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Post by Tamrin on Jul 21, 2008 9:33:48 GMT 10
‘That’s all,’ said Humpty Dumpty. ‘Good-bye.’(Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass)
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Post by Tamrin on Sept 13, 2008 12:29:58 GMT 10
Albert Mackey
…The Captain they trusted so well Had only one notion for crossing the ocean, And that was to tinkle his bell. (Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark, Fit 2, p.384)
The following biographical synopsis is from Mackey’s posthumously published, The History of Freemasonry: Its Legendary Origins, (p.xii) Albert Gallatin Mackey was born on March 12, 1807, in Charleston, South Carolina. He was the youngest son of Dr. John Mackey, a physician, editor, and teacher, who also published the periodical The Investigator from 1812 to 1817. After teaching for a time, Albert Mackey followed in his father’s footsteps and attended the South Carolina Medical College, Charleston, from which he graduated in 1832. He practiced medicine in Charleston and became a teacher at the Medical College, but in 1854 his growing interest in Freemasonry impelled him to give up his practice and devote his energies to his Masonic activities. Mackey eventually became the grand secretary of the Grand Lodge, grand high priest of the Grand Chapter, grand master of the Grand Council, and general grand high priest of the General Grand Chapter of the United States. The last decade of his life was spent in Washington, D.C., where he devoted himself to the continuance of his work as secretary general of the Supreme Council of the 33 rd Degree. He died on June 20, 1881, at Old Point Comfort, Virginia. While Mackey attained high official positions in the Masonic order, he is remembered today for his writings on Freemasonry. In 1849 he established The Southern and Western Masonic Miscellany, a weekly magazine, and in 1858-60 he published “Quarterly,” which he dedicated to the same interests. He was also the author of many books on Freemasonry. His first book was A Lexicon of Freemasonry (1845), followed by The Mystic Tie (1849), The Ahiman Rezon, or Book of Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of South Carolina (1852), Principles of Masonic Law (1856), The Book of the Chapter (1858), A Text Book of Masonic Jurisprudence (1859), History of Freemasonry in South Carolina (1861), Manual of the Lodge (1862), Cryptic Masonry (1867), Mackey’s Masonic Ritualist (1869), The Symbolism of Freemasonry (1869), Encyclopedia of Freemasonry (1874), and Masonic Parliamentary Law (1875). He was working on the present volume, The History of Freemasonry, when he died. Many of Mackey’s books, particularly the Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, are considered among the most authoritative and definitive works on the subject.
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Post by Tamrin on Sept 13, 2008 12:43:23 GMT 10
Another Albert Was it for people of sense to adopt every new-fangled invention of the age, merely because their neighbours did? It might have been urged, in disparagement of their conduct, that they only injured themselves by it, and the remark would have been undeniably true; but it would only have served to exalt, in the eyes of an admiring nation, their well-earned character of heroic self-denial and uncompromising fixity of purpose. (Lewis Carroll, Wilhelm von Schmitz, ch.6, p.286) We cannot entirely excuse Mackey as simply being a product of his time and class (and if we tried, how would we then excuse contemporary Freemasons of like mind?) We may contrast Albert Mackey with another Albert: Albert Pike (1809-1891), a contemporary and close acquaintance of Mackey’s (1807-1881). Mackey rose to prominence in the same Freemasonic jurisdiction as Pike’s, becoming the Secretary General of the same Supreme Council of which Pike was the Sovereign Grand Commander, and Pike delivered the eulogy at Mackey’s funeral. Pike and Mackey were, however, very different individuals. Mackey’s life appears to have been relatively circumscribed, whereas Pike was a frontiersman, a general, a jurist, a poet, a civil rights reformer, a philosopher, a philanthropist, a practical joker and an outstanding Freemason (Tresner, passim). From our modern perspective, Pike too was a product of his time and class sharing some of the prejudices of his day (as we, no doubt, share those of today). Pike, however, was aware of many of the prejudices of his day and strove to overcome them. He was a close friend and mentor to the Operative Sculptor Vinnie Ream, best known for her statue of Abraham Lincoln, in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol, and whose other works include a bust of Pike in 33° regalia (Tresner, p.227). Pike is best remembered among Freemasons for having reorganized its Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite and for having written Morals and Dogma, in which he presented a massive impetous to the understanding and appreciation of Freemasonic philosophy. He also wrote, The Masonry of Adoption: Masonic Rituals for Women. Pike was an ardent supporter of equal rights for women (Tresner, pp.89/91) and, with his deep understanding of the principles of Freemasonry, he recognised the hypocrisy of excluding women from the institution and sought to ameliorate the injustice. Pike insisted that (Tresner, p.91): The first condition of any institution intended for your sex, and bearing the name of Masonry, is, in order for it not to be a fraud upon you, that it should offer you the opportunity of working with Freemasonry toward a common end … It is only by becoming one of our co-workers, and by meeting in your Lodges for the same purposes for which we meet in ours, by encouraging, cheering, inciting, and if need be shaming us, you can feel that you are not mocked with an unreality, when what is conferred upon you is called Masonry. The fraud to which Pike referred was almost certainly that of the Order of the Eastern Star, which had risen to prominence by the mid nineteenth-century. The Order admits women having a close, Freemasonic relative (and only such women), and men who are Freemasons. On the one hand, it emphasises that it does not practice Freemasonry and yet, on the other hand, it appears to have been established specifically to contain the discontent of women who wanted just that, after being persuaded of the worth of Freemasonry by the examples of their male relatives. Albeit, Pike was a pragmatist and he recognised that in his time, in the face of legal and social impediments and prejudices, the possibility of men and women meeting together as Freemasons, might not be achievable. In Morals and Dogma, Pike warned against both undue haste and undue delay (p.338 & 238 respectively): - Nor let him have any alliance with those theorists who chide the delays of Providence and busy themselves to hasten the slow march which it has imposed upon events: who neglect the practical to struggle after impossibilities: who are wiser than heaven; know the aims and purposes of the Deity, and can see a short and more direct means of attaining them, than it pleases Him to employ.
- It is the motionless and stationary that most frets and impedes the current of progress; the solid rock or stupid dead tree, rested firmly on the bottom, and around which the river whirls and eddies.
In his day, Pike worked within, but to the limits of, the need then for patience: In our day, Freemasonry has become an impediment to progress. Its exclusion of women now stands in stark contrast to current social norms and that exclusion has become a powerful symbol of stubborn and slavish adherence to a policy that has long since departed from its proper social and historical context. Source:Tresner, Jim, 1995, Albert Pike: The Man Beyond the Monument, M. Evans & Co., Inc., New York
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Post by Solomon on May 16, 2009 22:20:32 GMT 10
To avoid distraction, to comment on this thread please do so on the appropriate thread, under Topics. Be content, my friend Zabud! The time will soon come when a door will be left open for your reception In view of the selective nature of membership, the mature responses thus far and despite having been taught to be cautious, I appear to have been too cautious and have accordingly unlocked this thread.
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