Workers unearthed a time capsule buried in a cornerstone of an old Masonic Lodge in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia recently. The Lodge building was being torn down for new development, and the Masons have moved to another location.
However, always the ones for handing down information, the Masons knew about the cornerstone, or so it seems, and the stone was carefully removed and opened in front of a couple of the older members of the Lodge.
Apparently the building was erected around 1909 so the contents of the time capsule were not known to anyone still living. Or so it seems. Anyway, the capsule which really was a concrete box was opened on television by an experienced archeologist. What did they find? The secrets of the Masonic Lodge? Nope...not exactly. From the news reports it appears the turn of the century Masonic Brethren were not really all that imaginative. The capsule contained some rotted newspapers, and some other kind of corroded materials including what turned out to be some coins from the era. Not a fortune, just some coins. The rest of the box was pretty much a rotted mush of old newspapers and a bible.
Not very spectacular from the guys who kind of hold themselves out as a society with secrets....however, maybe more telling than we realize. First of all, we don't really know what the newspapers may have been about because as far as I know, they were pretty much rotted away. The money...well...I guess Masons like money as much as the next guy, remember their links to the Knights Templar, who for a time in the 1100 and 1200's were known as the bankers to the Kings and Queens of Europe.
But what is telling, at least somewhat is the bible. Why a bible? Probably because the Masonic Lodge is quite religious, maybe more than we often realize when we here the word "Masons"
Masonic teachings are based on religious beliefs and undertones to a large degree, in fact to a very large degree. So the inclusion of the bible in the time capsule is in keeping with something that matters to them, at least it did in 1909 when the capsule was set into the concrete for future generations to find. It appears not much thought was put into what might happen to the contents of the capsule over time.
I for one was kind of disappointed. I don't know what I expected, but I was hopeful for more stuff, no doubt about it. There's no saying what would have happened had there been something else in the capsule. The Masons on hand for the unveiling would have been in a spot had the capsule contained anything that they may not have wanted made public. But....I am not surprised. The early Masons were no different than today's version, they didn't have a lot to say about themselves and what they do. To think that they might have put something in the time capsule that would have shed any real light on their organization is stupid thinking on my behalf.
I don't know what, if anything the contents really mean to the members of the Lodge. To tell the truth, on some level the ones shown on television who had been in attendance at the opening seemed a little disappointed in what was found.
So, no doubt Masonic Lodges all over the world have a time capsule buried somewhere, probably within the cornerstone. That in itself is in testament to their beliefs, founded as they were, according to their doctrine, on early builders, or masons in the middle east. Laying of a cornerstone used to be a big deal in Masonic busiess.
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