Table Of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Bio . Hughan ' s Old Charges ( 171 Prov . Grand Mark Lodge for Kent 672 History of Britannic Lodge 672 Knight Templar Excursion to Europe ( 17 . Grand Commandery of Pennsylvania 674 Madras Masonic Orphan Fund 6 74 Laying the Foundation Stone of a new Church at

Puntefract 074 Secretaryship of the Girls'School 67 ( 1 The Escm iai 6 7 C CRAFT MASONIIY : — Metropolitan 6 7 S Provincial 6 7 8

Gibraltai 0 ; 8 ROVAI , Alien : — Prov . G . Chapter of Cheshire 6 7 S Gibraltar 0 78 MARK MASONRY : — Gibraltar ( 1 ; ij KNICUTS TF . MIM . AII ¦ . —

Provincial 6 79 DistrictGrand Lodge of Trinidad 6 79 Royal Masonic Institution for Girls 6 79 Masonic Tidings 6 S 0 Masonic Meetings for next week ( 1 S 1 Advertisements Tifnj , liro , G 82 683 , 684

Bro. Hughan's " Old Charges Of British Freemasons."

BRO . HUGHAN ' S " OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS . "

BY BRO . J ACOB NORTON ( BOSTON U . S . ) . To our German brethren , especially to Bro . Findel , we ; ire mainly indebted for the first genuine effort to clear Masonic history from the

mysticism and fables engrafted upon it , by Anderson , Preston , Ramsey , Oliver , & c . The next brother to whom the Craft is greatly indebted is our worthy brother , W . f . Hughan , whose

publication of old MSS . cannot be over-estimated . True , the Dow ' and ' s , Cooke ' s , and Ilalliwcll ' s MSS . had been printed long since , but so long as they formed mere isolated fragments , they

suggested nothing of importance . As an illustration , I must remind my readers that fossils were undoubtedl y excavated hundreds , or may be , thousands of years ago .

These were , doubtless , always admired as curiosities by the antiquarians , but as isolated specimens , produced no results . It was only after learned societies and museums were established .

and large quantities of those " medals of creation " were collected and exhibited , that a new light began to dawn ; then the scientist , for the first time , began to suspect a connection between

those curious fragments ; and by arranging them in due order , he _ was enabled to reveal to our view forms of the vegetable and animal kingdoms , which have disappeared from the earth ' s surface

many , very many ages past . Our Hro . Hughan ' s publication of the old charges , or MSS ., rendered the same service to Masonic history- which museums have done to geological science .

Halliwell ' s and Cooke ' s MSS . possess now a value in my estimation , which they could not have possessed so long as they remained buried in their places of deposit . The Halliwell and

Cooke MSS . are now no longer isolated , meaningless curiosities , but are seen to be parts of a great whole . By arranging all the known MSS . in due order , we get , for the iirst time , an

insi ght into the origin of nearly all the fables , handed down to our time by the operative Masons of old . And we can also perceive whence the materials were derived , which Anderson

wove and diffused into his " History of Freemasonry . " But however much we may deplore Anderson as an historian , we must not overlook his merit as a humanitarian . He found society divided into

sects , nationalities , etc ., in which each member was brought up to hate or despise all others who were not of his sect or nation . Anderson and his compeers took up the old Masonic society , and

remodelled it into a system of what we know as " Speculative Masonry . " His chief aim was , undoubtedly , that of uniting the good and true of all nations , sects , races , etc ., into an universal

brotherhood , and to afford all an opportunity of learning , by observation and experience , that morality and goodness are not the peculiar

heritage of any sect , nation , or race . Fortunately , society was then , in a measure , ripe for the experiment , and Masonry soon spread far and wide over the habitable globe .

That modern Masonry did establish a better feeling in society cannot be doubted by any one , except the extreme bigot , but that it has not accomplished all the good that it might and ought

to have done is equally certain . Its shortcomings I believe to be mainly due to the want of moral courage on the part of Anderson , and those associated with him . 'trucklinEr too much

to the prejudices of the time , flattering the ignorant with a history of his society , to which it had no pretension ; and this , in its turn , gave rise to Charlatanism , which has ever formed the bane

of Masonry . Thus , every mystic or human being , who possessed a . smattering of learning , and who had read something about the Cheops , Palmyra , the Olympiads , Sec , set himself up as a

great Masonic light , and every dreamer , who became half crazed with pondering over Isaiah , Daniel , and the Apocalyse , endeavoured to make others equally crazy , by confounding Masonry

