The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-06-23

| 1NtNyAAlS vi ~ L l. 1<Itb-s
| THE DISPATCH ON THE RAILROADS. S.-Messrs.
! Cole Turner deliver the DiSpdtch every morning
on all the railroad cars leaving Richmond anu a.
they are also our authorized agents TO receive sub
| scriptions 10 the Semi Weekly and UtektH DiS'
J,atch, friends along the railroad routes can
avail themselves Of the messengers OF these enter
prisng news dealers in forwarding their orders.
| CELEBRATION OF ST. JOHN'S DAY BY THE
| Masonic FRATERNITY-ORIGIN or THE
| CuSToM. M.-To-morrow, the oath June, the
! festival of St. John the Baptist will he
celebrated as usual by the whole tratcrni-
ty of Ancient, Free, and Accepted MaSons.
Masonic lodges were ancicntly dedi-
Gated to King Solomon as the founder OF
ancient craft masonry, and the first Most
Excellent Grand Master. Christian lodges
are generally dedicated to St. John the
Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, but
in those English lodges which have adopted
! the union system Of work, the dedication
is to God and his service" This change
was adopted by the Grand Lodge OF Eng
! land in 1913 to obviatc the charge OF sec
tarianism, but DR.. A. G. Mackey, i'll his
work on Free Masonry, contends that
| MaSonS are by no means amcnablc to this
| charge, as the dedication to the saints is
made to them, not as Christians, but rs
| eminent Masons: not as saints, but as
piouS and good men; not as teachers OF
religion alone, but rs bright eXemplarS OF
all those virtues which MasonS are taught
| to reverence and practice.
With respect to the original cause OF
this dedication, the English lodges have
preserved tradition, which, as matter
of general interest, we extract from
.Moore'S .MaSoniC Ndgd>ine:
From the building OF the first temple
at Jerusalem to the Babylonish captivity,
Free MaSonS' lodges were dedicated to
King Solomon from thence TO the coming
of the Messiah they were dedicated to
, Zcruhbabel, the builder of the second
| temple: and from that time TO the final
| destruction of the temple by Titus, i'll the
reign Of NcSpaSian, they were dedicated to
ST. John the Baptist; but owing to the
many masSacrcS and disorders which attend
ed that memorable event, Free Masonry
sank very much into decay; many lodges
were entirely broken up, and but few
could meet in sufficient numbers To Constl-
tutc their legality, and at general meet
| irg of the craft, held in the city Of Bcnia-
min, il was observed that the principal
reason for the decline of Masonry was the
want of q grand master to patroniZe 1t.
| They therefore dcputcd seven of their most
eminent members 10 wait upon 81. john
the Evangelist, who was at that time Bishop
| of EphcSu>, requesting him 10 take the
office of grand master. He returned for
answer, that though well stricken in years,
being upwards of ninety, yet having been
in the early part of his life initiated into
Masonry, he would take upon himself that
office he thereby completed by his learn
ing what the other St. John had completed
| by his zeal and thus drew what Free Ma
sons term line parallel; ever since which
Free Masons' lodges in all Christian coun-
tries have been dedicated both to st. John
the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist
The true origin of this custom may
however, be traced more philosophically
and perhaps more correctly, to the spu.
riouS Masonry Of Pagan nations; and
therein may he found the most plausible
reasons for the celebration of the Masonic
| festivals in June and December, and fol
the dedication of our lodges.
| The Post-D -DiluvianS, until their ritual
was improved and purified by ZOroaster
and most probably the ancient Druids, in
troduccd into their rites great respect for
and even an alteration OF, the sun, as the
source of light, and life, and truition, and
the visible representative of the invisible
creative and preservative principle OF ma
ture. To such sects, the period when the
Sun reached his greatest northern and
southern declination by entering the signs
of Cancer and Capricorn, marked, as II
would be, by the most evident effects upon
the seasons, and on the length of the days
and nights, could not have passed unOb'
served, and these important periods fall
respectively on the 2lst Of June and the
22d of December. These days were doubt
less celebrated as returning eras in the eX.
iStence of the great source OF light ano
object of their worship. Ancient Mason,
adopted the custom, abandoning, however
the idolatrous principles which were con
nected with these dates, and confining
their celebration to their Astronomical
importance. Christianity then came tC
mngle its rays with the light of Ma
sonry, and the Masonic fraternity, finding
that the church had appropriated two days
near these solstitial periods to the memory
of two eminent saints, it Was easy to in
corporate these festivals into the Masonic
calendar, and to adopt these worthless a:
patrons of the Order. To this change The
earlier Christian Masons were doubtless
the more persuaded by the peculiar cha
racter of these saints. St. John the Bap
tist, by announcing the approach of Christ
and by the mystic ablution to which he
subjected his proselytes, might well be re-
garded as the Grand Hieropham of the
church, while the mysterious and emble
matte nature Of the Apocalypse assimila
ted the mode of teaching adopted by ST
John the Evangelist to that practiced by
the Fraternity.
St. John the Baptist's day is June Gath
and ST. John the Evangelists day is De
cember 9th and both of these days are
celebrated in the same manner by the Ma.
,nnic fraternity.
;snow announced that the members Of
4 Lodge, No. 10, will meet al
... a- n Franklin street, at 9 O'Clock
IA. 'orrow (St. Johns day.
II, @ of officers, and that
~. : the same place
s..,.,. A. procession and