Letter from Giles F. Yates to John James Joseph Gourgas, 1828 February 5

Letter from Giles F. Yates to John James Joseph Gourgas, 1828 February 5

Letter from Giles F. Yates to John James Joseph Gourgas. Dated February 5, 1828. In this letter, Yates, a member of the Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, and Sovereign of Sovereigns of Albany Sovereign Consistory, informs Gourgas, a member of the Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, of the arrivals at the annual convention of the Grand Council of Princes of Jerusalem in Albany. Reports the lodge at Saratoga “was fully represented,” and their returns will be sent to Gourgas. Yates also reports that the assemblage only had time “to open in form, elect officers and adjourn till today.” He will go to Albany again and call upon the Grand Recorder for the returns. The list of elected officers will be published in the Masonic Record. States if he cannot procure a copy of Egyptian Mysteries for Gourgas, Yates will lend Gourgas his copy. Yates hopes to be in New York in June to spend a few days with Gourgas. Mentions that Bernard, a Baptist clergyman and Freemason, has renounced Freemasonry and reports such renunciations have become common in the western part of New York State. Comments that all Freemasons should avoid “all external pomp + show.” Denounces the Anti-Masons and those who attack Freemasonry and hopes to restrict initiations in Sublime degrees to those with “ample proof of skill and fidelity” in the Craft degrees. Yates believes three fourths of lodges should be discontinued and states that after a period in the wilderness, Scottish Rite Freemasonry “may arise from the dust.”

Collection of the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Lexington, Massachusetts. SC 300.002

1828 02 05

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English

A2019/178/0075b

Records and correspondence of the Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. See the Museum Archives for more information regarding this collection.

1 item (4 pages) ; 25 x 20 cm.

Gift of the Supreme Council of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite