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REVIEWS
THE FREEMASONS' CALENDAR AND DIRECTOR'S : FOR THE PROVINCE OF SOMERSET , 1 SS 5-6 Compiled by Bro . C . L . Fry Edsvards , P . P . G . S . W , Somerset , P . P . G . S . of VV . Oxon . Weston-Super-Mare Printed at the Gascttc Office , 1885 .
Bro . Edsvards is to be congratulated on the extremely successful manner in svhich he has done his svork of compilation . The one thing needed in order to make his Calendar a complete guide is a nominal list of Prov . and Past Prov . Grand Officers in each of the various degrees svhich are numerous enough to have provincial organisations . In all other respects the svork seems to be
as nearly svhat a local calendar should be as possible . Great pains seem also to have been taken in ascertaining the voting strength of the province , there being in Somerset as elsewhere a local organization specially charged svith all matters relating to the elections to the central Charities . As regards the style and general appearance of the Calendar , it is scarcely possible for it to be improved upon .
CHIPS FROM A ROUGH ASHLAR . By Bro . J AMES STEVENS , P . M . and P . Z . Bro . Richard Tilling , 55 , Warner-street , Southsvark . Bro . James Stevens is svell-knosvn as a lecturer on Masonic ritual , and a great advocate for uniformity of ceremonial . In order to further bis often-expressed viesvs he has published the present svork , svhich is another contribution
to the same object . Hosv far it svill help him forsvard to the end he aims after may be a matter of some doubt . There is a strong dislike in our Graft very properly to publication , as well as a grave disinclination to ritual explanations and the like . All such matters seem far better left to the more limited " arena" of our tyled lodge rooms . There can be little doubt that
great evils are accruing to Freemasonry , from this tendency to take the public into confidence , and to enact the part of thc " candid friend " in unasked for explanations , and uncalled forjelucidations . Bro . Stevens will probably reply that hc svishes to increase in others the admiration he has for our Masonic cercm ' onial , but again the question supervenes , is such a publication the right svay of procedure ? We
confess to have very great doubts on the subject . It may be that sve are old fashioned and behind the times ; but sve prefer the more ancient system , and sve think the safer method of keeping all such matters for the lodge room alone . For the subjects Bro . Stevens touches upon can best , sve venture to think , be handled there , and our lodges of instruction may svell have their routine varied from time
to time by lectures explanatory of the philology , the archaisms , and the practical teaching of our ritual . We have never concurred , sve do not to-day , in Bro . James Stevens ' s theory of uniformity of ritual , of one established mode of svorking . Whatever even the " primft facie , " or the abstract arguments in favour of such a course of action , ot a " sealed book" in fact of Masonic lore , may be , the
concrete difficulties are many and insuperable . No tsvo minds or memories are exactly the same tsvo nights running ; and in all oral deliverances we have inevitably to contend with the deficiencies of the human intellect , and the drasvbacks of an unreliable memory . The English system , — peculiar and cherished , —differs from nearly all Continental systems , in preserving the simpler form of traditional
utterances , and svherever printed forms are in use , there is Masonry languid and apathetic , doing nothing for Masonry , qua Masonry , or Charity , and too often degenerating into a mere convivial club , or political assembly . We prefer our English , our Anglo-Saxon system on all grounds , and therefore sve discountenance and disavosv all public representation of Masonic ceremonial , all professed explanations of
Masonic ritual , outside the lodge . Bro . Stevens makes one great mistake in alluding " to what is stated to be an authorised publication" ( p . 75 ) , of the Emulation working 1875 , svhereas we are assured on thc highest authority , that there is no such authorised publication , and that the Emulation never had any such authorised explanation . Bro . James Stevens is a brother of considerable
ability , and a svriter of much posver ; and is , we understand , a very good worker , and he has a perfect right to express his opinions on a matter in svhich he takes evidently so deep an interest , but yet sve shall be very sorry to see this class of literature , we we confess , on the increase amongst us . We love our old ritual from long association and from its inherent merits ami
beauties , if sve utterly deny the conclusions of the sciolist and the " faineant" Mason , that it requires amendment , and calls for change . As a rule those svho "nosv it best , value it most ; while those who stumble at every step , blunder at every passage until it is painful to hear them , are insensible to its admirable collocation of svords , its skilful sequences , its antient triads ,
' * . ' undoubted evidences of very great antiquity svhich it still retains , despite the alleged improvements , customary cnanges , and mistaken parings asvay of successive fenerations . All such svill , no doubt , like too many change meeker in all things at the present hour , suggest alterations and amendments . We , on the contrary , as faithful and appointed guardians of the ritual , who have been honoured osit in the chair of King Solomon , will set our faces gainst
propositions , come from what quarter they may , for ' , * j" * ff that to us nosv much cherished lore , best studied u " v j arne d rnoreover from some faithful Preceptor , or some svithH Ke ° ^ lnstruction . In one point sve quite agree u , ? - Jas . Stevens that an illiterate rendering of our isTin 1 ' ! " tual ' ? grave trial , and that as Freemasonry r " , " : selt a philosophy of lectures it demands a cultured 1 .,, ** 'ngof svhat is calculated to impress even the most ¦ earned of men .
