Lodges And Chapters Of Instruction.

altation vvas rehearsed , Comp . Wetzlar being candidate , the addresses being very ably rendered by the Principals . Comp- Hillier vvas elected a member . The M . E . Z . rose the usual number of times , and after " Hearty good wishes , " the chapter was closed .

STAR CHAPTER ( No . 1275 ) . —The usual weekly meetinn- of this chapter vvas held on Friday , the 24 th ult ., at the StTrling Castle , Church-street , Camberwell , S . E ., when there were present Comps . Capt . Vincent , P . Z ., Z . elect 1329 , P . G . S . B . Middlesex , M . E . Z . ; Marsden , H . elect 1329 , H . J Hill , J . j F . Hilton , P . Z . 1275 , Preceptor j Stone , , 375 , S . E . ; Wilson , 1329 , S . N . ; Murche , 1329 , P . S . ; G . Gill , 1329 , A . S ., * Addington , Z . 1275 j Goldschmidt ,

i' -2 g ; Gooding , 1329 ; Grummant , P . Z . 1275 ; G . L . Moore , Z . 1 G 9 ; Patrick , Z . 1623 ; Bannister , 449 ; Dove , and Whiteman . The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed . The ceremony of exaltation was rehearsed , with Comp . Addington as candidate . Comps . Gill , Goldschmidt , Bannister , and Gooding vvere elected joining' members . Comp . Marsden vvas elected M . E . Z . for the next meeting .

NORTH LONDON CHAPTER ( No . 1471 ) . —A convocation vvas held on Monday , the 27 th ult ., at the Grosvenor Hotel , Grosvenor-road ( opposite the Canonbury Railway Station ) . Present : Comps . John McLaren , M . E . Z . ; William Iron , H . ; James Scarlett , J . ; John Evans Sheffield , S . E . ; Wm . Perrin , S . N . ; and several

other companions . The chapter vvas opened , and the ceremony of exaltation was rehearsed by Comp . J . McLaren , assisted by his officers , and a very instructive evening vvas spent . The chapter vvas then closed . All Royal Arch Masons will receive a cordial welcome to this chapter of improvement .

Wakefield Masonic Literary Society.

WAKEFIELD MASONIC LITERARY SOCIETY .

LECTURE BY BRO . G . W . SPETH ,

SECRETARY , Q UATUOR CORONATI LODGE , LONDON . The annual meeting of this society vvas held at the Masonic Hall , Zetland-street , Wakefield , on Monday , the 20 th ult . Among the brethren present there were Bros , the Prov . G . M . of West Yorks , T . W . Tew , J . P ., President of the Society ; the D . G . M ., Henry

Smith ; G . W . Speth , P . M ., Sec . Quatuor Coronati Lodge , MacBean , J . Ramsden Riley , P . M ., of 2076 ; J . Monckman , P . M . 1018 ; J . R . Welsman , P . M . 600 ; H . France , P . M . 1019 ; H . Oxley , P . M . 495 ; H . G . E . Green , P . M ., Prov . G . Sec , J . Mathevvman , P . M ., Prov . A . G . Sec , H . Smith , P . M . W . H . Milnes , P . M .,

F . Simpson , P . M ., and W . Ash , P . M ., of 1019 ; G . Bolton , P . M ., and J . Gerrard , P . M ., of 154 ; W . Pickard , P . M ., and T . Hovvden , P . M ., of 1019 ; Manning , Birkenshaw , and Fitzpatric , W . M ., of 495 ; J . J . Martin , W . M ., Lutze , Spencer , and J . H . Lee , of 1019 ; T . P . Robinson , 206 9 ; Banks , 1019 ; F . Taylor ,

154 ; A . Leach , Scholten , J . Martin , and Kingsvvell , of 495 ; White and Sheard , of 1019 ; G . Carbert , 495 ; A . Shaw and H . Childe , of 154 ; T . Gosney and W . Hall , of 1019 ; H . Goodyear , P . M . 495 , and others . Bro . H . S . CHII . DE , one of the Secretaries , then read

the minutes of last meeting , vvhich vvere put and confirmed . Letters or telegrams of apology vvere announced from Bros . J L . Atherton , P . M . 439 ; W . C . Lupton , P . M . 974 ; T . B . Whytehead , P . M . 1611 , P . G . W . North and East Yorks ; Tudor Trevor , P . M ., and Wm . Watson , P . M ., P . G . S . of W ., Hon . Librarian

West Yorks , of 2069 ; and T . B . Fox , P . M . 208 . The report and balance sheet for the year just ended vvere read by Bro . MATTHEWMAN , who showed that both numerically and financially the Society vvas in a very satisfactory condition . These were adopted by the meeting and ordered to be entered on the minutes .

