THE NEW AGE MAGAZINE A Monthly Publication Devoted to Freemasonry and Its THE NEW AGE MAGAZINE is the official organ of the Supreme Council of the Thirtythird Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America, and is owned and published by it. The offices of the Supreme Council are located in its "House of the Temple," Sixteenth and S Streets, Northwest, Washington, D. C. George F. Moore, 33°, Grand Commander. John H. Cowles, 33°, Secretary General. THE NEW AGE MAGAZINE is published at Washington, D. C., and is under the control of a committee composed of the following members of the Council: ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION. In the United States and Mexico, one dollar and fifty cents; in all other countries in the Postal Union, two dollars. THE NEW AGE MAGAZINE is sent free of charge to all Scottish Rite Masons of the Southern Jurisdiction who are members of Consistories. COPYRIGHT. All the articles and illustrations in this Magazine are protected under and by the copyright laws of the United States, and nothing from its pages must be reprinted without the permission of the Editor. Address all correspondence and communications, and make all checks, drafts, etc., payable to John H. Cowles, Secretary General, 16th and S Sts., N. W., Washington, D. C. Entered at the Washington, D. C., Postoffice, as second-class mail matter. Copyright, 1914, by the Supreme Council of the 33d Degree A. and A. Scottish Rite, S. J. U. S. A. NOTES AND COMMENTS JERUSALEM DELIVERED The triumphal entry of the British into Jerusalem marks an epoch of history. The attention of Jew, Christian, and Mohammedan alike is focussed upon the Holy City. Its sacred places, shrines and traditions appeal to the orthodox followers of the three great religious systems. To the Jew it is the ancient site of the Temple; to the Christian, the place of the Holy Sepulchre; to the Mohammedan, the city where stands the Mosque of Omar. No city of the world contains so many memories, no city is so rich in religious traditions. Romance, superstition and legend cluster about it like bees about a honeycomb. It has sustained siege after siege. The Roman attack, under Titus, when the Temple of Herod was demolished and 600,000 Jews slain and the survivors taken into captivity or sold as slaves, marks one of the bloodiest passages in the history of the ancient world. The heroic John of Giscala defended the city and made his name immortal. The Temple was despoiled of its sacred treasures and vessels. The She-kinah disappeared forever. The golden candlestick with its seven branches, symbolical of the seven planets known to the ancient world, was carried off by the Romans. Upon the Arch of Titus, at Rome, built to commemorate the capture of Jerusalem, may be seen a bas relief of this candlestick. When Titus, son of the Emperor Vespasian, took the Holy City (April-September, A.D. 70), he commanded his soldiers to destroy the place. The infuriated Romans spared only the three towers at the north of Herod's palace and the western wall. For sixty years the city lay practically in ruins, until the year 130 when the Emperor Hadrian visited it and resolved to rebuild it. The new city was called Aelia Capitolina. By royal edict the Jews were forbidden to enter it, because of their desperate rebellion under Bar Cochba. From the time of Hadrian to Constantine the Great little is known of the city, but under Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, the pagan population was gradually supplemented by Christians. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was erected by the order of Constantine, and "waves of pilgrimage" set in toward the Holy City. A succession of Christian patriarchs held their sees at Jerusalem. Finally the city was captured by the Persians under Khosru, in 614, but was retaken by the Emperor Heraclius in 628. In the year 637 the Moslem hordes invaded Palestine, and Jerusalem was captured by the Caliph Omar, who built a wooden mosque on the site of Solomon's Temple. This was replaced in 691 by a stone structure of handsome proportions. In the year 1077, the Seljuk Turks conquered Jerusalem and began oppressing the Christian inhabitants, which led to the Crusades. In 1099, the Crusaders, under the celebrated Godfrey de Bouillon and others, laid siege to the Holy City and captured it. Godfrey was crowned King of Jerusalem. He refused to wear "a crown of gold in the place where his Saviour had worn a crown of thorns," and called himself protector of the Holy Sepulchre. This kingdom lasted with varying fortunes for upwards of two centuries. In 1244 the Moslems stormed Jerusalem and took it, whereupon the Holy City passed finally out of Christian hands for many centuries. The romantic story of the Crusades, the valiant deeds of the Knights Templars and the Knights of St. John would fill volumes. All Freemasons of the York Rite are interested in the subject. The Scottish Rite has a Templar basis, but is not sectarian, as its votaries know. The Templars are supposed to have become imbued with the Oriental philosophies and to have secretly endeavored to overthrow Papal pretensions in the East. At any rate they were accused of sorcery, magic and heresy by the Church and bitterly persecuted. With the present British occupation, let us hope that Jerusalem will never again fall into the hands of the Turks. When the English soldiers entered the city, they were received with open arms by Jews and Arabs alike. Te Deums were sung in French cathedrals to celebrate the delivery of the Holy City from Moslem rule. In Rome, on December 16, a procession of 15,000 students and 20,000 members of scientific associations marched to the Convent Sant Onoforio, wherein is the tomb of the famous poet, Torquato Tasso, who in the sixteenth century wrote Jerusalem Delivered. This delivery of Jerusalem may have far-reaching effects. The Zionites look forward to establishing a Jewish State in Palestine. Who knows what may happen? The eyes of Europe are turned toward the East-from out of which have come all the saviours of humanity, all the great religious systems and theosophies. The Orient dreams the dream of the