9 Monday , both at the opening of the April seat i L ° \ tnc Central Criminal Court , and on taking his •' " owlr " IST Mansion House Justice Room , Bro . Lord Mayor liimsidf j ' took the opportunity of expressing , both for felt = i « . tnc c ' generally , the great sorrosv which svas Nottag sad and su , Jden death of Bro . Lord Mayor
Masonic Notes And Queries.
Masonic Notes and Queries .
ia ** za & . = Sfr ^ c = r- " ¦ — i .. —I 576 ] . HELE . In Skinner ' s very valuable " Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanrc , " to svhich I have alluded elsesvhere , hele is pronounced "heil , " and derived from " helan , " A Saxon , and that from " celare , " Lat . 577 J MASONIC STUDENT .
Webster gives this svordhele ( obsolete ) . To hide , and remarks " This is the Masonic heil or hail , to conceal , svhich is mistaken for hail , to salute . " Evidently thc svord hele is to hide , or conceal by covering . Of a svound , it is healed or heled , i . e . skinned over or covered . In Devonshire ,
potatoes instead of being earthed up or healed . Heal . Webster says ( Saxon hrclan , helan , ghe . Ian ) , and amongst other definitions , To cover , as a roof svith tiles , slate , & c . In Sussex a fesv sveeks since a builder told me he had all his cottages healed in , i . e . covered . B . R . BRYANT , P . Z . 720 .
57 SJ THE INVERNESS CHARTER . My communication respecting the apocryphal statement in the Inverness Warrant , and its relation to the " Third Degree , " had reference to the fourth decade of the last century , not the EIGHTH ; so I am not at all concerned to
read the remarks by " Masonic Student " respecting thc use of the term " raised" in 1736-7 in Scottish Records ; that fact being patent to all brethren svho have made themselves familiar svith Bros . Lyon's and Gould ' s Masonic Histories . W . I . HUGHAN .
579 ] FRENCH STATUTES 1755 . Through the kindness of a Dutch brother , I have not only ascertained that this document is in Klosz ' s collection at the Hague , but he has also sent me a transcript of it , together svith a valuable catalogue of the entire collection of the vern manuscripts . I am hopeful that a sight of the ordinances svill yet convert Bro . VV . to the belief that they do really emanate from the Grand Lodge of France . Will our Editor find space to give them at length , either in French or English ? Or both ?
G . W . SPETH . 5 S 0 ] FRENCH MINUTES 1 745 . On the 7 th March Bro . " H . F . A . VV . " doubts whether Dr . Klosz ever sasv the minute book of the Versailles Lodge , "Chambre ' . du Roi , " because his readers are referred to the Altenburg Zeitschrift for 1 S 36 . All doubt must be dispelled by the fact that this minute book appears in the catalogue of the Klosz' MSS . preserved at the Hague .
Moreover , Bro . VV . has overlooked the fact that Klosz distinctly states the book svas before him at the time , " in dem Borliegenden Vuche . " To judge by a remark in the Hague Catalogue , the Grande Loge Anglaise of France svas already at that time distinguished as the Grande Loge dc St . Jean . have given my Dutch brother so much trouble already that I hardly like to ask for a transcript of those 1 743 ordinances , of svhich sve at present only knosv the tsventieth through Klosz' translation . I think they svould
be of interest . G . VV . SPETH
5 S 1 ] . . RAISING . The svord " raising " has a technical sense , svhich , no doubt , thus far seems to have come into use both in England and Scotland about the same time , namely , after apparently 1730 . Brethren are said to have been " passed Masters " up to that date , admitted Apprentices , and passed Fellosvs and Masters . Of course , such terminology varies a good deal , and I doubt if much argument can be raised upon it ,
or drasvn from it , one svay or the other . Pritchard has the word , but independently of its technical meaning . It svill be an amusing " paradox "if the earliest use of the svord in its technical sense as " raised Masters" shall be found to be in Scotland , and not in England . There must have been some meaning attached to it in 1736 , even assuming the use is " post hoc propter hoc . " What svas that meaning ? A . F . A . W .