This being the annual meeting , the election of officers for the ensuing year took place . On the motion of Bro . MATTHEWMAN , the Prov . G . Master , Bro . T . W . Tew , was unanimously elected President . Bro . TEW , who , from its commencement , has shown

marked interest in the Wakefield Literary Society , expressed his thanks , and promised to do what he could in the interest of the Institution , believing that it was calculated to create greater interest in Masonic matters , and thereb y do great good . Four Vice-Presidents , consisting of the Deputy Prov .

Grand Master , Bro . H . Smith , and the Worshipful Masters ofthe three Wakefield lodges—Bros . Garforth , 154 ; Fitzpatric , 495 ; and Martin , 1019 , were next appointed . The Treasurer , Bro . J . B . Manning , 495 , and the two Secretaries , Bros . 1 . Matthewman , P . M . 1019 , and H .

S . Childe , 154 , were unanimously re-elected . They all three consented to serve for the ensuing year . A Committee of nine brethren—three from each Wakefield lodge—was next chosen . They vvere Bros . J . Gerrard , P . M ., G . Bolton , P . M ., and W . Fennel ! , from the Unanimity ; H . Oxley , P . M ., B . Glover , P . M .,

and T . Hargreaves , P . M ., from the Wakefield ; and H . Smith , P . M ., W . Ash , P . M , and T . Gosney , from the Lodge of Sincerity . The business proceedings being now complete , the President , Bro . T . W . Tew , J . P ., introduced the lecturer 'n cordial and complimentary terms . He took occasion

also to advert to the Quatuor Coronati Lodge , explain-> ng its end , aims , and objects , showed the great results which had already accrued from the formation of that distinctl y . literary lodge , named some of its illustrious Presidents and members , and gave a most interesting

account of the term " Quatuor Coronati , " explaining wh y it vvas so-called , and describing the place with which ils name was associated , adding personal reminiscences of his visit to Italy in the spring of last year , and his " p ious pilgrimage " to that hallowed spot .

Wakefield Masonic Literary Society.

Bro . SPETH then came forward , and announced his lecture as "The Degrees of Ancient Freemasonry . " His object , he declared , to be an explanation of the ceremonial usage of ancient Freemasonry , and for the purposes of his lecture decided to call proceedings previous to 1717 " Ancient" whilst those since that date he

, characterised as " Modern , " not , he carefully explained , that there vvas any line of demarcation symbollically or philosophically speaking , between the two periods , but simply that he did it for convenience , as he vvas , in fact , going to argue their continuous and consistent oneness from early times down to the present . The lecturer

then gave an able definition and exposition of symbolism as distinguished from ceremonial , illustrating his points b y reference to matters familiar to every Masonic mind but which cannot in a newspaper be re-produced . He showed the absolute belief in his teachers which formerly possessed the pupil in Freemasonry amounting

to credulous infatuation ; then the rise of the iconoclasts , those Masonic heretics and infidels , who , lacking knowledge and full of prejudice , maintained in their shortsig hted ignorance that Dr . Desaguliers had invented and introduced most of our symbolism between the years 1721 and 1730 . Next the rise of the school

vvhich maintained that as the resemblance between many of our symbols and those of the Hermetic philosophers , alchemists , and ( so-called ) Rosicrucians was so close , the reasonable probability was that the symbolism of these then moribund societies vvas seized upon and engrafted upon the then also

exspiring operative Masonic Craft , and lastly that the tendency of recent Masonic opinion , founded as it is upon much closer historic research , is now becoming distinctl y in favour of the position taken up by Bro . Goiild at a meeting of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge on 3 rd January , 18 90 , when he enunciated this

