Is The Bible An Ancient Masonic Landmark ?

IS THE BIBLE AN ANCIENT MASONIC LANDMARK ?

WE reprint the following letter from tbe Detroit Freemason , of tlie 3 rd instant : — To the Editor of the Detroit Freemason . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —A few months ago yon published a letter of mine , wherein I endeavonred to convince the luminaries of the Grand Lodges of Texas , Ohio , and Canada , that belief in the

inspiration of the Bible is not required of a candidate for Masonry under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of England . I have unfortunately lost the said paper , but I remember , on reading my communication , that it container ! several aggravating typographical blunders , to which I then called your attention ; also that the said

letter was reprinted in Canada with all the blunders . This fact proves conclusively that printers can make mistakes , and thus turn the writers ideas topsy-turvy . But transcribers of books or manu . scripts have also , either through carelessness or design , changed the wording in their copies and even interpolated whole paragraphs .

Nay , I can even point out books which wero ascribed by their authors to writers who had died centuries before the books wero written . Now , if Masons are required to believe in the inspiration of the Bible or to be expelled from Masonry it should at least bo demonstrated : first , that the founders of our Masonry laid that rule

down in their earliest Constitution ; and second , it should also be proved that transcribers of the Bible never did , nor could have changed either a word or syllable . I do not indeed expect to influence the luminaries of the said three jurisdictions , for it is the nature of that class of Pietists never to recede from any false step

they have taken . I may , however , stop the Contagion from spreading . First then , the original Masonic association was simply a trade guild j their object was precisely that of our trade unions . In accordance with the fashion of trade guilds in the middle ages , Masons ,

had to have their patron saints ( not necessarily the Saints John ) , and to believe in the doctrines of the church established by the law of the land ; and snch wero the laws of the English Masons up to 1717 , after which the Masonic organization was revolutionised . It then became what we call speculative or symbolic Masonry ; the old

laws and ritual were superceded by new laws and a new ritual , and symbolic teachings were then first introduced into the Masonic ritual ; and from the earliest constitutions and rituals of the reorganized Masonry after 1717 , we can best learn the aim and object of the new institution . Well , the first charge in the 1723

constitution says : " But though in ancient times Masons wero charged in every country to be of the religion of that country . . . whatever it was ; yet it is now thought moro expedient only to oblige them to that religion iu which all men agree , leaving their pnrticnlar opinions

to themselves , Unit is to ho good men , and truo men of hononr and honesty , by whatever denomination or persuasion they may be distinguished , whereby Masonry becomes the centre of union and means of conciliating true friendship among persons that must have remained rt a perpetual distance . "

There is no belief in the inspiration of the Bible mentioned iu the above , nor is the Bible mentioned in tho whole Constitution . That the Bible was not used in the Lodges at all even after 1723 , mny be learned from Dr . Anderson ' s narrative of 1730 , when the Duke of Norfolk was installed Grand Master , the Grand Lodge was opened

in due form , and on the pe ' estal ( equivalent to our altar ) was laid nofc tho Bible , square , & c , but the Book of Constitutions , with a Sword thereon , jnst the same as is now done in French Lodges . Again , in four of tho earliest ritnals , the word Bible is not mentioned . In one of the early catechisms there is a question , viz

" What were you sworn by ? " Answer : — " By God and the square ;" thus proving that the Bible was not used even for obligating the candidate . " Three lights " wero indeed in the earliest ritnals , but they were differently explained , thus they were made to refer to the

"Master Warden , and Fellow . " Again , "A Right East , Southand West , " al 3 o , " Sun , Master and Square . " There were also two other lights , viz : " One to see to go in , and another to see to work . " A French writer remarked , that ,

"Allegory is an instrument which will do anything . The system of figurative meaning once admitted , ono soon sees anything and everything in the clouds . The matter is never cmbarassing in all that is wanted in sjririt and imagination . The field is large and fertile for whatever explication mny ho required . "

Onr early ritual tinkers also paw anything and everything in the clouds ; sectarian explanations of tho symbols wore early introduced into the catechisms , bnt it took some years before they saw the Bible

in tho clouds , and still moro years before they introduced tho Bible as a great light ; thus , in a ritual of 1730 tho Bible , compass and square made their first appearance in a ritual , not however , as great lights , but as " the furniture of the Lodi / e . "

Now , the Bible doubtless contains excellent codes cf moivds and laws , but the sacred books of the Egyptians , Hindoos , Buddhists , fee ., also contain very good and just k . vs saal morals . Why then must I believe thafc writvn of the Bible wero inspired , whilo the writers of the other sacred books were not inspired ? Besides which , there are

in tho Bible certain narratives , dogmas nnd discrepancies , which hundreds of commentators and thousands of j-: eraK . rii ' t ; ers were and are unable to explain or to reconcile . I will just five an instance . Eusebius doubted the inspirations of (} 10 final : of Bivchtfciona and so did Erasmus , and Luther stoutly denied that the said book ' belongs

to the Scriptures . I c-raii name other Chris ' . iuna -. ho f . ro very " sludcy ' about the doctrine of inspiration , but nevertheless they ere good men , and true men of honour and honesty . ' . Men whom Andersoiiand Desaguliers , the foumlois of our modern Masonry , would not havo scrupled at acknowledging as Brother Masons . But the luminaries of Texas , Ohio , aud Canada set themselves up as holier raea than

Is The Bible An Ancient Masonic Landmark ?