with Sectarianism ; filling the Masonic Press with ridiculous speculations abont the " old dispensation , " and " new dispensation ; " and one of our Boston luminaries went even so far as to

assert that the Sabbath was changed by the Apostles from the seventh to the first day in the week , in a Masonic lodge . The phrase , " ancient landmarks , " which Anderson retained or introduced into his constitution

and ritual , gave rise to another class of charlatanism , equally mischievous , viz ., " Masonic jurisprudence . " Anderson himself was certainly the greatest innovator in the Masonic fraternity : he

engrafted upon the Craft principles and ideas which would have thrown the authors of the Halli well and Cooke MSS . into convulsions of rage , lie modified the constitution , and his second constitution differs from the first . What those

ancient landmarks were , Anderson either would not , or could not define . Here , however , it means this—that obsolete laws or customs , and every usage whose origin may be traced to no very

remote period , must be retained , because the candidate at initiation is told " as he received it , so he must impart it . " The result is that while all manner of absurd , mischievous practices were

suffered to creep into our ceremonies with impunity , no one found fault withremovinglandmarks when charlatans undertook to deteriorate the work of the lodge ; but if an effort is made now

to bring Masonry into conformity with its professions , it is immediately encountered with the pompous phrase , " ancient landmarks . " Take ,

for instance , the dedication of lodges . The pre-1717 rituals and MSS . are utterly silent about the Saints John . Anderson , who , as already said , truckled to thej prejudices of the age , dedicated

lodges , first to one Saint John , and afterwards both Saints of that name ; but he never claimed that the Saints Tohn were Grand Masters , or

even Masons . The dreamer , Dunckerly , who was as ignorant of history and chronology as the author of Matthew Cooke ' s MSS .. first introduced the

symbol of "the parallel lines , " with the Saint Johns' as " Masonic parallels . " Having made the saints into Masonics , the next thing was the invention of the legend , how the Evangelist

became G . M ., when upwards of ninety years of age , all which tended more and more to a departure from the principles laid down in Anderson ' s first charge . In England ; however , where the oiigin

of all that nonsense was known and understood , the mode of dedication was , in 1814 , made less objectionable than Anderson made it On the other hand , in America , if I ask our

charlatans ( who generally rule our Grand Lodges ) , to imitate the example of the Grand Lodge of England , Charlatan , No . 1 immediatel y writes an article to prove that St . Alban held his

Masonic assembly on St . John s Day . Charlatan No . 2 enlig htens us with the information how the Druids , clothed in white aprons and gloves marched in public procession on St . John ' s Day .

And Charlatan No . 3 gets up a learned oration on the antiquity of Masonry , showing that the Kabbalistic , llosicrucians , Ruchlin , Cornelius Agrippa , the Knights Templar , Moisbea

Nacham , Albertus Magnus , St . Thomas Aquinas , Dante , and others , were all Masonised luminaries . The following is a fair specimen of his mode of reasoning , thus , Ashmole

dabbled in alchemy , and he was a Freemason j Messrs . Lilly and Booker , both noted alchemists , were known to Ashmole . Here , then , is a link , and he reasons thus—if Ashmole , the Freemason ,

dabbled in alchemy , then Messrs . Lilly and Booker , the alchemists , must , in addition to alehemy , also have dabbled in Masonry . Besides which . did not alchemists and astrologers swear to

keep their knowledge secret ; and how could any one have got the idea of swearing to secrecy , without previous initiation into the three first degrees of Masonry ? And , of course , Messrs . Lilly and

Booker were also Masonised , and the Grand Lodge passed a vote of thanks to the learned lecturer , and recorded the lecture for the edification of future noodles . When I contemplate on

the cartloads of similar trash which abound in our so-called Masonic literature , I feel inclined to exclaim—Oh Masonry \ how manyabsurdities have been propagated in thy name !

Again , operatives , for obvious reasons , excluded the maimed from learning their trades . Anderson retained that law in the constitution , yet the Grand Lodge of England wisely

expunged that law . Anderson also retained the law of "Freeborn , " which the English Grand Lodge also verv properly discarded in 18 45 .

Here , however , in most of our Grand Lodges , "sound limb " is a sacred landmark , and a pious Grand Master went even so far as to disqualif y a man from initiation because the said man had

a defect in one of his eyes . True , _ . he could see better with the other eye than the very Grand Master could with two eyes . True , that he was

in every way , morall y and socially , qualified , "But the Bible , " said the Grand Master , "ordained that an animal with a blemish should not