_ DE TSCHOUDY , AND THE 4 RITE . It is not uncommon at the present time for Masons to act in the same svay as Tschoudy did in 1766 , that is themselves to disparage the High Grades , and quote others svho do so , svhilst taking even a leading part in them ; nor is this difficult to understand , for svhilst the Craft is the only thing of value in a certain sense , yet the High
Grades afford means and opportunities for certain discussions and investigations svhich svould be inadmissable in Craft lodges as nosv composed . It is in the latter sense only that High Grades are of any value , and if Craft lodges could be so constituted as to afford the same means of investigation , and members so harmoniously selected and capable , that the various theories could be investigated
svithout heat , there svould be no necessity for High Grades . In my district such a lodge svas once contemplated , to consist entirely of Past Masters , but , like many other good things , it fell through . It is , moreover , questionable svhether Grand Lodge svould look with favour upon any particular lodge svhose members made it their business to discuss matters which seems to trench upon theories
having a religious turn . No doubt this svas the animating principle of L'Etoile Flamboyant . I do not read the viesvs propounded as particularly those of De Tschoudy ' s , for in the work he gives various lectures tending in the same way ; he speaks disparagingly of the Rite of 25 ° , and he certainly endorses svith his osvn approval the establishment of a Rite of 4 . But for all that , it is clear
that De Tschoudy took a leading position svith the Adon Hiramite Rite of the East , first of 9 ° , and aftersvards increased by the Rose Croix and the Noachite . Moreover , there is nothing improbable in the assertion that after the description of the Rite of the East , De Tschoudy came forsvard svith a nesv Rite , of svhich the highest Degree svas
Knight of Palestine . There svas a Valois living in the time of Pompadour , but I can give no further information , or svhether he svas a Mason . And to return to the question whence Tschoudy ' s friends obtained the idea of a Rite of 4 ° svhich excluded the Master Mason . No doubt such a Rite did exist before 1766 , and is embodied by Larudan , 1747 . His svork mentions four degrees , besides a grade of Serving Brother , and Bro . Findel maintains that Larudan's
Masonic Notes And Queries.
^ mm 4 ° . contains the elements of the English Royal Arch . It does nothing of the kind , but ' Larudan ' s 4 ° is actually the 4 of Homde and the 1754 Chapter of Clermont , ancl svas preparatory to Knights Templar . I thought my hint svould have enabled " Masonic Student , " so svell informed as he is , to have read betsveen the lines my meaning , but I see no impropriety in giving more fully . the nature of Larudan's Master Mason .
I he Craftsman upon entering finds the Temple in darkness its columns overthrosvn , its implements broken , its beauty perished . One green branch of acacia gives hope . Thc brethren lament the death of their Master ( "Hiram" )—" dead , slain , massacred . " After certain other ceremonies they all cry— " He is resuscitated , he lives , he lives , hc lives , " and the Temple is again restored , its columns recreated , and its implements repaired . Nosv svith such a
ceremony as this there svas no need of liaving both M . M . and Rose Croix . So much is all that need be said as to Tschoudy's explanation of the Rite of 4 ° , except that for Larudan's 4 he advocated a Knight of St . Andresv . In the 1 754 Chapter of Clermont thc next Degree svas Elect Knight of the Eagle , svhich on ancient evidence I believe a species of Rose Croix ; then follosved the Illustrious Templar , nosv called the Radosh , in svhich appears a King's
Crosvn and a Papal Tiara , svhich corresponds svith thc alleged Templar indignities to the cross ; the grate , svhich completed , supplied a christianized symbolism to the Master Mason , the three blosvs represented the three trials of Christ , and all the grade is similarly explained . What I maintain is that this change from English Masonry of 1717 svas brought about by Strasburg and French Masons , who preferred the ancient symbolic and Christian ceremonies to the
revival of 1717 , and I therefore referred to Bro . Gould ' s History of the Companionage , and the action of the French priests about 1650 , svhen the Master ' s grade seems to have been suppressed because they had some imitation therein of our Saviour ' s betrayal and passion . Compare this also svith the claims of the Royal Order of Scotland . It is notesvorthy that the ancients had such a ceremony upon the death of Adonis , or , as he is termed in Ezekiel , Tammuz
, and the Chevalier Ramsay in his " Natural and Revealed Religion , " and " Travels of Cyrus , " gives a most beautiful allegorical fable of hosv Adonis , by his love of a beautiful goddess that he created , svas lured into flesh and met his death by sacrificing everything for her and her offspring ; Saturn hid himself , and the Beauty of the svorld perished . At a certain season the svorshippers of Adonis lamented his death svith the figure of a corpse laid out upon a bed , then
after certain ceremonies their lamentation svas changed into joy , and the priest anointed the lips of those present , saying— " Trust ye , communicants , for out of these pains salvation is come unto us . " Then the svhole assembly sang hymns of joy to the risen God . Nearly all thc best German svriters maintain , upon the evidence of certain little known documents , that the Templars had a secret system of Three Degrees ; the First they say svas a public and orthodox
ceremonial ; in the Second Degree , svhich svas strictly secret , the candidate ssvore never to forsake the Order , he trampled upon the Cross , and entered upon a Deistical course ; the Third Degree svas conferred only upon the higher officialsa head svas exhibited , supposed by some to be that of John the Baptist , and by others the Ancient of Days . A girdle , or cord , svhich svas svorn under the clothes , svas touched svith this head , svhich had the name Baphometand is
, composed of tsvo Greek svorks , signifying the Baptism of Wisdom . It is alleged that this secret system svas brought into the Temple about the year 1250 , by certain Knights svho had resided amongst the Saracens , and it is not at all difficult to discover svhat it is . Nosv , in all probability , on the evidence of the old Craft MSS ., the first reception in ancient | times | of a Craft Apprentice svas a public ceremony , given , perhaps , at 14 years of age , and consisted only of
the Master reading to him the rules and ssvearing him to observe them , and it svas only the Craftsmen and the Master svho svould need a secret ceremony . But in very early times the Non-Operative Secret Societies had increased their grades to 7 or cf . Last century it svas asserted that the Rosicrucians had 7 "; the four first svas a square representing thc four elements , the three last a triangle representing the three principles ; and it is curious
that the ancient Gnostics put the same symbol But if sve go to the French " Little Resurrected Templars , " sve find a striking resemblance to Freemasonry , and it is no doubt this svhich gave the argument to Ramsay's speech of 1737 . Prince Conti , a leading Mason , svas Grand Master of the "Little Resurrection , " in 1741 , and it is asserted that Philip of Orleans , in 1705 , tried to get the sanction of the Portuguese Knights of Christ for the Resurrection . Its first ceremony svas that of Serving Brother , its second
Novice Esquire of Arms , its third Chevalier , and in the consecration the Aspirant , according to Benedictine Rites , was return from the coffin into a nesv Order . From thc earliest times there have existed various rites of svhich thc three first resembled Craft Masonry , and it can be proved , but it svould require a large volume , and svould not be of much interest to Masons generally ; but I intend shortly to supply the heads of such an enquiry . Withington . JOHN YARKER .
5 S 3 ] INVERNESS LODGE . The lodge Charter to svhich " Masonic Student" referred in the Freemason , of the 4 th inst ., svas that of Lodge St . John , Old Kilsvinning , No . 6 , at Inverness . The quotation svas taken from its Charter , still extant ; and a copy is recorded in Grand Lodge Register . The petition for the Charter svas dated September 2 Gth , 1737 . It does not set forth the statement contained in the Charter , that
since 1 G 7 S the lodge had " received and entered apprentices , past Fellosv Crafts , and raised Master Masons , " but simply that " upon the 27 th of December , 1 G 7 S year There svas a book given in by the Hon . William M'Intosh ( Broyr German to the then Laird of M'Intosh ) svho svas then chosen Master of the lod ge , from svhich date all the regular meetings , and transactions of the lodge are recorded till this date ( 26 th September , 1737 ) . " Thc petition then proceeds to quote the minutes of the lodge from 167 S , inter alias
, as follosvs : — " Inverness , 27 th December , 167 S , William Mackintosh svas chosen Master , Alexr . Nicolson , Senior , Andresv Ross , Junior Wardens , and David Ross , Boxm ; " and it brings dosvn the list of these officer bearers to 27 th December , 1736 . A Certificate by the Master and Wardens attests " the above to be a genuine duplicate of the minutes of this lodge , as the same stand recorded in the said minute book , deposited in the box . " We have thus instructed the fact that in 167 S the office beaters of this , lodge consisted of . Master , and Senior and
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Reviews
REVIEWS
THE FREEMASONS' CALENDAR AND DIRECTOR'S : FOR THE PROVINCE OF SOMERSET , 1 SS 5-6 Compiled by Bro . C . L . Fry Edsvards , P . P . G . S . W , Somerset , P . P . G . S . of VV . Oxon . Weston-Super-Mare Printed at the Gascttc Office , 1885 .
Bro . Edsvards is to be congratulated on the extremely successful manner in svhich he has done his svork of compilation . The one thing needed in order to make his Calendar a complete guide is a nominal list of Prov . and Past Prov . Grand Officers in each of the various degrees svhich are numerous enough to have provincial organisations . In all other respects the svork seems to be
as nearly svhat a local calendar should be as possible . Great pains seem also to have been taken in ascertaining the voting strength of the province , there being in Somerset as elsewhere a local organization specially charged svith all matters relating to the elections to the central Charities . As regards the style and general appearance of the Calendar , it is scarcely possible for it to be improved upon .
CHIPS FROM A ROUGH ASHLAR . By Bro . J AMES STEVENS , P . M . and P . Z . Bro . Richard Tilling , 55 , Warner-street , Southsvark . Bro . James Stevens is svell-knosvn as a lecturer on Masonic ritual , and a great advocate for uniformity of ceremonial . In order to further bis often-expressed viesvs he has published the present svork , svhich is another contribution
to the same object . Hosv far it svill help him forsvard to the end he aims after may be a matter of some doubt . There is a strong dislike in our Graft very properly to publication , as well as a grave disinclination to ritual explanations and the like . All such matters seem far better left to the more limited " arena" of our tyled lodge rooms . There can be little doubt that
great evils are accruing to Freemasonry , from this tendency to take the public into confidence , and to enact the part of thc " candid friend " in unasked for explanations , and uncalled forjelucidations . Bro . Stevens will probably reply that hc svishes to increase in others the admiration he has for our Masonic cercm ' onial , but again the question supervenes , is such a publication the right svay of procedure ? We
confess to have very great doubts on the subject . It may be that sve are old fashioned and behind the times ; but sve prefer the more ancient system , and sve think the safer method of keeping all such matters for the lodge room alone . For the subjects Bro . Stevens touches upon can best , sve venture to think , be handled there , and our lodges of instruction may svell have their routine varied from time
to time by lectures explanatory of the philology , the archaisms , and the practical teaching of our ritual . We have never concurred , sve do not to-day , in Bro . James Stevens ' s theory of uniformity of ritual , of one established mode of svorking . Whatever even the " primft facie , " or the abstract arguments in favour of such a course of action , ot a " sealed book" in fact of Masonic lore , may be , the
concrete difficulties are many and insuperable . No tsvo minds or memories are exactly the same tsvo nights running ; and in all oral deliverances we have inevitably to contend with the deficiencies of the human intellect , and the drasvbacks of an unreliable memory . The English system , — peculiar and cherished , —differs from nearly all Continental systems , in preserving the simpler form of traditional
utterances , and svherever printed forms are in use , there is Masonry languid and apathetic , doing nothing for Masonry , qua Masonry , or Charity , and too often degenerating into a mere convivial club , or political assembly . We prefer our English , our Anglo-Saxon system on all grounds , and therefore sve discountenance and disavosv all public representation of Masonic ceremonial , all professed explanations of
Masonic ritual , outside the lodge . Bro . Stevens makes one great mistake in alluding " to what is stated to be an authorised publication" ( p . 75 ) , of the Emulation working 1875 , svhereas we are assured on thc highest authority , that there is no such authorised publication , and that the Emulation never had any such authorised explanation . Bro . James Stevens is a brother of considerable
ability , and a svriter of much posver ; and is , we understand , a very good worker , and he has a perfect right to express his opinions on a matter in svhich he takes evidently so deep an interest , but yet sve shall be very sorry to see this class of literature , we we confess , on the increase amongst us . We love our old ritual from long association and from its inherent merits ami
beauties , if sve utterly deny the conclusions of the sciolist and the " faineant" Mason , that it requires amendment , and calls for change . As a rule those svho "nosv it best , value it most ; while those who stumble at every step , blunder at every passage until it is painful to hear them , are insensible to its admirable collocation of svords , its skilful sequences , its antient triads ,
' * . ' undoubted evidences of very great antiquity svhich it still retains , despite the alleged improvements , customary cnanges , and mistaken parings asvay of successive fenerations . All such svill , no doubt , like too many change meeker in all things at the present hour , suggest alterations and amendments . We , on the contrary , as faithful and appointed guardians of the ritual , who have been honoured osit in the chair of King Solomon , will set our faces gainst
propositions , come from what quarter they may , for ' , * j" * ff that to us nosv much cherished lore , best studied u " v j arne d rnoreover from some faithful Preceptor , or some svithH Ke ° ^ lnstruction . In one point sve quite agree u , ? - Jas . Stevens that an illiterate rendering of our isTin 1 ' ! " tual ' ? grave trial , and that as Freemasonry r " , " : selt a philosophy of lectures it demands a cultured 1 .,, ** 'ngof svhat is calculated to impress even the most ¦ earned of men .
