Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. Evidences, Doctrines, And Traditions.
his minority ; and thenceforth put a stop to the persecution that had been raised against them . " A record in the reign of Edward IV . runs thus : — " The company of Masons , being otherwise termed Freemasons , of auncient staunding and good reckoninge , by means of affable ancl kind meetynges dyverse tymes ^ and as alovinge brotherhode use to doedid frequent this mutual assemblin the
, y tyme of Henry VI . in the twelfth yeare of his most gracious reign . The charges and laws of the Freemasons were seen and perused by King Henry VI . and by the Lords of his most honourable Council , who have allowed them , and declared , that they be ri ght good and reasonable to be holden , as they have been drawn out and collected from the records of auntient tymes . "
, _ The celebrated antiquary Elias Ashmole , as we learn from his life , " was elected a Brother of the company of Freemasons ; a favour esteemed so singular by the members , that kings themselves have not disdained to enter themselves of this society . From these are derived the adopted Masons , accepted Masons , or Freemasons , who are known to one
another all over the world by certain signals and loatchwords , known to them alone . The manner of their adoption or admission is very formal and solemn , and with the administration of an oath of secrecy , which has had better fate than all other oaths , and has ever been most religiously observed ; nor has the world been yet able , by the inadvertency , surprise , or folly of any of its members , to dive into this mystery , or make the least discovery . "
The ancient Charges of Masonry are preserved in a manuscript , written in the reign of James , possessed by the Loclge of Antiquity ; and also in an ancient manuscript in the British Museum , already referred to ; and they , provide , among many judicious operative regulations , " yee shall call all Masons your fellows , or your brethren , and no other
names . Yee shall not take your fellow ' s wife in villany , nor deflower his daughter or servant , nor put him to any disworship . That the Mason to be made , be able in all degrees ; that is , free-born , of a good kindred , true , and no bondsman , and that he have his right limbs as a man ought to have . That every Mason receive and cherish strange fellows when
they come over the countrie , and set them on worke if they will worke , as the manner is . " And the manuscript concludes thus— " These be all the charges and covenants that ought to be read at the instalment of Master , or making of a Freemason or Freemasons . The Almighty God of Jacob ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. Evidences, Doctrines, And Traditions.
his minority ; and thenceforth put a stop to the persecution that had been raised against them . " A record in the reign of Edward IV . runs thus : — " The company of Masons , being otherwise termed Freemasons , of auncient staunding and good reckoninge , by means of affable ancl kind meetynges dyverse tymes ^ and as alovinge brotherhode use to doedid frequent this mutual assemblin the
, y tyme of Henry VI . in the twelfth yeare of his most gracious reign . The charges and laws of the Freemasons were seen and perused by King Henry VI . and by the Lords of his most honourable Council , who have allowed them , and declared , that they be ri ght good and reasonable to be holden , as they have been drawn out and collected from the records of auntient tymes . "
, _ The celebrated antiquary Elias Ashmole , as we learn from his life , " was elected a Brother of the company of Freemasons ; a favour esteemed so singular by the members , that kings themselves have not disdained to enter themselves of this society . From these are derived the adopted Masons , accepted Masons , or Freemasons , who are known to one
another all over the world by certain signals and loatchwords , known to them alone . The manner of their adoption or admission is very formal and solemn , and with the administration of an oath of secrecy , which has had better fate than all other oaths , and has ever been most religiously observed ; nor has the world been yet able , by the inadvertency , surprise , or folly of any of its members , to dive into this mystery , or make the least discovery . "
The ancient Charges of Masonry are preserved in a manuscript , written in the reign of James , possessed by the Loclge of Antiquity ; and also in an ancient manuscript in the British Museum , already referred to ; and they , provide , among many judicious operative regulations , " yee shall call all Masons your fellows , or your brethren , and no other
names . Yee shall not take your fellow ' s wife in villany , nor deflower his daughter or servant , nor put him to any disworship . That the Mason to be made , be able in all degrees ; that is , free-born , of a good kindred , true , and no bondsman , and that he have his right limbs as a man ought to have . That every Mason receive and cherish strange fellows when
they come over the countrie , and set them on worke if they will worke , as the manner is . " And the manuscript concludes thus— " These be all the charges and covenants that ought to be read at the instalment of Master , or making of a Freemason or Freemasons . The Almighty God of Jacob ,