COHN.,891     P 9

Calm, Dear Lady

    A letter written by Baron Jacob Von Bielfeld, German
     statesman and Mason to his betrothed in 1738


 SO YOU ARE QUITE ALARMED, MADAME; VERY SERIOUSLY ANGRY!
My reason tells me you are wrong, but my passion tells me you can
never do wrong; for it makes me perceive that I love you more, if it be
possible, since I have been a Freemason, and since you have been
angry with me for so being, than I ever did before.
Permit me, therefore, by this opportunity, to employ all my rhetoric to
dissipate your discontent; that you may approve the motives which have
induced me to take this step; that you may restore me to your favor,
and that I may be enabled to reconcile my reason with my passion.
You know that I am naturally curious and that I have made great efforts
to discover the secrets of Freemasonry, but without the least effect. I
have found men who have been the most indiscreet in
other respects, the most impenetrable
in this matter. There was, there-
fore, no other way for me to take than to get admission into
their society; and I do solemnly assure you, madame, that I do
not in the least regret it.

  That a man may be honest and very happy without being a
Freemason, I readily allow; but this argument is equally applica-
ble to every object that excites our curiosity, and even to many
of the most pleasing parts of learning. If we banish curiosity,
the desire of increasing our knowledge from the world, there is
at once an end of all improvement in science; the most inge-
nious, the most pleasing inventions and discoveries would be
lost in darkness. And who can say how far the knowledge of
those objects, of whose essence, whose principles we are
absolutely ignorant, may lead us?
   That which at first appears frivolous, frequently
becomes, in the hands of a skillful man, highly useful. I do not
pride myself in being of the number of these, but I am fully
satisfied that I shall have a better claim to it by being a
Freemason.

  You will not require, I am persuaded, that I should explain to
you our mysteries; you are too prudent. You would entertain a
passion for a man of honor, and not for a traitor, a monster. It is
my interest to convince you of my discretion, and to make you
sensible that a man who can keep a secret from a woman he
adores, ought to be esteemed by her as worthy to have other
secrets to keep. 
  You must, therefore, commend my discretion and nourish my
virtue. I shall not, at the same time, keep from you any informa-
tion concerning our society that it is in my power to give; but
for Freemasonry's mysteries, they are sacred!
  One reflection that dissipated my scruples and hastened my
reception was that I knew this Order to be composed of a great
number of very worthy men; and whom I was sure would never 
have twice entered a Lodge if anything had passed there that
was in the least incompatible with a character of the strictest
virtue.
   It is true that into this sanctuary of virtue there sometimes
steal unworthy Brethren, men whose morals and conduct are
not such as could be wished; but such is the condition of all
things in this world that the good and the bad are inevitably
mixed with each other; for the small number of Apostles was
not exempt from one unworthy member. I do not expect, by be-
coming a Freemason, to be introduced to a society of angels,
but of worthy men; and I have not been disappointed.
   I readily confess that what is called Freemasonry may be made
a disgrace as well as an ornament to society. If a company of
men, destitute of sense and merit, assemble in the form of a
Lodge, and after performing certain ridiculous mummeries, proceed
to scenes of debauchery, certainly nothing can be more detestable
than such an assembly.

   But if you consider our society as the most solemn and
perfect Fraternity that ever existed upon the earth, in which
there is no destination of men by the language they speak, by
the dress they wear, by the rank to which they were born, or
the dignities they possess, who regard the whole world but as
one republic, of which each nation forms a family, and each
individual a member; who endeavor by these means to revise
the primitive maxims of mankind in the greatest perfection; to
unite under their banner men of knowledge, virtue, and urbani-
ty; and enlighten each other by their knowledge; who sacrifice
all personal resentment; who banish from their Lodges all that
can disturb the tranquility of mind or the purity of manners; and
who, in the intervals of their delightful labors, enjoy the inno-
cent pleasures of life; if, I say, you regard Masonry in this
light, you must agree that the interest of this society must be
that of the whole race of mankind; and that religion itself
cannot effect such a result without great difficulty.

   Is it not, therefore, wonderful that this Order has been some-
times encouraged and sometimes persecuted by the ruling powers in
a state; that they who commend and they who blame may have their
reasons; but nothing can be more unjust or ridiculous than to
imagine that the assemblies of the Freemasons can tend to disturb
the security or the tranquility of a state; for though our doors
are shut against the profane and vulgar, they are at all times
open to the sovereigns and magistratesÄand how many illustrious
princes and statesmen do we count among our Brethren?

  If ought passed in our Lodges that was dangerous or criminal,
must they not have been long since abolished? But the experience
of many ages, during which this Order has never been known to
perform any action but those of morality and munificence, is a
stronger argument in its favor than any I can produce.

I shall, therefore, say no more upon the matter; and I should not
have said so much if I did not know that you are capable of
feeling the force of these arguments; for you have too much
discernment to be directed by that prejudice and caprice which
have so much dominion over the common rank of women.

  If with a pleasing figure and graceful manner you possessed only a
common way of thinking, I should love you only as women are
commonly lovedÄthat is to say, for the gratification of
desire and for self-interest. But my affection for you is founded
on a sense of your real merit, on the dignity of your mind, and
on the simplicity of your heart.

  If this affection is of any value with you, preserve it,
madame, by returning to your reason and by dissipating those
transient clouds which have eclipsed, for a moment, that fa-
vorable opinion you have hitherto entertained of me, and per-
mit me to assure you, by the faith of a Mason, that my love shall
endure as long as my life. P. S. I herewith send you a pair of
lady's gloves that were given to me by the Lodge at my reception.
The apple was decreed by Paris to the most beautiful, but these
gloves are for the best beloved. To whom could I offer them but
to you? May you receive them as a mark of my sincere devotion.

   [Editor's Note: Jacob Friedrich
Freiherr von Bielfeld (1717-1770) was Privy Councillor to a
Legation, Director of the Berlin Hospital, and Grand Master of
the Grand Lodge Zu den drei Weltkugeln, 1754-57. He officiated at
the Initiation of the future King Freidrich II in 1738 at
Braunschweig and was a confidante of the King. He was the co-
founder of Loge premiere and Stadtloge. This biographical in-
formation is from Berliner Freimaurer (Freemasons in Berlin)
by Bruner Peters, 1979. Given the Baron's life dates and the date
of this letter, he apparently wrote it to his betrothed when he
was age 21 and had just been Initiated into his Lodge.]




  Baron Bielfeld's letter was submitted for publication to The
Scottish Rite Journal by Brother Mark B. Cohn, 32ø, who is
affiliated in three Grand Jurisdictions, is a member of Ima
Lodge No. 917, Seventh Manhattan District, New York, and Hamilton
Lodge No. 54, Sharon, Connecticut. A member of the Scottish
Rite Bodies of Miami, Florida, and a Past Master of both Blue
Lodges noted above, he is also a member of Mahi Shrine Temple in
Miami and a Director of the Empire State Club of Florida.


   "I went into the United States Navy right out of high school,
so I never went to college, but through Masonry I have
received a Master's Degree in Living. It has made me a better
man, and the Scottish Rite has made me a better Mason."
               Ernest Borgnine, 33ø
  Remark as guest of honor at the Spring Reunion, Missoula, Montana
  The Montana Masonic News, April 1991