Table Of Contents.

TABLE OF CONTENTS .

PAGE RELIGIOUS ASPECTS OF FREEMASONRY ... 3 ^ 4 ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS ... 4 ENCYCLOPEDIA METROPOLITANA 4 & 5 THEATRICAL 5 THE

CRAFTMetropolitan 5 & 6 Provincial ... ... ... ... ... 6 & 7 Middlesex 7 INSTRUCTION 7 MARK MASONRYMetropolitan 7 Provincial ... ... ... ... ... 7 ORDERS OF

CHIVALRYRed Cross of Rome and ' Constantine . ... 7 Knights Templar ... ... ... .. 7 BIRTHS , MARRIAGES , AND DEATHS 8 MASONIC ORDERS IN ENGLAND 8 MULTUM IN PARVO 9 AFTER-DINNER ORATIONS 9 ANCIENT AND PRIMITIVE RITE OF MISRAIM IO THE GRAND MARK MASTER OF ENGLAND AND

SCOTCH MARK MASTERS 10 THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED RITF .... ... 10 & 11 A CHRISTMAS WISH 11 ORIGINAL C ORRESPONDENCE 12 LIVERPOOL GORDOVIC EISTEDDFOD , 1 S 70 ... 12 FREEMASONRY- IN DEVON AND CORNWALL 1 S 70 13 CHESHIRE EDUCATIONAL MASONIC

INSTITUTION 13 OBITUARYBro . Philip Hardwick , R . A . 13 Bro . John Thomas Trickett , R . N . 13 SCOTLAND 13 CONSECRATION OF THE TALROT LODGE , 1323 14 MASONIC MEETINGS FOR NEXT WEEK ... 14 ADVERTISEMENTS 1 , 2 , 15 , & 16

Religious Aspects Of Freemasonry.

RELIGIOUS ASPECTS OF FREEMASONRY .

No . 1 . —FREEMASONRY & CHRISTIANITY BY BRO . WILLIAM J AMES HUGHAN , P . M . 131 , Provincial Grand Secretary Cornwall , < S-v Of late , lengthy discussions have been

conducted by brethren in the pages of Masonic magazines on tlie religious aspects of Freemasonry , both at home and abroad . Some are firm believers in Freemasonry

being Christian even at thc present day , while others are so strongly opposed io its being a religious institution at all that they actually advocate the removal of the

Volume of t / ic Sacred Law from thc Master ' s pedestal , and the substitution of thc Book of Constitutions in lieu thereof It would be a mistake to suppose that the

former only number among their ranks the Christians who adorn our Fraternity , for among the latter there are many brethren who make a profession of Christianity , and

what is more , practise its glorious precepts of Faith , Hope , and Charity . The differences of opinion arise from contrary views of thc character of

Freemasonry ; and thc errors of jud gment , we think , is a consequence of confounding the scope of the Society with its origin or nature . We neither accept the narrow belief of

those who would restrict membership of our Craft to Christians , nor do we share the opinion of some who think that

Freemasonry would be advanced by the removal of the Holy Bible from thc lodge ; and for the following reasons : —

I . Freemasonry , as a guild , had a Christian origin . We presume this will not be doubted ; but as wc do not enter on thc inquiry in a disputatious mood , but simply

as a humble student desirous of stating thc result of his researches and of expressing his fears of the revolutionary tendencies of some Masons equally earnest as himself to uphold what they believe to be genuine

Religious Aspects Of Freemasonry.

Masonry , we will glance a little at the evidences for the assertion made . All the old Constitutions confirm the fact , and recognise Christianity . The old Rules at

York , A . D . 1370 , speak of "He Goddys Malyon and Saynt Petirs . " The MS . in the British Museum , Bib . Reg . 17 A . I ., f . 32 , 14 th or 15 th century , says as follows : —

P lures Lonstitucioncs " That whose wol connc thys Craft and come to a state He most love wel God , and holy churche algate . "

" art quatuor coronatorum . " Suclie mawmetys he hade yn hys dawe , To tumc the pepul from Crystus lawe , But they were stedefast yn Cryste's lay And to here craft , withouten may

So he dede that tyme other also , Of dyvcrs craftes mony mo . Through hye grace of Crist yn heven He commensed yn thc Syens seven . " And when thou herest the belle rynge

To that holy sakerynge Kneie ze most , both zynge and olde And bothe yor hondes fayr upholde And say thenne yn this manere

Fayr and softe , without bere' Jhesu Lord , welcome thou be , Yn forme of bred , as y the se ' . Now , Jhesu , for thyn holy name Schulde me from synne and schame . '"

There are many instances more in the same MS . as the foregoing . The next oldest is " Add . MS . No . 23 , 198 , " late in the 15 th century ( in British Museum ) : —

"butbehoveth hem fyrst prncypally to God and holy church & all halowis and his mastr . and his felovves as his aine brotheryn . "

The Harleian , Sloane , and Lansdown MSS . in the British Museum containing thc old charges of the 17 th century , commence with an invocation to the " Hol y and undivided Trinity " much as follows : —

" The rnyght of the Father of Heaven With ye wisdome of the glorious Son Through the goodness of the Holy Ghost Yt be three in one God , & c .

