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LUCIUS R. PAIGE 1802-1896

Deputy Grand Master, 1852-1854

MEMORIAL

From Proceedings, Page 1896-220:

On Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 2d, R.W. and Rev. Bro. Lucius R. Paige, D.D., was summoned to his eternal rest. He was Deputy Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts in 1852, 1853 and 1854, and at the time of his decease was the Senior Permanent Member of this Grand Body. On. Saturday afternoon, the 5th instant, the Grand Lodge paid its last tribute of respect to our venerable and beloved Brother, by attending his funeral at Cambridge, and accompanying the remains to their last resting-place in Mount Auburn, where the Grand Officers performed the burial rites of our Order. I have appointed as a Committee to prepare a memorial of R.W. Bro. Paige, and report to this Grand Lodge, R.W. Brothers Sereno D. Nickerson, Samuel C. Lawrence and Charles Levi Woodbury.

From Proceedings, Page 1896-385:

"The familiar, feeble form which has gone in and out, before us for so many years has been laid to rest, but, the stalwart, sturdy spirit which inhabited it has found a warm welcome and congenial company in the Celestial Lodge above.

"Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail
Or knock the breast, no weakness, no contempt,
Dispraise, or blame, nothing but well and fair,
And what may quiet us in a death so peaceful."

"Our grave and Reverend Brother became a member of this Grand Lodge before most of its present members were born. In September, 1825, he was elected Senior Warden of Mount Zion Lodge, of Hardwick, now of Barre, and in that capacity attended the annual meeting of the Grand Lodge in December, 1825, at the Old State House, in State street, Boston. In the following year he was elected Master of the same Lodge. During his term of office he removed to Springfield, thirty miles from Hardwick, and therefore declined a reelection. In 1829 he again removed and was for several years at a long distance from any working body of Masons. Sixty years later he said at one of our festivals: Those were years of deep shadows, and of darkness which might be felt, while anti-Masonry was rampant. I had no opportunity to render any important service to Masonry in its time of peril; but, on the other hand, it affords me satisfaction to remember that in its darkest days I never disavowed or concealed my loyalty to it.

"In 1846 he assisted in the reorganization of Amicable Lodge, of Cambridge, was elected W. Master and served three years. In 1849 and 1850 he served as Grand Steward, in 1851 as Grand Deacon, and in 1852, 1853, and 1854 as Deputy Grand Master, by appointment of M.W. Grand Master George M. Randall. Thus it appears that Bro. Paige first became a member of this Grand Lodge seventy-one years ago, and that he has held an uninterrupted membership of half a century. Of the thirty-one Brethren who were Permanent Members when he joined their ranks he was the last survivor by more than ten years. This remarkable record has for many years made his presence in Grand Lodge a matter of special interest. At the Quarterly Communication held on the 13th of September, 1876, Past Grand Master John T. Heard called attention to the fact that the day was the semicentennial anniversary of Bro. Paige's first election as Master of a Lodge. Upon Bro. Heard's motion it was unanimously Resolved, That this Grand Lodge congratulates our R.W. Brother, the Rev. Lucius R. Paige, D.D., that his life has been spared beyond the term of three score years and ten; and more especially, that it has been distinguished by a conscientious discharge of the duties belonging to the religious teacher, the upright citizen and faithful Mason. To this recognition Bro. Paige responded with much feeling.

"At the Quarterly Communication held on the 8th of March, 1882, the congratulations of the Grand Lodge were tendered to him on the eightieth anniversary of his birthday, and an attested copy of the vote was delivered to the District Deputy Grand Master of his District, to be presented to Bro. Paige at a festival in his honor to be given on the same evening in the city of Cambridge. At the Quarterly Communication in September following he returned thanks in person, concluding as follows:

"Freemasonry was my early love, in the morning of life; and in my old age, as the evening shadows gather round me, it still occupies a warm place in my heart. Many of my happiest hours have been spent within the Lodge, and their memory is green. Masonic Brethren have always been among my choicest friends; and I earnestly hope to retain and enjoy their friendship until I shall be called from earthly labor to heavenly refreshment."

