Difference between revisions of "MAGLRPBush"

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To the Brethren here assembled, to all allied with you, and to your successors in our noble work, the Grand Lodge bids a fraternal and hearty God-speed.
 
To the Brethren here assembled, to all allied with you, and to your successors in our noble work, the Grand Lodge bids a fraternal and hearty God-speed.
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 +
==== ADDRESS AT CONSTITUTION OF [http://masonicgenealogy.com/MediaWiki/index.php?title=RufusPutnam RUFUS PUTNAM] LODGE, JULY 1913 ====
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''From Proceedings, Page 1913-137:''
 +
 +
''Worshipful Master and Brethren:''
 +
 +
I very much appreciate the honor which the Most Worshipful Grand Master confers upon me by his inviting me to address you upon this occasion. I have been for many years an enthusiastic Mason, and my regard for our Fraternity and its principles increases with the flight of time and my study of the part which has been played by the members of our noble craft in the great drama of civilization.
 +
 +
To him who measures an institution by what it is and what it is doing in the world, it is not necessary to inquire into its origin, but there is a fascination in following back along the way of the growth of a fraternity that has sustained so important a role in the shaping of society.
 +
 +
Freemasonry certainly needs no apology from you or me. It embraces within its circle the flower of our American manhood and in every country of the earth its representatives are among the highest in character and influence; but to those who will give time and effort to investigate, it will be manifest that it reaches back beyond the dawn of authenticated history for its beginning. From the comparatively modern date of 1717 when the four lodges of London united and the organization of speculative masonry began, it is easy to make the transition to the Stone Masons of Germany and England which were the operative bodies out of which the speculative ritual and purposes were developed, and these will take us through the Middle Ages and afford us abundant proof that they themselves were shaped by the Roman Corporation of Builders, established under Numa Pompilius in the year 715 before the Christian era, and while it would be folly to claim that we still use their forms and ceremonies, we may with good reason maintain that we are lineal descendants of those far-off ancestors, and the symbols found in Egypt and India and China and elsewhere among the works erected by the ancients, were executed by those who were veritably our Brethren.
 +
And more than this: inasmuch as most of the great works preserved from the wreck of time, held a close relationship to the rites of religion and the outreaching of man in worship, it is not too much for us to affirm that with the operative skill of our ancient progenitors, was blended a moral and spiritual power and aspiration.
 +
 +
Around our altars men of widely differing beliefs and creeds assemble — and have always assembled — in a spirit of fraternal union, and even in the days when mutual hatred and vituperation characterized the varied sects in their dealing with each other, Masonry was lending its influence to usher in the broad tolerance which has attained in our generation, while it is equally true that in every land in which liberty has been advanced among the people Freemasonry has materially contributed to the furthering of the coveted blessing.
 +
 +
If we should travel over the world at the present moment and note the changes which are taking place which herald the advance in government and the bettering of the social conditions of mankind, we should find that they who have vowed their vows with us in our Lodge-rooms, are in the forefront of every such movement, and the prompting to these efforts is to be found in the principles which we espouse. We claim as ours, many of the brightest intellects and the most noble of. the sons of men, and every people under the sun owe much to the organization of which we are a part. It follows, therefore, that whenever a new Lodge is instituted it is one more power-house for the generating of the force that lights the upward path of man and speeds the car of human progress.
 +
 +
They who build schoolhouses add to the knowledge of our race, and they who erect hospitals and homes for the old and friendless are our benefactors, but they who constitute Masonic Lodges not only promote a spirit that fosters and sustains such institutions as these, but one that at the same time holds continually before its members an ideal of inflexible integrity and demands that they emulate the illustrious Tyrian in their daily words and works and yield up their lives rather than betray their trust.
 +
 +
Most heartily, then, do I congratulate you of this delightful hill town of Rutland, as once again you receive the Charter for a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons and assume the privileges and responsibilities which attend upon its acceptance, and in the name of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts I extend to your officers and members its congratulations and God-speed, and it is our earnest hope that you may be abundantly prospered and that the Lodge this day constituted may pursue an ever-increasing influence in this community until time shall be no more.
  
