As I came across a recent column from the NY Times this morning (see link), I realized that as our modern societies move away from the “bookish way philosophy is conceived by most people” and closer to a “dominance of [an] emotional approach of morality”, the traditional way of Freemasonry teaching reveals all its modernity.

The columnist essentially supports the idea that our everyday understanding of morality is far from the conclusion of rational thinking. It is rather the result of our immediate emotions, in light of past experience and education. In the space of a second, one is able to feel – rather than think – whether something is fair/good/proper or not.

Interestingly, this approach is at the very core of traditional Freemasonry. Our craft basically presents a set of symbols from time immemorial, and particular initiatic experiences, designed to impress the candidate and the other members of the lodge with traditional teaching. Furthermore, Freemasonry teaches to practice these virtues at every occasion, particularly in the most mundane gatherings.

Although this approach has been transmitted down to us from remote antiquity – as proven by numerous archeologists’ findings – one may at once perceive its modernity. In times when morality and virtue become mere abstract words, Freemasonry offers a practical, yet very elevated, way for the brethren to meet these qualities in person, through the Three Degrees, and at every handshake with a brother.

Here what Wikipedia, the internet encyclopedia, says about the Regius Poem:

The Halliwell Manuscript, also known as the Regius Poem, is the first known Masonic text. It consists of 64 written pages in poetic form. The poem begins by evoking Euclid and his invention of geometry in ancient Egypt and then the spreading of the art of geometry in “divers lands.” This is followed by fifteen points for the master concerning both moral behaviour (do not harbour thieves, do not take bribes, attend church regularly, etc.) and the operation of work on a building site (do not make your masons labour at night, teach apprentices properly, do not take on jobs that you cannot do etc.). There are then fifteen points for craftsmen which follow a similar pattern.

The general consensus on the age of the document dates its writing to between the late 1300s and the middle of the 15th century, and from internal evidence its author appears to have been a West of England clergyman. The manuscript was recorded in various personal inventories as it changed hands until it came into possession of the Royal Library, which was donated to the British Museum in 1757 by King George II to form the nucleus of the present British Library.

During this time, the document was generally described as a poem of moral duties. The significance of the document as relating to Freemasonry was not realized until it was featured in an article on Freemasonry by James Halliwell in 1840.

The text of the document states that Freemasonry was brought to England during the reign of King Athelstan from 924 to 939.

The manuscript is presently held by the British Library in the Royal Manuscript Collection, catalogue reference 17 A. I.

Here is the Regius Poem, in its accepted translation (from Roderick H. Baxter, Past Master of Quatuor Coronoti Lodge, No. 2076, in Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry). I am astonished by how modern it is; this reminds me that Freemasonry comes from very ancient times and has always remained the same, under different forms. Dear brethren, read the poem with me and remember how close we are to our past brethren, the operative freemasons:

Here begin the constitutions of the art of Geometry according to Euclid.

And pray we them, for our Lord’s sake.
To our children some work to make,
That they might get their living thereby,
Both well and honestly full securely.
In that time, through good geometry,
This honest craft of good masonry
Was ordained and made in this manner,
Counterfeited of these clerks together;
At these lord’s prayers they counterfeited 
geometry,
And gave it the name of masonry,
For the most honest craft of all.
These lords’ children thereto did fall,
To learn of him the craft of geometry,
The which he made full curiously;

Through fathers’ prayers and mothers’ also,
This honest craft he put them to.
He learned best, and was of honesty,
And passed his fellows in curiosity,
If in that craft he did him pass,
He should have more worship than the lasse, (less)
This great clerk’s name was Euclid,
His name it spread full wonder wide.
Yet this great clerk ordained he
To him that was higher in this degree,
That he should teach the simplest of wit
In that honest craft to be parfytte; (perfect)
And so each one shall teach the other,
And love together as sister and brother.

Furthermore yet that ordained he,
Master called so should he be;
So that he were most worshipped,
Then should he be so called;
But masons should never one another call,
Within the craft amongst them all,
Neither subject nor servant, my dear brother,
Though he be not so perfect as is another;
Each shall call other fellows by cuthe, (friendship)
Because they come of ladies’ birth.
On this manner, through good wit of geometry,
Began first the craft of masonry;
The clerk Euclid on this wise it found, 
This craft of geometry in Egypt land.

In Egypt he taught it full wide,
In divers lands on every side;
Many years afterwards, I understand,
Ere that the craft came into this land.
This craft came into England, as I you say,
In time of good King Athelstane’s day;
He made then both hall and even bower,
And high temples of great honour,
To disport him in both day and night,
And to worship his God with all his might.
This good lord loved this craft full well,
And purposed to strengthen it every del, (part)
For divers faults that in the craft he found;
He sent about into the land

After all the masons of the craft,
To come to him full even straghfte, (straight)
For to amend these defaults all
By good counsel, if it might fall.
An assembly then he could let make
Of divers lords in their state,
Dukes, earls, and barons also,
Knights, squires and many mo, (more)
And the great burgesses of that city,
They were there all in their degree;
There were there each one algate, (always)
To ordain for these masons’ estate,
There they sought by their wit,
How they might govern it;

Fifteen articles they there sought,
And fifteen points there they wrought,

Here begins the first article.