"At the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, Dec. 28, 1886, a letter from Bro. Paige was read, in which he stated that it was thirty-three years since he had witnessed an Installation of the Officers of the Grand Lodge, and he had never attended the Feast of St. John. He goes on to explain: It may be proper, at this late day, to assign the reason for neglecting such privileges. On the 27th of December, 1854, my last surviving child, my favorite daughter, died, at the age of 22 years, leaving me childless; and the last ten days of a previous year were saddened by the death of two other members of my family. The Christmas holidays thus became a season of serious reflection, rather than of conviviality. He had intended to depart . from his long-continued custom, and join us at that Festival, but for a few days previous the infirmities incident to old age pressed so heavily upon him that he felt. obliged to forego the pleasure, lest a worse evil should befall him. He never was present at the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, although his life was prolonged for ten years.

"He was present, however, at the Feast of St. John the Baptist, on the 26th of June, 1888. On that occasion he gave us a most interesting account of his Masonic life and experience, entering into more detail than ever before. At the Quarterly Communication of March 9, 1892, the M.W. Grand Master reminded the Grand Lodge that Bro. Paige had reached, the age of ninety years on the day before, and would probably have been present at that Communication but for the inclemency of the weather. The Recording Grand Secretary was instructed to extend to our venerable Brother the congratulations of the Grand Lodge. At the next succeeding Communication he was present, in company with two- - other Brethren nearly as old as himself. Each of them thanked the Grand Lodge for the consideration shown them, and expressed his unwavering devotion to the principles of the Fraternity.

"At the Quarterly Communication in September, 1893, he made an interesting Address, announcing his intention not to be a candidate for reelection as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Masonic Education and Charity Trust, thus discontinuing all active service in the Masonic Institution, with which he had been so long connected. He said: On the 13th day of September, 1826, sixty seven years ago to-day, and at about this hour in the afternoon, I was elected Master of Mount Zion Lodge, then located in Hardwick, my native town, but since removed to Barre. To-day, therefore, is to me a veiy interesting anniversary. Perhaps others are still living in this jurisdiction who were thus honored at an earlier date, but I doubt whether a single one can be found. This is not designed to be a farewell Address; for I intend to visit the Grand Lodge again, if life and sufficient strength be spared. Though unable to hear the voices, it is pleasant to look in the faces of so many Brethren, and mentally compare the present season of peace and prosperity with that dismal period, sixty years ago, when the furious tempest of anti-Masonry swept over the land, leaving desolation in its path. Whether I meet you again in Grand Lodge or not, I hope I may never forfeit your friendship and good-will; but rather that I may be met as a true and loyal Brother and remembered as one who endeavored to walk uprightly before God and man, as strictly charged when he stood in the north-east corner of the Lodge as the youngest Entered Apprentice.

"This was indeed his " farewell Address," although he did visit the Grand Lodge again as he had intended. He was present for the last time on the 12th of September, 1894. Two years later, on the 5th of September, 1896, a Special Communication of the Grand Lodge was convened and a goodly number of his Brethren, followed his mortal remains to Mount Auburn, where they. were laid at rest after appropriate Masonic services. Thus fittingly were ended nearly seventy-three years of Masonic life, which included fifty years of uninterrupted membership in our Grand Lodge.

"Although descended on both sides from Puritans of the most straitest sect, he embraced Universalism almost as soon as he arrived at years of discretion. His first sermon was preached in Charlestown, June 1, 1823, when he was only twenty-one years of age. The venerable Bro. John Murray, the father of Universalism in America, had been dead only eight years, being succeeded by his colleague, Bro. Paul Dean, in the pastoral charge of the First Universalist Church, located on the corner of Hanover and North Bennet streets, in Boston. They preached a new and strange doctrine, very far from Presbyterian true blue. In point of fact, the existence of Universalists as a distinct religious sect is a feature of American rather than of English religious society.

"A second Society had been organized, having its meeting- house in School street, over which Bro. Hosea Ballou was installed as pastor on the 25th of December, 1817. Certain doctrines, new even to the Universalist denomination, were preached there, and numerous controversies arose, in which Brothers Dean and Ballou were warmly engaged. They strove to

prove their doctrine orthodox,
By apostolic blows and knocks,
A mode of working out Salvation
By mere mechanic operation.

"Outside of their own denomination, however, their eloquence was thought to be anything but heavenly, and a Universalist was considered but little better than one of the wicked.

"With characteristic independence and pertinacity the young convert and preacher placed himself under the direction and instruction of Brother Ballou, and in a few years himself became a leader and an authority among the clergy of his denomination. For nearly ten years he officiated in Springfield and in Gloucester. In 1832 he settled in Cambridge, where he has since remained and where most of us have known him. His health, which had always been delicate, broke down under the labors of this pastorate and he relinquished it in 1839, being warned that he had but a short time to live. Not long before his death Bro. Paige remarked that in spite of that solemn warning he had lived long enough to see every member of the Society of that day dead and buried. From early manhood our Brother fought most manfully against physical weakness, religious intolerance and anti-Masonry. He has rejoiced for half a century over a glorious victory won for his faith and the Craft,

But an old age serene and bright, And lovely as a Lapland night,

"leads him to his grave. Who could more truthfully say: I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith?"

