MAGLJSkinner
Contents
JOSEPH OBERLIN SKINNER 1816-1879
- MM 1840, WM 1843-1844, Middlesex
- WM 1847-1848, Corinthian
- Grand Chaplain 1844-1848
BIOGRAPHY
SURRETTE'S BIOGRAPHIES OF PAST MASTERS, CORINTHIAN LODGE, 1859
FROM PROCEEDINGS, 1873
From Proceedings, Page 1873-339:
REV. JOSEPH OBERLIN SKINNER, A.M., BOSTON, Universalist. 1844-1848.
In a note addressed to the compiler of these sketches, he remarks : —
"Your letter of the 24th inst. [December, 1873] revives very pleasant recollections of my early Masonic acquaintances and experiences; and I remember with unalloyed pleasure my connection with the Grand Lodge of Masons of Massachusetts. Revs. Asa Eaton, George M. Randall, E.M.P. Wells, Samuel Barrett, and Charles Train, among the clergy; and Charles W. Moore, John B. Hammatt, John R. Bradford, Winslow Lewis, Senior and Junior, and Thomas Power, among the laymen, are names that came first and forcibly to my mind."
Bro. Rev. Joseph Oberlin Skinner was initiated in 1840, in Middlesex Lodge, Framingham, where he was chosen Junior and Senior Warden, and afterwards Master for two years. He was one of the Grand Chaplains of the Grand Lodge in 1844, 1845, 1846, 1847 and 1848. On the 24th of June, 1845, he officiated as Chaplain of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge at a great Masonic celebration at Charlestown, Mass., when a miniature monument (an exact model of the original monument erected by King Solomon's Lodge, in 1794, and by them presented to the Bunker Hill Monument Association) was placed inside of Bunker Hill Monument. He was chosen a member of this Lodge Nov. 19, 1846, and was Master in 1847 and 1848.
Bro. Skinner is of good old Connecticut stock. His grandfather, Benjamin Skinner, was born in Hebron, in that State. He is the oldest child of David and Abigail Skinner, and was born on the 18th of February, 1816, in Piermont, N. H. He was employed on a farm in the summer, and attended school in the winter, from the age of 11 to 17, when he commenced teaching a district school, first in Fairlee, Vt., next in Oxford, N. H., and lastly in Barnstable, Mass. In June, 1836, having received no other than a common-school education, he commenced the study of theology with Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, of Maiden, Mass. In July, 1837, he took the pastoral charge of the Universalist Church and Society of Holliston. From thence, in February, 1840, he removed to Framingham, and continued there until March, 1844. He then removed to Dudley, and from that place he came to Concord, as pastor of the Universalist Society. In May, 1848, he settled in Ludlow, Vt., and remained two years as pastor of the Universalist Church. In April, 1850, he was settled in Chester, Vt., for three years; thence he removed to Rockland, Maine, in October, 1853, and is now settled over the First Universalist Church of that town.
He was twice married; first, May 21, 1846, to Miss Maria T. Barnard, of Hartford, Ct.; she died without issue, in Chester, Vt., May 15, 1852. He was married again, June 29, 1854, to Miss Candace L. Fullam, of Ludlow, Vt.
While Bro. Skinner presided over our Lodge it was just beginning to emerge from a long slumber, and very little was done in the way of making Masons; his attention being devoted chiefly to reviving old and sleepy ones, and exemplifying the work. He is a member of Aurora Lodge, Rockland, Maine.
— Sketch of Corinthian Lodge, Concord, by Louis A. Surette, 1859.
Brother Skinner was a member of Middlesex Lodge during five years. He was its Master in 1843 and 1844. He received the Chapter Degrees in St. Andrew's Royal Arch Chapter, Boston, in 1843. He is now a member of Waterville Lodge, No. 33, of Waterville, Maine, and has been its Chaplain about three years. He is preparing a History of Waterville Lodge, which completed its first half century in 1870. This Lodge was formed immediately after the erection of the District of Maine into a separate State.
