Original Correspondence.

The truth is , the greatest Masonic teachers were inconsistent in their teachings . They blew hot and bleW - cold ; on one page glorifying Masonry for its cosmopolitanism , on the next for its Christianity , and on the third would declare that cosmopolitanism and Christianity mean the same thing , & c . Now ,

X call this double-dealing ; and double-dealing is cheating , and is not in accord with our boast that sincerity and plain-dealing are and ought to be our distinguishing characteristics . Let us , for instance , examine the writings of Hutchinson and Oliver , the greatest Masonic teachers of their day and

generation . The former says , "Masonry directs us to divest ourselves of confined and bigoted notions , and teaches us that humanity is the soul of religion . We never suffer any religious disputes in our lodges , and as Masons , we only pursue the universal religion of Nature : ' Now , if he believed it was

so , why did he teach that the third degree was Christian , & c ? Dr . Oliver tells us ( Golden Remains , vol . 4 ) , " That Freemasonry in the abstract is not a system of religion , is an evident fact -which no intelligent Mason will attempt to deny " ; and , when defending Masonry from the attacks of some bigots ,

he goes on to say : "In contemplation of His goodness , His wisdom and His power , the Turk , the Jew , and the Christian can join in adoration and worship of a Deity in whose hands are the issues of life and death ; and is it necessary that this admirable system of union for the best purposes should be

destroyed by the introduction into a Christian lodge of the doctrine of redemption , which must offend the Turk ? of the holy name of Messiah , which offends the prejudices of the Jew ? or in a Turkish lodge -. the name of Mahomet , which must offend both Jew and Christian ? and thereby defeat the

universality of an excellent institution ? No , we are brethren ; the Godhead has taught us so to call each other ; the innate principle persuades us that we are so . Shall , then , this temporary and happy accommodation of sentiment to good purposes stamp us deists ? Very far from it . When the

lodge is closed , each departs untainted by the other ; the Jew to his synagogue , the Turk to his mosque , the Christian to his church , as fully impressed as ever with the divine origin and rectitude of his own faith from the principles he has never for one moment swerved in thought or deed . " Now , who would believe that the same Dr . Oliver had ever

written a book , or rather library of books , for the purpose of proving that Masonry teaches the "fall of man , " " redemption , " & c ? or that he ever racked his brain to torture every emblem on the Masonic tracing-board to have distinct reference to the doctrines of his church ? Here , then , is the cause of

the inconsistency which wc complain of . We have to thank these worthies for the prevailing confusion of ideas regarding thc religious and social design of Masonry . Bro . Hughan is doubtless sensible of the evils flowing Jfroin inconsistency . He knows that Masonry is not sectarian ; he knows that 'it would

be valueless if it were ; and he must doubtless also know , that besides Christians , Jews and Mahometans , many arc admitted into our society who do not believe in revelation at all , or whose construction of the Bible is so dubious that ninety-nine out of a hundred Christians would call them infidels . These

brethren have individually received thc same promises and assurances at their respective initiations that Jews and Christians have received ; and I maintain that ninety-nine have no more right to break their plighted faith to one , than the one can do so to ninety-nine . That class of brethren our

Bro . Hughan ignored entirely in his " Religious Aspects , " but confined his remarks solely to believers in revclation , viz ., Christians , J ews , and Mahometans ; and in the event of a disputebetween thc members ofa lodge belonging to different sects , Bro . Hughan recommends that a majority of votes shall decide

which book of revelation shall generally lie open in the lodge . That is Bro . Hughan ' s remedy ; but will a vote of a majority satisfy ? Would it not rather tend to divide the lodge ? and instead of accomplishing our design of uniting men of divers sects , we shall separate them into sectarian lodges , when each

will claim the right of preaching in a lodge the doctrines contained in his holy book which lies open in the lodge , and all this confusion must be perpetuated in order to preserve what Bro . II . is p leased to call a " landmark . " The term landmark is , however , a misnomer . It might with propriety

be applied to thc principles of Masonry , such as Brotherly Love , Relief , Truth , Honour , Justice , & c , but it cannot be applied to forms , ceremonies , or laws , because these have repeatedly been changed , and may be changed and altered whenever we find it needful , or when we find that the old forms arc antagonistic to the principles of truth and justice so

as to mar the harmony of our association . If , therefore , our Bro . Hughan mainly relies ( as it appears ) upon " landmarks " to prop up his theory , then , with all due respect to my worthy and learned brother , I claim that he is virtually beaten . Bro . Hughan shows sensitiveness at the mention of the burning of heretics . This : \\\\\ aim 1 deemed peccssary in order to remove his im j . -cssion , that

Original Correspondence.

