5 
 
 061 
 
 430 
 
 
 01
 
 THE 
 
 BOOK 
 
 OP 
 
 THE LODGE, 
 
 OR 
 
 OFFICER'S MANUAL. 
 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. G. OLIVER, D. D., 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 " THE HISTORICAL LANDMARKS," " THE HISTORY OP INITIATION," 
 
 " ANTIQUITIES OP PREEMASONRY," " STAR IN THE EAST," 
 
 ETC. ETC. ETC. 
 
 PAST D. G. M. OF THE GRAND LODGE OF MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. 
 PAST D. P. G. M. FOR LINCOLNSHIRE. 
 
 HONORARY MEMBER OP THE BANE OF ENGLAND LODGE, LONDON ; THE 
 SHAESFEARE LODGE, WARWICK; THE PIRST LODGE OP LIGHT, BIR- 
 MINGHAM; THE ST. PETER'S LODGE, WOLVERHAMPTON; THE 
 WITHAM LODGE, LINCOLN; THE ST. PETER'S LODOK, PETERBOROUGH; 
 LIGHT OP THE NORTH LODOK, LONDONDERRY; ROYAL STANDARD LODGE, 
 EIDDKRMINSTER ; LODGE RISING STAR WESTERN INDIA, BOMBAY] 
 ST. OEORGE'S LODGE, MONTREAL; LODGE, SOCIAL FRIENDSHIP, 
 MADRAS; ETC. 
 
 Adrjvav TQ>V Geo&pjrcoz/. SOPHOCLES. 
 
 Gasecos Teletas ac Hysteria taciturnitate parietibusque clausisse. 
 
 VARRO. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 R. SPENCER, 314, HIGH HOLBORN. 
 UPPJNGHAM : C. W. OLIVER, HIGH-STREET. 
 
 1849.
 
 C. W. OLIVER, PRINTER, UPPINGHAM.
 
 Cite lutjmr'0 
 
 TO THE 
 
 FRATERNITY. 
 
 MY DEAR BRETHREN, 
 
 IT is well known that throughout my 
 whole life I have been, not merely a lover of 
 Masonry, but an enthusiast a champion for 
 the purity of its forms and ceremonies zealous 
 for its uninterrupted prosperity and fearful 
 lest the world should misunderstand its refer- 
 ences, or misinterpret its benevolent designs. 
 Sensitively alive to its interests and reputation, 
 I have defended it with my utmost abilities, 
 and have mourned when the misconduct of an 
 individual brother, has given its enemies an 
 advantage, and caused them to exult in an 
 
 bB 
 
 2061904
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 imaginary triumph. I well remember in my 
 early masonic days, before I became acquainted 
 with the true bearing and excellence of the 
 institution, the bitter mortification to which I 
 found myself subjected, when an expert an- 
 tagonist advanced arguments against the Order, 
 which I was not prepared to refute ; for the 
 masonic literature of that day was circum- 
 scribed within a very narrow compass, and 
 extended information on the subject of ma- 
 sonry was difficult of attainment. 
 
 It is a matter of infinite gratification to me, 
 that this unfavourable state of things no longer 
 exists, and that I have lived to a period when 
 the fraternity have roused themselves to a 
 sense of duty, and entertain a feeling that the 
 dignity of Freemasonry requires some exertions 
 on their part, to promote its popularity, and 
 place it on a level with other scientific institu- 
 tions ; and who for this great purpose, employ 
 their talents through the medium of the Press, 
 to display its utility as a benevolent Order, 
 promoting at once the investigations of science, 
 and the practice of every moral and social virtue.
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 For several years I have been in the habit 
 of receiving letters from brethren in different 
 parts of the kingdom, who have been entrusted 
 with the arrangement of any important masonic 
 celebration, enquiring into the usages of an- 
 tiquity on particular points, that the ceremonial 
 may be conducted in strict accordance with 
 the Constitutions of the Order. A marked 
 anxiety so uniformly displayed amongst the 
 whole body of masons, has suggested the pro- 
 priety of some general answers to all enquiries 
 of this nature, as a measure which would not 
 only be well received, but hailed as a boon by 
 the fraternity at large. 
 
 For this purpose it is not to be doubted but 
 that a Manual embracing legitimate informa- 
 tion on all cases which can possibly arise, will 
 be peculiarly acceptable to the W. Masters 
 and Officers of a Lodge in particular, and to 
 every brother who is desirous of becoming 
 well versed in the usages and customs of 
 masonry in primitive times. 
 
