Freemasonry was Incontestably one of the factors of the great changes which were produced in North America and in France, not by means of some kind of international conspiracy, as has been pretended so childishly, but in the elaboration of ideas, in rendering public opinion clearer, wiser and stronger, fashioning the men in the fray and whose action was decisive. Of all the Masonic Lodges who exerted that influence in our country (France) the best known, or perhaps I had better say, the least unknown today, is that which received Voltaire some weeks before his death.

The clergy themselves had furnished the Nine Sisters with a notable array. Two churchmen took part in the first grouping of founder members. On the day when Voltaire was received, the Lodge contained no less than thirteen priests of religion. One of these, untiring in his zeal, took part in the work. Four others who came later into the Lodge sat as members of the great Revolutionary Assemblies.

In 1780 the Lodge in community service doubled herself, in some sort, by the foundation of the Apollonian Society, called afterwards the Museum and then the Lyceum of Paris, from whence was drawn the origin of that development of the higher public education in our country, France. Again, by Depaty and Pastoret, the Lodge reinforced, directed, and caused to triumph the great movement of opinion for the reform of the penal laws, which had a satisfactory beginning in the Royal Declaration of May, 1788, and which prompted the reformatory decrees of the Constitution.

The truly instructed Freemason, truly imbued with his duties, is a man free from reproach and from remorse. He possesses without dependence on philosophy, the most sublime precepts of morality. He will be just because he is benevolent and unselfish. None near to him are strangers, and he will be himself neither strange nor aloof nor indifferent to any. All men will be his brothers, whatever may be their opinions or whatever may be their country. Lastly he will be a faithful subject, a zealous citizen, submissive to law and conservation, subordinate to the duties of society by principle.

The Lodge of the Nine Sisters, in making the Masonic virtues the base and support of its institution, believes to have joined there the culture of the sciences, of letters and of the arts. This is but reclaiming their true origin. The arts have had, like Freemasonry, the unobtrusive advantage of bringing men together. It was to the sounds of the harp and voice of Orpheus that the savages of Thracia abandoned their caves. These were the fine arts that sweetened the customs of the nations; they are the preservers even to this day of the graciousness of manners. Let us labor then with zeal, with perseverance, to fill the double purpose of our institution. Because the base constantly upholds the structure. let us decorate it, but let not the new ornaments ever hide the dignity of its ancient architecture.

The talents that the Lodge of the Nine Sisters exact of a candidate, in order that he may justify the name he bears, comprises the sciences and the liberal arts, to the end that any and all subjects proposed to him ought to be dowered by whatsoever talent, be it of the nature of the arts or of the sciences as the case may be, and that he has already given a public and sufficient proof of possessing this talent.

There may be exceptions to the rule only when the candidates are distinguished by their rank or by the honorable positions they occupy.

All candidates for initiation must be proposed by a member of the Lodge. His application and the precise description are announced to all the Brethren by the Secretary. Three members of a Committee are named to inform themselves of his life, his morals, and of his talents, and upon these things they shall make report by word of mouth or in writing. On this report there is taken a vote by ballot, and three black balls suffice for rejection of the candidate. If the first ballot is favorable, the candidate is simply authorized to ask in writing (by a letter, not by filling out a blank) for his initiation. His request should be brought into the Lodge by the proposer. On the receipt of that request the discussion is reopened and he is subjected to a new ballot. The candidate is only accepted on the following basis: The proposer and the members of the Investigating Committee are the responsible agents. If, after the initiation, there shall be learned, relative to the new Brother, such things as cause the Lodge to regret his admission and thereupon to cast him out of its bosom, the proposer will be deprived of entrance to the Temple for five months and the members of the Committee for three months.

It was necessary to give proofs of a regular and sustained conduct, of a docile character, of a sociable humor. All measures that human prudence might suggest were employed by us to anticipate and avoid in this regard every kind of oversight.