The first article of this geometry;-
The master mason must be full securely
Both steadfast, trusty and true,
It shall him never then rue;
And pay thy fellows after the cost,
As victuals goeth then, well thou woste; (knowest)
And pay them truly, upon thy fay, (faith)
What they deserven may; (may deserve)
And to their hire take no more,
But what that they may serve for;
And spare neither for love nor drede, (dread)

Of neither parties to take no mede; (bribe)
Of lord nor fellow, whoever he be,
Of them thou take no manner of fee;
And as a judge stand upright,
And then thou dost to both good right;
And truly do this wheresoever thou gost, (goest)
Thy worship, thy profit, it shall be most.

Second article.

The second article of good masonry,
As you must it here hear specially,
That every master, that is a mason,
Must be at the general congregation,
So that he it reasonably be told
Where that the assembly shall be holde; (held)

And to that assembly he must needs gon, (go)
Unless he have a reasonable skwasacyon, (excuse)
Or unless he be disobedient to that craft
Or with falsehood is over-raft, (overtaken)
Or else sickness hath him so strong,
That he may not come them among;
That is an excuse good and able,
To that assembly without fable.

Third article.

The third article forsooth it is,
That the master takes to no ‘prentice,
Unless he have good assurance to dwell
Seven years with him, as I you tell,
His craft to learn, that is profitable;

Within less he may not be able
To lords’ profit, nor to his own
As you may know by good reason.

Fourth article.

The fourth article this must be,
That the master him well besee,
That he no bondman ‘prentice make,
Nor for no covetousness do him take;
For the lord that he is bound to,
May fetch the ‘prentice wheresoever he go.
If in the lodge he were ty-take, (taken)
Much dis-ease it might there make,
And such case it might befal,
That it might grieve some or all.

For all the masons that be there
Will stand together all y-fere. (together)
If such one in that craft should dwell,
Of divers dis-eases you might tell;
For more ease then, and of honesty,
Take a ‘prentice of higher degree.
By old time written I find
That the ‘prentice should be of gentle kind;
And so sometime, great lords’ blood
Took this geometry that is full good.

Fifth article.

The fifth article is very good,
So that the ‘prentice be of lawful blood;
The master shall not, for no advantage,

Make no ‘prentice that is outrage; (deformed)
It is to mean, as you may hear
That he have all his limbs whole all y-fere; (together)
To the craft it were great shame, 
To make a halt man and a lame,
For an imperfect man of such blood
Should do the craft but little good.
Thus you may know every one,
The craft would have a mighty man;
A maimed man he hath no might,
You must it know long ere night.

Sixth article.

The sixth article you must not miss

That the master do the lord no prejudice,
To take the lord for his ‘prentice,
As much as his fellows do, in all wise.
For in that craft they be full perfect,
So is not he, you must see it.
Also it were against good reason,
To take his hire as his fellows don. (do)
This same article in this case,
Judgeth his prentice to take less
Than his fellows, that be full perfect.
In divers matters, know requite it,
The master may his ‘prentice so inform,
That his hire may increase full soon,

And ere his term come to an end,
His hire may full well amend.

Seventh article.

The seventh article that is now here,
Full well will tell you all y-fere (together)
That no master for favour nor dread,
Shall no thief neither clothe nor feed.
Thieves he shall harbour never one,
Nor him that hath killed a man,
Nor the same that hath a feeble name,
Lest it would turn the craft to shame.

Eighth article.

The eighth article sheweth you so,

That the master may it well do.
If that he have any man of craft,
And he be not so perfect as he ought,
He may him change soon anon,
And take for him a more perfect man.
Such a man through rechalaschepe, (recklessness)
Might do the craft scant worship.

Ninth article.

The ninth article sheweth full well,
That the master be both wise and felle; (strong)
That he no work undertake, 
Unless he can both it end and make;
And that it be to the lords’ profit also,

And to his craft, wheresoever he go;
And that the ground be well y-take, (taken)
That it neither flaw nor grake. (crack)

Tenth article.

The tenth article is for to know,
Among the craft, to high and low,
There shall no master supplant another,
But be together as sister and brother, 
In this curious craft, all and some,
That belongeth to a master mason.
Nor shall he supplant no other man,
That hath taken a work him upon,
In pain thereof that is so strong,

That weigheth no less than ten ponge, (pounds)
but if that he be guilty found,
That took first the work on hand;
For no man in masonry
Shall not supplant other securely,
But if that it be so wrought,
That in turn the work to nought;
Then may a mason that work crave,
To the lords’ profit for it to save
In such a case if it do fall,
There shall no mason meddle withal.
Forsooth he that beginneth the ground,
If he be a mason good and sound,
He hath it securely in his mind

To bring the work to full good end.