 On this plan, therefore, the present little 
 volume has been constructed. The informa- 
 
 bS
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 tion which it contains has been carefully 
 arranged by a comparison of the rites prac- 
 tised by our ancient brethren, with those which 
 are enjoined by the United Grand Lodge of 
 England; and it appears extremely probable 
 that the fraternity would glady adopt an 
 uniformity of practice on points where they 
 have hitherto been at ax loss to determine 
 whether ceremonies of constant recurrence are, 
 or are not, in accordance with ancient usage. 
 In this enquiry the customs of foreign 
 Lodges have not been overlooked; and it is 
 hoped that this little volume will constitute 
 an unerring book of reference which cannot 
 fail to be of incalculable service to the frater- 
 nity. It is almost entirely practical ; and the 
 directions have been drawn up in strict con- 
 formity with the Constitutions of our own 
 Grand Lodge ; so that the brethren may adopt 
 them in full confidence that they are as sound 
 and legitimate as if they had been enjoined by 
 authority. 
 
 G. O. 
 
 Scopwick Vicarage., 
 January \$t, 1849.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 THE AUTHOR'S ADDRESS TO THE FRATERNITY. 
 
 CHAP. I. WHAT is MASONRY ? Its nature and influence- 
 Symbolical Masonry denned Arts taught by Freemasonry 
 its high antiquity morality of the order Know thyself 
 universality of Masonry its benevolent character in 
 whom do you put your trust ? tongue of good report 
 open to all symbolical ancient charges tendency of the 
 Lectures symbol of a Lodge equality secrets of Masonry 
 incommunicable. 
 
 CHAP. II. THE LODGE. Initiation of a candidate definitions 
 what is a Lodge ? a microcosm extent ground 
 pavement star border covering Pedestal Lights, &c. 
 all minutely explained. 
 
 CHAP. III. THE RITUAL OF BUILDING. Why a mason's Lodge 
 differs from an ordinary building utility of ceremonies 
 exhibited to the dead preparations for building the ritual 
 the plan proper situation of a masonic hall position 
 of the windows altitude roof approaches entrances 
 screens chapels or closets various other particulars. 
 
 CHAP. IV. THE FOUNDATION STONE. The appropriate time 
 of levelling the footstone of a masonic hall number of 
 brethren necessary to begin the work notices duty of 
 P. G. Masters and masters of lodges preliminary arrange- 
 ments instructions for ceremonial assembly of brethren 
 full and copious detail of all the rites and ceremonies of 
 laying the foundation stone.
 
 Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. V. THE DECORATIONS. Furniture of a lodge of the 
 walls embellishments curtains dais screen pedestal 
 appropriate passages of scripture for opening the Holy 
 Bible in the several degrees ornaments transparencies 
 candlesticks statues or paintings carpet general har- 
 mony of design. 
 
 CHAP. VI. THE NAME. Improper names importance of 
 due consideration necessary names ought to be appropriate 
 precedency the Number of a lodge why lodges are 
 named its utility superstitions attached to names ancient 
 mysteries and miracle plays moralities Names derived 
 from the period when names of Lodges were first imposed. 
 
 CHAP. VII. THE CONSECRATION. Necessity of dedication 
 and consecration duty of director of ceremonies pro- 
 cessions preliminary arrangements instructions to the 
 brethren Ceremony of Consecration minutely described 
 duties of Masters order of procession religious services 
 at the Church sermon return to the lodge room. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. THE PILLAR OF WISDOM. Union of the fra- 
 ternity form of government laws constitutions land- 
 marks rulers of a lodge power of a Master his duties 
 his qualifications and tact impropriety of electing inade- 
 quate Masters evil consequences of degree of Past Master 
 description of a good W.M, how to govern a lodge profit- 
 ably the Bye-Laws regularity and decorum admission 
 of candidates improper persons to be rejected results of 
 good government peace, harmony, and brotherly-love. 
 
 CHAP. IX. THE PILLARS OF STRENGTH AND BEAUTY. Duty 
 
 of the Wardens Jewel of the S. W. his place in the lodge 
 regularity of attendance recommended Jewel of the 
 J. W. his place and duties the Deacons the office un- 
 known till a recent period the officer of the South, who ? 
 E. A. P.'s originally had a vote in Grand Lodge enquiry 
 into the first appointment of Deacons their Jewel conti- 
 nental officers of a lodge duties of the members of a lodge 
 mutual obligations happy results.
 
 CONTENTS. IX 
 
 CHAP. X. TRACING BOARD OF AN E. A. P. Bro. Harris's 
 new Tracing Boards considered progress of a candidate 
 through the degrees instruction the ground, situation, 
 extent, support, and covering of a lodge, explained in detail 
 east and west three Pillars mosaic work jewels 
 symbols working tools ashlars lewis the Holy Bible 
 pedestal great lights ladder blazing star. 
 
 CHAP. XI. TTACING BOARD OF A F. C., AND A M. M. The 
 
 new Fellowcraft's tracing boards noticed Jeptha and the 
 Ephraimites the river Jordon winding staircase work- 
 ing tools the two Pillars view of the Holy Place queen 
 of Sheba decorations lights altar of incense Sanctum 
 Sanctorum the veils Tracing Board of the Third Degree 
 emblems of mortality the veil withdrawn ark Mercy 
 Seat cherubims Shekinah the centre working tools 
 ornaments custom of decking graves with flowers un- 
 certainty of life resurrection of the dead the way to die 
 happily. 
 
 CHAP. XII. LABOUR AND REFRESHMENT. Arrangement of 
 the lodge furniture in the last century the primitive floor 
 cloth masonic labor explanations refreshment its pro- 
 priety disuse of during lodge hours duty of the J. W. 
 approval of moderate refreshment toasts and songs social 
 intercourse libels on masonic refreshment moderation of 
 the fraternity temperance and total abstinence considered.
 
 THE BOOK OF THE LODGE.
 
 THE BOOK OF THE LODGE. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 WHAT IS MASONRY ? 
 
 " King Athelstan caused a general assembly of all masons in 
 the realme at York, and there made many masons, and gave 
 them a deepe charge for observation of such articles as belong 
 to masonry, and delivered them a charter to keepe, and when 
 his Assembly was gathered together he caused a cry to be made, 
 that if any mason of them had a writing that did concerne 
 masonry, or could informe the King in anything or matter that 
 wanting in the said Science already delivered, that they or hee 
 should deliver them to the King or write them to him : and 
 there were some in French, some in Greeke, some in English, 
 and other languages ; whereupon the King caused a Book to be 
 made, which declared how the Science was first invented, and 
 the utility thereof ; which Book he commanded to be read and 
 plainly declared when a man was to b^e made a mason, that he 
 might fully understand what Articles, Rules, and Orders, he 
 was obliged to observe ; and from that time untill this day 
 Masonry hath been much respected and preserved ; and divers 
 new Articles hath been added to the sayd charge, by good ad- 
 vise and consent of the best Masons and Fellowes." ANCIENT 
 MASONIC MANUSCRIPT. 
 
 THE tendency of Freemasonry is sometimes 
 mistaken, not only by the uninitiated, but also 
 by many of those who have been superficially 
 instructed in its mysteries. One considers it to 
 be an institution framed for the purposes of be- 
 nevolence ; that, through its medium, the sick 
 may be visited, the destitute relieved, the widow 
 
 B
 
 comforted, and the aged placed in a situation 
 where want can never more afflict them. But 
 this design, how amiable and praiseworthy soever 
 it may be, is only one of the purposes of Free- 
 masonry ; and if, as this class of brethren suppose, 
 it were confined to these charitable ends, it would 
 rank merely on a level with a common Friendly 
 Society, or Sick Club. Others suppose it to be 
 connected with artisans and operative stonemasons ; 
 judging from the instruments of mechanical craft 
 which form the chief symbols of the order, that 
 this must be its principal reference ; while some 
 take it for a mere convivial society, whose exclu- 
 siveness in the selection of its members is guarded 
 by signs and tokens, the payment of a heavy fine 
 at admission, and the adoption of a peculiar dress. 
 There are other opinions afloat, even amongst 
 the brethren themselves ; some of whom frequently 
 display such a frigid, indifference to the peculiarity 
 of its construction, and are so insensible to the 
 great and apparent advantages which result from 
 its complicated organization, embracing history 
 and legend, science and morals, and blending the 
 practice of virtue with the enjoyment of moderate 
 conviviality, as to afford a reasonable pretext to 
 those who are uninitiated for taking no interest in 
 the institution, and for repressing any desire which 
 they might otherwise have entertained to "ask 
 that they might have, to seek that they might find, 
 and to knock that the door of masonry might be 
 opened to them."
 
 Symbolical masonry, under whatever form it 
 may be propounded, is a catholic institution, de- 
 mocratic in its form and government, and universal 
 in its operation. This is demonstrable from any 
 of the definitions of the order ; from the free 
 election of its chief magistrate and the inferior 
 governors of every private lodge, annually and by 
 universal suffrage ; and from the reputed form, 
 and symbolical extent of its lodges. If it were 
 deprived of any of the above attributes, it would 
 be no longer Freemasonry ; and all its beneficial 
 effects upon the mind and manners of men, would 
 be scattered to the winds of heaven. That this 
 conclusion is not unwarranted, we will proceed to 
 test it by an enquiry into the nature of the insti- 
 tution, and its peculiarity of construction ; which 
 will clearly prove its universality, and the free 
 application of its principles to every inhabitant of 
 the globe who acknowledges the Being of a God, 
 whatever be his colour, religion, education, or 
 mental qualifications. 
 
