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

\
lowed that appalling and memorable
eyent, Free Masonry sunk very much
into decay. Many lodges were entirsly
broken up, and but few could meet In
sufficient numbers as required by the an.
cieHt constitution Of the order. AZ a
general meeting of the craft, / cid Mt the
city OF Benjamin, it was concluded that
the chief cause # the decline OF Masonry
was the want Of O Grand Master to pfs.
side over the order. They therefore de.
| rGted ,eeven Of their membera 70 wait
| upon st. John the Evangelist, who was
then Bishop Of Ephesus, and request him
70 accept tho Office Of Gsand- 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 tho welfare of the order.
he would take upon himself that caspon.
eibie office. He thus completed by mis-
learning aud noble example what the
other st. John had effected by his zeal.
and thereby drew what Free M,sons
term o cline parallel" Since fAat Period
all Masonic lodges throughout Christen-
dom are dedicated to st. John the Ban.
tint and st. John the Evangelist, by the
title of the "Holy Saints John."
According to Chrysostom, (the golden
mouthed,l who wrote in the latter part of
the 4th century, 81. John the EvaIgelist
died IN the city of Ephesus, in the year
OF our Lord l26, 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 q disciple
at the age of 26. TO this seemingly tin.
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-
tutes OF Deity mad been the subject OF
the prophets deepest meditation and Che
poet's grandest song. In the beautiful
Theogomy of Hesiod, in the starry splep-
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
nt once eatisfes the Judgment and the
heart of humanity. It remained for this
Galiiean fisherman to syllable the unut.
terable longing of the human sc::i by
prociaiming that "God is lovep"
There are mo, 1ents in the life of eyery
man when he leels himself nearer sl:s
Great Spirit Of the Universe, and in such
moment must the Evangelist have
caught these words from voices of tho
unseen land, that cnL = to him in the
still watches of the night, in the hushed
calm that brooded over his lonely boat az
1t rose and fell on the blue waters of
Galilee, while tho starlight of Judea
CLEANED bright on che hills of her
be- uty. s
II may well be asked, "why is it that
an order which boasts such an exemplar
of ito principles as st. John the Evangel-
ist ehould rigidly exclude woman from its
folds, and while inscribing the golden
words, faith, hope and charity, on che
walls of its lodges, still denies all ap.
proach to its altars TO the sex which in
tho walks of daily life practically illus
trates those words in their highest sense
The reason for this exclusion cannot be
found in any supposed intellectual infe-
riority which unfits woman to rightly
understand the symbolic science of Ma
eonry, or in any known incapacity on her
part to practice its 'tenets. All history
and individual experiences would alike
rebuke such an erroneous assumption.
From the days of SemiramiB, the re-
nowned queen of Ansyria, whose genius
:aadS Eabyion the glory of the East and
adorned it. with structures of s.ch. stu.
pendous magnifcence as tos be- classed
among the wonders of the world, woman
has attested her capacity to sway "the
rod of empire" and to administer sue
cessfnlly the governments of mighty ns-
t.ons. The hiGtnrie stssdent viii fecal.
the triumphant r. gn of Isabella of Cas-
tile, the friend and liberal patroncss of
Christopher Columbus; the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, justly termed the goi-
den age of England the reigns of the
two Catharinee of Russia, and of Queen
Anne; while the English.spsak;ng race
are proudly beholding at this day the
happy reign of the Empress.Queen, the
good Victoria. In the realms OF thought,
the broad field ofletters and of art, Wo-
man has gemmed her coronal with the
moss brilliant achievements. Indeed,
the. cultured. Greeks symbolized their
highest conception of mental power in
the form of o woman, anu Minerva vas
at once the Goddess of Wisdom, of Sol
entific War and of the Liberal Arts.
But it may be suggested that the ex-
clusion of woman from the Masonic
lodge is due TO the supposed inability of
her sex to keep secret. This supposi.
tion is grossly erroneous, and uniustly
in,pcaches both the sagacity of Masons
and the honor of woman. In all ages
woman has been peculiarly distinguished
for her unswerving fidelity 20 every hon.
orable trust, and the annals of mankind
attest that no good cause ever met its
,betrsyer 10 asaomahi X .! 4 8 "a
"Not she with srait'rous kias her Saviour
Not ahe dennied him with unholy .oas::s
She, while apostles shrank, could danger
brave;
EEaa.. At his cross, anu earliest at his graye.''
Women, indeed, are the secret-keeperu
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 che
former man usually proslaims his virtues,
been tested, and has proved herself safe
0s iaais5JSfJ a1 6E5T5 5t5.
Two women have been initiated into
Sle mysteries Of ancient craft Masonry,
/, and by their chafacters and conduct re.
fected honor upon the order, whose most
| eacred laws exclude them from .itB mem.
bership. Thess two cases, however,
stand alone, and furnish to Masons G
startling -epiAode in the history Of their
| order, whose SinexoRabie aalic Law was
1 thus violated. The circumstances updeI
which those limitations took place are
| stated by the highest Masonic anthofi.
/ ties to have been aB follows:
In the year 1895, the Hon. Elizabeth
| sc. LeRer, the daughter Of Viscoiini