Supreme Spirit, the Occident busies itself mainly with material things-the conquering of matter; the harnessing of nature's laws in the service of man; with scientific pursuits, etc. But it is well for man, at times, to wander into the desert, to commune with himself, to ponder upon the great problems of the soul and the after life, upon the nature of God. These thoughts are like draughts of pure water from a well; they stimulate and exalt the NOTES AND COMMENTS 19 spirit, and lift one above the sordid bargainings of the market place, the fumes of the laboratory, and the dust and grime of the mill and forge. There is a Holy Sepulchre, a Shekinah, or Kaaba in every man's heart, often buried in dust and rubbish, so that it needs recovering by a species of spiritual and moral crusade. The delivery of Jerusalem is of particular interest to Freemasons. Is it not a grand thing to contemplate-the building of a great Masonic Temple in Jerusalem, erected by the subscriptions of lodges throughout the world, dedicated to God and humanity, as a memorial of Masonry for all time? OUR ANCIENT ENEMY All good Americans, particularly Masons, while they do all they can to circumvent and overcome our Teutonic enemies, should not for a moment lose sight of the doings and machinations of our ancient enemy, the Roman Catholic hierarchy, which, in the name of religion, is laboring mightily to enslave the world. In the name of religion, they say, but of what religion? During the first three hundred years of its history, the Christian Church-also called the Catholic Church -was all that any pure democracy could desire in the way of a church and a religion, for then it followed the teachings of Christ, the greatest of all democrats, and was, in truth, the Christian Church. But when the Bishop of Rome managed to have himself made the head of the Christian Church, it then became the Roman Catholic Church, and its religion underwent a decided change. The unhappiest event in the history of the world was when the Emperor Constantine made the then so-called Christian religion the religion of the state. A most unhappy event for the world and for the Church itself. What, since then, has been the religion of the Holy Roman Catholic Church? If we closely examine its history since that time, we cannot escape the conclusion that the religion of Rome is, and always has been, Rome! Rome is its deityit has never, in reality, had any other! Its aim is to put all things under its feetnot by plainly and clearly and reasonably manifesting to all mankind the superiority and great desirability of its doctrines, but by force; and to this end it denies to all men the right to think for themselves, to interpret the scriptures for themselves— in short, it denies to all men the right to know anything at all that does not support the doctrines of the Roman hierarchy and uphold the Pope of Rome as the infallible vice-gerent of God upon earth, whose will is to be obeyed in all things. If you desire to be convinced of these things, read the literary output of Roman Catholic advocates during the last twelve hundred years. It will speak for itself in language clear enough to satisfy the most exacting of doubters upon this point. Let us cite some of the recent utterances and performances of the Roman hierarchy in this country and in Canada: During recent years, great circulation has been given in this country to the declaration of Pope Pius IX to the effect that any education or instruction outside of that given by the Roman Catholic Church is "damnable heresy." Following this, Roman Catholic priests and editors have repeatedly stated that our public schools are hotbeds of irreligion and sinks of moral obliquity. Not to put too fine a point upon it, the statement that the schools are sinks of moral obliquity is a lie. It has been so often made and reiterated that the choice of polite phraseology in replying to it has ceased to be a virtue. As to our schools being hotbeds of irreligion, that depends upon what they mean by religion. If they simply mean that the peculiar doctrines of the Roman hierarchy are not taught in the schools, we joyfully admit that to be a fact, and we earnestly hope that it may long continue to be so. Cardinal O'Connell recently carried on in Massachusetts a furious campaign against the law prohibiting the appropriation of public money for the use of sec tarian schools. You see they dare not bluntly advocate the abolition of the public schools-anyone can understand that such a course would be very unwise. But they seek to undermine the support of, and emasculate the public schools, hoping that they may really become as worthless as they say they are. To this end also they have managed, with the aid of careless or self-seeking officials, to install their own instruments as teachers in the schools and as members of the school boards. Happily the election in Massachusetts went overwhelmingly against the Cardinal and his pet hobby, and we hear that he attributes his failure to recalcitrant members of the Roman Catholic Church. We hope, and believe, that he is right in this, for we have said before, and have no hesitation in repeating, that the great majority of our Roman Catholic citizens are much better Americans than the Jesuits and some of the priests give them credit for being, and vastly better than they would have the rest of us believe. We have all heard of the remonstrance of the Pope against the law of conscription. That remonstrance was repeated in this country by prominent members of the Roman hierarchy, until they witnessed the truly American way in which their own members enlisted or cheerfully submitted to the conscription; and since then they have been endeavoring to absorb credit for it all. In the Province of Quebec, in Canada, Cardinal Begin strenuously objected to the conscription, and the Roman Catholic party demanded a referendum on the question which was cheerfully conceded by the Government-with the result that the law of conscription was overwhelmingly sustained. The Catholic people of the Dominion also are evidently convinced that they owe a sacred duty to their country, the Pope and the Cardinal