasting granite rock, and nothing
can shake them.
"Truth
crushed to earth shall rise again,
Th' eternal years of God are hers,
But
error, wounded, writhes in pain,
And dies among her worshipers."
The study of Masonry leads
man to the correct knowledge of God; the correct knowledge of God leads to the
true worship of Him, and the true worship of Him places man in harmony with
all that is true and good, enlarging his powers for usefulness in every
vocation, station, position, or condition in life, thereby fitting him for
citizenship, in whom we find a true neighbor, a generous friend, and a
clear-cut and well defined power of circumscribing his desires and keeping his
passions in due bounds. (Principles of Masonry)
Every emblem, principle,
and tenet of Masonry, has been baptized with truth, robed in the purest
garments, freed of errors, and crowned with the most beautiful wreath of
undying wisdom. This is true to him only, who, by industry, diligence and
perseverance will have it so. He who is satisfied with a knowledge of esoteric
Masonry alone, knows but little of the many sublime truths contained within
her sacred precincts, which stands in the pathway of industry and diligence
that they may not only adorn and beautify, but become ''as living stones for
that spiritual building-that house not made by hands, eternal in the
heavens." We touch not an emblem or a principle or a tenet in Masonry,
but that it vibrates not towards God.
Since the fall of man the
world has been reeling, rocking and swaying by dynamic forces. An incessant
and an irrepressible conflict is raging within each individual, between good
and evil, right and wrong, truth and error, he.1Ven and hell, God and the
devil.
The great truths of
Masonry heeded. constitute a security within and an impregnable fortress
surrounding the human soul against which the weapons of evil will fall broken
at our feet, and we are as little harmed as the atoms which dance in the
sunbeams and nestle against our window panes.
Masonry is a great highway
leading from wrong to right, from error to truth, from evil to good, and from
earth to heaven. It is the champion of wisdom, strength, beauty, virtue and
purity, and the eternal enemy of ignorance, weakness, ugliness, libertinism,
vice and corruption.
"Happy is the man
that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding, for the
merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain
thereof, than fine gold."
"She is more precious
than rubies and all the things that thou canst desire are not to be compared
unto her."
"The fear (love) of
the Lord is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding."
The Mason has God's own
material with which to construct his spiritual building; material evolved from
his own omnific mind, washed and made pure in the water of the river of life
and burnished by the exquisite touch of the seraphic host of heaven.
Why then should a Mason
use this heaven-born material for any other than grand and glorious purposes ?
If he is true to the teachings of the order and true to himself. his whole
being is dominated and ruled by the Grand Master of all Worlds, and wherever
you find. him, at all times under all circumstances, he is a valiant soldier
in the front ranks, battling for home, for family, for good society, for
education, for all the noble and useful institutions, for law and order, for
human rights and good government.
We are told that the
foundation of King Solomon's temple was laid at a profound depth and consisted
of stones of immense size and great durability. They were closely mortised
into the rock so as to form a secure basis for the substantial erection of the
sacred edifice. So it is with the true Mason: he reaches the almost
unfathomable depths of his own soul and there he places the living stones of
brotherly love, relief, truth, fortitude, prudence, temperance and justice,
whose exact weight God alone knows, and by them his soul is joined in that of
the great God of the Universe, and upon this foundation he builds for time and
eternity, for God and heaven.
THE PARTHENON OF
ATHENS. - This world renowned structure is now shorn
of its ancient glory, yet in its ruined and dilapidated condition it testifies
to the wealth and skill which were devoted to its construction. The designer
of this masterpiece of sculpture was Ictinus, and the date of its completion
was 438 B.C.
It stood upon the highest
platform of the Acropolis. The temple was built entirely of white marble from
the quarries of
Mount
Pentelicus. It was used as a store house of sacred
objects. The celebrated sculptor, Phidias, wrought many of the figures, and
originated the designs that were produced by other artists. Its graceful
proportions cannot fail to impress the beholder, for even in its ruin the
structure speaks of the architect's skill, the builder's strength, and the
artist's labor.
JACOB'S WELL.-In the
vicinity of Shechem, not far away from Jerusalem, one will see in the broad
valley, surrounded by hills and distant mountains, the well which tradition
ascribes to the labor of the Patriarch, Jacob. Often thirsty craftsmen wended
their way to this place of refreshment. The scriptural account is as follows :
"And Jacob came to
Shalem, a city of
Shechem, which is in the
land
of
Canaan, when he came from Padan
Aram, and he pitched. his tent before the
city." "There Jacob dwelt and dug a well. It was by the side of this
well that Jesus, being wearied, reclined, and held conversation with a woman
of
Samaria." Mandrell says, in "his time, it
was one hundred and five feet in depth,” There are fragments of granite
columns to be found in the shapeless mass of ruin that lie strewn about, near
the old historic well.