9 Monday , both at the opening of the April seat i L ° \ tnc Central Criminal Court , and on taking his •' " owlr " IST Mansion House Justice Room , Bro . Lord Mayor liimsidf j ' took the opportunity of expressing , both for felt = i « . tnc c ' generally , the great sorrosv which svas Nottag sad and su , Jden death of Bro . Lord Mayor
Masonic Notes And Queries.
Masonic Notes and Queries .
ia ** za & . = Sfr ^ c = r- " ¦ — i .. —I 576 ] . HELE . In Skinner ' s very valuable " Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanrc , " to svhich I have alluded elsesvhere , hele is pronounced "heil , " and derived from " helan , " A Saxon , and that from " celare , " Lat . 577 J MASONIC STUDENT .
Webster gives this svordhele ( obsolete ) . To hide , and remarks " This is the Masonic heil or hail , to conceal , svhich is mistaken for hail , to salute . " Evidently thc svord hele is to hide , or conceal by covering . Of a svound , it is healed or heled , i . e . skinned over or covered . In Devonshire ,
potatoes instead of being earthed up or healed . Heal . Webster says ( Saxon hrclan , helan , ghe . Ian ) , and amongst other definitions , To cover , as a roof svith tiles , slate , & c . In Sussex a fesv sveeks since a builder told me he had all his cottages healed in , i . e . covered . B . R . BRYANT , P . Z . 720 .
57 SJ THE INVERNESS CHARTER . My communication respecting the apocryphal statement in the Inverness Warrant , and its relation to the " Third Degree , " had reference to the fourth decade of the last century , not the EIGHTH ; so I am not at all concerned to
read the remarks by " Masonic Student " respecting thc use of the term " raised" in 1736-7 in Scottish Records ; that fact being patent to all brethren svho have made themselves familiar svith Bros . Lyon's and Gould ' s Masonic Histories . W . I . HUGHAN .
579 ] FRENCH STATUTES 1755 . Through the kindness of a Dutch brother , I have not only ascertained that this document is in Klosz ' s collection at the Hague , but he has also sent me a transcript of it , together svith a valuable catalogue of the entire collection of the vern manuscripts . I am hopeful that a sight of the ordinances svill yet convert Bro . VV . to the belief that they do really emanate from the Grand Lodge of France . Will our Editor find space to give them at length , either in French or English ? Or both ?
G . W . SPETH . 5 S 0 ] FRENCH MINUTES 1 745 . On the 7 th March Bro . " H . F . A . VV . " doubts whether Dr . Klosz ever sasv the minute book of the Versailles Lodge , "Chambre ' . du Roi , " because his readers are referred to the Altenburg Zeitschrift for 1 S 36 . All doubt must be dispelled by the fact that this minute book appears in the catalogue of the Klosz' MSS . preserved at the Hague .
Moreover , Bro . VV . has overlooked the fact that Klosz distinctly states the book svas before him at the time , " in dem Borliegenden Vuche . " To judge by a remark in the Hague Catalogue , the Grande Loge Anglaise of France svas already at that time distinguished as the Grande Loge dc St . Jean . have given my Dutch brother so much trouble already that I hardly like to ask for a transcript of those 1 743 ordinances , of svhich sve at present only knosv the tsventieth through Klosz' translation . I think they svould
be of interest . G . VV . SPETH
5 S 1 ] . . RAISING . The svord " raising " has a technical sense , svhich , no doubt , thus far seems to have come into use both in England and Scotland about the same time , namely , after apparently 1730 . Brethren are said to have been " passed Masters " up to that date , admitted Apprentices , and passed Fellosvs and Masters . Of course , such terminology varies a good deal , and I doubt if much argument can be raised upon it ,
or drasvn from it , one svay or the other . Pritchard has the word , but independently of its technical meaning . It svill be an amusing " paradox "if the earliest use of the svord in its technical sense as " raised Masters" shall be found to be in Scotland , and not in England . There must have been some meaning attached to it in 1736 , even assuming the use is " post hoc propter hoc . " What svas that meaning ? A . F . A . W .