Eleventh article.

The eleventh article I tell thee,
That he is both fair and free;
For he teacheth, by his might,
That no mason should work by night,
But if be in practising of wit,
If that I could amend it.

Twelfth article.

The twelfth article is of high honesty
To every mason wheresoever he be,
He shall not his fellows’ work deprave,
If that he will his honesty save;
With honest words he it commend,

By the wit God did thee send;
But it amend by all that thou may,
Between you both without nay. (doubt)

Thirteenth article.

The thirteenth article, so God me save,
Is if that the master a ‘prentice have,
Entirely then that he him teach,
And measurable points that he him reche, (tell)
That he the craft ably may conne, (know)
Wheresoever he go under the sun.

Fourteenth article.

The fourteenth article by good reason,
Sheweth the master how he shall don; (do)
He shall no ‘prentice to him take,

Unless diver cares he have to make,
That he may within his term,
Of him divers points may learn.

Fifteenth article.

The fifteenth article maketh an end,
For to the master he is a friend;
To teach him so, that for no man,
No false maintenance he take him upon,
Nor maintain his fellows in their sin,
For no good that he might win;
Nor no false oath suffer him to make,
For dread of their souls’ sake,
Lest it would turn the craft to shame,
And himself to very much blame.

Plural constitutions.

At this assembly were points ordained mo, (more)
Of great lords and masters also.
That who will know this craft and come to estate,
He must love well God and holy church algate, (always)
And his master also that he is with,
Wheresoever he go in field or frythe, (enclosed wood)
And thy fellows thou love also,
For that thy craft will that thou do.

Second Point.

The second point as I you say,
That the mason work upon the work day,
As truly as he can or may,

To deserve his hire for the holy-day,
And truly to labour on his deed,
Well deserve to have his mede. (reward)

Third point.

The third point must be severele, (severely)
With the ‘prentice know it well,
His master’s counsel he keep and close,
And his fellows by his good purpose;
The privities of the chamber tell he no man,
Nor in the lodge whatsoever they don; (do)
Whatsoever thou hearest or seest them do,
Tell it no man wheresoever you go;
The counsel of hall, and even of bower,

Keep it well to great honour,
Lest it would turn thyself to blame,
And bring the craft into great shame.

Fourth point.

The fourth point teacheth us alse, (also)
That no man to his craft be false;
Error he shall maintain none
Against the craft, but let it gone; (go)
Nor no prejudice he shall not do
To his master, nor his fellow also;
And though the ‘prentice be under awe,
Yet he would have the same law.

Fifth point.

The fifth point is without nay, (doubt)
That when the mason taketh his pay
Of the master, ordained to him,
Full meekly taken so must it byn; (be)
Yet must the master by good reason,
Warn him lawfully before noon,
If he will not occupy him no more,
As he hath done there before;
Against this order he may not strive,
If he think well for to thrive.

Sixth point.

The sixth point is full given to know,
Both to high and even to low,

For such case it might befall;
Among the masons some or all,
Through envy or deadly hate,
Oft ariseth full great debate.
Then ought the mason if that he may,
Put them both under a day;
But loveday yet shall they make none,
Till that the work-day be clean gone
Upon the holy-day you must well take
Leisure enough loveday to make,
Lest that it would the work-day
Hinder their work for such a fray;
To such end then that you them draw.

That they stand well in God’s law.

Seventh point.

The seventh point he may well mean,
Of well long life that God us lene, (lend)
As it descrieth well openly,
Thou shalt not by thy master’s wife lie,
Nor by thy fellows’, in no manner wise,
Lest the craft would thee despise;
Nor by thy fellows’ concubine,
No more thou wouldst he did by thine.
The pain thereof let it be sure,
That he be ‘prentice full seven year,
If he forfeit in any of them

So chastised then must he ben; (be)
Full much care might there begin,
For such a foul deadly sin.

Eighth point.

The eighth point, he may be sure,
If thou hast taken any cure,
Under thy master thou be true,
For that point thou shalt never rue;
A true mediator thou must needs be
To thy master, and thy fellows free;
Do truly all that thou might, 
To both parties, and that is good right.

Ninth point.

