The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-01-10

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many massacres and disorders which fol-
lowed that appalling and memorable
event, Free Masonry sunk very much
into decay. Many lodges were entirely
broken up, and but few could meet in
sufficient numbers as required by the an.
cient constitution of the order. At q
general meeting of the craft, held at the
city of Benjamin, it was concluded that
the chief cause of the decline of Masonry
was the want of Grand Master to pre-.
side over the order. They therefore de.
puted seven of their members to wait
upon st. John the Evangelist, who was
then Bishop Of Ephesus, and request him
to accept the Office of Grand Master.
He returned for answer, that although
well stricken in years, being upwards Of
ninety, yet having been initiated into
Masonry in early life, and being deeply
concerned for the welfare of the order,
he would take upon himself that respon-
sible Office. He thus completed by bis
learning and noble example what the
other st. John had effected by his zeal,
and thereby drew what Free Masons
term cline parallel" Since Mat period
all Masonic lodges throughout Christen-
dom are dedicated to st. John the Bap-
fist and st. John the Evangelist, by the
title of the "Holy Saints John"
According to Cbrysostom, (the golden
mouthed,} who wrote in the latter part of
the 4th century, 81. John the Evangelist
died in the city Of Ephesus, in the year
of our Lord 126, at the age of 120 years,
having survived all the other apostles
nearly fifty years; and performed his
apostolic duties. for almost century
from the time that he became disciple
atsthe age of 26. To this seemingly un-
cultured fisherman the world is indebted
for.the most simple, sublime and perfect
definition of God ever penned by mortal
hand. For thousands of years the attri-
bntes of Deity had been the subject of
the prophets deepest meditation and the
poets grandest song. In the beautiful
Theogomy of Hesiod, in the starry splen-
dor Of Homer's immortal pages; in the
teachings of the divine Plato, the lessons
taught by the God-like Socrates, or the
trcatises of the profound Aristotle, we
seek vainly for definition of God which
at once satisfies the judgment and the
heart of humanity. 1t remained for this
Galilean fisherman to syllable the unut-
terable longing of the human soul by
proclsiming that God is love p ;s
There are moments in the life of every
man when he feels himself nearer the
Great Spirit Of the. Universe, and in such
8 moment must the Evangelist have
caught these words from voices of the
unseen land, that came to him in the
still watches of the night, in the hushed
calm that brooded over his lonely boat as
it rose and fell on the blue waters Of
Galilee, while the starlight of Judea
cleaned bright on the hills of her
beauty. ": ~
It may we'll be asked, "why is it that
an order which boasts such an exemplar
of its principles as st. John the Eyangel-
list should rigidly exclude woman from its
folds, aud while inscribing the golden
words, faith, hope and charity, on the
walls Of its lodges, still denies all ap-
proach to its altars to the sex which in
the walks of daily life practically illus
trates those words in their highest sense7
The reason for this exclusion capnot be
found in any supposed intellectual infe-
riority which units woman, to rightly.
understand the symbolic science of Ma
sonry, or:in any known incapscity on!her
part to practice its tenets. All history
and individual experience would alike
rebnke such an erroneous assumption.
From the days of Semiramis, the re-
nowned queen of Assyria, whose genius
made Babylon the glory of the East and
adorned Git. with structures of such stu.
pendous magnifcence as tos be. classed
among the wonders Of fthe world, woman
has attestedi her capacity to sway "the
rod of empire" and to administer sue
cessfully the governments Of mighty ma
.tioas. The historic student will recall
the triumphant reign of Isabella of Cas-
tile, the friend and liberal patroness Of
Christopher Columbus; the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, justly termed the gol-
den age Of. England |; the reigns of the
two Catharines of Russia, and, of Queen,
Anne; while the English.speaking race
are proudly beholding at this day the
happy reign of the Empress-Q Queen, the
good Victoria. In the realms of thought,
the broad field of letters and of art, wo-
man. has gemmed her coronal with the
most brilliant achievements. Indeed
the cultured Greeks symbohzed their
highest conception of mental power in
the form of q woman, and Minerva was
at once the Goddess of Wisdom, of Sci
entifc War and of the Liberal Arts.
But it may be suggested that the ex-i
clusion of woman from the Masonic
lodge is due to the supposed inability of,
her sex to keep secret. This suppose
ton is grossly erroneous, and unjustlyl
impeaches both the ssgacity of Masons
and the honor of woman. In all ages
woman has been peculiarly distinguished
for her unswerving fidelity to every hon
orable trust, and. the annals of mankind
attest that. no good cause ever met its
.betrsyer In a woman.
.Not she with trait'rous kiss her Saviour
Not she denied him with unholy tongue !;
She, while apostles shrank, could danger
brave;
Lastlat his cross, and earliest at his grave"
Women, indeed, are the secret-keepers
of the world. Every woman's ear is
confessional, differing, however, from the
confessional of the Roman Catholic
Church, in this, that while in the latter
the penitent confesses his sins, in the
former man usually proclaims his virtues,