 
<hr>
 
<hr>
  
 
[http://masonicgenealogy.com/MediaWiki/index.php?title=MassachusettsPeople#DISTINGUISHED_BROTHERS Distinguished Brothers]
 
[http://masonicgenealogy.com/MediaWiki/index.php?title=MassachusettsPeople#DISTINGUISHED_BROTHERS Distinguished Brothers]

Revision as of 15:20, 28 November 2014

R. PERRY BUSH 1855-1926

RPerryBush_GrCh.jpg

  • MM 1880, Palestine
  • Grand Chaplain, 1910-1926

MEMORIAL

From Proceedings, Page 1926-232:

Wor. and Rev. R. Perry Bush, D.D., Chaplain of this Grand Lodge since 1908, died April 2, 1926. Rev. Bro. Bush was born in Provincetown June 2, 1855. A descendant of the Mayflower Pilgrims through a line of seafaring ancestors he inherited the sturdy qualities characteristic of that stock. He became a member of Palestine Lodge in 1880 and served it as Chaplain for many years. He was installed as Grand Chaplain of this Grand Lodge at the Feast of St. John in 1908, and his service in that capacity was continuous and active from that time.

Bro. Bush spent his active life in the Ministry of the Universalist Church where a service of nearly forty years was divided between two Pastorates. In his Ministerial capacity he served much larger groups than any Parish could contain. The whole community in which he lived looked up to him as a friend and spiritual adviser. In 1923 he retired from the active work of the Ministry to take charge of the Library of the Grand Lodge. The great and important Lawrence collection had never been incorporated into the Grand Lodge Library. This incorporation involved the re-classification and re-cataloguing of both collections. Bro. Bush had nearly completed this task, and had left memoranda which will be of the greatest service to his successor.

His Masonic activities were very extensive. It the time of his death he was not only Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge, but also Grand Chaplain of the Grand Chapter and Grand Council, and Prelate of the Grand Commandery. His great services to the Craft were rewarded by the conferment upon him of the Henry Price Medal, and by Honorary Membership in the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite for the Northern Jurisdiction, although he had never held office in that Rite.

Bro. Bush was one of the best known and best loved Masons in this jurisdiction. A man of strong convictions, he had a remarkable power for making friends. His whole life was marked by broad sympathy of embracing charity and deep love for his fellow-men. He leaves a place in the hearts of his Brethren which can never be entirely filled.

Note: The list of Grand Chaplains in the Proceedings does not list Brother Bush for 1909.

SPEECHES

ADDRESS AT 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF STAR OF BETHLEHEM LODGE, NOVEMBER 1893

AT HALL DEDICATION IN CHELSEA, JANUARY 1912

From Proceedings, Page 1912-4:

Most Worshipful Grand Master, Officers, Members, and Friends of the Masonic Fraternity in Chelsea:

You will allow me as my first word of the hour, to express my appreciation of the honor of being designated to voice in this presence and upon this auspicious occasion the felicitations of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and to set before you as best I may, something of the spirit and genius of the great Institution of which we are a part, and to whose welfare we are seeking to contribute by the dedication of this beautiful and splendidly equipped temple.

There is an old proverb which we find in Holy Writ that "a man is not without honor save in his own country and among his own people," but if its truth is oftentimes brought home to us, I am happy in thinking that in my own case it is certainly a misnomer, for though closely related to many of you since the year '72, I have nowhere met with more of the manifestations of respect and esteem than at the hands of my Brethren of the various Masonic bodies of this city, and it were needless for me to affirm that no one could more heartily or more genuinely bespeak at this time the joy we all feel in witnessing the consummation of effort which makes possible the service of this glad day.

And if it were pertinent for us to consider for a moment and to pay tribute to those who laid in this community the foundations of Freemasonry: if we were to call the roll of honor, it would probably appear that there are to-day but few among us who would even recognize the names of our forebears, but there is abundant testimony to their wisdom and skill. They embodied the best principles of civic virtue — a strength of intellectuality and a high type of manly character, and they put a mark of far more than ordinary efficiency and worth upon the bodies which they instituted, and as they bent the twig, so has the tree been inclined.

There has never been a time when Chelsea might not justly boast of her Masonry and its contribution to public welfare and private charity. Through all the years since that far-away beginning, the Fraternity has called to its ranks the foremost and best of our citizens, and it has not only commanded the respect of this city, but its reputation has extended and it has been held in high regard in the Grand Lodge for its efficiency in ritual and the worthiness of its members; and success has attended its efforts, and up to the time of the great fire of four years ago, we were prosperous and happy.

