Class Masonry.

form of an understanding among the members rather than a written law published to the world , ancl unalterable without great trouble . We are especially adverse to the title of a Lodge being of such a character as to imply that ifc is a class Lodge ; it not unfrequently happens that the

taster of the members will not always be the same , and after a time the name of the Lodge may imply . something exactly opposite to what is professed by its members . This is particularly noticeable in the case of Lodges bearing "locality " names , when , after a few years ' existence , it has been found desirable to remove them to other

districts ; but the inconsistency is not confined to " locality Lodges alone , as perhaps somo of onr readers may know . There are instances in which Lodges have been started , aud carried on for a time , as Class Lodges , tbat are now of a truly universal composition , having no particular

reference to their title , and for that reason attracting attention as curiosities . All this might be avoided if a stricter adherence to the principle of universality were observed . Not only should brethren prove themselves , by their actions as Masons , to be members of a truly

cosmopolitan order , but tbey should also avoid anything which might be mistaken for a departure in tho opposite direction , and of all things should they avoid anything in the name or description of their Lodge which might lead to an error of this character .

The Evolution Of Masonry.

THE EVOLUTION OF MASONRY .

FTJOM THE VOICE OF MAJONRY . IT is only in fable that Minerva springs full armed from tho brain __ of Jove ; only in fublo does Masonry spring from a single mind . Like all human institutions it is an outgrowth from something that preceded it ; an evolution , not a creation de novo . No demigod in some far-off past sent it spinning full-orbcd down thron » h the

centuries ; it grew , little by little , from onfc tho accumulating needs ancl experiences of mankind . If we wero to touch Masonry only in its symbolic and legendary aspect we might at first bo impressed with the idea that the Institution is a survival in a direct line from the myths of antiquity , taking on a local colouring as ifc was transmitted through the medium

of Jewish monotheism ; and the tendency to give this aspect an undue and misleading importance is very strong , owing to the large part which its symbolism and legends have played in its so-called historical literature . Indeed that literature has mainly consisted of attempts to connect Masonry through theso with the mysteries of tbo ancients , where it has not , as in many instances , started with tho assumption of

snch a connection . The reason for this is not far to seek . The love of the marvellous , and the susceptibility to it , if not innate , is yet so strong in the human mind that thero is always a tendency to try to connect that whose origin is lost in obscurity with some supernatural agency ; to link it with the mythical past and thus tako it out of tho prosy domain of cause and effect in which the lifo of to-day is admitted to move . This tendency ia by no means likel y to be

weakened by initiation into an institution whose methods of teaching are so realistic . It offers to the novitiate the untried and unknown ; hangs before him an impenetrable veil , and allows him to people the beyond with the creatures of his imagination . Approaching it with the idea that it is a very occult thing , his mind is in a condition well fitted to receive its traditions and allegories as the sober verities of literal fact .

When we remember that all which the great body of the Craft knew of its history had , like its legends , been handed down by oral tradition , and that they were without gnide to show the boundary lines of either ; that all the elaborate works on Masonry in exisence have been written since most of its prevailing legends had become a part of its lore , and that their writers had received these legends afc

first as all equally a heritage of a far-off past , it is easy to seo that their fabulous stories were the fruit of the misleading realism of Masonic teaching , rather than of a conscious purpose on their part to mislead their readers . How much they took for granted , and how little they pot to the proof we begin to comprehend when we learn thafc the rites of

Masonry were limited to one very simple ceremonial—that of Initiation—until the second decade of tho eighteenth centnry . The honorary distinctions of Fellow Craft aud Master existed for awhile previous to tbat time , but they wero simply honorary , and the conferring of them involved the communication of no additional secrets , no ceremonial that required even the temporay absence of

the youngest Entered Apprentice . What in the modern sense are k * own as "degrees" were unknown to Masonry . The intelligent Mason will not fail to note , therefore , that those legends and ceremonials which most nearly resemble in their structure the ancient mysteries , were not incorporated into Masonry until a period so recent that modern historical research safely and surely excludes them from any successive connection with those

mysteries , by Masonic descent . The additions thafc have been made to the legends and ceremonial of Masonry during the last centnry and a half do indeed embody myths resembling tho myths of antiquity ; but this proves nothing except that those early mythsrepresenting the powers and elements of material nature , and the movements of the heavenly bodies—had so stamped themselves on the plastic mind of the infant race , that in its maturity it has been

The Evolution Of Masonry.

unable to wholly free itself from their influence . All the great religions that havo followed them have been more or less moulded by them ; and if mankind is ever freed from this early bias it will be < nly through thafc philosophy which teaches us to look within , and net without , for our divinities . That some of the symbols of the Masonry which preceded the addition of these newly incorporated

rites aro identical with thoso used in the most primitive worshi p , when light and darkness wero tho divinities of good and evil , proves no moro than that those who composed the societies out of which Freemasonry was finally evolved shared tho common heritage of the race , and not that any aspect of Masonry is in a direct or exclusive seniw a survival of primitive mystic rites .