In all that concerned the solemn engagement taken by the new Brethren at their initiation, the philosophical spirit of the Lodge manifested itself by a remarkable innovation. Hitherto that pledge was invested with an oath. In the same way it was accompanied by an imprecation against perjury. The Brethren of the Nine Sisters held that the promise of a free and honest man should be sufficient among upright folk. It was therefore regularly by a rule decided that the candidate at initiation having submitted his proofs that the request for admission called for, and having the right hand placed on the heart, shall make a pledge of which here are the obligations: Of never saying, writing, or doing anything in the Lodge against religion, against morality, or against the state. Of being always ready to fly to the relief of humanity. Of never disclosing the secrets that are confided to him. Of observing inviolably the Statutes and By-Laws of the Lodge of the Nine Sisters. Of making every endeavor to contribute co-operatively to the glory and prosperity of the Lodge. From the Lodge By-Laws adopted in 1781 the Grand Orient took over the innovation, amplifying the formula and putting therein certain other obligations. But, after the Revolution, they reinserted the oath and the imprecation against perjury, though a recent revision (this was written by Brother Amiable in 1896-7) caused these to disappear.

The first of these two officials, in 1778, is Dalayrac, who figured with the qualification of Guard of the King, Dalayrac, aged twenty-five years, yet unknown to the general public, but who became one of the most fertile and most popular of composers in the style of Comic Opera.

He must be a contributing member, have been at least a year holding membership in the Lodge counting from the day he took his obligation, and has been present at five Grand Assemblies in the course of the year preceding the election. Independently of the reunions of Committees pertaining to administration, there was every month a General Reunion or Grand Assembly, followed by a banquet, except in September and October, which are the two months of vacation. The meeting preceding the banquet is devoted to a concert and to specimens of workmanship, that is to say, of literary productions. Three of these reunions are more important than the others; of such were the two Festivals of Saint John in summer and in winter, corresponding to the two solstices, and to that reunion of May 9 in honor of the renewal of the Masonic year. This last comprised particularly an exposition of works of art produced by, and of choice specimens of music composed by, Brethren of the Lodge. At each ordinary Grand Assembly one of the Orators took the floor and spoke eulogistically of some great man no longer among the living. The Worshipful Master, the Senior Warden, the Archiviste (Keeper of Documents) and one of the Experts (an officer having somewhat similar functions to our Senior Deacon) ought also at predetermined dates to produce pieces of architecture. (The French expression fur a Freemason’s service done in the spirit of craftsmanship and exhibiting the result of his special talent.) At every Festival of Saint John, three Brothers, so designed at the preceding Festival, are to pronounce respectively, one a eulogy upon a great man of the past; another, an example of eloquence; the third, a specimen of versification. Moreover, a closing discourse shall be given by one of the Orators at the Grand Assembly of August 9, preceding the vacation period; and a like address will be offered at the reopening on November 21. All these are outside the pieces of architecture presented by the newly admitted Brethren, and of such as all the Brethren are at liberty to produce. It is difficult to imagine a greater intellectual activity. Never did a society of learned men make greater showing. We shall see later by the testimony that is in our possession relative to certain members of the Lodge, that the performance responded fully to the above program. Two items in the regulations merit also to be specially mentioned. The one instituted a foundation at twelve hundred pounds for new editions of works by members of the Lodge which shall be judged worthy, and which shall relate to the objects cherished by the Nine Sisters, to sciences, to literature, to the fine arts, music, painting, engraving, etc. Nine Commissioners were named for each occasion by the Lodge to judge upon the merits of the respective works. They acted not, as is often done elsewhere, by making a mere investment, but made a liberal advance payment, to give some leeway in view of future requirements. The Lodge supervised the edition in a manner to bring it up to date, fresh and timely, and two issues of the work were issued before the Brother to whom they had made the advance was able to lay claim upon any profits Not less remarkable is the injunction coming among those referring to financial benefactions, an injunction which imposes the special duty of assistance to those Brethren who are lawyers, physicians, and surgeons, the obligation of giving their advice gratis in consultation to all those who are recommended to them by the Lodge. But there is more than that involved. The solemn obligation they have contracted "to fly to the relief of humanity" implied that every Craftsman of the Lodge of the Nine Sisters was devoted to the succor of victims of injustice, at a time when great iniquities were so frequently committed, the duty of imitating, as far as is possible, the noble example shown by Voltaire. Such an engagement could not remain a dead letter in the Lodge which counted among its members the most celebrated legal advocate of the period, Elie de Beaumont, with whom the patriarch of Ferney was himself associated in the defense of Calas and of Serven. The text of the By-laws provided in the case where one of the Brethren should have been charged with the defense of the innocent unjustly accused, and where any state of affairs rendered such papers necessary to the justification of the person under attack, the lawyer Brother should be provided with an allowance up to a total of one hundred pounds toward the printing and publishing of the statements in question. Not so much was it the amount allowed, as will here be seen, but the prompting to an act of devotion. Moreover, some time later, when Dupaty undertook the memorable struggle to save the three innocent persons condemned to death by the Parliament of Paris, he spent much more than three hundred pounds for the printing of the arguments that tore them away from the executioner.