_ DE TSCHOUDY , AND THE 4 RITE . It is not uncommon at the present time for Masons to act in the same svay as Tschoudy did in 1766 , that is themselves to disparage the High Grades , and quote others svho do so , svhilst taking even a leading part in them ; nor is this difficult to understand , for svhilst the Craft is the only thing of value in a certain sense , yet the High
Grades afford means and opportunities for certain discussions and investigations svhich svould be inadmissable in Craft lodges as nosv composed . It is in the latter sense only that High Grades are of any value , and if Craft lodges could be so constituted as to afford the same means of investigation , and members so harmoniously selected and capable , that the various theories could be investigated
svithout heat , there svould be no necessity for High Grades . In my district such a lodge svas once contemplated , to consist entirely of Past Masters , but , like many other good things , it fell through . It is , moreover , questionable svhether Grand Lodge svould look with favour upon any particular lodge svhose members made it their business to discuss matters which seems to trench upon theories
having a religious turn . No doubt this svas the animating principle of L'Etoile Flamboyant . I do not read the viesvs propounded as particularly those of De Tschoudy ' s , for in the work he gives various lectures tending in the same way ; he speaks disparagingly of the Rite of 25 ° , and he certainly endorses svith his osvn approval the establishment of a Rite of 4 . But for all that , it is clear
that De Tschoudy took a leading position svith the Adon Hiramite Rite of the East , first of 9 ° , and aftersvards increased by the Rose Croix and the Noachite . Moreover , there is nothing improbable in the assertion that after the description of the Rite of the East , De Tschoudy came forsvard svith a nesv Rite , of svhich the highest Degree svas
Knight of Palestine . There svas a Valois living in the time of Pompadour , but I can give no further information , or svhether he svas a Mason . And to return to the question whence Tschoudy ' s friends obtained the idea of a Rite of 4 ° svhich excluded the Master Mason . No doubt such a Rite did exist before 1766 , and is embodied by Larudan , 1747 . His svork mentions four degrees , besides a grade of Serving Brother , and Bro . Findel maintains that Larudan's
Masonic Notes And Queries.
^ mm 4 ° . contains the elements of the English Royal Arch . It does nothing of the kind , but ' Larudan ' s 4 ° is actually the 4 of Homde and the 1754 Chapter of Clermont , ancl svas preparatory to Knights Templar . I thought my hint svould have enabled " Masonic Student , " so svell informed as he is , to have read betsveen the lines my meaning , but I see no impropriety in giving more fully . the nature of Larudan's Master Mason .
I he Craftsman upon entering finds the Temple in darkness its columns overthrosvn , its implements broken , its beauty perished . One green branch of acacia gives hope . Thc brethren lament the death of their Master ( "Hiram" )—" dead , slain , massacred . " After certain other ceremonies they all cry— " He is resuscitated , he lives , he lives , hc lives , " and the Temple is again restored , its columns recreated , and its implements repaired . Nosv svith such a
ceremony as this there svas no need of liaving both M . M . and Rose Croix . So much is all that need be said as to Tschoudy's explanation of the Rite of 4 ° , except that for Larudan's 4 he advocated a Knight of St . Andresv . In the 1 754 Chapter of Clermont thc next Degree svas Elect Knight of the Eagle , svhich on ancient evidence I believe a species of Rose Croix ; then follosved the Illustrious Templar , nosv called the Radosh , in svhich appears a King's
Crosvn and a Papal Tiara , svhich corresponds svith thc alleged Templar indignities to the cross ; the grate , svhich completed , supplied a christianized symbolism to the Master Mason , the three blosvs represented the three trials of Christ , and all the grade is similarly explained . What I maintain is that this change from English Masonry of 1717 svas brought about by Strasburg and French Masons , who preferred the ancient symbolic and Christian ceremonies to the
revival of 1717 , and I therefore referred to Bro . Gould ' s History of the Companionage , and the action of the French priests about 1650 , svhen the Master ' s grade seems to have been suppressed because they had some imitation therein of our Saviour ' s betrayal and passion . Compare this also svith the claims of the Royal Order of Scotland . It is notesvorthy that the ancients had such a ceremony upon the death of Adonis , or , as he is termed in Ezekiel , Tammuz