SERENO D. NICKERSON,
SAMUEL C. LAWRENCE,
CHAS. LEVI WOODBURY, Committee.

SPEECHES

FEAST OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, DECEMBER 1850

From Moore's Freemason's Monthly, Vol. X, No. 4, February 1851, Page 105:

M, W, Grand Master:- Permit me to congratulate you on your re-election, for the extreme constitutional period, to the dignified office which you hold. This honor, the highest in the power of the Grand Lodge to bestow, you have richly merited by your untiring devotion to the interests of Freemasonry, for more than a quarter of a century. I congratulate the Grand Lodge, also, that all its principal offices, except one which is providentially vacant, are so worthily filled, and that it is blessed in the enjoyment of so much harmony and prosperity.

At lhe request of the Committee of Arrangements, I have consented to offer the customary address; and, with your permission, I shall now proceed to the performance of that duty.

There are certain periods, in the progress of affairs, when it is natural that we should pause and look back on the path we have trod; so that, encouraged by past success, and admonished by past failures, we may take a new departure with additional wisdom and energy. Such a period is the present. The first half of the nineteenth century is now closing, During this half century, very great vicissitudes of prosperity and adversity have been experienced by the Masonic Fraternity. The most remarkable of these vicissitudes have occurred within the last quarter of a century and to these my remarks will be confined.

Twenty five years ago, Freemasonry appeared to be in a state of perfect prosperity. Embraced by men, honorable and honored on account of their private virtues and their official position, it was respected by the community, - even by those who were utterly ignorant of its principles. But, notwithstanding its outward show of unexampled prosperity, the Institution was actually in great danger. It had become popular; and popularity is an element of corruption, which even the most watchful and jealous care cannot always counteract, and which, without such care, will certainly involve most disastrous consequences. The popularity of an institution or society induces many to attach themselves to it, who neither love nor understand its principles, but strongly desire to be on the popular side. Base and unprincipled men, also, will attach themselves to it hoping to sustain their questionable reputation by the respectability of their associates. But such men are a curse to any society. Those, who join for the sake of popularity, will just as readily desert, whenever desertion becomes popular. And unprincipled men will injure a Fraternity, while in it; and will be among its most boisterous and malignant reproachers, after they have abandoned it. The events of the last twenty five years demonstrate these truths.

In the first year of the quarter of a century now closing, a little cloud, apparently not larger than a man's hand, arose in the west. At first, it attracted not much general attention. But it rapidly increased in size and blackness until it darkened the face of the heavens. A fearful tornado ensued, and the earth was swept as with the besom of destruction. Lodge after Lodge was prostrated by its fury; and universal desolation seemed impending. Those were days which tried men's souls. The timid and fearful were awed into silence. Those who had no strength of root in them withered away. The lovers of popularity, true to their instinct, deserted to the popular side, and assisted to overthrow what they had once professed to support. The unprincipled joined in the outcry, and violently denounced their former associates as their equals in depravity.

But this storm, apparently so disastrous, was, in my judgment, very beneficial to our institution. As tempests and thundergusts purify the atmosphere of its noxious qualities, so this popular commotion winnowed the chaff from the wheat, and separated the impure from the pure, The worthless and hurtful portion of the Fraternity was scattered to the four winds I but the faithful and true continued to minister at the altar of Freemasonry, as aforetime. Unmoved by the clamors of their adversaries, undismayed even by the treachery of false Brethren, they held fast their integrity, and patiently awaited the period when reason should triumph over passion.

Their fidelity and constancy were not ineffectual nor unrewarded. Gradually, the popular feeling changed; and the opinion prevailed, that an institution which could outlive such a trial, and to which good men would adhere at such imminent hazard, must be founded on substantial and righteous principles. Prejudice gave way to admiration. And, at this day, Freemasonry holds nearly if not altogether, as high a place in the estimation of all good citizens as in the days of its palmiest prosperity. Within the last few years, many weak Lodges have been strengthened by the addition of valuable members. Lodges, in which animation was suspended. have been resuscitated; new Lodges have been organized, under favorable auspices. Only one Lodge, I think, has disbanded; and even of this, so far as I know or believe, its former members are true and faithful.

