-
Articles/Ads
Article ANCIENT WRITERS AND MODERN" PRACTICES, ← Page 2 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ancient Writers And Modern" Practices,
readers , Yiz . —his retnarks on Ereemasonry in general , and his opinion as to its introduction into England . But , first , we will recur for a moment to his assertion that no records of Ereemasonry in England are to be found prior to the early part of the seventeenth century , and , in answer to it , quote verbatim the A ^ ct of Parliament to which we alluded as being
mentioned in a small work well known to most Ereemasons , which is , in fact , no other than the "Ereemasons' Calendar or Pocket-book . ' * Here it is , translated from the French , and extracted from the " Statutes of the Realm : "—
-3 Henry VI . A . n . 1425 . " Our Lord the King , by the Advice and Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal , and at the special Request of the Commons assembled in this Parliament ^ ^ Year of his Ileigny hath ordained and established certain Ordinances and Statutes , to the Honour of God , and for the Weal of his Realm , in the form following :
" First , Whereas by the yearly Congregations and Confederacies made by the Masons in their general Chapiters [ and Assemblies ?] the good Course and Effect of the Statutes of Labourers be openly violated and broken , in Subversion of the Law , and to the great Damage of all the Commons : Our said Lord , the King , willing in this case to provide Remedy , by the Adviee and Assent aforesaid , and at the special Request
of the said Commons ? hath ordained and established , That such Chapiters and Congregations shall not be hereafter Iiolden ; and if any such be made , they that cause such Chapiters and Congregations to be assembled and Iiolden , if they thereof be convict , shall be judged for Felons ; and that all the other Masons that come to such Chapiters and Congregations , be punished by Imprisonment of their Bodies , and make Fine and Ransom at the King ' s Will . "
If this is not a record , and one too which carries Ereemasonry somewhat farther back into the past than the period assigned by De Quincey , we know not what is ; and yet , merely because our friend did not happen to know of this and similar records , he affirms ( his ipse dixit again ) , as the main thesis of his concluding labours , " That Freemasonry is neither more nor less titan Rosier ncianism ^ as modified by those who transplanted it into England " He commences in much the same style which he adopted with regard totthe Rosicrucian Society , by saying that at the
commencement of the seventeenth century , many of the learned heads in England were occupied w ith theosopli 3 , cabbalism , and alchemy . Amongst the proofs of this , for many of which he refers to Wood ' s " Athense Oxonienses , " may be cited the works of John Pordage , oi Norbert , of Thomas and Samel Norton , but above all ( in reference to
otir present inquiry ) , of Robert Eludd , M . D . This strange character was born in 1574 , and having taken the respective degrees of B . A . and M . A . at St . John ' s College , Oxford , commenced the study of physic , and in due time took the degree of Doctor of Medicine . He began to publish in 1616 , when ho became a voluminous writfcr , being the author of about twenty works , mostly written in Latin >
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ancient Writers And Modern" Practices,
readers , Yiz . —his retnarks on Ereemasonry in general , and his opinion as to its introduction into England . But , first , we will recur for a moment to his assertion that no records of Ereemasonry in England are to be found prior to the early part of the seventeenth century , and , in answer to it , quote verbatim the A ^ ct of Parliament to which we alluded as being
mentioned in a small work well known to most Ereemasons , which is , in fact , no other than the "Ereemasons' Calendar or Pocket-book . ' * Here it is , translated from the French , and extracted from the " Statutes of the Realm : "—
-3 Henry VI . A . n . 1425 . " Our Lord the King , by the Advice and Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal , and at the special Request of the Commons assembled in this Parliament ^ ^ Year of his Ileigny hath ordained and established certain Ordinances and Statutes , to the Honour of God , and for the Weal of his Realm , in the form following :
" First , Whereas by the yearly Congregations and Confederacies made by the Masons in their general Chapiters [ and Assemblies ?] the good Course and Effect of the Statutes of Labourers be openly violated and broken , in Subversion of the Law , and to the great Damage of all the Commons : Our said Lord , the King , willing in this case to provide Remedy , by the Adviee and Assent aforesaid , and at the special Request
of the said Commons ? hath ordained and established , That such Chapiters and Congregations shall not be hereafter Iiolden ; and if any such be made , they that cause such Chapiters and Congregations to be assembled and Iiolden , if they thereof be convict , shall be judged for Felons ; and that all the other Masons that come to such Chapiters and Congregations , be punished by Imprisonment of their Bodies , and make Fine and Ransom at the King ' s Will . "
If this is not a record , and one too which carries Ereemasonry somewhat farther back into the past than the period assigned by De Quincey , we know not what is ; and yet , merely because our friend did not happen to know of this and similar records , he affirms ( his ipse dixit again ) , as the main thesis of his concluding labours , " That Freemasonry is neither more nor less titan Rosier ncianism ^ as modified by those who transplanted it into England " He commences in much the same style which he adopted with regard totthe Rosicrucian Society , by saying that at the
commencement of the seventeenth century , many of the learned heads in England were occupied w ith theosopli 3 , cabbalism , and alchemy . Amongst the proofs of this , for many of which he refers to Wood ' s " Athense Oxonienses , " may be cited the works of John Pordage , oi Norbert , of Thomas and Samel Norton , but above all ( in reference to
otir present inquiry ) , of Robert Eludd , M . D . This strange character was born in 1574 , and having taken the respective degrees of B . A . and M . A . at St . John ' s College , Oxford , commenced the study of physic , and in due time took the degree of Doctor of Medicine . He began to publish in 1616 , when ho became a voluminous writfcr , being the author of about twenty works , mostly written in Latin >