Ms. Masonic Constitutions (Or Charges) No. 2.

bow they might find there children meanes an d they could find no good Avayes ; and caused a cry to be made throughout the realme that if there Avere any man that could informe him , that he should come to him and be Avell reAvarded and hould

himself AA'ell payed ; and after this cry Avas made came this worthy clarke Euchild and sayd to the King and all his great Lords : if yu will have yr children gOA'rned mid taught honestly as gentlem : should bo under condiconif yu Avill graunt me a

, cnmission that I may haA'e poAver to rule them honestly , as these sciences ought to be ruled ; and the Kinge Avith his counsell gvaunted them and sealed that comission ; and then yt Avorthy doctor tooke the Lords sones and taught them this science of

Geomatry in practice to worke Masonrie , all manr of Avorthy Avorkes that belongeth to buildinsr castles all manors of Lords

temples and churches Avith all other buildings and he gave them charge in this manor : first that they should be true to the King and to the Lords they served , and that ye should love Avell togather and be true one to another , and that they call on another felloAves and not servants or

knafes nor other foule names and that they should truly serve there paymt to there Lord that the serve and they should ordaino ye Avisost to be Mr of the Lords AA'orke , and neither for love , great liveing , nor riches , to get another that hath little

wining to bo Mr of the Lords Avorke AA'horeb y ho should be OA'ill served or they ashamed and that they should call the govnor of the Avorke Mr of ye worke Avhilest they worke AA'ith him , and many

other charges AVCII are too longe to tell . And to all these charges he made them SAvere the great oathe that men used at that tyme , and ordained for ym reasonable paynit that they might live by it honestly

Mia also yt they should come and assemble with others , that he might have counsell ] 'i there crafts , they might worke best to se ''A'e there Lord for there profitt and worslll Pp and correct themselves if they had b ' Rsspassed ( To be continued . )

Illustrations Of The History Of The Craft.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE HISTORY OF THE CRAFT .

Bv A MASONIC STUDENT . CHAPTER III . I propose in the present chapter to call attention to the evidences AA'hich may be adduced relative to the existence of Masonic

guilds , or sodalities , up to the fall of the Roman Empire . In 1863 , I thus stated the general proposition in Avoids Avhich 1 venture to repeat to-day : " One thing is plain from history , that , from the earliest period of civilized

life in the world , architecture has been considered almost as a sacred art . In Egypt , Greece , and Rome , the colleges of architects and the sodalities of Masons Avere recognized by the State and cherished by the priests . For as architecture , by its very

symbolism , by the buildings it reared , the temples it adorned , by the objects of nature it sought to delineate in the ornamentation it employed , as ministering both to utility and beauty , had ever an inner and mystical teaching , it is not at all surprising that , from the very first , the builders of the Avorld

seemed to have thrown around their outward occupation and associated companies , the attractive if serious conditions , of initiatory probation and secret organization AA'hile they carefully guarded both their principles of art , and their ritual of

observance , their secrets and their mysteries , from the si ght and knowledge-of the outer world . " But Avhat , then , is the actual eA'idenee Ave are able to put foi'Avard , in support of this enlarged vieAV of our Masonic history 1

To ansAver this fully , let us examine , ¦ seriatim , the remarkable and interesting details of E gyptian , Grecian , Tyrian , J BAvish , and Roman Masonry , which arch ecological enquiry has collected , and careful stud y and research have substantiated and

ap proved . To begin AA'ith Egypt . All Avriters seem to agree in this , IIOAA ' - ever different on other points ( Clavel , Schauberg , Heldmann , Krause ) , that the priests , as a general rule , directed all the AA'orks of architectureand taught the art in

, secret . They Avere , as Ave knoAV , a caste , or close corporation , admitting none into their Order but those AVIIO Avere their relatives ,