COLUMBIAN CENTINEL, Boston, June 27, 1795

• Masonic - Masons - Freemasonry

Page 2 has a report of a: "Fraternal Feast", a Masonic celebration, beginning: "The Feast of St. John the Baptist was celebrated by the Grand Lode of this Commonwealth..." with details of the event.
Among the toasts given: "Our worthy & beloved brother, the illustrious George Washington. May his virtues, like the rays of the celestial light, shine from the east..." with more.
Page 2 also has a letter: "By the Governor" signed in type: Samuel Adams.
Four pages, irregular at the spine & minor chipping to a lower corner, otherwise good condition.

Background: This report stands out as an exceptionally rare, contemporaneous window into 18th-century American Freemasonry, capturing the exact ritualistic rhetoric and civic veneration surrounding George Washington while he was actively serving as President. Published in period newspapers such as the Columbian Centinel of Boston following the June 24 St. John’s Day feast, the text is notable for its rich esoteric symbolism—linking Washington's moral virtue directly to "rays of the celestial light" emanating from the East, the traditional Masonic station of light, wisdom, and leadership. Period accounts of these grand lodge celebrations are highly scarce today because early American newspapers were published in limited quantities with very low survival rates, and few dedicated space to printing the verbatim ceremonial toasts and inner workings of fraternal bodies. Consequently, surviving 1790s printings provide invaluable primary evidence of how Washington was openly revered by his Masonic brethren—including figures like Grand Master Paul Revere—as both a living embodiment of the Craft's highest virtues and a unifying national patriarch.