The ninth point we shall him call,
That he be steward of our hall,
If that you be in chamber y-fere, (together)
Each one serve other with mild cheer;
Gentle fellows, you must it know,
For to be stewards all o-rowe, (in turn)
Week after week without doubt,
Stewards to be so all in turn about,
Amiably to serve each one other,
As though they were sister and brother;
There shall never one another costage (cost)
Free himself to no advantage,
But every man shall be equally free

In that cost, so must it be;
Look that thou pay well every man algate, (always)
That thou hast bought any victuals ate, (eaten)
That no craving be made to thee,
Nor to thy fellows in no degree,
To man or to woman, whoever he be,
Pay them well and truly, for that will we;
Thereof on thy fellow true record thou take,
For that good pay as thou dost make,
Lest it would thy fellow shame,
And bring thyself into great blame.
Yet good accounts he must make
Of such goods as he hath y-take (taken)

Of thy fellows’ goods that thou hast spende, (spent)
Where and how and to what end;
Such accounts thou must come to,
When thy fellows wish that thou do.

Tenth point.

The tenth point presenteth well good life,
To live without care and strife;
For if the mason live amiss,
And in his work be false y-wisse, (I know)
And through such a false skewsasyon (excuse)
May slander his fellows without reason,
Through false slander of such fame.

May make the craft acquire blame.
If he do the craft such villainy,
Do him no favour then securely,
Nor maintain not him in wicked life,
Lest it would turn to care and strife;
But yet him you shall not delayme, (delay)
Unless that you shall him constrain,
For to appear wheresoever you will,
Where that you will, loud, or still;
To the next assembly you shall him call,
To appear before his fellows all,
And unless he will before them appear,

The craft he must need forswear;
He shall then be punished after the law
That was founded by old dawe. (day)

Eleventh point.

The eleventh point is of good discretion,
As you must know by good reason;
A mason, if he this craft well con, (know,
That seeth his fellow hew on a stone,
And is in point to spoil that stone, 
Amend it soon if that thou can,
And teach him then it to amend,
That the lords’ work be not y-schende, (spoiled)
And teach him easily it to amend,

With fair words, that God thee hath lende; (lent)
For his sake that sit above,
With sweet words nourish his love.

Twelfth point.

The twelfth point is of great royalty,
There as the assembly held shall be,
There shall be masters and fellows also,
And other great lords many mo; (more)
There shall be the sheriff of that country,
And also the mayor of that city,
Knights and squires there shall be,
And also aldermen, as you shall see;
Such ordinance as they make there,

They shall maintain it all y-fere (together)
Against that man, whatsoever he be,
That belongeth to the craft both fair and free.
If he any strife against them make,
Into their custody he shall be take. (taken)

Thirteenth point.

The thirteenth point is to us full lief,
He shall swear never to be no thief,
Nor succour him in his false craft,
For no good that he hath byraft; (bereft)
And thou must it know or sin,
Neither for his good, nor for his kin.

Fourteenth point.

The fourteenth point is full good law
To him that would be under awe;
A good true oath he must there swear
To his master and his fellows that be there;
He must be steadfast and also true
To all this ordinance, wheresoever he go,
And to his liege lord the king,
To be true to him over all thing.
And all these points here before
To them thou must need be y-swore, (sworn)
And all shall swear the same oath
Of the masons, be they lief be they loath.
To all these points here before,

That hath been ordained by full good lore.
And they shall enquire every man
Of his party, as well as he can,
If any man may be found guilty
In any of these points specially;
And who he be, let him be sought,
And to the assembly let him be brought.

Fifteen point.

The fifteenth point is of full good lore,
For them that shall be there y-swore, (sworn)
Such ordinance at the assembly was laid
Of great lords and masters before said;
For the same that be disobedient, y-wisse, (I know)

Against the ordinance that there is,
Of these articles that were moved there,
Of great lords and masons all y-fere, (together)
And if they be proved openly
Before that assembly, by and by,
And for their guilt’s no amends will make,
Then must they need the craft forsake;
And no masons craft they shall refuse,
And swear it never more to use.
But if that they will amends make,
Again to the craft they shall never take;
And if that they will not do so,
The sheriff shall come them soon to,

And put their bodies in deep prison,
For the trespass that they have done,
And take their goods and their cattle
Into the king’s hand, every delle, (part)
And let them dwell there full still,
Till it be our liege king’s will.

Another ordinance of the art of geometry.

They ordained there an assembly to be y-holde, (hold)
Every year, wheresoever they would,
To amend the defaults, if any were found
Among the craft within the land;
Each year or third year it should be holde, (held)

In every place weresoever they would;
Time and place must be ordained also,
In what place they should assemble to,
All the men of craft there they must be,
And other great lords, as you must see,
To mend the faults that he there spoken,
If that any of them be then broken.
There they shall be all y-swore, (sworn)
That belongeth to this craft’s lore,
To keep their statutes every one
That were ordained by King Athelstane;
These statutes that I have here found

I ordain they be held through my land,
For the worship of my royalty,
That I have by my dignity.
Also at every assembly that you hold,
That you come to your liege king bold,
Beseeching him of his high grace,
To stand with you in every place,
To confirm the statutes of King Athelstane,
That he ordained to this craft by good reason.

The art of the four crowned ones.

Pray we now to God almight, (almighty)
And to his mother Mary bright,

That we may keep these articles here,
And these points well all y-fere, (together)
As did these holy martyrs four,
That in this craft were of great honour;
They were as good masons as on earth shall go,
Gravers and image-makers they were also.
For they were workmen of the best,
The emperor had to them great luste; (liking)
He willed of them an image to make
That might be worshipped for his sake;
Such monuments he had in his dawe, (day)
To turn the people from Christ’s law.

But they were steadfast in Christ’s lay, (law)
And to their craft without nay; (doubt)
They loved well God and all his lore,
And were in his service ever more.
True men they were in that dawe, (day)
And lived well in God’s law;
They thought no monuments for to make,
For no good that they might take,
To believe on that monument for their God,
They would not do so, though he were wod; (furious)
For they would not forsake their true fay, (faith)

And believe on his false lay, (law)
The emperor let take them soon anon,
And put them in a deep prison;
The more sorely he punished them in that place,
The more joy was to them of Christ’s grace,
Then when he saw no other one,
To death he let them then gon; (go)
Whose will of their life yet more know
By the book he might it show
In the legend of sanctorum (holy ones)
The names of the quatuor coronatorum.

Their feast will be without nay, (doubt)
After Hallow-e’en the eighth day.
You may hear as I do read,
That many years after, for great dread
That Noah’s flood was all run,
The tower of Babylon was begun, 
As plain work of lime and stone,
As any man should look upon;
So long and broad it was begun,
Seven miles the height shadoweth the sun.
King Nebuchadnezzar let it make
To great strength for man’s sake,

Though such a flood again should come,
Over the work it should not nome; (take)
For they had so high pride, with strong boast
All that work therefore was lost;
An angel smote them so with divers speech,
That never one knew what the other should tell.
Many years after, the good clerk Euclid
Taught the craft of geometry full wonder wide,
So he did that other time also,
Of divers crafts many mo. (more)
Through high grace of Christ in heaven,
He commenced in the sciences seven;

Grammar is the first science I know,
Dialect the second, so I have I bliss,
Rhetoric the third without nay, (doubt)
Music is the fourth, as I you say,
Astronomy is the fifth, by my snout,
Arithmetic the sixth, without doubt,
Geometry the seventh maketh an end,
For he is both meek and hende, (courteous)
Grammar forsooth is the root,
Whoever will learn on the book;
But art passeth in his degree,
As the fruit doth the root of the tree;

Rhetoric measureth with ornate speech among,
And music it is a sweet song;
Astronomy numbereth, my dear brother,
Arithmetic sheweth one thing that is another,
Geometry the seventh science it is,
That can separate falsehood from truth, I know.
These be the sciences seven,
Who useth them well he may have heaven.
Now dear children by your wit
Pride and covetousness that you leave it,
And taketh heed to good discretion,
And to good nurture, wheresoever you come.
Now I pray you take good heed,

For this you must know nede, (needs)
But much more you must wyten, (know)
Than you find here written.
If thee fail thereto wit,
Pray to God to send thee it:
For Christ himself, he teacheth ous (us)
That holy church is God’s house,
That is made for nothing ellus (else)
But for to pray in, as the book tellus; (tells us)
There the people shall gather in,
To pray and weep for their sin.
Look thou come not to church late, 
For to speak harlotry by the gate;

Then to church when thou dost fare,
Have in thy mind ever mare (more)
To worship thy lord God both day and night,
With all thy wits and even thy might.
To the church door when thou dost come
Of that holy water there some thou nome, (take)
For every drop thou feelest there
Quencheth a venial sin, be thou ser. (sure)
But first thou must do down thy hood,
For his love that died on the rood.
Into the church when thou dost gon, (go)
Pull up thy heart to Christ, anon;

Upon the rood thou look up then,
And kneel down fair upon thy knen, (knees)
Then pray to him so here to worche (work)
After the law of holy church,
For to keep the commandments ten, 
That God gave to all men;
And pray to him with mild steven (voice)
To keep thee from the sins seven,
That thou here may, in this life,
Keep thee well from care and strife;
Furthermore he grant thee grace,
In heaven’s bliss to have a place.

