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more light #2

ALbert pke

by Ed Halpaus
Grand Lodge Education Officer
Grand Lodge of A. F. & A. M. of Minnesota

17 January 2005


On January 6, 1910 the centennial celebration of the birth of Albert Pike was held at the House of the Temple in Washington, D.C. Brother Albert Pike was born December 29, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, so while the celebration in 1910 was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth, this past December 29th was the 195th anniversary of his birth.

For the 100th anniversary there was a program of the day’s events produced in the form of a souvenir book, which contains the orations of the Brothers who spoke that day. Brother and Reverend Dr. Abram Simon 33° spoke about Albert Pike, The Prophet of Masonry. In Brother Simon’s oration he mentioned Freemasonry and religion, which I will reproduce here; I think it is interesting.

Brother Simon begins his piece telling us what he means by prophet: “A prophet is the creator of one and the creature of the newer age. He represents the culmination of past forces, and the starting point of the new epoch. He does not build entirely new landmarks, nor does he even uproot the old. He removes the crumbling stones or rotting timber, to fit them with fresh material as a better protection and signpost. Upon the foundations of the past he builds a lordlier structure, bearing throughout the stamp of his individuality. While listening to the call of the past as well as to that of the present, it is the voice of his imperious conscience which has the most insistent and eloquent power. Everything is stamped with the die of his splendid personality. What he does is not new; it is renewed.”

“Without calling Masonry a religion, he took it as seriously as if it were one. He sincerely felt that it bore the impress, the signet, the sanction of God. He believed in its future destiny as one of the world’s greatest levers for the uprooting of error, superstition, and hatred. He made it more possible for thousands of men of variant creeds to meet in the Capitol of universal democracy and civic patriotism. Many stones were cast at him and at his message; but Albert Pike, the Mason, covering these stones with the structural mortar of fraternity, squaring and plumbing them along the line of righteous toleration, fitted them accurately and consistently into the edifice of speculative Masonry.”

“Hence, Masonry stands to-day between the church and the state with its two arms around the necks of both in friendly and cooperative embrace. No sect, no party, no home needs fear the entrance, the enthusiasm, and the ethical persuasion of Masonry. To all religions, to all governments, to all human institutions Masonry holds aloft the welcoming torch, blazing forth this appeal; ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of God.”

“A slab in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, marking the resting-place of its famous architect, Sir Christopher Wren, contains this very appropriate epitaph: “Si monumentum requires, circumspice” – ‘if you would seek his monument, look about you.”

“See ye now the monument of him who found Masonry hoary with ancient tradition and left it drinking at the fount of Perpetual Youth? Look ye for any one structure or stately pile of stone? Ye look in vain! Seek ye rather the monument which he himself has reared during his own lifetime, and carved out of the quarry of his adamantine spirit, and with the diamond pointed chisel of his intellect! Brothers he himself has shown you where to find it. He once wrote, “When I am dead I wish that my monument be builded only in the hearts and memories of my brethren of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.” Now, seek ye his monument! Look about you! The great Masonic Temple, built of thousands of throbbing human beings; the great Masonic Temple, reared on the lands of the entire inhabited globe; the great Masonic Temple down whose vaulted aisles the swelling anthem of fraternity rolls in widening waves of rhythmic power, is the breathing, exulting, triumphant, monument to Albert Pike, the Prophet of Masonry.”

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