Short Talk Bulletin

SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XIII December, 1935 No.12 CLANDESTINE by: Unknown Every Master Mason knows that he must not visit a clandestine Lodge, not talk Masonically with a clandestinely made Mason, but not all Master Masons can define clandestinism. The dictionary (Standard) gives “surreptitious, underhand” as synonyms for the word, and while these express the Masonic meaning to some extent, they are not wholly clarifying. Mackey (History of Freemasonry) states: “The (Anderson) Constitutions declare, Section 8, that where a number of Freemasons shall take upon themselves to form a Lodge without a Grand Master’s Warrant, the regular Lodg...

SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XIII November, 1935 No.11 UNIVERSALITY by; Unknown The initiate is taught. “via” ritual and information given by fellow members, that Masonry is a universal Fraternity, world wide in its ramifications, admitting to its privileges worthy men of every country, sect and opinion, and providing a Fraternal intercourse based on common ideals which extend to all men, in all lands. How far from the fact of this beautiful conception is well known to all who have occasion to study Freemasonry in its international aspects. Only occasionally does the average Mason come in contact with the absence of universality; then it is...

SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XIII October, 1935 No.10 GRAND MASTER’S POWERS By: Unknown No presiding officer, president or chairman of any secular body possesses the powers of a Grand Master. But it is a mistake to consider this high office as altogether without limitations. In the forty-nine Grand Jurisdictions on the Union the powers of the Grand East widely differ, albeit all have certain powers in common. All Grand Master preside over their Grand Lodges; all can preside over any particular Lodge; all can call Special Communications’ al can issue certain dispensations; all can arrest Charters of Lodges for cause. But in many details the ...

SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XIII September, 1935 No.9 TWO PILLARS by: Unknown Few references in Freemasonry are less understood than the two brazen pillars in the porch of King Solomon’s Temple. Probably a greater mass of misinformation exists regarding these than any other symbol in the Craft. Early ritualists confused the mythical pillars of stone, spoken of in almost all the old Charges, or Manuscript Constitutions of the Craft, with the Brazen pillars of the porch - the result is that modern Freemasons have composite pillars, fusing of the ancient and the mythical pillars on which were supposed to be engraved the arts and sciences of t...

SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XIII August, 1935 No.8 OLD ROMANCE by: Unknown “Old Charges” - “Manuscript Constitutions” - Manuscript Rolls” - do these sound forbidding, only for students and delvers into musty antiquity? They should not, for in their withered pages and faint inks of days long gone lies old romance of Freemasonry, a genuine thrill for him who finds joy in being one of a long, unbroken line of brethren which stretches back into a dim and distant past. Some seventy-six of these old manuscripts are in existence; nine more are printed versions of ancient lineage, and thirteen others are know to have existed. Whether these latter ...

SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XIII July, 1935 No.7 JURISDICTIONAL CONTRASTS by: Unknown The forty-nine Grand Lodges of the continental United States live in peace and harmony together, each recognizing all the others, each practicing the same principles, teaching the same truths, inculcating the same philosophies. In minor details, ritual is different in all; larger matters differ in some, but in all the essentials are the same. Yet different climates, longitudes and latitudes; character of people, political ideas, State and Jurisdictional history have all made their marks on what may be termed, for want of better words, the” body politic” o...

SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XIII June. 1935 No.6 HOUR GLASS AND SCYTHE by: Unknown In nearly all Masonic rituals in the United States, these two emblems of the third degree are explained in practically the form given by Thomas Smith Webb: “The Hour-Glass is an emblem of human life; behold! how swiftly the sands run, and how rapidly our lives are drawing to a close. We cannot, without astonishment, behold the little particles which are contained in this machine, how they pass away almost imperceptibly, and yet to our surprise, in the short space of an hour, they are all exhausted. Thus wastes man! today, he puts forth the tender leaves of h...

SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XIII May, 1953 No.5 POT OF INCENSE by: Unknown Just when the pot of incense became an emblem of the third section of the Sublime Degree can not be stated with certainty. It is, apparently, and American invention or addition; both McKensie and Kenning say that it is not used in the English work. The Monitor of Thomas Smith Webb, who worked such ingenious and cunning changes in the Prestonian work, gives the commonly accepted wording: “The Pot of Incense is an emblem of a pure heart; this is always an acceptable sacrifice to the Deity; and as this glows with fervent heat, so should our hearts continually glow with...

SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XIII April, 1935 No.4 THREE PRINCIPAL ROUNDS by: Unknown “And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and beheld a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and beheld the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac.” These words (Genesis XXVIII, 10-13 inclus...

SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XIII March, 1935 No.3 THAT ANCIENT SQUARE by: Unknown What one symbol is most typical of Freemasonry as a whole? Mason and non-Mason alike, nine times out of ten, will answer, “The Square!” Many learned writers on Freemasonry have denominated the square as the most important and vital, most typical and common symbol of the ancient Craft. Mackey terms it “one of the most important and significant symbols.” McBride said: “-In Masonry or building, the great dominant law is the law of the square.” Newton’s words glow: “Very early the square became an emblem of truth, justice and righteousness, and so it remains to t...