Honorary Membership.

at the different lodge meetings , but he cannot hold office , nor is his name returned to Grand Lodge . Moreover , he can only attend the meetings of the lodge of which he is an honorary member if he is a subscribing member of some other lodge . Were it otherwise , Law 152 , which provides that " no brother who has ceased to be a subscribing member of a Lodge shall be

permitted to visit any one Lodge more than once until he again become a subscribing member of some Lodge " would be set at naught . There are thus two classes of brethren to which the term " honorary member " may be applied , and it will be well for those who read American Grand Lodge Proc edings to bear in mind the difference between them .

The Ancient Craft Charges. Can The Confusion Of Text Be Accounted For?

THE ANCIENT CRAFT CHARGES . CAN THE CONFUSION OF TEXT BE ACCOUNTED FOR ?

Some very valuable papers upon these have recently been given in Lodge 2076 , and if it should only succeed in inducing a better comprehension of them , the Lodge will amply justify its existence . I can almost invariably agree with Bro . Hughan in his painstaking disquisitions upon Masonry

when he avoids the iconoclastic views of the modern school , and in regard to Bro . Howard ' s recent papers in "Ars Quatuor Coronatorum "— 'J Namus Greens Identified "—1 am quite willing to accede to Bro . Hughan ' s dictum that he is identified in the Greek descent of Saracenic Nimes in France . But if we accept also the further view , supported by Bro . Speth , as a

probability , that when Offa built St . Albans it was with Masons from said Nismes , and that the whole legend which we have about St . Alban springs out of that occurrence ( amplified by later scribes from the monkish legend of the martyr ) , I think we then arrive al a position from which we may get a bird's eye view of thc alterations made from time to time in our Charges , and this though numerous interim copies are for ever lost .

Accepting the view that Offa built St . Alban ' s with masons from Nismes , together with the statement that Charles Martel also went there for instruction , we see that the relation agrees better with the Lansdown and olher copies , which state that ( in the time of Athelstan ) there was a worth y King of England ( Edward , who actually was a great builder in the district ) who

had a son Edwin who drew him to commune and obtained a charter ; coupling these assertions , we may assume that there was a St . Alban ' s Charge which had no mention of Athelstan , but attributed to Edward and Edwin . It is evident , apart from theorising , that ( say ) in thc thirteenth century there were two Masonic Constitutions , varying very considerably .

The first to be named is the second part of the Cooke MS ., and bears the very impress of Athelstan , and it is more than probable that to consolidate his sway in the North and to encourage architecture he did grant to York such a Constitution , even whilst an older Charge or Charter was in existence at St Alban ' s , and derived from Offa and Edward . The Christian Regius

poem is but another version of the actual Athelstan Charge , yet we see indications in the second part of it that the writer was more or less acquainted with the Southern version , which , amended by the Scribe , forms the first part of Cooke MS ., and has hitherto been considered

the writer ' s commentary only . If Greek and Latin MSS . were actually shown to Athelstan , as is alleged , we should get just such a constitution as we have in the poem and second part of Cooke MS . If we went to Saracenic Nismes wc should get just such as we have in what I have ventured to term the St . Alban legend . Naturally so .

In this view the Cooke version becomes a double one , comprising a revised version of thc St . Alban legend , and substituting the Athelstan " Book of Charges" for something that probably resembled the laws of the Watson MS . Certainly Cooke makes Athelstan the absolute grantor , but then he was revising for the Athelstan school , for he attached his charges .

We reach the cause of confusion in the modern Charges , perhaps as late as the 16 th century , and probably at York , but in some place where an Athelstan charter was known . A new constitution had to be formulated , and thc basis chosen was similar to the Watson MS ., and being in an Athelstan district , it was conceded to make him the absolute grantor of

Masonic privileges throughout the Kingdom , as in the Cooke MS ., but as the older St . Alban legend continued to exist , successive writers dovetailed more or less of the new and the old form ; in one case making Edwin the

son of Athelstan , ( instead of the youngest son of Edward ) , and in another , thc son of a worthy king of his time , and of other versions no doubt main are lost . It is a great thing in Bro . Howard ' s favour that only his theory enables us to bridge over some of our main chasms .

Approximate pedigree form will make this clearer . I have great faith in the opinions , and the minute criticism of Bro . Dr . Begcmann , if he would favour us with his views , as he has done on other occasions .

SOUTH . NORTH . Naymus Greens , or Saracenic Nismes . Greco-Roman , or York . ; I Offa , Edward , and Edwin's , Si . Albans . Athelstan ' s Charter al York . ! ! Lost MSS ., also ist part of ( . onke , and Regius , also 2 nd part of Cooke . 2 nd of Regius . I L . I

The two versions of Edwin ' s parentage , and general confusion , but all the Charges agreeing , that Athelstan granted his Charter to York . JOHN YARKER . P . S . —The Lansdown and Antiquity MSS . ( the latter 16 S 6 ) are quite a separate school ( at present by themselves ); they are shorter than the others ; make Edwin a Mason at Windsor ; admit a York Charter ; make thc oath Monotheistic . It might either be argued that the last qualification makes them very ancient or very modern .

Provincial Grand Lodge Of The Isle Of Man.

PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF THE ISLE OF MAN .