He was settled in Nashua, N. H., for nearly three years; about two years from January, 1864, in St. Albans, Vt.; and about two years from December, 1865, in Malone, N. Y. He was one of the editors of the Christian Repository, in Montpelier, Vt., for one year. During the past four years he has bad charge of a parish in Waterville, Me. He has published some discourses in pamphlets, and written for newspapers. The Universalist Quarterly Review, from 1854 to 1870, contains some of his labored writings. He has edited The Universalist Register and Almanac for 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874. The Honorary Degree of Master of Arts was conferred on him by Colby University, Waterville, July 26, 1872. He has taken much interest in public schools, and devoted much of his time to their superintendence.
SPEECHES
FEAST OF ST. JOHN, DECEMBER 1842
From Moore's Freemason's Monthly, Vol. II, No. 4, February 1843, Pages 107-110:
Delivered before the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, on the festival of St. John the Evangelist, Dec. 27th, A. L. 6842.
Most Worshipful Grand Master, and Brethren:
I received the invitation to address you on this occasion, I can only offer you the warm greeting of my heart, and a few thoughts, such as have occurred to me during brief and irregular intervals of leisure.
Surrounded as I am by Brethren who are my seniors in age and Masonic experience, some of whom have grown hoary in their devotion to the Institution of Masonry, I would much prefer to listen to their instructions this evening; yet, feeling as I do the generous confidence and kindness which always pervade the Masonic bosom, I will not offend the spirit of Freemasonry by supposing, for a moment, that there is any need of propitiating your candor or indulgence towards what I have to offer.
However it may be with me in any other place, I am always at home in the Lodge. However embarrassing any other occasion or assembly may be, with Masons, there is ever a freedom, a frankness, growing out of perfect reciprocal confidence, which gives a healthful, natural tone to the mind, which excludes all the narrow, selfish, trifling passions, too often engendered in actual life, and brings us on to a generous footing of mutual understanding and liberal feeling. And I cannot disguise to you or to myself the pleasure I felt in discharging the duty assigned me on this occasion. Though my acquaintance with Freemasonry has been brief, it has been most pleasant; the hours I have spent in the Lodge in communion with my Brethren, in cultivating an acquaintance with its mysteries, in studying the moral significance of its forms and emblems, I reckon among the golden hours of my life.
The pleasure I feel this evening is heightened by all the circumstances of our meeting on this time honored festival, by this consecration of the tried and true hearted members of the Craft.
You have come up to this hallowed Temple, my Brethren, from various sections of our Commonwealth, to honor the memory of one of the noblest characters of Masonic Antiquity, St. John the Evangelist; you have come to study the sublime and impressive ritual of our Order, to freshen your memories at the pure springs of Masonic lore, to observe the beautiful order of the true and well governed Lodge, to study the use11 of the varied instruments and emblems of the Craft and their moral application, and also to add a new brightness to the links of that chain which binds in one indissoluble body the whole Masonic Fraternity.
You have come up here, as the twelve tribes of Israel, in the palmy days or their ancient greatness and glory, went up to their Temple to worship the great King, to commemorate the remarkable displays of His goodness, to hear His Law, and celebrate its appointed feasts.
Or we may find an analogous case perhaps in the return of the Jews from Babylon, to offer up their vows and sacrifices on Mount Zion; so is there with ua, Brethren, a restoration of the ancient Order, a return to the old paths and landmarks, a purification of the Temple defiled by profane hands.
I congratulate you on the favorable change going on in public sentiment in relation to our venerated Institution, and on the happy omens which are cheering us with a prospect of the revival of its ancient splendor, and the spread of its pure, liberal and philanthropic principles. I congratulate you on the auspicious day which is breaking in the East and reflected with glory in every quarter of the heavens. A dreary and gloomy night is withdrawing itself, and with the shades or darkness, go the boding owl11 and other birds of evil omen, that for a time hovered over the ancient Temple of Masonry.
