Revere, Paul

Calligraphic document on vellum, signed ("Paul Revere") as Master, 1 page (8 7/8 x 13 in.; 225 x 330 mm), Boston, 1 October 1782, certifying the installation of Lazarus Goodwin as Master Mason in the St. Andrews Masonic Lodge, countersigned by Rob[er]t McElroy, S. Willis, and Benjamin Coolidge, officers of the Lodge, and by Goodwin in the margin, certification of the Lodge on verso signed by Joseph Webb; folded, wax seal gone, some soiling at margins and in folds.

Paul Revere (1735-1818) was initiated in St. Andrew's Lodge in 1760 and was a very active member serving as Junior Deacon, Junior Warden, and Secretary before being installed as Worshipful Master in 1770, and finally as Grand Master in 1794.

The document opens with the traditional Masonic motto, "And the Darkness comprehended it not, in the East a place of Light where reigns silence and Peace" and goes on to "...Certify, that the Bearer hereof our Brother Lazarus Goodwin has been duly received by us and initiated in the Secret Mysteries of the Craft, & after due proficiency therein, we have conferred on him the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason."