Antiquity Of Masonic Degrees.

ANTIQUITY OF MASONIC DEGREES .

LONDON , SATURDAY , JANUARY 2-1 , 1863 .

( From a Correspondent . ) The subject alluded to in the recent letters of Bro . Eindel and Delta is so interesting to all Freemasons , that I feel persuaded you will kindly grant me the privilege of offering the subjoined observations . There can he little doubt that the first Grand

Lodge of our present constitution took place in 1717 , and was the open and formal union of Operative and Speculative Masonry . But yet it does not therefore follow that the previous meetings of the Grand or General Assembly of Operative Masons , had no connexion with Speculative Masonry .

On the contrary , much evidence might be adduced to prove that for a considerable period anterior to 1717 , the operative guilds had been strengthening themselves hy the admission of non-operative members . Eor instance , we have Elias Ashmole ' s own account , that he was made a Mason at "Warrington , Lancashire ,

in 1646 , certain operative members being present . Whatever may be the actual historical value of the alleged regulations of the General Assembly of 1663 , they are quite consistent with the known and rapidly developing tendency of Operative Masonry . At any rate in 1682 we have a Lodmeeting

, ge summoned , composed of named Operative and Speculative Masons , " for the admission of an accepted mason , " while in 1684 , when Dr . Plot published his History of Staffordshire , he distinctly alludes to

the meeting of Lodges composed of operative and non-operative Masons , which had continued for some time past , and was of great antiquity , in that and other parts of the country . He mentions a roll of parchment , which he says he had seen , and from the extract he gives , must have been a copy of one of the MSS . constitutions of the orderstill jireserved in the

, British Museum and elsewhere , and which links together in a striking measure , Operative and Speculative Masonry . In 1691 , when Sir C . Wren was initiated , according to Aubrey , " it was in a great convention , at St . Paul ' s Church , of the fraternity of the Adopted Masons . " These statements might be easily lied

multip , but they will serve for our present purpose . Admitting then , the formal expansion of our order , and the absorption so to speak , of the Operative hy the Speculative element in 1717 , it does not in any sense followthat we are to sever ourselves dogmaticallin

, y , our present constitution , from those operative guilds , with whom all research and enquiry incontestably show our Speculative Masons to be inseparably united . It is not improbable that in the great decay of Masonry iu this country through the " convulsions of the civil

wars , the breaking up of the old Masonic guilds , the degradation of architectural science , arid the competition of-free' labour , Masonry , at the begmnining of the 18 th century , was in truth iu a A ery shattered and fragmentary state . But yet neither is this fact discordant with the other fact of a revival of speculative Masonrv in the early part of the ISth century , and of the resuscitation of the Grand Lodge of 1717 , as the lineal and legitimate

successor , even in the purely speculative branch of the operative guilds , and general assembly of Operative Masons . Delta states rather dogmatically , " that the signs , constitutions , & c , of the operative lodges , have been preserved ,- and I challenge Bro . Eindel to point out any close resemblance to our present Masonry in them . " ]^ ow the fact isthat all

, the constitutions , or histories or legends of Masonry , existing in the British Museum , or preserved elsewhere , ( and several others do exist , though probably only late copies , ) prove , if they prove anything at all , the oneness and sameness of Masonic tradition . They all speak of inner secrets and hidden mysteries

, revealed alone " in the lodge , " They uniformly give rules for Operative working , while they mention Speculative Masonry . Whether you take the earliest or the latest , the fact remains unaltered . The earliest prose constitution so far known as

discovered , is that edited by our Bro . Matthew Cooke , and which , tot-idem verbis , mentions "Speculative " Masonry . The earliest Masonic poetic constitution , published by Mr . Halliwell , in 1843 , so strikingly conjoins Operative and Speculative Masonry , that its evidence cannot be gainsayed . This curious production was seemingly written about the end of the 14 th century , by a monk , who professes to have seen and studied a history of the

order , and convinced Mr . Halliwell , a non-Mason , as it would convince any candid enquirer , that modern and ancient Masonry were identically the same . So much is all this , an accurate statement of the case , in this respect , that no Masonic Student can rise from a perusal of the ancient constitutions and histories , and then compare them with the common traditions and

ceremonies of our order , without feeling assured in his own mind , that Operative and Speculative Masonry are but two parts of one great and universal system . Delta talks also of " signs being preserved . " If he means by " signs " what we Masons usually term " signs " amongst ourselvesthere is no ancient

con-, stitution , or legend , or history of Operative Masonry which contains anything of the kind . So far from this being the case , there is a distinct allusion made , in all constitutions , to the secrets of Masonry being orally delivered ; that they are inscrutable , and therefore unwritten .

It is not a little curious , as bearing on this interesting subject , that amongst Operative Masons in England , to the present day , there exists a trades union , which meets in " lodge , " and boasts of traditions alluding to their Grand Master , Hiram . It is rather difficult to saywhat " Delta" seelcs

, to prove , by the statements be makes , of tlie publication of the statutes cf the order of the Temple in 1705 , and attested ( sie in orig . ) by one of the Orleans .

It is probable that ever since the death ot J . aqijes de Molay , there has professedly been an order of the Temple extant in Paris . But it is necessary to bear always in mind , that all these Erench " high degrees , " are off-shoots , of the " Fite Feossais" and that many of themto say

, , the least , can be fairly traced to the inventive genius of the Chevalier Ramsay . With respect to the Eoyal Arch Degree , there is much to he said , no doubt , on both sides ; but , nevertheless , despite "Dermott , '