, and the Chevalier Ramsay in his " Natural and Revealed Religion , " and " Travels of Cyrus , " gives a most beautiful allegorical fable of hosv Adonis , by his love of a beautiful goddess that he created , svas lured into flesh and met his death by sacrificing everything for her and her offspring ; Saturn hid himself , and the Beauty of the svorld perished . At a certain season the svorshippers of Adonis lamented his death svith the figure of a corpse laid out upon a bed , then
after certain ceremonies their lamentation svas changed into joy , and the priest anointed the lips of those present , saying— " Trust ye , communicants , for out of these pains salvation is come unto us . " Then the svhole assembly sang hymns of joy to the risen God . Nearly all thc best German svriters maintain , upon the evidence of certain little known documents , that the Templars had a secret system of Three Degrees ; the First they say svas a public and orthodox
ceremonial ; in the Second Degree , svhich svas strictly secret , the candidate ssvore never to forsake the Order , he trampled upon the Cross , and entered upon a Deistical course ; the Third Degree svas conferred only upon the higher officialsa head svas exhibited , supposed by some to be that of John the Baptist , and by others the Ancient of Days . A girdle , or cord , svhich svas svorn under the clothes , svas touched svith this head , svhich had the name Baphometand is
, composed of tsvo Greek svorks , signifying the Baptism of Wisdom . It is alleged that this secret system svas brought into the Temple about the year 1250 , by certain Knights svho had resided amongst the Saracens , and it is not at all difficult to discover svhat it is . Nosv , in all probability , on the evidence of the old Craft MSS ., the first reception in ancient | times | of a Craft Apprentice svas a public ceremony , given , perhaps , at 14 years of age , and consisted only of
the Master reading to him the rules and ssvearing him to observe them , and it svas only the Craftsmen and the Master svho svould need a secret ceremony . But in very early times the Non-Operative Secret Societies had increased their grades to 7 or cf . Last century it svas asserted that the Rosicrucians had 7 "; the four first svas a square representing thc four elements , the three last a triangle representing the three principles ; and it is curious
that the ancient Gnostics put the same symbol But if sve go to the French " Little Resurrected Templars , " sve find a striking resemblance to Freemasonry , and it is no doubt this svhich gave the argument to Ramsay's speech of 1737 . Prince Conti , a leading Mason , svas Grand Master of the "Little Resurrection , " in 1741 , and it is asserted that Philip of Orleans , in 1705 , tried to get the sanction of the Portuguese Knights of Christ for the Resurrection . Its first ceremony svas that of Serving Brother , its second
Novice Esquire of Arms , its third Chevalier , and in the consecration the Aspirant , according to Benedictine Rites , was return from the coffin into a nesv Order . From thc earliest times there have existed various rites of svhich thc three first resembled Craft Masonry , and it can be proved , but it svould require a large volume , and svould not be of much interest to Masons generally ; but I intend shortly to supply the heads of such an enquiry . Withington . JOHN YARKER .
5 S 3 ] INVERNESS LODGE . The lodge Charter to svhich " Masonic Student" referred in the Freemason , of the 4 th inst ., svas that of Lodge St . John , Old Kilsvinning , No . 6 , at Inverness . The quotation svas taken from its Charter , still extant ; and a copy is recorded in Grand Lodge Register . The petition for the Charter svas dated September 2 Gth , 1737 . It does not set forth the statement contained in the Charter , that
since 1 G 7 S the lodge had " received and entered apprentices , past Fellosv Crafts , and raised Master Masons , " but simply that " upon the 27 th of December , 1 G 7 S year There svas a book given in by the Hon . William M'Intosh ( Broyr German to the then Laird of M'Intosh ) svho svas then chosen Master of the lod ge , from svhich date all the regular meetings , and transactions of the lodge are recorded till this date ( 26 th September , 1737 ) . " Thc petition then proceeds to quote the minutes of the lodge from 167 S , inter alias
, as follosvs : — " Inverness , 27 th December , 167 S , William Mackintosh svas chosen Master , Alexr . Nicolson , Senior , Andresv Ross , Junior Wardens , and David Ross , Boxm ; " and it brings dosvn the list of these officer bearers to 27 th December , 1736 . A Certificate by the Master and Wardens attests " the above to be a genuine duplicate of the minutes of this lodge , as the same stand recorded in the said minute book , deposited in the box . " We have thus instructed the fact that in 167 S the office beaters of this , lodge consisted of . Master , and Senior and