Approaching Freemasonry on its practical side , and attempting to trace , in snch a general way as the limits of a brief article will permit , the linos of its development , probably the earliest known example of associations of artizans , or craft-guilds , were those en . conraged , if not instituted , among the Romans by Numa , which , whether identical or not with the mediaeval guilds of Saxon , British

and Prankish growth , were doubtless tho outgrowths of the same needs ancl experiences . Plutarch enumerates nine of these Eoman collegia , one of which , that of the builders , inasmuch aa it was a fraternity of artizans , possessed at least one feature in common with what we know of the beginnings of Freemasonry . Contemporary with the Roman collegia

, and nearly contemporary with them in their origin , were the Greek Eranoi or Thiasoi , which were numerous at Rhodes , in the islands of tho Archipelago , at the Pirtens , and other important places . " These societies , " says L . Tonlmin Smith , " partook more nearly of the character of the meditoval guilds than did the Roman ; the members paid contributions toa general fund , aided one another

in necessity , provided for funerals , met in assembly to deliberate on their affairs , and celebrated feasts and religious ceremonies in common . Strict rules against disorderly conduct were to be en . forced by fine ; he who did not pay his yearly quota to the society was excluded , unless he could show good cause of poverty or sick , ness . "

The guilds of tho Middle Ages wero of three principal classes : the frith or peace-guilds which were associations for defence , based on mutual obligations , " sworn communities for the protection of right and the preservation of libotty ; " social or religious , for devotions , orisons , charities , the performance of miracle , and other plays , the setting out of pageants , and the providing of minstrels

and the trade guilds , divided into guilds . merchant and craft-guilds . The essential clement of all those was mutual help in sickness and poverty , and it was the absence of this element in the collegium so far as is known , that has led some of the ablest writers to deny its identity with the latter guild , though analagons in many respects . Some eminent writers , however , affirm this identity . If historical

research discovers sufficient data to fully determine this question ifc will probably be found thafc in thia case there has been no departure from the general law of evolution along existing lines ; and that from the experience of the collegia , was finally evolved the central idea of the guilds . One of the features possessed in common by the collegia , and the

mefliievnl Craft-guilds was the acknowledgment by the State of thoir right to an internal polity of their own , and , inasmuch as they were doing the work of the State in keeping their own members within the bounds of behaviour which characterizes good citizenship , their freedom from exactions . This is referred to because out of this peculiar relation to the State was probably evolved whatever of

mystery attached to these bodies , apart from the merely technical secrets of their operative handicraft ; secrets which artizans in all ages have cuarded with more or less jealousy , a jealousy which manifest itself to-day in tho placards marked " No Admittance , " which we often see on tho doors of workshops where some new process or trick of art is being carried on , still performing their primitive

function as a clumsy makeshift for letters patent . Of the members of these Craft-guilds , those who composed the masons' or builders' craft were necessarily the most nomadic , moving from place to place and country to country , as the ever-shifting scenes of human activity demanded their skill at new centres . Enjoying peculiar privileges , as we have seen , in their relations to the

State , means of recognition between them , not subject to loss by chance or separation , became a necessity in order to determine afc once who were entitled to such privileges ; and out of thafc necessity grew tho ritualistic language which constituted then , as it does now , . the credentials of the craftsmen . If it were not foreign to the purpose of this outline sketch , ifc

would be interesting to dwell on the influence of these voluntary associations in keeping alive through the Dark Ages the germs of civil and religions liberty . From the Collegia and Eranoi , down to the guilds of northern and central Europe which went to decay when the Reformation brought larger liberty for all , they were democratic in their organic basis , ancl republican in tbeir form of government ,

each constituting even in thafc early time a sort of model commonwealth , an example of what might ; be the relations of men when freed from the tyranny and rapacity of their temporal and spiritual rulers . It is impossible to tell to what influence was due , or afc what time be"an . the differentiation of the Masonic from the other Craft-guilds .

VVe have seen that the essential principle of the guild is the banding together for mutual help , particularly in sickness and poverty , but this obligation was based on stated contributions , which ceasing , the obligation lapsed . This feature is embalmed in the very name of tho organization . Says Toulmin Smith : "The meaning of the word guild or gild is closely connected with the origin of the

institution . Oild or geld was Old English for a set payment or contribution , zelden or zyldan , to pay ( whence also the present yield ) ; the primary meaning was payment , and the company of those who paid became known by this chief title to membership . " To whatever impulse due , the process of development ; which in the other guilds became arrested , in the mason-guild went on until the