the origin of the Masonic idea is indebted to Christianity and its teachings . The fact is , we all imbibed the same kind of prejudices when young ; each has learned to believe that the heart which beats in the bosom of a member of his own sect , is a better heart than the one that beats in the bosom

of a member of another sect , and that thc virtues of his sect is supreme , etc . Thus we hear one man talk of a " Christian heart , " " Christian benevolence , " etc ., while his Jewish neighbour , just as conceited , will have it that the Jewish heart , Jewish benevolence , etc ., is the most praiseworthy ; and so

it is with all other sects . Now , as a Mason , when writing to Masons , I have nothing to . do with cither Jewish or Christian proclivities ; my object is truth ; and it appears to me that the inspiration of Dr . Anderson and his coadjutors which gave rise to the Masonic idea " to unite men of every

sect and opinion " into a brotherhood , was not indebted to Christian teachings , but to the religious persecutions and hatred of sects , which received its final check ( I hope ) with the expulsion of James II . from England , and with the Thirty Years' War on the Continent . It was the natural reaction from

those barbarous times that revolutionized men ' s minds politically and religiously , and which inspired two Calvinistic Doctors of Divinity with a " charily to all mankind" such as was never openly taught by any Doctor of Divinity before the 17 th century , and such as a majority of the Doctors of Divinity

of to-day still squirm at . The question , therefore , narrows itself to a point , and herein wc disagree . Bro . Hughan maintains that the "Holy Bible , " " sacred law , " " sacred Scriptures , " etc ., is a landmark : while I think that , as no candidate was ever questioned ( when he

received certain assurances ) about his belief or disbelief in any book of revelation , the Bible , therefore , is not a landmark , and what is more , we are morally bound to remove the Bible , or allusions to it , in the ceremonies as an inspired book , when any one objects to it from motives of conscience . And if our overzealous brethren are made acquainted with

the true aim and object of Masonry , and if they learn that the Bible in the lodge is at the sufferance of , not majorities , but of a single individual member , they will naturally in future refrain from introducing topics during lodge hours , that mars that harmony and brotherly love , which it is our main duty to inculcate and cultivate .

Respectfully and fraternally yours , JACOB NORTON . Boston , Mass ., April 5 th , 1871 . P . S . —Sec page 667 Findel's 2 nd edition "History of Freemasonry , " from 27 th to 30 th line from top , both inclusive , from which I infer that the Bible was at one time absent from a lodcrc .

SUBORDINATION IN THE HIGHER DEGREES—THEIR HISTORY . { To the Editor of Thc Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , — I can produce printed evidence showing that certain high grades ( which after 1 744 were popularly believed to be

associated with Rosicrucianism ) were known 1721 , 1724 , and 1 744 , to the Grand Lodge of 1717 . I am not able to demonstrate with unerring certainty what these high degrees were ; but I can give good reasons for believing that they were Arch , Templar , and Priest . It is also certain from existing records

that the "Royal Order of Scotland , H . R . M ., R . S . Y . C . S . S . " was of " time immemorial " antiquity in London in 1717 . Thc so-called S . C . put forward semi-official papers some years ago to show that the " Royal Order of Scotland " was thc parent of thc French Rose Croix . I am not prepared to go

that length , as I think it quite as likely that thc old Arch or Red Cross and Rosa . * Crucis are the parents of Hcredom Rosy Cross , as thc latter the former . Be it specially observed , however , that the latter order claims , by ancient tradition , to have been founded bv Bruce ' s Temolars in 1314 , to be

therefore a 1 empl . tr Degree ; be it also noted , as I will proceed to show , that near to 1750 the Templar and the Kadosh are historically known to have been separate orders and yet closely oilier / ; so that our Ancient Templar rite , as we now have it , was in existence before the "Ancient and Accepted Rite . "

Tlie Icar . ' icd Brother Gudicke states in his freemason's Lexicon , that prior to 1 7 . 35-4 6 , certain high grades wjre possessed by the lodge at Clermont ; possibly the degrees approximated to the peculiar system of Bro . Ramsay , of which mention is made by liro . Forsyth , page 252 of THE FREEMASON , G . ulicke also states that Field Marshal Von

Marshall practised the Templar Order in 1740 , and that Baron Hun . fa , " Privy Councillor and proprietor of many cstatci , " crossed over to the French army at Brabant in 1743 , and was there initiated into Templar Masonry ; the Kadosh is said to have been established at Lyons in the same year . In 1745 , Prince Charles Edward Stuart was made a Templar

Original Correspondence.