In holy church leave trifling words
Of lewd speech and foul bordes, (jests)
And put away all vanity,
And say thy pater noster and thine ave;
Look also that thou make no bere, (noise)
But always to be in thy prayer;
If thou wilt not thyself pray,
Hinder no other man by no way.
In that place neither sit nor stand,
But kneel fair down on the ground,
And when the Gospel me read shall,

Fairly thou stand up from the wall,
And bless the fare if that thou can,
When gloria tibi is begun;
And when the gospel is done,
Again thou might kneel down,
On both knees down thou fall,
For his love that bought us all;
And when thou hearest the bell ring
To that holy sakerynge, (sacrament)
Kneel you must both young and old,
And both your hands fair uphold,
And say then in this manner,

Fair and soft without noise;
“Jesu Lord welcome thou be,
In form of bread as I thee see,
Now Jesu for thine holy name,
Shield me from sin and shame;
Shrift and Eucharist thou grant me bo, (both)
Ere that I shall hence go,
And very contrition for my sin,
That I never, Lord, die therein;
And as thou were of maid y-bore (born)
Suffer me never to be y-lore; (lost)
But when I shall hence wend,

Grant me the bliss without end;
Amen! Amen! so mote it be!
Now sweet lady pray for me.”
Thus thou might say, or some other thing,
When thou kneelest at the sakerynge. (sacrament)
For covetousness after good, spare thou not
To worship him that all hath wrought;
For glad may a man that day be,
That once in the day may him see;
It is so much worth, without nay, (doubt)
The virtue thereof no man tell may;
But so much good doth that sight,

That Saint Austin telleth full right,
That day thou seest God’s body,
Thou shalt have these full securely:-
Meet and drink at thy need,
None that day shalt thou gnede; (lack)
Idle oaths and words bo, (both)
God forgiveth thee also;
Sudden death that same day
Thee dare not dread by no way;
Also that day, I thee plight,
Thou shalt not lose thy eye sight;
And each foot that thou goest then,

That holy sight for to sen, (see)
They shall be told to stand instead,
When thou hast thereto great need;
That messenger the angel Gabriel,
Will keep them to thee full well.
From this matter now I may pass,
To tell more benefits of the mass:
To church come yet, if thou may,
And hear the mass each day;
If thou may not come to church,
Where that ever thou dost worche, (work)
When thou hearest the mass knylle, (toll)

Pray to God with heart still,
To give they part of that service,
That in church there done is.
Furthermore yet, I will you preach
To your fellows, it for to teach,
When thou comest before a lord,
In hall, in bower, or at the board,
Hood or cap that thou off do,
Ere thou come him entirely to;
Twice or thrice, without doubt,
To that lord thou must lowte; (bow)
With thy right knee let it be do, (done)

Thine own worship thou save so.
Hold off thy cap and hood also,
Till thou have leave it on to do. (put)
All the time thou speakest with him,
Fair and amiably hold up thy chin;
So after the nurture of the book, 
In his face kindly thou look.
Foot and hand thou keep full still,
For clawing and tripping, is skill;
From spitting and sniffling keep thee also,
By private expulsion let it go,
And if that thou be wise and felle, (discrete)

Thou has great need to govern thee well.
Into the hall when thou dost wend,
Amongst the gentles, good and hende, (courteous)
Presume not too high for nothing,
For thine high blood, nor thy cunning,
Neither to sit nor to lean,
That is nurture good and clean.
Let not thy countenance therefore abate,
Forsooth good nurture will save thy state.
Father and mother, whatsoever they be,
Well is the child that well may thee,
In hall, in chamber, where thou dost gon; (go)

Good manners make a man.
To the next degree look wisely,
To do them reverence by and by;
Do them yet no reverence all o-rowe, (in turn)
Unless that thou do them know.
To the meat when thou art set,
Fair and honestly thou eat it;
First look that thine hands be clean,
And that thy knife be sharp and keen,
And cut thy bread all at thy meat,
Right as it may be there y-ete. (eaten)
If thou sit by a worthier man,

Then thy self thou art one,
Suffer him first to touch the meat,
Ere thyself to it reach.
To the fairest morsel thou might not strike,
Though that thou do it well like;
Keep thine hands fair and well,
From foul smudging of thy towel;
Thereon thou shalt not thy nose smite. (blow)
Nor at the meat thy tooth thou pike; (pick)
Too deep in cup thou might not sink,
Though thou have good will to drink,
Lest thine eyes would water thereby-

Then were it no courtesy.
Look in thy mouth there be no meat,
When thou beginnest to drink or speak.
When thou seest any man drinking,
That taketh heed to thy carpynge, (speech)
Soon anon thou cease thy tale,
Whether he drink wine or ale,
Look also thou scorn no man,
In what degree thou seest him gone;
Nor thou shalt no man deprave,
If thou wilt thy worship save;
For such word might there outburst.