The taste for addresses is not the only thing about our meetings. Everything that concerns literature, the sciences, the arts, the morals, is there heard, welcomed, and encouraged.

Father Cordier, a very ardent and very zealous Brother, presented the subject for deliberation in the Lodge of the Nine Sisters, and the vote being unanimous for carrying the plan into execution, it was arranged that on the next Wednesday, the 17th of the month, there should be chanted a Mass and a Te Deum in music at the Church of the Cordeliers as an act of grace for the happy event. There will be admission tickets. A separate entrance will be provided for the ladies and gentlemen, and those only may be admitted who have the signs of recognition.

Father Cordier, declaring that he presented Voltaire for their initiation, observed that an assembly as literary as it was Masonic, ought to be flattered by witnessing the most celebrated Frenchman being desirous of admission among them. He hoped that they would have a kindly regard for the great age and feeble health of the illustrious neophyte.

The Lodge taking that request under consideration decided at once to dispense with the greater part of the ordinary proofs, that he should not be placed blindfolded between the columns but that only a black curtain should hide the East until a convenient season, A commission of nine members was appointed by the Worshipful Master to receive and prepare the candidate; this was headed by the Count Stragonoff and the Candidate was introduced by the Chevalier de Villars, the aged author leaning on the arms of Benjamin Franklin (afterwards Master of the Lodge and at that time Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States) and Court de Gebelin. Questions on philosophy and morals were propoundod to Voltaire by the Worshipful Master and were answered in a manner that compelled those present in several instances to manifest their admiration. He himself was strongly impressed and all the more so when the curtain being suddenly removed he saw the East brilliantly illuminated and the illustrious men seated there. He was conducted to the Worshipful Master, where he took an obligation, after which he was constituted an Apprentice and received the signs, words and grips of this Degree. During this time the musicians, under the direction of the celebrated violinist, Caproni, executed in brilliant style the first part of the third symphony of Guenin. Then Larive of the Comédie Française placed upon the initiate’s head a crown of laurel.

Very dear Brother, the era most flattering for this Lodge will be henceforth marked by the day of your admission. It brings an Apollo to the Lodge of the Nine Sisters. She finds in him a friend of humanity who reunites all the titles of glory that she is able to desire for the ornamentation of Freemasonry. A King (Frederick the Great of Prussia), of whom you have long been the friend, and who is known as the Illustrious Protector of our Order, had inspired in you the taste for entering it; but it was to your own country that you reserved the satisfaction of initiating you to our mysteries. After having received the applause and the cheers of the nation, after having seen its enthusiasm and its raptures, you come to receive, in the Temple of friendship, of virtue, and of letters, a crown less brilliant but equally solacing to the heart and the soul. The emulation that your presence undoubtedly will spread and enforce, giving a new lustre and a new activity to our Lodge, will redown to the profit of the poor she solaces, of the studies she encourages, and of all the good she ceases not to do. What citizen has so well served as you the nation in the illumination of duty and of true interests, in rendering fanaticism odious and superstition ridiculous, in recalling good taste to its true principles, history to its real purpose, the laws to their chief integrity. We Brethren promise to come to the succor of our friends; but you have been the creator of a multitude who adore you and who give a voice to your good deeds. You have raised a Temple to the Eternal; but that which we value even more, we have seen near this Temple and asylum, a refuge for men outlawed but useful, that a blind zeal had repelled. Thus, my dear Brother, you were a Freemason before that time when you formally received that designation, and you were fulfilling Masonic duties before you had taken the obligation between our hands. The square that we bear is the symbol of the rectitude of our actions; the apron represents a life of labor and of useful activity; the white gloves express candor, innocence, and the purity of our actions; the trowel serves to cover up the defects of the Brethren; all these are relating to benevolence and love of humanity, and consequently, only expressing the qualities that distinguish you. We are but able to unite you with us, and of receiving you with the tribute of our admiration and of our recognition.