But what a scene it was that presented itself to our view on the morning of the 13th of April, 1908! Our temple was gone! Our paraphernalia of every sort was gone! The many memorials of members and- of happy occasions in which we had shared — and in some cases even our records had been destroyed! What a picture of desolation we beheld! And with the effects of our terrible calamity upon the financial condition of so many of our members, it was a sad prospect and our hearts sank down within us.

But our discouragement was only temporary, for immediately we were made to feel the generous helpfulness of our Brethren throughout the length and breadth of this great Commonwealth, and the assistance thus afforded was not only as sunshine to those in darkness, but it was as a spur to new courage and endeavor.

The kindly courtesy of our East Boston Fraters afforded us a temporary home, but we had many times desired a temple of our own and had many times meditated upon the possibility of attaining to such a blessing. And now when things were seemingly at their worst, there were those who set themselves to the task and by their indefatigable zeal and persistence the end has been accomplished, and these commodious and richly appointed apartments made ready for occupation.

Too much praise cannot be accorded to those who have labored so long and faithfully and who have brought the work to so successful an issue. The fitness and taste and efficiency here displayed are most admirable, and not only the Masons of this community, but all those under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts are to be congratulated, and the presence of the Grand Master and his officers is in itself a token of the hearty sympathy of the Fraternity throughout the State.

Brethren of the Chelsea Lodges:

It is a worthy contribution you are making to the rejuvenated city in which you dwell. He who builds a hospital or a library must be reckoned as a public benefactor, but you have builded, as did Solomon of old, a temple to the Most High God.

He altogether misinterprets Masonry who considers it as simply a social institution, ministering to good fellowship. Its roots reach deep down into the most sacred soil of our human nature, and in the fulfilment of its obligations man will be found to be living at his best.

No institution can endure and flourish through the ages that is not ministering to something more than a momentary fancy or pleasure. It must in some measure further the plan and purpose of the Infinite Artificer of the Universe. It must contribute to the advancement of civilization and the upbuilding of character. Except such be its fundamental concept and influence, it will not survive the wreck of time, but will disintegrate and disappear.

But we may point with pride to our beloved Order as unscathed by the shafts of criticism and invulnerable even when assailed by the anathemas of the church. Its history is the history of man as our race is evolved from the brute beginning to its present worth and attainment. We may not remove the veil of mystery and bespeak, in precise terms the time and place of its commencement, but we shall surely find it interwoven with the mythology of Greece and the story of that first temple on Mt. Moriah or the earliest structures that were reared in the valley of the Nile or by the waters of the Tigris or Euphrates, and it has embraced within its secret circle the most brilliant and the most consecrated of men, and it has lent its aid to civil progress and to the deliverance of multitudes from superstition and religious bigotry.

The Masonic Lodge has been and is a mighty power in preserving the belief in Deity and cultivating a spirit of reverential worship. No atheist or libertine may find a place in our ranks. Through these latest generations, while a pseudo-science has attempted the banishment of God from the realm of human affairs, brightly at our altars has gleamed the proclamation of His presence and the incentive to obedience to His commands. Our temple is His temple, and its dedication to the holy Saint John is but adding the fight and incentive of Christian faith to the law and motive of Sinai.

Even we, who have been long allied with Freemasonry and close students of its influence, cannot begin to measure its worth in its affording of a mutual religious ground where those of every sect meet for mutual improvement, and the dedication of this building in this City of Chelsea is a worthy addition to the moral and spiritual capital of this community.

The lamb-skin is the token of a freewill dedication to manhood. It betokens that we are cemented together in brotherly love, and vowed to aid, support, and protect one another; that we are to embody the virtues of temperance, fortitude, prudence, and justice, and seek always for that wisdom which leads to strength and beauty of character; and that we are to ascend by the rounds of Faith, Hope, and Charity to the starry-decked heaven where our Creator dwells in light ineffable.

Surely ours is a noble institution, ours a matchless aim and purpose! And I congratulate the Masonic bodies of this city that they are to enjoy such beautiful quarters!