Be with us att our beginning And give us grace so to govern us in our living Yt we may come to His bliss That ne'er shall have ending . "

Sloane MSS . 3323 , f . 209 , A . D . 16 59 .

The commencement oi the Rawlinson , York , and Scotch MSS . agree almost verbally with thc foregoing , and contain so many references to Christianity that the recognition of that religion by our - ncient

brethren must be accepted as a fact . The Fraternity were to be " True to the wholy Church . " Thc initiates were sworn upon

" Thc wholy Scripture , " and the " Helpe of God " was invoked during the obligation . Thc Constitutions of Edinburgh-Kilwinning of about 1670 conclude thus : —

These cnarges that wee have now rehearsed unto yo \ v , and all others that belongelhto Massons , yow shall keep , so help vow God and your

halydoonie . In the readable " Recollections of the Lodge at Thornhill , " Bro . D . Murray Lyon observes as follows : —

" Theism is said to be thc religion of Freemasonry . Theoretically this may be so ; but , in practice , the Kilwinning Fraternity ignore this cosmopolitan characteristic of the Order , and

substitute 111 its stead a feature ( not , however , till after the initiate has crossed the threshold of the lodge ) which effectually debars Turk or Jew from a full participation in their wort ; . "

Wc object to such an exclusivencss in thc present era of Freemasonry , and strongly believe in admitting to our mysteries neophytes irrespective of their creed , colour , or clime , so long as otherwise they are worthy . This broad view , however ,

Religious Aspects Of Freemasonry.

is not shared generally by many belonging to the old lodges in Scotland even now . That it was Christian only early in the last century , and before then , we take it as proved . The past we cannot alter ; but ,

surely , the present being in our own hands , we can open wide the threshold of the Craft to good and virtuous men , whether Jews , Turks , or Christians . Bro . D . Murray Lyon further states ( in confirmation of our

first proposition)—That the Eglinton MS . " held the Wardens of lodges answerable to the Presbytery for all offensis committed by thc ' maissons subject to the ludgis ' over which they were placed ; and to the Deacon

and Warden of Kilwinning was it ' given ' . . . . . to put forth of their societie and cumpany all pevsoins disobedient ather ta the Kirk , Craft , Counsall , ' & . c . " This MS . is dated 1599 . There is a MS . in

the archives of Mother Lodge Kilwinning of about A . D . 1670 . Bro . Lyon informs me that the following : sentence in the charges

to Prentices embraced in this MS . clearly shows the Roman Catholic faith to have been that of the Craftsmen to whom the Mason oath was administered prior to the

Reformation : — " That you shll be a trcw man to God and the Holy Church , and that you use no heresienor error , to your understanding or discredit man's teaching . .... So help me God and the Holy Dame . "

The commencement of this old manuscript is as follows : — " The mig ht of the Father of Heavin And the wisedom of the Glorious Sonne Through the grace and goodness of the Holy

Ghost That been three persons and one God Be with at our beginning , and give us grace for to govern us here in our living . That wee may come to his bliss that never shall have ending . Amen . "

In the " Laws and Acts of Parliament " ( Edinburgh , 16 S 2 ) we read that the sums of money

" Imploycd by any corporation , guild , fraternity , company , or fellowship of any mystery , towards thc maintenance of any priest , anniversary , obit , lamp , light or the like "

had to be " paid yearly as a rentcharge to the King . " The Constitutions of the German Masons of Strasbourg , according to our friend Bro . Findel , provide that

" No Craftsmen or Master shall be received in the Fraternity who goes not early to the Holy Communion , or who keeps not Christian discipline " ( A . D . 1459 ) . But enough has been said to prove

Freemasonry was Christian before the loth century . From A . D . 1716 , and mostly throughout that century , it was Christian in its character and ceremonies . Of this we have many proofs—nfew of which will now

be presented . The first printed work that was issued after thc " Revival " on Masonry was the " Operative Constitutions of A . D . 1722 ; " the only copy we know of being in the possession of Bro . R . Spencer , London . It commences thus : —

" The Almighty Father of Heaven , with the wisdom of the Glorious Son , thro' the Goodness of the Holy Ghost , Three Persons in one Godhead , be with our Beginning , and give us his Grace so to govern our lives , that we may come to his Bliss , that never shall have end . Amen . "

Thc next printed work published was the one of A . D . 1723 , viz ., " Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of England . " In this volume will be found a number of charges purporting to be extracted from the

" Ancient Records of Lodges Beyond Sea , and of Those in England , Scotland , and Ireland . " It is a curious fact that these charges were in reality a compilation of the Rev . Dr . James Anderson , from various documents ; but in such a free manner that