at Holyrood , and in 1747 he granted a charter to Arras as " King of Great Britain and in that quality S . G . M . ofthe Chapter of Heredom , " known under the title of Knight of the Eagle and Pelican , and , " since our misfortunes , as Rose Croix . " Baron Hunde , it would seem , was afterwards connected

with Prince Charles , and in 1754 propagated a rite of seven degrees , of which 5 th was Rosy Croix , 6 th Templar , 7 th Kadosh . This rite , in Germany , partially supplanted the Rosicrucian rite of 9 degrees . The records of thc Royal Order of Scotland show that Hunde ' s rite was possessed by the Lodge

of St . George of Observance , London , in 17 S 2 . The vaunted A . and A . Rite now makes its appearance . In 1758 , Pirlet , a tailor , and Lacorne , a dancingmaster , without authority invented a new rite of 25 , called the " Empire of the East and West . " Their Sovereign , Chaillor de Joinville , gave a patent

to a Jewish merchant , named Morin , to propagate the degrees in Jamaica ; he there informed his chapter that a council had been held in Paris to decide whether or not the Templar and the Kadosh were the same degree . Anyhow , they adopted the designation , " Knight of the White and Black

Eagle , " the Templar colours , prior to the statutes of Bordeaux in 1762 . Bro . Stephen Morin granted a patent to Bro . Franckin in 176 9 to establish the rite ; then of 29 ° , in America , where it continued to be propagated by wandering Masonic pedlars . At Charleston , in 1862 , the K . H . is styled the 29 ,

and the statutes were therefore forged and the rite augmented , subsequent to that date . The rite went to France in 1804 from Charleston . It is historically noteworthy that the old certificate of the Camp of Antiquity , Bath , amalgamates two degrees as " Knight of the East and West and Knight of the

Sword and the Eagle , " and also omits the degree called " Prince of the Tabernacle , " thus proving it to be the most recent interpolation . Such is the history of the so-called " A . and A . Rite " prior to its establishment in this country in 1845 . The old Templar Rite continued to be practised in England

down to 1 790 , in which year it was taken up by Bro . Thomas Dunckerley , whose official reports place the Rosa Crucis degree before or after the Templar indifferently ; but he distinctly states that the history of the Kadosh ( itself a Templar history ) cannot be written . No minutes were allowed . It

was , however , at that time conferred only upon elected Templar Commanders , and was qualified as the " Commanders Degree of Ne Plus Ultra . ' ' The York Conclave of " Redemption " now of Hull ( in common with thc Jerusalem Conclave of Manchester , one of its emanations through the York

Grand Lodge ); the "Baldwin , " Bristol ; "Antiquity , " 13 ath ; and "Observance , " London ; all in 1790 gave the Seven Steps of Chivalry under Bro . Dunckerley ' s authority and warrant , the A e Plus Ultra of which rite was at that time the Kadosh ; and as the General Chapter in London was , prior to 1851 ,

composed solely of Commanders , it was styled in all its circulars thc "Grand Conclave ofthe Royal Orders of H . R . D . M . K . D . S . H . Ne Plus Ultra . " According to Archdeacon Mant ( no mean authority ) any three Templars possessed of the Rosa ; Crucis had ancient prescriptive right to confer it .

Can a conscientious believer in his obligation disprove all this ? No . If ignorant thereof , he is disqualified from setting up himself as a " teacher in Israel ; " if he is acquainted therewith he is then trying to deceive others in a most unprincipled manner . 1 readily , however , admit that the

Templars ought not to trouplc themselves with ineffable " and other spurious degrees of the A . and A . Rite , whether they have right to do so is another question . What we do claim is undisturbed possession of our own degrees of Rosa Crucis and Kadosh , nor will we ever allow spurious rites to

stamp out our claims . No one has greater esteem for our learned Bro . Hughan than myself , but I must altogether demur to thc statement that he has disposed of our claims in his most excellent " Masonic Reprints , " and I feel assured that worthy brolher would be tlie last to

chum a clairvoyant knowledge of everything that has hitherto occurred in thc high grades . Why ! Bro . Dr . Oliver , one ofthe few worthy names the 33 possesses , obtained all his high grades at Hull from thc York Conclave of Redemption , whence the York Grand Lodge adopted its degree of

Templar as the covering ceremonial of the rite ! Nor do I believe that Bro . Hughan would lend his name and reputation to support thc A . and A . Rite !! Will your correspondent give us the quotation from Mirabeau to which he alludes ? In Mirabcau's History of the Prussian Monarchy he laments that

I-redenck was never Grand Master of all the German lodges , and his History of the Court of Berlin shows that Frederick had been dying live months prior to the 1 st May , 1786 , when he is said to have established the 33 .

It is a pity thai your correspondent should be unable to contribute anything but personal abuse to your pages ; and should further exhibit such a lack of judgment as to express a belief that Frederick the Great , King of Prussia , would have transmitted