statement : "The symbolism of Freemasonry , or at all events a material part of it is of very great antiquity , and in substance the system we now possess has come down to us in all its essentials from times not only remote to our own , but also to the founders of the earliest of Grand Lodges . " Bro . Gould pointed out

that much of our present symbolism vvas not understood even at the present day . Bro . Speth gave instanceshe showed that some of the same symbolism is recorded in Pritchard ' s " Masonry dissected" of 1730 , and"The Grand Mystery of Freemasonry dissected" of 1724 , and that these agree in important respects vvith the laws

of the Aberdeen Lodge of 1670 ; but he also pointed out that in 1730 these matters were as little understood as now , and pertinently asked if we could believe that Desaguliers and his contemporaries would introduce new matter vvhich they could not themselves understand , the inference being irresistible that in 1724 these

symbols were so old that their very meaning vvas lostowing probably to imperfect transmission . Bro . Speth then gave illustrations of symbolic expressions , which had dropped out of use because unintellig ible , and carefully examined a familiar Masonic question and reply which he characterised as " blatant nonsense . " He

also quoted Albert Pike , the " Nestor of American Freemasonry , " who maintains that the essence of Freemasonry lies in its symbolism , and that when vve recover the true meaning of our symbols vve shall understand the Craft , and further that a true Masonic symbol is not a mere

allegory or figure of speech , but that every symbol is the embodiment of a great fundamental moral truth . Illustrating this point , Bro . Speth quoted from the "Golden Ass" of Lucius Apuleius , a Platonic philosopher of the second century , who declared on his initiation into the mysteries as then practised in Greece

that he went to the Confines of Tartarus , and that he saw the sun at midnig ht . The lecturer here explained what he believed was meant , and applied it to our Masonic instruction to an initiate , pointing out that its true meaning was forgotten in 1717 , and that our

modern iecture-makers had done their best to obscure it for ever . Having established Bro . Gould ' s contention that our symbols are ancient , Bro . Speth next cautioned W . M . ' s and Masonic instructors upon allowing candidates to remain in their pathetic ignorance , and admonished them to offer at the end of a

ceremony such an explanation to an initiate as would reasonably reconcile him to what was otherwise unintelligible ; let us not be afraid he continued , to confess that our symbols are traditionary , so venerable that their real meaning has been in some instances lost , but that they are not as some of them appear—a childish play

upon words—but contain the crystallised essence of sublime truths . Bro . Speth next went on to argue that though our symbolism is undoubtedly ancient it does not at all follow that our ceremonies are equally so . It is possible to conceive that in olden times a mere oath was administered , and that the various doctrines

and symbols were inculcated by a species of exhortation delivered either at one or at various sittings , but this he did not consider very likely , as the laws of probability would lead us to infer , that our ancient brethren , like ourselves , conveyed their teaching in a dramatic form by means of ceremonies . These

ceremonies may have been one , two , three , or more ; and the lecturer declared his conviction that they were two only , and that those two embodied our present three . The rest of the lecture vvas taken up vvith the establishment by comparison ancl evidences of various kinds of this theory . This vvas most cleverly worked

out , beginning vvith an enquiry into the status oi the mediaeval artisan who , Bro . Speth showed , was controlled by his guild or cratt . As a youth he had to be apprenticed for , in most cases , seven years to a member of the guild , in order to acquire skill and knowledge , If he learned his trade b y other means than b y appren-

Wakefield Masonic Literary Society.

ticeship he vvas a "cowan , " and ineli gible to obtain work wherever a guild of his craft possessed any power . If apprenticed to a workman not a member of a guild his apprenticeship vvas counted void . His indentures vvere entered on the books of the craft , and thus arose in Scotland the term " Entered Apprentice , " which

term , so far as can be gathered , was unknown in England before 1717 . After having served his time he was required to pass an examination and produce a masterpiece , after vvhich he was declared a " master workman . " There was no intermediate stage . He was then free to join the guild , and thus became a " Fellow of Craft , "

a title vvhich , however , conferred no distinctive rank . Once , however , having taken up the membership of the guild , he vvas free of the craft wherever he might be , his status being recognised in all parts of the kingdom . In this respect the laws of the Freemasons appear to have differed from those of other trades ;

wherever a Freemason journeyed the guild or lodge must find him work once he had demonstrated himself a Fellow . And the next question is—how did he do this ? Clearly by means of grips , signs , tokens , & c , by means of vvhich he made himself known , and in receiving vvhich some " ceremony" must have been

passed through . Thus the Mason ' s ceremony is established . Bro . Speth then quoted Masonic documents of undoubted antiquity to prove that earl y Freemasons knew only of two grades—Apprentice and Fellow . The term Master Mason was Scotch , the English expressions were A . and F . Of these MSS .