That might make thee sit in evil rest.
Close thy hand in thy fist,
And keep thee well from “had I known”.
In chamber, among the ladies bright,
Hold thy tongue and spend thy sight;
Laugh thou not with no great cry,
Nor make no lewd sport and ribaldry.
Play thou not but with thy peers,
Nor tell thou not all that thou hears;
Discover thou not thine own deed,
For no mirth, nor for no mede: (reward)
With fair speech thou might have thy will,
With it thou might thy self spylle. (spoil)

When thou meetest a worthy man,
Cap and hood thou hold not on;
In church, in market, or in the gate,
Do him reverence after his state.
If thou goest with a worthier man
Then thyself thou art one,
Let thy foremost shoulder follow his back,
For that is nurture without lack;
When he doth speak, hold thee still,
When he hath done, say for thy will,
In thy speech that thou be felle, (discreet)
And what thou sayest consider thee well;
But deprive thou not him his tale,
Neither at the wine nor at the ale.
Christ then of his high grace,
Save you both wit and space,
Well this book to know and read,
Heaven to have for your mede. (reward)
Amen! Amen! so mote it be!
So say we all for charity.

]]> http://www.amwell12.org/2009/01/25/the-regius-poem/feed/ 0 http://www.amwell12.org/2008/10/09/29/ http://www.amwell12.org/2008/10/09/29/#comments Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:46:07 +0000 Tyler http://www.amwell12.org/?p=29

Douglas MacArthur lived his entire life, from cradle to grave in the United States Army. He was born on January 26, 1880, in Little Rock, Arkansas. He spent his early years in remote sections of New Mexico, where his father, Arthur MacArthur, Jr., commanded an infantry company charged with protecting settlers and railroad workers from the Indian “menace.” As a teenager, Arthur had served with distinction in the Union Army, eventually earning the Congressional Medal of Honor for leading a courageous assault up Missionary Ridge in Tennessee. However, he soon discovered that life in the post Civil War U.S. Army held little of the glamour he knew during the war.

These years were even harder for Douglas’ mother, Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur, whose upbringing as a proper Southern lady had done little to prepare her for raising a family on dusty western outposts. But seen through a boy’s eyes, life at a place like Ft. Selden, New Mexico, was heady stuff. “My first memory was the sound of bugles,” Douglas MacArthur recalled in his “Reminiscences.” It was here I learned to ride and shoot even before I could read or write – indeed, almost before I could walk or talk.” Even more importantly, by watching his father and listening to his mother, he learned that a MacArthur is always in charge.

When Douglas was six, Captain MacArthur was assigned to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, where his mother could finally introduce him and his older brother Arthur to life back in “civilization.” Three years later the family took another step in that direction when they moved to Washington, D.C., where Arthur took a post in the War Department. During these formative years, Douglas was able to spend time with his grandfather, Judge Arthur MacArthur, a man of considerable accomplishment and charm. As his grandfather entertained Washington’s elite, Douglas learned another valuable lesson: a MacArthur is a scholar and a gentleman. Douglas, who had always been an unremarkable student, first started to reveal his own intellectual gifts when his father was posted to San Antonio, Texas, in 1893. There he attended the West Texas Military Academy, thriving in an atmosphere which combined academics, religion, military discipline and Victorian social graces. By virtue of his excellent record there, his family’s political connections and top scores on the qualifying exam, Douglas received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1898. Over the next four years, he would achieve one of the finest records in Academy history.

What became a lasting connection with the Philippines began with Douglas’ first assignment out of West Point, when the young lieutenant sailed to the islands to work with a corps of engineers. While on a surveying and material gathering mission in the jungle, he was ambushed by two guerrilla fighters. A bullet tore through the crown of his campaign hat and lodged in a sapling behind him. MacArthur drew his .38 revolver and shot both guerrillas. Soon after his first brush with physical danger, MacArthur was assigned to accompany his father on an extended tour through Asia, where the General would review the military forces of eleven countries. The MacArthurs were treated like royalty and Douglas came away from the trip firmly convinced that America’s future – and his own – lay in Asia.

MacArthur contracted malaria in 1904 and was transferred to Manila and while there, passed his examination for First Lieutenant. Following assignments as an aide in Theodore Roosevelt’s White House and an engineering post in Milwaukee, MacArthur was assigned to the staff college at Leavenworth. When his father died in 1912, he was transferred to the War Department in Washington, so that he could care for his mother. While there he was taken under the wing of Chief of Staff Leonard Wood, a protégé of his father, and his career blossomed. In 1915 MacArthur was promoted to major and the following year became the Army’s first public relations officer, performing so well that he is largely credited with selling the American people on the Selective Service Act of 1917, as the country moved ever closer to joining the war in Europe. He was promoted to Colonel while on the general staff.

The First World War gave Douglas MacArthur his first real measure of fame. Quickly promoted to brigadier general, he helped lead the Rainbow Division – which he had helped create out of National Guard units before the war – through the thick of the fighting in France. Wounded twice on the battlefield, MacArthur became the most decorated American soldier of the war.

