Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

2 \ e Raitcr is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Corretpondenti THE MAKE DEGEEE . TO Tin : laaror . or THE niEiiirAsoVs irACAZi ^ 'E AND MASONIC irrRitoB . Dear Sir and Brother , —I am sorry to have to have

to observe that the further evidence brought forward by Bro . Xerr upon this subject , as recorded at pages 97 to 100 of your columns , is in my opinion , also full of mistakes , as I shall proceed to show . The old operative Lodges , or Masonic friendly Societies were not unwilling "to commit anything to

writing , " lor we have laws and statues , minutes , & c , still extant which were written between one hundred and fifty , and three hundred years ago , and from their contents we find no evidence that our system of degrees and ceremonies was practised then , but , instead , proof to the contrary . When saying so , I ,

of course , mean that brethren are to read them as they actually stand in the old books , not as they may wish them to stand . E . g ., at page 98 Bro . Kerr says : " The minute of 1598 says , ' that no Entered Apprentice or h ' eilow Graft be received or admitted into the the Loclgo without the number of six Masters , and

two Entered Apprentices , the Wardens of that Lodge being two of the same six Masters . " JNOW , upon turning to page 412 of Laurie ' s " History of Freemasonry , " where a copy of this " minute " occurs , we find that Bro . Kerr has quite misrepresented matter .- - , for , it there reads— " Item , That na Maislcr or Fa ) loiv-o !' -Craft be ressavit nor admittifc without the numcr of six Maisteris and tua enterit Prenteissis , the Wardane of that Ludge being anc of the

said six . ' So we here see that Bro . Kerr has substituted " Entered Apprentices , " for " Maisters , " and " two " Wardens while there is only " ane" mentioned 1 He of course , I suppose wishing to keep up the idea that the present system of Senior aud Junior Wardens was in vogue then , but such was not the case , as the above helps to prove . FurtherBro . Kerr ' s idea

, th .-ifc tho Emered Apprentices were not present , is simply groundless , as the ' ' minute " distinctl y shows they were bound to be present in order to make what was done legal ; seeing , therefore , that Apprentices were present when "Alnisters or Fallows-of- Craft " were " ressavit or admittit" it follows that what was

, being done then was not the giving of " degrees " as with us now , but the granting of privileges , Bro . Kerr also gives a description of certain emblems which are cut on the sill of the second window , OJI the south side of the choir of Glasgow ' Cathedra ] which " symbols" he sayswere cut in

, , , " 1559 " but if we turn to page 505 of the " Freemasons' Magazine "for December 25 th , 1 SC 9 , we find that he is not only wrong as to the date actually cut there , but lie is also all at sixes and sevens regarding his description of them . There is no " sun ; " the ladder has / zre stepsnot " three" and the finger does

, , not point to it , but to the eye . I went up to the Cathedral to-day to have another look at these , audi must say that in my opinion , the true date when these " Symbols " were cut is much nearer 1756 than

" J 556 . " They are no older than last century , what ever less . As to the Lodge Edinburgh Journeymen , there is no proof that either it , or the Lodge Marys' Chapel , worked our degrees of Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft so early as about 1707 , nor was our degree of

Mark Master and its ritual known to either at that time . Iu the use of marks then the Masons w ere simply on a par with other Craftsmen , merchants , & c , who used them inter aliajor marking their goods , and , although a fee was eligible for recording a mark , there were then no more secrets about it than there

is about the trade marks at present in use by manufacturers , & c . Bro . Kerr ' s statement that the " Mark Master was the Master of the Fellow Crafts' Lodge , " and " the Master Mason presided over the entire Lodge of three Degrees , " is , in my opinion , pure imagination

An operative Masonic Lodge , two hundred years ago , was composed of Masters in their trade , Fellows , and Apprentices , aud it could admit penticles who were not Craftsmen , but the purposes of meeting were to admit members just as other trade societies of the period mi ght do , so that those admitted might

work at that particular trade , not to work our Degrees . Penticles , or non-Masons had an interest in the funds , and in many cases got on as Master of the Lodge , but they never got our degree of Master Mason before 1717 as it was not in existence before then , and , although worked iu London then , it was

not known to many Lodges uutiL years after that date , so that a gentleman in the seventeenth century getting the honorary title of Master Mason no more became possessed of the secrets of our master degree thereby , than did Edward , or several of the other English kings , when they became honorary Master Tailors .

As to the idea thrown out that the Secretary of the "Eoyal Order of Scotland " had documents " above two hundred years old , referring to what is now called " speculative " Masonry . I consider there is very little in it ; . more especially as I am not aware that the "Boyal Order" has the ' slightest satisfactory

proof of such an antiquity as " above 200 years , " about one hundred would be more sensible like , so far as 1 am able to judge . However , if older prove it . At page 9 S , jjro . Kerr also says " These liules of 1598 were promulgated during the time the head of the Rosslyn family was Hereditary Grand Master

Mason . " Now , in justice to the Grand Lodge of England , as well as to others , I must say that this is another mistake , as , after perusing the two Koslin ' Charters , " it appears to me that " the head of the Rosslyn family " is no more entitled to the title of "Hereditary Grand Master Mason " than I am . The

present Earl of Eosslyn is , I am happy to say ' ' Grand Master Mason , " but as for hereditary Grand Master that is another matter , there was no Grand Master in Scotland before 1736 . As to Bro . Kerr deducing evidence of antiquity from the wording of our Mark ritualI am astonished

, at him , he might as well say that Shakespear's tragedy of Julius Caisar was nineteen centuries old , because the scene , & c , is laid in Julius Cmsar ' s time . And as to our Master degree being simplv an " astronomi-