there are 56 known , the earliest dating from 1583 , and they contain the legendary history of the formation of the Craft of Masonry and the laws and regulations of the Freemasons . They are usually known as MS . Constitutions . A photographic copy of the Scarborough MS . was exhibited by the lecturei , and a quotation read from

the Grand Lodge MS . of A . D . 1583 , vvhich is preserved in the library of the Grand Lodge of England . The address Bro . Speth pointed out is invariabl y " Good Brethren and Fellows , " not " Masters ; " nowhere is there any distinction of rank found between Master and Fellow . After citing many authorities , and

mentioning others , the following conclusions vvere arrived at : That apprenticeship entailed being made a Mason ; that the act required the assent , and therefore the presence of a number of Fellows ; that the legendary history of the Craft vvas recited to the novice ; that he then had to take an oath on the Volume of the Sacred

Law . This constituted " making a Mason . " . Next that a Fellow ' s ceremony had peculiar secrets ; that it was conferred only at an annual assembl y and after previous examination , and that a secret charge was communicated . Bro . Speth next showed how membership of the Craft amongst gentlemen or

speculative Masonry began , quoted Elias Ashmole , 1646 ; Randle Holme , of Chester , 1665 ; John Aubrey , 1660 , —1670 , Dr . Plott , and others , in support of his statements , but , at the same time , stoutly maintained that it vvas confined to two Degrees—the Apprentice and the Fellow . This contention , which the lecturer appears

most conclusively to have established , was illustrated b y extracts from the York minutes , and even those of Grand Lodge of a later date . A long and most interesting excerpt from the Flying Post , No . 4712 , published in April , 1723 , vvas here introduced , and Bro . Speth suggested that possibly the editor , who appears to have

tried to curry favour with both Masons and non-Masons , had obtained his information from some discontented operative Mason , who , seeing his lodge now consisted of speculative Masons , gentlemen with whom and himself there could be little in common , took his information to the sympathising proprietor of the Post , and poured

out his woes to the Editor , whose consolation , was , doubtless , in proportion to the amount of " Copy " obtained . Be that as it may , the evidence pointed distinctly to two Degrees only . Bro . Speth also mentioned a parchment roll shown to him by Bro . Stanley , of Margate , in February , 1888 , which , whilst in

most respects , it resembled the ordinary MS . Constitutions , contained at the end a doggerel rhyme , which vvas declared to be the prophecy of Roger Bacon " writ " on the south side of one of the pyramids of Egypt . This rigmarole , the events mentioned , in vvhich Bro . Speth believes he has satisfactorily determined to have

occurred during the year preceding the death of Queen Anne , which took place August ist , 1714 , was read by the lecturer . We fear vve must not re-produce it here , for more reasons than one—but content ourselves vvith saying that like all the independent evidence vvhich had previously been collected and brought to bear , it

supported the two Degree theory emphatically . And now Bro . Speth attempted to show when and how the Third Degree of to-day took its rise . He contended that the present Master Mason ' s Degree was simply a severance of a certain portion of the ritual existing in the two earliest grades , and its establishment

as a separate function conferring the rank or status of M . M . This , however , the speaker declared , vvas conjecture merely ; at the same time distinctly avowing his own personal opinion that it vvas , so far as our present knowledge went , the most reasonable explanation of the rise of what he had proved to

demonstration to be non-existent before 1717 . Ihe Hiramic Legend and the interesting Masonic questions connected therewith were here treated in a most lucid and masterly manner , but beyond that vve cannot say more in print . The evidence of Dr . Marks , the learned

Jewish Rabbi , in relation to this matter vvas commented upon , and the lecturer expressed a devout hope that the MS . vvhich Dr . Marks , whose evidence is unimpeachable , declared he had seen , would be rescued from the oblivion into vvhich it appears to have sunk , and be found by some persevering inquirer on . the shelves of