Ears Of Wheat From A Cornucopia.

EARS OF WHEAT FROM A CORNUCOPIA .

LONDON , SATURDAY , JULY 11 , 1863 .

By Bro . D . MURRAY LYON , A . M ., Masonic University of Kentucky , U . S . ; Corresponding Member of the Union of German Freemasons , Leipsic ; one of the Gramd Stewards in the Grand Lodge of Scotland ,- P-G . S . W . of Ayrshire ; author of the "History of Mother Kihmning , " fyc .

THE MASTER MASON DEGRKE—ITS FIRST APPEAR - ANCE TN SCOTLAND . "While , as we believe , Scotland was indebted to the mediaeval Bnilding Fraternities of the Continent for its organisation of its first lodge of the

Mason Craft , to its union and incorporation with England in 1707 we are inclined to ascribe its subsequent acquaintance with and adoption of what for nearly a century and a half has been known in Scotland as Freemasonry ; for that this

system of Masonic Degress was an importation must , we think , be obvious to Scots brethren when they remember that in the processes of initiation and advancement conformity to the new ceremonial required the adoption of genuflections , postures , etc ., which , in the manner of their use—the

country being then purely Presbyterian—were regarded by our forefathers with abhorence as relics of both Popery and Prelacy . It should also be borne in mind that previous to the introduction of Speculative Masonry into Scotland , the

number and quality of officers necessary to direct the affairs of lodges were not such as could render practicable the working of any elaborate ritual . A Deacon , Warden , Clerk ( who was no Craftsman ) , and Officer , were the only officials in Mother

Kilwinning till December , 1735 , and in some other lodges till a later period ; and with such a meagre array of officers , how by any possibility could the dramatispersonce of Speculative Masonry have been sustained ?

In his courteously-framed comments upon Bro . Hughan ' s invaluable " Analysis , " our learned brother , "Masonic Student , " points to the existence at York in . the fourteenth century of le lege lathomorum , in proof of the antiquity of the third

degree . However much such testimony may tend to support the claims to hoary antiquity which are put forth in favour of the Master Mason degree , it possesses little weight from a Scottish stand-point ; for archcelogists have yet to establish

the existence of a Lodge of Secret Custom , or anything resembling such an institution , in connection jvith the Scottish Craft at any date anterior

to the transformation of the once pui'ely Operative Lodges into the Symbolical Freemasonry of the eighteenth century . There is no record extant , Masonic , or profane , from which can be drawn any conclusion further than that in their

organisation the members of the ancient building associations of Scotland were leagued together for the protection of their common rights , and much after the manner of the trades ' " unionists of modem times . They had their entry-money ,

their money-test of membership , their regulations for the limitation of the number of apprentices , their relief fund , their fines for defaulters , and their "Coventry" for recusants . And in the furtherance of what appears to have been the

primary object of their institution , the Crafts ' " leagues and bands " of the fourteenth and succeeding centuries were often brought into collision with the community , whose protection from the extortionate charges for tradesmen's labour

was sought through administration of the laws that were from time to time enacted by Parliament because of the arbitrary and oppressive measures of the courts of the Mason and other Crafts .

A similar feature is presented in the early history of the Craft in England ; and it has not escaped the notice of . our learned brother , J . Gr . Findel , who recognises in it evidence sufficient to justify a modification of the extravagances of some

Masonic historians in their representations of our kings and queens having in ancient times been the " nursing fathers " and " nursing mothers " of the Craft . The office of " Deacon or

Maisterman" was created by Act of Parliament ( 1424 ) , and by the same power it was afterwards alternately subjected to suppression and restoration , as the interests of the commonwealth might require . . We have already shown that in the sixteenth

century Masonic Courts for the reception of Masters and Fellows could not be leg-ally constituted without the presence of the Deacon and Warden , who were on such occasions to be accompanied by a certain number of Apprentices ,

and that only Notaries-Public were eligible for the office of Lodge Clerk whose duty it was , under an oath of fidelity , to write and attest all indentures , minutes of meetings , etc . We find , too , that when the practice prevailed of individual brethren

entering to Mother Kilwinning members furth of the ludge , such newly-made brethren were on the faith of having received " The Word " admitted in