Under such circumstances, we have cause to thank God and take courage. Nevertheless, it becomes us to be watchful against danger. Opposition, from without, in all probability, will not harm us. Adversaries, so effectually put to shame, will not be likely soon to renew the assault. But our real danger is from within. It consists chiefly in the admission of unworthy members. Weak Lodges have a strong temptation to admit as many as possible, both to secure respectability of numbers, and to replenish exhausted funds. The present high standing of the institution tempts many, as in former times, to obtain admission, for the sake of the honor thus to be acquired. Our only safety consists in constant watchfulness. Those of us, who personally knew the true state of affairs twenty five years ago, have no need to be reminded of danger. The homely proverb, that "the burnt child dreads the fire," is verified in us. We have once suffered; and we have no desire to pass through the furnace again. But those, who have entered the vineyard since that day of tribulation, will pardon me for urging them to look well to the threshold. Suffer none to pass it but good men and true. Unworthy members. like contention, are best let alone before they be meddled with, Admit none to your society, except such as you have good reason to believe are at least capable of being wrought into stones fit for the builder's use. While your door is freely opened to every worthy and well qualified applicant who knocks, let it be firmly closed against the dissolute and unprincipled, and against evil-doers of whatever name or description.

This caution to our younger Brethren is the more necessary, on account of the present peculiar state of our institution, resulting naturally from the circumstances already mentioned. For twelve or fifteen years, during and succeeding the Anti-Masonic frenzy, very few persons were initiated into our mysteries. Hence it results that our Fraternity consists, almost exclusively, of old Masons and young Masons. We have scarcely any of the middle aged or intermediate class. As the old pass away, the responsible charge of the institution must devolve directly upon the young. Heretofore, the change has been gradual. The time rapidly approaches, when it must be sudden. There is no middle class, to receive from their elders, and patiently communicate to their juniors, the fruits of past experience. It is of vital importance, therefore, that those who are so soon, and without the customary preparation, to wield the destinies of Masonry, should commence right, in the outset, and carefully guard our altar from the slightest profanation. Let them realize the value of the treasure committed to them; let them preserve and transmit it, pure and unsullied, to their successors; and future generations shall rise up and call them blessed.

M. W. Grand Master :-The change, to which I have alluded, is rapidly progressing. The aged are falling on every hand. During the past year four officers and permanent members of this Grand Lodge have departed; and the places which once knew them shall know them no more forever,

One, who formerly presided in the East, and gave wise instructions to the Craft, P. G. Master Augustus Peabody, Esq., has ceased from his earthly labors. His eulogy was eloquently spoken at our last communication; and I need not add my testimony to his worth, as a man and as a Mason.

Another, who heretofore had charge of the West, P. S. G. W. William Whipple, Esq. of Cambridge, has gone to receive the wages due to him. In the days of his strength, he was an intelligent, useful and respected citizen, and a bright and active Mason. As a citizen, his townsmen bestowed on him the most important offices in their gift; the duties of which he faithfully performed As a Mason, having successively officiated as Master of his Lodge, and D. D. G. M. in his District, he was elected S. G. W. in 1833. The close of his day was clouded. After a gradual decay of vigor, both physical and mental, he was prostrated, about six years ago, by paralysis. He survived, in a state of helplessness and imbecility, until the fourth day of November last, when he died at the age of sixty three years. Let us preserve the memory of his virtues, and draw the veil of oblivion over his imperfections.

Another, who not long ago stood as the pillar of Beauty, P. J. G. W. Winslow Lewis, Esq. has fallen. The familiar and always welcome tones, in which his life and character were portrayed by lips now sealed in everlasting silence, have scarcely ceased to vibrate on our ears.

And yet one more, only sixteen days ago unanimously re-elected to the office of J, G. W., our venerable and highly respected Brother, Asa T. Newhall, has been called from his labor, as we humbly trust, to heavenly and everlasting refreshment. He faithfully served his country and the Craft, in many important stations. Without brilliancy of imagination or the captivating grace of eloquence, by his sound judgment, clear-headed common sense, unbending integrity of purpose, and warm benevolence of heart, he commended himself to the esteem and affection of his Brethren. May we emulate his virtues, and affectionately cherish his memory.

Thus the fathers depart. And we must soon follow. May we so labor, while the day of life lasts, that when our final hour shall come, our work may be found done, and well done, approved and accepted by our Supreme Grand Master.

Distinguished Brothers

Unitarian Universalist biography