Martin Luther , Erasmus , Eusebius , and many others I could name , simply because they believe that every word in the Bible was inspired by the Holy Ghost . Assuming , however , that every writer of every book in the Bible was snpernatnrally inspired , tho question next comes are we very

sure that overy one of those books camo dowu to our time just as they were written , without omissions , additions or alterations . The following facts must satisfy anyone that even the Bible was liable to mishaps . First , Justin M > irtvr wrote an account of a controversy he had

with a Jew named Trypho . Jnstin was a Greek , who early in the second century was converted to Christianity . As he did not know Hebrew , he derived hi 3 information from a Greek translation of the Old Testament . In a grove Justin happened to meet Trypho , whom he immediately tried to convert to Christianity . Justin informed

Trypho that Isaiah said ; " Behold , a Virgin shall be with child , and shall brine : forth a son , and they shall call his name Emanuel . " Trypho , however , at once denied that Isaiah ever said so . According to Trypho ' a version Isaiah said , " Behold the young woman is preg . nant and will give birth to a son , and you shall call his name

Emanuel . " We see now what a difference between the two Bibles One has it , a Virgin shall conceive , and the other refers to a " young woman " who had already conceived ; one says , " they shall call , " and tho other " you shall call . " Justin then exclaimed , " yon Jews havo corrupted your scriptures . " Well , it is certain that either Jews

or Christians have corrupted Isaiah s prophecy , and if passages in the Bible could be changed in one case why oould not other parts of the Bible also havo been changed ? fc Second ; the Samaritans are said to possess the oldest mannscrip Hebrew copy of tho fivo books of Moses . Now , if you will read in

the third volume of Smith ' s dictionary of the Bible , from page 1106 to 1118 , 1 think yon will find about two hundred variations between the Samaritans' version and the ordinary accepted Hebrew Pentateuch . And third ; there are a very large number of old manusoripfc

copies of the New Testament preserved ; some of them are perfect , some imperfect and also numerous fragments . The three oldest copies are known as the " Sinatic , " the " Vatican , " and " Alexan drian . " Now , in Tischendorf's New Testament , the said o'dest copies are compared with the King James' version , and I think that there

are about five thonsand variations between the said four versions , and some important variations too . For instance , the last twelve verses in the Book of Mark and the first eleven verses of the 8 th chapter of the gospel of John , are minus in the Sinatic as well as in the Vatican copies , and verses 7 th and 8 th in the fifth chapter of the 1 st Epistle

of John are wanting in all the three copies . The Rev . Bro . Savage said in his pulpit , that on comparing all the old versions , manuscript , New Testaments ( fragments included ) , with the King James ' version , the variations fiyjuro no ( I believe he said ) to 30 , 000 . And

strange to say though the above subject ha 3 been extensively ventilated thronghtho press and otherways , that our Masonic luminaries of three American Grand Lodges , soem as yet to be utterly ignorant thereof .

My dear brother , "the world moves" in spite of old opinions thafc ifc stood still . What was deemed orthodox in one ago I ' regarded as snperstitntion in the next a ^ o . One instance will suffice to demonstrate that fec ^ Well , about 200 years ago the people of Salem , in Massachusetts , were as firm believers that every word in tho Bible

was inspired by the Holy Ghost as onr Masonic luminaries of three American jurisdictions do to-day ; and as the Bible commands to kill all the witches , the good people of S ilem went to work and burnt ; witches by wholesale ; you see that the Salemites were then firm believers in witchcraft . But now , if Cotton Mather and Samnel Parris

were brought to life and were allowed to visit Salem , oh ! would not they jump ! Yes , even you if you had not met and conversed with the Salem folks , you would scarcely believe how much they were changed since the days of Cotton Mather ; why , even ministers of the gospel in Salem no longer believe in witchcraft . As an instance ,

the present worthy chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts , who is highly esteemed for his piety and theologic lore , is a minister of a church in Salem , and he actually disbelieves in witchcraft , though witchcraft is still in the Bible ; and I venture to assert that if the G . L . of Mass . took a notion to expel overy Mason in her

jurisdiction who does not believe that every word in the Bible was miracnlcusly inspired by the Holy Ghost , that not a solitary conscientious man , who was endowed with a particle of common sense would remain in any of her Lodges . Fraternally yours , JACOB NORTON .

Annual Picnic Of The Candour Lodge, No. 337.

ANNUAL PICNIC OP THE CANDOUR LODGE , No . 837 .

ON Wednesday , the 21 st inst ., tho members of Ibis Lodge held their annual picnic , tho place selected being tho Dukeries . The purty—eighty-one iu number—wore conveyed from Saddloworth StnVoi ; in three saloon canhigos , starting at half-past seven in tho moiMing . At Sfcahbriflo-e thev were taken in hand by the M . S . and L .

Railway , end they went . louitd by Guide Bridge and through Woodiioe . 'l on to WmKHi / p , which tiny reached at half-past ten , having been three hours on the journey . At Worksop they alighted , and wero then envyed in w ; : g ' . ; orcttea to the Dukeries . This entailed an hour or I V . M ' S fuithor riding , for the distance was -30 miles . Afc

Wol ' oeek Park tho party lunched , and a ,: '; er taking a hurried survey of the beautiful scenery , they started a ; -ain in waggonettes for Workso .-, and on arrival they sat dov . n to ; . n excellent repast , provided at tho Lion Hotel . They left Workson by train at ei ^ ht o ' clock , and

irnvud at Saddloworth Sta } ion ot half-past eloveu . Tho day was fine .. hroughout , tho company was pleasant , and the scenery grand , and the outing was therefore thoroughly enjoyed . The party wero riding in the train aud waggonettes altogether about nine hours .