to the contrary notwithstanding. We understand that the Cardinal, feeling obliged to account for the debacle in some plausible way, insists that the Masons have been instrumental in bringing it about; and if that can be shown to be the truth, it will delight us very greatly. It is now believed that the Pope is responsible for all the peace overtures that have been made, and in many quarters it is insisted that he is responsible for the recent Italian losses in that, through the machinations of his agents, a large number of the Italian troops were induced to lay down their arms and so open the way for the German and Austrian successes. Indeed it is impossible to account for the great number of prisoners said to have been taken by them in any other way. If the Pope is indeed responsible for these things, he is surely going to regret it. We long have believed him responsible for bringing on the war in the beginning, being convinced that his attempt to corral the Serbians and force them to adopt the Roman Catholic brand of religion was the prime cause of the outbreak. The Pope, you see, has been hopeful of being able to bring about the reestablishment of the Holy Roman Empire. Brethren, let us hear now the conclusion of the whole matter: Autocracy of all kinds and shades must go! And the Jesuits, being the most persistent and unscrupulous supporters of ecclesiastical autocracy, and being also, from the very nature of their obligations and objects, unfit for citizenship in a free country, should not be permitted to have domicile, or even temporary residence, in this or any other free country! THE PAN AMERICAN MASS In St. Patrick's Church in Washington, D. C., on November 29, was held the usual Thanksgiving service under the name of The Pan American Mass as inaugurated a few years ago by Mgr. W. T. Russell, now Bishop Russell, of Charleston, S. C., who was present and delivered the sermon. A splendid orchestra, beautiful singing, the great organ, flowers and flags, candles, the elaborate ritual of the Roman Church, Cardinal Gibbons, one of three "princes" in the United States, and other dignitaries of the church in their rich and royal robes of costly cloth NOTES AND COMMENTS 21 and lace, presented such a pageant of pomp and display as can be seen nowhere else in this land at a Thanksgiving service. One section of the church was filled by soldiers of our country in uniform, other sections by members of the diplomatic corps of the Central and South American Republics, United States Government officials, among them five of the Cabinet, the Secretaries of State, Mr. Lansing; of Agriculture, Mr. Houston; of Commerce, Mr. Redfield; Postmaster General, Mr. Burleson, and Attorney General, Mr. Gregory. Because of the wide publicity of this annual Pan American Mass and the attendance of so many of the government officials many inquiries have come to us as to the reason, purpose and object sought in inviting them, inasmuch as one of the fundamental principles of our land is an absolute separation of Church and State. To answer such inquiries the following letter was sent to each of the Cabinet officers who were there: DEAR SIR: The Pan American Mass, celebrated in recent years on Thanksgiving Day in this city, has become a subject of interesting importance to millions of non-Catholics because of its seemingly official recognition. I have many inquiries regarding it, and that I may answer intelligently, will you write me a letter covering, in a general way, replies to such questions as these: Do the members of the Cabinet and other officials who attend do so in their official capacity? Do they in any way represent the President? Are the invitations sent to them as Representatives of the Government? Do they go imbued with the spirit of the day and in compliance with the President's Proclamation, to go to their respective churches and give thanks for their many blessings, or does curiosity play a part in it? The newspapers exploit these occasions to such an extent that it is beginning to appear as if they are at least semi-official to a great many people in this country, who are becoming very much concerned over it. And, besides, we are asked by some of our brethren in the South American Republics, where they are persecuted and in some instances prevented from meeting, if the Roman Catholic is about to become the state religion of our country. May I publish your reply in The New Age MAGAZINE, the official organ of our Supreme Council? Yours very respectfully, The following reply was received: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, DEAR SIR: I acknowledge receipt of yours of the 6th. During the five years I have been in Washington, I have attended the Thanksgiving exercises at St. Patrick's Church once and possibly twice. I did not consider that I was attending in any official capacity, and I certainly did not represent the President. I received a very polite invitation to attend and I did so because I chose to. Whether I was invited because I was a member of the Cabinet or for other reasons, I am sure I do not know. Having accepted the hospitality extended, I certainly would not regard it as good taste on my part to criticise my hosts or say anything which would be considered a reflection on them, even if I had a disposition to do so. I am a member of the Presbyterian Church of the United States and usually attend its services, though I feel perfectly free to go to other churches when I am so inclined. say. I have no objection to your publishing my reply to your inquiry. I think this is all I care to Very respectfully yours, (Signed) T. W. GREGORY. We thank the Attorney General for his prompt and straightforward reply, though we disclaim asking him to "criticise his 'host' of the Thanksgiving exercises.' The other Cabinet officers whom we have named did not reply, yet our request for an answer was courteous and they are each and all public officials. Bishop Russell in his sermon said, "It is gratifying to see at this crisis in our history that Catholics have recognized their duty. One-third at least of the American Army and Navy is made up of Catholics. Yet we are only one-sixth |