While his peers were demoted to their pre-war ranks, MacArthur kept his through a plum new assignment as Superintendent of West Point. MacArthur antagonized many of the old guard while dragging the stagnant Academy into the 20^th Century, enabling it to produce officers fit to lead the country in the type of modern war he had just experienced first hand. He found time to get married to Louise Cromwell Brooks, a vivacious divorcee and heiress very different from her spit-and-polish second husband. A scandalous report detailing an affair by his wife with a minor during the war caused Chief of Staff John Pershing to ship MacArthur from West Point to a makeshift assignment in the Phillipines. While MacArthur was glad to be back in the islands, his wife, used to the glamorous society of cities like New York and Paris, was not at all pleased. Following their return to the states in 1925, the marriage continued to deteriorate and Louise MacArthur filed for divorce in 1928. MacArthur found solace back in the Philipines, where he took command of the Army’s Philippine Department.

MacArthur served as Army Chief of Staff from 1930 to 1935. He became Military Advisor to the Government of the Philippines charged with preparing the islands for full independence in 1946. He met and married Jean Marie Faircloth from Murfreesboro, Tennessee on his way back to Manila. MacArthur voluntarily retired from active duty with the Army at the end of 1937, with the permanent rank of Major General. For the next three years he was appointed by the Philippine government as Commander of the Commonwealth Army. On July 26, 1941 President Roosevelt returned him to active duty in the Philippines as Commander of the Far East Command. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 MacArthur was made Commander in Chief of all U.S. armed forces in the Far East, with the rank of full General. The Japanese invaded the Philippines with superior forces and drove MacArthur from Manila to the Bataan Peninsula, where his troops held off the enemy for two months. Shortly before the fall of Bataan, MacArthur, under orders from the President, departed for Australia and assumed the post of Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific, making that famous phrase, ‘I shall return’. Following numerous brilliant offensives by the Allied Forces, (mostly U.S.), such as the Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, New Guinea and many others, MacArthur became a 5-star General. In October of 1944, the world watched the newsreels showing MacArthur dramatically wading ashore at Leyte, Philippines. (An aside, RW James Ross recounted to me that MacArthur, ever the PR showman, refused to allow the U.S. Navy put him ashore on dry land, but made them take him back out and then drop the ramp in about 18” of water, so the reels of film would show him wading ashore.)

Following multiple battles on islands, at sea and in the air, with continuous long range bombing by the U.S. Army Air Force, then President Truman authorized the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. A refusal to surrender by the Japanese was answered by the second bomb on Nagasaki. One week later, Japan capitulated to an unconditional surrender. On September 2, 1945, MacArthur presided over the Japanese surrender on board the U.S.S. Missouri, bringing an end to World War II.

MacArthur may have made his greatest contribution to history during the next five and a half years, as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, and de facto ruler in Japan. He introduced and instituted a democratic government, charted the course for the rebuilding of Japan and is probably the major reason for Japan’s becoming a major industrial power today. The U.S. response as victor in the war with Japan and Germany was unique. The treatment of the citizenry of both countries in a humane manner, without plundering the land was a landmark event. MacArthur to this day is revered in Japan.

In June, 1950, the sudden outbreak of the Korean War, caused President Truman to place MacArthur back on active duty as head of the United Nations Forces there. The North Koreans pushed the South Korean army and the American led United Nations forces to the extreme southern end of the peninsula, when MacArthur reversed the dire military situation with a brilliant amphibious assault behind the enemy lines at the Port of Inchon. The success of this campaign, followed by the pushing of the North Koreans up to the Chinese border, led to the ultimate downfall of this hero. The Chinese joined the North Koreans and pushed the Allied Forces back near to the prewar boundary of the 38^th parallel. Months of both public and private bickering with the Truman administration over the handling of the Korean conflict and the refusal to allow attacks on the Chinese mainland, caused Truman to relieve General MacArthur of his duty and returned him to the U.S. The last great General of World War II came home to a hero’s welcome, but his public future was soon at an end.

MacArthur was Chairman of the Board of Remington Rand and it’s successor Sperry Rand Corporation until his demise on April 5, 1964.

Douglas MacArthur became a Freemason in an unconventional way, much as most of his lifetime activities occurred. He was made a ‘Mason at sight’ by Most Worshipful Samuel Hawthorne, Grand Master of Masons in the Philippines, on January 17, 1936, in the presence of over six hundred Master Masons, who watched in silence in a crowded hall. The Entered Apprentice degree was conferred by PGM Frederick H. Stevens presiding, immediately followed by the Fellowcraft degree conferred by PGM Francisco A. Delagado. M.W. Samuel Hawthorne then raised MacArthur to the sublime degree of Master Mason. MacArthur affiliated with Manila Lodge No. 1, and on March 13^th, 1936, joined the Scottish Rite. On October 19, 1937, he was elected Knight Commander Court of Honor, and on December 8, 1947, was coroneted Honorary 33^rd Degree at the American Embassy in Tokyo.

At age 62, Douglas MacArthur was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous leadership in the Philippines, making he and his father the only father/son recipients of the U.S. highest award.

Glenn Murray, PM