Are You Worthy?

The fault is not with us that we have not given, but with them, for they have not received. And, in deed, hard and unjust would it be to censure the Masonic Institution, because, partaking of the infirmity and weakness of human wisdom and human means, it has been unable to give strength and perfection to all who comes within its pale. The denial of a Peter, the doubting of a Thomas, or even the betrayal of a Judas, could cast no reproach on that holy band of Apostles of which each forms a constituent part.

Is Freemasonry answerable for the misdeeds of an individual Brother? By no means. He has had the advantage of Masonic instructions, and has failed to profit by it. He has enjoyed Masonic privileges, but has not possessed Masonic Virtues.

Such as a man, it is our duty to reform, or to dismiss. The world should not condom us, if we fail in our attempt at reformation. GOD alone can change the heart. Freemasonry furnished precepts and obligations of duty, which, if obeyed, must make its members wiser, better, happier men, but it claims no power of regeneration. Condemn when our instruction is evil, but not when our pupils are dull and deaf to our lessons; for in so doing, you condemn the whole religion, which you profess. Freemasonry prescribes no principles that are opposed to the sacred teachings of the Divine Lawgiver, and sanctions no acts that are not consistent with the sternest morality and the most faithful obedience to government and the laws. While this continues to be its character, it cannot, without the most atrocious injustice, be made responsible for the acts of its unworthy brothers.

Of all human societies, Freemasonry is undoubtedly, under all circumstances, the fittest to form the truly good man. But, however well conceived may be its laws, it cannot completely change the natural disposition of those who ought to observe them. In truth, they serve as lights and guides; but as they can only direct men by restraining the impetuosity of their passions, these, last two often become dominant and the Institution is forgotten.

The Double Headed Eagle

One would suppose that the single Eagle would be an older symbol than the Double Headed-Eagle. However Chetwode Crawley asserted that the latter was used as a symbol of power for 5000 years and is one of the oldest emblematic devices in the world. He pretends to trace it back more than 1000 years prior to the Exodus from Egypt and more than 2000 years before Solmon’s Temple. Quoting the Assyriologist Thureau Dangin, he states that the Symbol was found in the brick work at the city of Lagash in south Babylon about 3000 BC. The Double-Headed Eagle, he says, was the storm bird of Lagash and stood proudly, the visible emblem of its power or domination. Regrettably, he does not tell us where it stood or where it was visible, where it was represented, on what image it was impressed and how it was impressed. He refers to a cylinder covered with ancient cuneiform (not hieroglyphic or picture writing). Which were deciphered by Dangin who displays to our wondering eyes the emblem of power that was already centuries old when Babylon gave its name to Babylonia. This is indirect, insinuating language, and does not state that the Double-Headed Eagle was depicted on the cylinder but implies that, by deciphering the wedge-shaped characters, Dangin disclosed the emblem. We are left in doubt.

The generally accepted theory is that, since the Roman Empire used the Eagle on its standards. The division into the Eastern and Western Roman empires suggested the two heads, one facing to the East and the other to the West. The two heads on one body represented an Empire with two seats of government, Rome and Constantinople. Just when this occurred is not certain, some say that Constantine was first to use this emblem. It may not have been used until both the Eastern and Western Empires had crumbled and the remnants had been gathered together under the Holy Roman Empire. Upon the dissolution of the latter, the German Emperors, and evidently Austrian clamed to be the representatives to the whole Empire and adopted the Double-headed Eagle as the armorial device.

Though some have asserted that the Double-Headed Eagle of the Austrian and Russian Empires was first adopted during the Second Crusade. These symbolize the grand alliance formed by the Christian sovereigns of Greece and Germany against the Saracens. Brewer has stated that the Russian Double-Headed Eagle is derived from the Eagle of the Russians and the Eagle Of Poland. The generally accepted theory is that the Russian use of the symbol arose out of the assertion that Russia represented the Holy Roman Empire, basing that claim to Byzantium (Constantinople or Istanbul). David E. Williamson stated that Ivan III adopted the device of the Double-Headed Eagle in 1469 at his marriage to Zoe Palaecolga (Sophia), daughter of Thomas of Morea, Claimant to the imperial throne of Byzantium. The author also stated that the emblem was first seen in western nations in the arms of the Holy Roman Empire in 1345, and that it first appeared in the seal of that power in 1414 .

As a Masonic symbol, the Double-Headed Eagle had not been traced in actual pictorial representation before 1802, although it was referred to and may have been used earlier. The first actual representation of the symbol in any Masonic connection first appeared as a rather crude drawing or in inscription in the seal of the Supreme Council A&ASR formed at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1891. That seal was appended to the list of officers and members of that Supreme Council published in a circular of 1892, wherein the Double-Headed Eagle occupied the whole face of the seal. Also, in the same document, the seal of Knights Kadosh and the Princes of the Royal Secret bore the two heads of the Double-Headed Eagle, the body of the Eagle being hidden.