In behalf of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, I pay tribute to those who sowed here the seeds of Freemasonry, and, having watered and cultivated the growing plant, were called to more of light in the Celestial Lodge above.

At the feet of those who since the fire have given unstintingly of their time and ability, and made possible this dedication I lay a wreath of praise and gratitude; and for those to whom to-day. and in all times to come shall be entrusted the government of the Craft, and the shaping of the destinies of Freemasonry in Chelsea, I beseech the choicest of blessings.

May the example of the illustrious Tyrian be ever our inspiration, and may we transmit to posterity unimpaired the most excellent tenets of our Institution.

To the Brethren here assembled, to all allied with you, and to your successors in our noble work, the Grand Lodge bids a fraternal and hearty God-speed.

ADDRESS AT CONSTITUTION OF RUFUS PUTNAM LODGE, JULY 1913

From Proceedings, Page 1913-137:

Worshipful Master and Brethren:

I very much appreciate the honor which the Most Worshipful Grand Master confers upon me by his inviting me to address you upon this occasion. I have been for many years an enthusiastic Mason, and my regard for our Fraternity and its principles increases with the flight of time and my study of the part which has been played by the members of our noble craft in the great drama of civilization.

To him who measures an institution by what it is and what it is doing in the world, it is not necessary to inquire into its origin, but there is a fascination in following back along the way of the growth of a fraternity that has sustained so important a role in the shaping of society.

Freemasonry certainly needs no apology from you or me. It embraces within its circle the flower of our American manhood and in every country of the earth its representatives are among the highest in character and influence; but to those who will give time and effort to investigate, it will be manifest that it reaches back beyond the dawn of authenticated history for its beginning. From the comparatively modern date of 1717 when the four lodges of London united and the organization of speculative masonry began, it is easy to make the transition to the Stone Masons of Germany and England which were the operative bodies out of which the speculative ritual and purposes were developed, and these will take us through the Middle Ages and afford us abundant proof that they themselves were shaped by the Roman Corporation of Builders, established under Numa Pompilius in the year 715 before the Christian era, and while it would be folly to claim that we still use their forms and ceremonies, we may with good reason maintain that we are lineal descendants of those far-off ancestors, and the symbols found in Egypt and India and China and elsewhere among the works erected by the ancients, were executed by those who were veritably our Brethren. And more than this: inasmuch as most of the great works preserved from the wreck of time, held a close relationship to the rites of religion and the outreaching of man in worship, it is not too much for us to affirm that with the operative skill of our ancient progenitors, was blended a moral and spiritual power and aspiration.

Around our altars men of widely differing beliefs and creeds assemble — and have always assembled — in a spirit of fraternal union, and even in the days when mutual hatred and vituperation characterized the varied sects in their dealing with each other, Masonry was lending its influence to usher in the broad tolerance which has attained in our generation, while it is equally true that in every land in which liberty has been advanced among the people Freemasonry has materially contributed to the furthering of the coveted blessing.

If we should travel over the world at the present moment and note the changes which are taking place which herald the advance in government and the bettering of the social conditions of mankind, we should find that they who have vowed their vows with us in our Lodge-rooms, are in the forefront of every such movement, and the prompting to these efforts is to be found in the principles which we espouse. We claim as ours, many of the brightest intellects and the most noble of. the sons of men, and every people under the sun owe much to the organization of which we are a part. It follows, therefore, that whenever a new Lodge is instituted it is one more power-house for the generating of the force that lights the upward path of man and speeds the car of human progress.

They who build schoolhouses add to the knowledge of our race, and they who erect hospitals and homes for the old and friendless are our benefactors, but they who constitute Masonic Lodges not only promote a spirit that fosters and sustains such institutions as these, but one that at the same time holds continually before its members an ideal of inflexible integrity and demands that they emulate the illustrious Tyrian in their daily words and works and yield up their lives rather than betray their trust.

Most heartily, then, do I congratulate you of this delightful hill town of Rutland, as once again you receive the Charter for a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons and assume the privileges and responsibilities which attend upon its acceptance, and in the name of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts I extend to your officers and members its congratulations and God-speed, and it is our earnest hope that you may be abundantly prospered and that the Lodge this day constituted may pursue an ever-increasing influence in this community until time shall be no more.


Distinguished Brothers