That venerated Temple, though perfect and beautiful in all its proportions, and supported by the three grand pillars, wisdom, strength and beauty, yet, when reflected and refracted by the dark and turbid waters of political ambition and selfish designs, seemed to be the focus of all evil. Still the enemies of Freemasonry have not opposed and vilified it, so much as something else they have called by its name.
What I know of those days of darkness through which the Institution has put, is not by experience, but by history, for I received the honors of the Order after it had passed through the dread ordeal of the political Inquisition. One thing however, I can say most truly, that from the time I was seventeen years of age, I had a decided and utter aversion to political antimasonry.
While as yet I knew nothing of Masonry except on the testimony of its true disciples, some of whom were among my earliest and best friends, I had conceived a high regard for its principles, and while its enemies jeered at its ritual, and aspersed the character of its adherents, I could feel no sympathy with those who "spoke evil of things they knew not" and could not apprehend.
But the storm that burst with so much fury upon the Masonic Institution, vainly threatening to raze it to the ground, has settled to a calm; the waves of that tumultuous sea have at length sullenly subsided, and the ark which was borne alot\ on the angry billows of popular commotion has found a peaceful and quiet haven.
I see around me those who have been faithful in their allegiance to Masonry through all its vicissitudes, and who, as loyal Knights, brave Companions, and steadfast Brethren, have broken a lance with the enemy in the bloodless strife of truth against error and besotted fanaticism, and have gallantly maintained the moral conflict and kept the field, until the embattled hosts of the aliens with their traitorous recruits have been routed with as signal a victory, as good old Jephthah gained over the turbulent and rebellious Ephraimites. On the principle, as I trust, set forth in that immortal poem, (the author of which, if he is not a Mason, deserves to be made one), that
"Truth crushed to earth shall rise again,
The eternal years of God are hers;
While error, wounded writhe, in pain,
And dies amid her worshippers."
- The Battle-Field, by William Cullen Bryant.
But I will not enlarge on so unwelcome a topic. I will not bring from oblivion the ghosts of antimasonry even for an hour,
"Nor further seek, its merits tn disclose Or draw its frailties from their dread abode."
It becomes us now Brethren, as a bright prospect opens before us, to remember tho vows we have taken around this social altar, and the virtues which are proper to the Masonic character. If we would see Freemasonry flourish, and have it permanently established, let an inquisitive world see from its influence over our own lives, that, if duly appreciated, it will enlarge the heart, chasten and refine the feelings, and purify the moral sensibilities of our nature. That this is its tendency, all, who know what it is, and arc capable of appreciating it, are of course well aware. In the Masonic Lectures there is a lofty and liberal spirit inculcated which no man can fail to imbibe who faithfully studies them and observes the admirable method on which they are formed. In the order which is essential to a regular Lodge, in the harmony of its arrangements, in the gradation of the degrees and offices, in the strict system of economy, discipline and government which are enforced by the rules of the Craft, there is a high order of intellectual gratification for all well instructed workmen.
There is in the Masonic ritual a venerable antique beauty, truly delightful to the contemplative mind. It combines the wisdom and experience of many ages. It was devised to minister to essential and permanent wants of human nature; and being based on unchanging principles, and not on the accidents of birth, or fortune, of country or sect, it 1s destined to live through all changes of society, and continue as long as virtue, sympathy and love survive in the human heart, to hold its place among the beneficial agencies for ameliorating and blessing mankind. Our Institution is so peculiar in its character that it is safe from the reach of the enterprising reformers of our day. How pleasant is it, amid the strife and confusion of the times, to have one quiet and serene retreat, remote from the noise of party conflict and to enjoy the calm repose breathed by Masonry! It links us with the past, with the men who lived in the earliest periods. To render due honor to the memory of the good and great who have gone before us, is but paying homage to eteroal truth and goodness, and is a striking characteristic of our Order.