The folio editions of the Grand Constitutions of 1766 of the Rite of Perfection and those of 1786 of the Scottish Rite contain references to" Knights of the White and Black Eagle". The appendix to the Latin Constitutions of 1786 provides in Article I that the banner of the order includes the Double-Headed Eagle and, Article III, signed "Frederic," that the Great Seal of the order includes the same insigne.

The Supreme Council of 1801 evidently derived the symbol from those sources, though there is no evidence that it was actually used before 1802. In the basic Rite of Perfection, which arose about 1754-1760, and The Scottish Rite of 1786-1801, there were two degrees, which might have used the Double-Headed Eagle appropriately. The first was the 17^th, Knights of the East and West, where it would have served the same purpose as in the bifurcate Roman Empire, one head looking to the East and the other to the West. Moreover, the Council of Emperors of the East and West was the last and most eminent body to control the Rite of Perfection prior to its absorption in France by the Grand Orient and by the Scottish Rite in America. The solution has not appealed to any authority since there is no trace of the symbol in that degree, which had always been somewhat mystical, involving the symbolism of the number 7. The explanation of the name of that degree, as given in an old ritual of the early 19thCentury, is that of the Crusaders. Having failed to conquer Palestine returned to their homes and assumed that name in memory of their homes in the West and of the East where their order was created at Jerusalem.

The degree in which the symbol in question first appeared, evidence points to Knight Kadosh or Knight of the White and Black Eagle, 24^th of the Rite of Perfection and the 30^th of the Scottish Rite, though the rationale is difficult to explain. The ritual of that degree in use for some years prior to 1826 in the United States repeatedly refers to the Knight Kadosh or the Knight of the White and Black Eagle. Then, strange to say, describes the jewel of the degree as bearing a "black spread eagle, with two heads suspended to a broad order of fiery bloody color, worn from the left shoulder to the right hip. The eagle as if going to fly with a naked sword in its claws." In the closing lecture the following occurs: Q. What is you name? A. Kadosh Knight of the Black Eagle. "After the candidate has stated that he is "under the banner of the black eagle, "he is asked: "Q. Have you any other name than that of Kadosh or Knight of the Black Eagle?" There seems to be a decided confusion between the White and Black Eagle and the Black Double-Headed Eagle.

In Pike’s Morals and Dogma, published in the latter part of the 19^th century, at the beginning of the lecture on Knight Kadosh, two banners of that degree are displayed. One of which carries the Double-Headed Eagle, though neither in that lecture nor elsewhere is any explanation afforded to the Double-Headed Eagle or White and Black Eagle. The former seems to have come into use without any applicable symbolism, though the latter is also still in good standing, as is the black and white banner. The White and Black Eagle would not necessarily be a Double-Headed Eagle; nor would a Double-Headed Eagle necessarily be of any particular color or of any two colors.

At the present day, the symbol of the Double-Headed Eagle appertains to the 30^th, 32nd and 33rd degrees of the Scottish Rite.

The Ten Commandments of Masonry

II. Thy religion shall be, to do good because it is a pleasure to thee, and not merely because it is a duty. That thou mayest become the friend of the wise man, thou shalt obey his precepts! Thy soul is immortal! Thou shalt do nothing to degrade it!

III. Thou shalt unceasingly war against vice! Thou shalt not do unto others that which thou wouldst not wish them to do unto thee! Thou shalt be submissive to thy fortunes, and keep burning the light of wisdom!

IV. Thou shalt honor thy parents! Thou shalt pay respect and homage to the aged! Thou shalt instruct the young! Thou shalt protect and defend infancy and innocence!

V. Thou shalt cherish thy wife and thy children! Thou shalt love thy country, and obey its laws!

VI. Thy friend shall be to thee a second self! Misfortune shall not estrange thee from him! Thou sha lt do for his memory whatever thou wouldst do for him, if he were living.

VII. Thou shalt avoid and flee from insincere friendships! Thou shalt in everything refrain from excess. Thou shalt fear to be the cause of a strain on thy memory!

VIII. Thou shalt allow no passions of others profitable lessons to thyself! Thou shalt make the passions of others profitable lessons to thyself! Thou shalt be indulgent to error!

IX. Thou shalt hear much: Thou shalt speak little: Thou shalt act well! Thou shalt forget injuries! Thou shalt render good for evil! Thou shalt not misuse either thy strength or thy superiority!

X. Thou shalt study to know men; that thereby thou mayest learn to know thyself! Thou shalt ever seek after virtue! Thou shalt be just! Thou shalt avoid idleness!

But the great commandment of Masonry is this: "A new commandment give I unto you: That ye love one another! He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, remaineth still in the darkness."

Discrimination