Wc published last week a short account of the proceedings at the annual meeting on the 3 rd December of the Provincial Grand Lodge of the Isle of Man , the demands on our space being such that we were unable to do more than give just an idea of what took place at what has been thus far the most

successful gathering held in the island . However , some of the reports , as well as of speeches at the banquet which followed , contain so much that is both generally and locally interesting , that wc give them as a kind of sequel to our last week's report . Thc full report of thc Deputy Prov . Grand Master was as follows :

Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master , Worshipful Brethren , and Brethren , —With a view to affording the members of Provincial Grand Lodge an opportunity of contrasting thc present position of Freemasonry in this province with its position prior to the formation of the province , I have had much pleasure in analysing the forms and returns forwarded to thc Provincial Grand Secretary , in accordance with thc requirements of the

bylaws of Provincial Grand Lodge ; and I have had equal pleasure in responding to the request of the Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Mastcr , that I should supplement the condensed statement , as contained in the report just submitted for your consideration by Worshipful Bro . Hannay , the Prov . Grand Secretary ; and it might save time , and expedite the despatch of the business to bc transacted by Provincial Grand Lodge , if both reports were taken into consideration by you at the same time .

In the first place , it is a matter for sincere congratulation that the number of members enrolled in the province indicates a fairly moderate increase , when compared with the aggregate recorded at the termination of the preceding year , the increase being at the rate of 3 per cent . ; but in order to realise the actual development of Freemasonry in this island , and the results which it must be candidly admitted the establishment of this Provincial

Grand Lodge has been principally instrumental in achieving during the quintette of its existence , we must make a comparison with thc condition of affairs and our numerical strength prior to 1 S 86 , and we are at once met with the gratifying result lhat our increase in membership has been at the satisfactory rate of 25 per cent . I think , Right Worshipful Sir and Brethren , that this result , apart from another result , and , in many respects , a more important result , the establishment of a Local Benevolent Fund , to which I

shall subsequently refer , must be accepted as a conclusive and incontrovertible proof that the establishment of the Provincial Grand Lodge of the Isle of . Man , and the bringing into focus the scattered rays , if you will pardon the similie , has been a decided and signal success , and that success is all the more gratifying when we note the fact that the annual rate of progress has not been of an unduly abnormal or even spasmodic character ; but that a steady and regular rate of progress has been maintained each year since the Provincial Grand Lodge was constituted .

Whilst referring to the question of increased membership , I think it my duty , occupying as I do a most responsible position in this province , in relation to the work devolving upon the Executive department , to direct your attention to a most useful and interesting correspondence which during the past few weeks has occupied a prominent position in the columns of the cosmopolitan journal of the Craft—The Freemason .

This correspondence , in its progress , has assumed a variety of important phases , developed a considerable amount of interesting matter , and has afforded considerable food for thought and discussion . Whilst this correspondence , under the title of the " Future of Freemasonry , " has at any rate

to myself been exceptionally interesting in many of its features and details , and to some of which features and details I may possibly have occasion to refer at some future time , especial prominence has been from time to time directed to what has been very plainly and tersely denominated the great carelessness exhibited by many Craft lodges in connection with the wholesale acceptance and admission of candidates .

Now , brethren , I am not assuming the position of a mentor , I do not wish to pass any strictures upon any lodge or lodges . I am not going to find fault wilh you in any way , and my remarks are not addressed to you in any hypercritical or captiously censorious spirit , but having at heart the true interests and welfare of the (' raft generally , and more especially the interests of that portion of thc Fraternity which is located within the

jurisdiction of this province , I am desirous ol addressing a lew words of friendly caution and counsel in a truly fraternal manner , and I trust those few words will be received by you in the same fraternal and kindly spirit as that in which they are uttered . Whilst the danger of being too rigidly exclusive may be prevalent in one quarter , and good and worthy men undoubtedly well qualified and well fitted in every way to become good and true Masons ,

arc prohibited by that very exclusiveness—a close borough exclusiveness - which discredits the Order , and which , from many points of view , cannot bc too strong !) ' condemned as altogether wrong and injurious in principle , and utterly foreign to thc constitution and general tenets of the Order , from a participation in the mysteries and privileges of our Masonic art , there is infinitely greater danger to be apprehended from laxity and want of reasonable

circumspection 111 the admission of candidates . C onsequeiitly , brethren , whilst , as Deputy Provincial Grand Master of this province , it is a duty incumbent upon me to express that congratulation which an accession to our membership of good and true men is necessarily boun . l to excite in all good Masons . I , at the same time , feel assured , Right Worshipful Sir , that in this particular phase of our Masonic work , I am but echoing your opinion and your

sentiments -an opinion and sentiment si reqiicnthexpressed by you—and which Freemasons of all degrees must perforce upholdandapplaud when I venture to express the hope that in adding to our members , the guiding and predominant feature in our selection of candidates , " quality , nol quantity " will always be borne in mind ; that a judicious and discriminating selection will invariably be made , so that those admitted will , from their exemplary

conduct , and lheir character as 1 'rcemasons and citizens , ultimately relied honour and lasting credit upon the brethren who have been the means of lheir admission to our Fellowship ; lhat those who , by their admission , have become a constituent part and parcel of our great and increasingly influential and powerful organisation , have not been biassed by the

improper solicitation of friends , against their own inclination ; that they have not been inlluenced by mercenary or other unworthy motive , but that they have freely and voluntarily offered themselves as candidates to be admitted in due course to the mysteries and privileges of Ancient Freemasonry , and that they have been prompted to solicit a participation in