The Masonic Calendar is rich in venerated names. While we continue to honor the memoria1 of such men as Washington and Franklin, of Newton and Locke, of the holy St. Johns, of Solomon and Hiram; while the Bible is the principal Jewel of every Lodge, and one of the great lights of the Institution, while there is so constant a reference to its precepts in all the business and ceremonies of our meetings, surely, whatever may be thought of Masonry by the ignorant, it will be highly prized by all those acquainted with its spirit.
But it is the secrecy of our Order which forms the great stumbling stone and rock of offence to the uninitiated.
That there is in Masonry a secret which the world at large does not understand, I freely admit; nay, there is a secret which I have reason to believe some who have passed through the forms of initiation do not comprehend, and which no seceder can possibly understand, for the moment be breaks his vowa to pander to a selfish and corrupt ambition he must lose the secret.
He that becomes a Mason without learning this secret is not benefitted. He may be able to give all the signs and tokens of the Craft and work his way into any Lodge, and yet not comprehend the most valuable secret of the Order. It is not intelligible to any outward sense, it is internal, a matter of experience. And yet it is the plainest thing in the world to understand.
A great German Poet bas somewhere told us in his philosophy, of "the open secret of the universe;" so also, by a seeming paradox, the most important secret of Freemasoory, is an "open secret." Brethren, you will all understand me, I am sure, and respond to the sentiment just expressed. I speak of that perfect reciprocal confidence which is felt and exercised by every genuine Mason.
This is what the Institution is designed to cherish, to make Masons members of one body, a living whole, having a perfect sympathy in all its parts, so that if one member suffer, or one member rejoice, all the members shall participate in the suffering or the joy. It is adapted to weave a silken band around the hearts of all who enter its portals, to establish between them a friendship that nothing can disturb, an understanding and sympathy to the broad basis of our common nature and common wants. Thus it goes below all the artificial distinctions of society; no titles or dignities are recognized in the Lodge but such as are merited, and conferred on account of merit, within the body of the Lodge. This mutual confidence and fellowship can only exist among those actuated by worthy motives, men of integrity and moral purity. Hence the question to the candidate, "Is he worthy and well qualified?" becomes a most important one. And if, as an eminent Engliah statesman once declared, "confidence is a plant of slow growth," bow needful is it that there he a due examination before he is admitted to "the fellowship of the mystery" of the Order.
This mutual fellowship and confidence is the vital air, the living principle of the Institution. It is the mystic tie which binds us together, it is "the cement which unites us into one sacred band, or society of friends and Brothers, among whom no cootention should ever exist, but that noble contention, or rather emulation, of who can best work, or best agree," and this I have presumed to call the most valuable secret of the Order. The Masonic ritual, beautiful though it be, is nothing without the spirit. All its forms and emblems are to be considered as the means of a higher culture, of mental discipline, of social refinement and moral instruction. Here then, in the exercise of Brotherly love, in relieving the distressed, in walking by the square in all our relation, with mankind, the true design of the Institution is carried out. And is not the possession of the spirit here indicated, the great and most important secret of all? The Mason who brings dishonor upon his profession, has certainly lost the secret, for we are told by an inspired writer that "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and He will show them his covenant." (Ps. xxv. 14.) So my Brethren the secret of Masonry is with them that walk according to its precepts and are imbued with its spirit.
As we have come up here to day in honor of St. John the Evangelist, how proper is it that we bear in mind the exhortation with which be was accustomed to address the Ephesian church in the last days of his ministry. This day is the anniversary, of his death. St. Jerome gives a very affecting account of the last years of his life. A!I the infirmities of age made him unable to address the church in a systematic discourse, he always desired to be conveyed to that assembly, and as often as he came he addressed them thus,- "Children, love one another."
Being asked at length, why he always gave this exhortation with nothing new, he answered, "Because it is the precept of the Lord: and if this is fulfilled it it enough." So let him be present with us this evening, Brethren. Let ua consider that the glorified spirit of the beloved disciple is bending from his seat in the heavenly courts, and exhorting us- "Brethren, love one another, and it is enough."
