Green Mountain Lodge No. 68

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March 18, 1314: Jacques DeMolay, the 23rd and final Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was burned at the stake along with Geoffroi de Charney, Master of Normandy; Hugues de Peraud, Visitor of France; and Godefroi de Gonneville, Master of Aquitaine. His goal as Grand Master was to reform the Order, and adjust it to the situation in the Holy Land during the waning days of the Crusades. King Philippe IV of France, deeply in debt to the Templars, had DeMolay and many other French Templars arrested in 1307 and tortured into making false confessions. When DeMolay later retracted his confession, King Philippe had him burned upon a scaffold.

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HERMES

In all the old manuscript records which contain the Legend of the Craft, mention is made of Hermes as one of the founders of Freemasonry. Thus, in the Grand Lodge Manuscript, No. 1, whose date is 1583 and the statement is substantially and almost verbally the same in all the others that "The great Hermarines that was Cubys sonne, the which Cubye was Semmes sonne, that was Noes sonne. This same Hermarines was afterwards called Hernes the father of Wysdome; he found one of the two pillars of stone, and found the science written therein, and he taught it to other men."

There are two persons of the name of Hermes mentioned in sacred history. The first is the divine Hermes, called by the Romans Mercury. Among the Egyptians he was known as Thoth. Diodorus Siculus describes him as the Secretary of Osiris; he is commonly supposed to have been the son of Mizraim, and Cumberland says that he was the same as Osiris. There is, however, much confusion among the mythologists concerning his attributes.

The second was Hermes Trismegistus or the Thrice Great, who was a celebrated Egyptian legislator, priest, and philosopher, who lived in the reign of Ninus, about the year of the world 2670. He is said to have written thirty-six books on theology and philosophy, and six upon medicine, all of which are lost. There are many traditions of him; one of which, related by Eusebius, is that he introduced hieroglyphics into Egypt. This Hermes Trismegistus, although the reality of his existence is doubtful, was claimed by the alchemists as the founder of their art, whence it is called the Hermetic Science, and whence we get in Freemasonry, Hermetic Rites and Hermetic Degrees.

It is to him that the Legend of the Craft refers; and, indeed, the York Constitutions, which are of importance, though not probably of the date of 926, assigned to them by Krause, give him that title, and say that he brought the custom of making himself understood by signs with him to Egypt. In the first ages of the Christian church, this mythical Egyptian philosopher was in fact considered as the inventor of everything known to the human intellect. It was fabled that Pythagoras and Plato had derived their knowledge from him, and that he had recorded his inventions on pillars. The Operative Masons, who wrote the old Constitutions, obtained their acquaintance with him from the Polycromycon of the monk Ranulf Higden, which was translated from the Latin by Trevisa, and printed by William Caxton in 1482. It is repeatedly quoted in the Cooke Manuscript, whose probable date is the latter part of the fifteenth century, and was undoubtedly familiar to the writers of the other Constitutions.

~Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry

Regular Meeting tonight at 6:30 pm

The Symbolisms of the Apron
by Rob Morris

This fair and stainless thing I take
To be my badge for virtue's sake;
Its ample strings that gird me round
My constant cable-tow are found;
And as securely they are tied
So may true faith with me abide;
And as I face the sunny South
I pledge to God my Mason's truth,
That while on earth I do remain
My Apron shall not have a stain.

This fair and stainless thing I raise
In memory or Apprentice days,
When on the checkered pavement wide,
With gauge arid gavel well supplied,
I keep my garments free from soil
Though laboring In a menial toil;
And as I face the golden West,
I call my Maker to attest
That while on earth I do remain
My Apron shall not have a stain.

This fair and stainless thing I lower,
Its 'Prentice aid I need no more;
For laws and principles are given
The Fellow-craft direct from heaven;
To help the needy,-keep a trust,
Observe the precepts of the just:
And as I face the darkened North
I send this solemn promise forth,
That while on earth I do remain,
My Apron shall not have a stain.

This fair and stainless thing I fold,
A Master-Mason now behold!
A welcome guest ln every land
With princes and with kings to stand;
Close tyled within my heart of hearts
I keep all secret arts and parts,
And try to walk the Heavenly Road
In daily in*******se with God;
And as I face the mystic East,
I vow by Him I love the best,
That while on earth I do remain,
My Apron shall not have a stain.

This fair and stainless thing I doff;
But though I take my Apron off
And lay the stainless badge aside,
Its teachings ever shall abide,
For God has given Light Divine
That we may walk opposed to sin;
And sympathy and brotherly love
Are emanations from above;
And life itself is only given
To square and shape our souls for Heaven,
The glorious temple in the sky
The grand Celestial Lodge on high.

“Benjamin Franklin and the Other Constitution” via the Museum of Freemasonry and the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE)

Museum of Freemasonry - Benjamin Franklin and the other constitution Find out more about the Museum of Freemasonry: https://www.ugle.org.uk/museum

A Regular Meeting will occur on Tuesday, Sep 13,
at GML #68.

Manly P. Hall discusses Freemasonry Manly Palmer Hall was a Canadian-born author, lecturer, astrologer and mystic. He is best known for his 1928 work The Secret Teachings of All Ages. In this v...

On the Square by unknown author

My Brother, in the Courtyard
Each one of us have stood
Outside the tyled Temple door
Awaiting as we should.

Take heed, thou young Apprentices
The Word emblazoned there:
To meet upon the level
And part upon the square.

My Brother, at the Altar
Each one of us has knelt
With solemn Oath and Brotherhood
The Mystic Tie we've felt.

Take heed, my Brother Fellowcraft
The Word emblazoned there:
To act upon the plumb
And part upon the Square.

My Brother, in the Temple
Each one of us were Raised
And on receiving further light
Into the Light we gazed.

Take heed, my Brothers, Masters all
The Word emblazoned there:
To Live within the compass
And part upon the Square.

A Regular Meeting will occur on Tuesday, August 9, at 6:30 pm in Cabot.