 A consideration of the definitions of Freemasonry 
 which have been given in different ages, and by 
 different writers, will clear the way, and form a 
 preliminary step to the consideration of its general 
 principles, and show in what manner they are 
 applicable to all mankind in every age and nation. 
 
 1. In a MS. which has the reputation of having 
 been written by King Henry VI., we have this 
 definition of masonry. " Ytt beeth the skylle of 
 nature, the understondynge of the myghte that 
 
 B 3
 
 ys hereyune, and its sondrye werkynges ; sonder- 
 lyche, the skylle of reckenyngs, of waightes and 
 metynges, and the true manere of fa^onnynge al 
 thynges for mannes use ; headlye, dwellinges, and 
 buyldynges of alle kindes, and all other thynges 
 that make gudde to manne." And again, the same 
 document asserts that the arts which have been 
 taught to mankind by masons, are " agricultura, 
 architecture, astronomia, geometria, numeres, mu- 
 sica, poesie, kymistrye, governmente, and relygy- 
 onne." 
 
 In these definitions we find nothing of an ex- 
 clusive or unapproachable nature ; for natural, 
 mathematical, and mechanical knowledge, have 
 been practised in every age, and by every people 
 upon the face of the globe. Whether we turn 
 our eyes to the east or to the west to India 
 and China Egypt and Greece Scandinavia and 
 Britain Mexico and Peru the remote islands of 
 Australia on the one hand, or Iceland and Spitz- 
 bergen on the other we shall find every where 
 traces of genius and skill of the highest antiquity, 
 which excite our astonishment, and prove beyond 
 a doubt, that how proud soever we may be of our 
 progress in the above arts and sciences, we were 
 equalled, and in some instances surpassed, by those 
 primitive nations. The monuments of India and 
 Egypt, with those of what we denominate the 
 New World, exhibit the perfection of science, and 
 the triumphs of human ingenuity ; as the ruins of 
 Herculaneum and Pompeii have thrown open to
 
 our inspection the elegance and luxury of the 
 Greeks and Romans at the period when these 
 cities were destroyed by the fearful eruptions of 
 Mount Vesuvius in the time of Titus, a short time 
 after the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem. 
 
 Recent discoveries in central America have 
 made us acquainted with a series of facts which 
 display the scientific acquirements of an un- 
 known people, whose antiquity cannot even be 
 conjectured. Stephens, in his " Incidents of 
 Travel," has the following reflections in the midst 
 of the magnificent ruins of Copan in Mexico. 
 " There were no associations connected with the 
 place ; none of those stirring recollections which 
 hallow Rome, Athens, and the world's great mis- 
 tress on the Egyptian plain ; but architecture, 
 sculpture, and painting, all the arts which embel- 
 lish life, had flourished in this overgrown forest ; 
 orators, warriors, and statesmen ; beauty, ambition, 
 and glory, had lived and passed away, and none 
 knew that such things had been, or could tell of 
 their past existence. Books, the records of know- 
 ledge, are silent on this theme. The city is deso- 
 late. No remnant of this race hangs round the 
 ruins, with traditions handed down from father to 
 son, and from generation to generation. It lay 
 before us like a shattered bark in the midst of the 
 ocean ; her masts gone, her name effaced, her crew 
 perished, and none to tell whence she came, to 
 whom she belonged, how long on her voyage, or 
 what caused her destruction ; her lost people to be 
 
 B 5
 
 traced only by some fancied resemblance in the 
 construction of the vessel, and perhaps never to 
 be known at all. The place where we sat was it 
 a citadel, from which an unknown people had 
 sounded the trumpet of war ? or a temple for the 
 worship of the god of peace ? or did the inhabi- 
 tants worship the idols made with their own hands, 
 and offer sacrifices on the stones before them? 
 All was mystery; dark, impenetrable mystery; 
 and every circumstance increased it. In Egypt 
 the colossal skeletons of gigantic temples stand in 
 the unwatered sands in all the nakedness of deso- 
 lation ; here an immense forest shrouds the ruins, 
 hiding them from sight, heightening the impression 
 and moral effect, and giving an intensity and 
 almost wildness to the interest/' One thing how- 
 ever is quite certain. These ruins exhibit a know- 
 ledge of the sciences, which is not surpassed by 
 any nation of the ancient world. 
 
 The arts then being of universal application 
 Freemasonry which teaches those arts, is of uni- 
 versal application also ; and hence cosmopolitical. 
 
 2. The next definition of masonry which I shall 
 adduce in proof of the same proposition, was pro- 
 pounded at the revival of masonry by Dr. Ander- 
 son, the learned author of the History and Consti- 
 tutions of Masonry, whose opinion, in those days 
 was considered decisive on every point connected 
 with the order. As the former related exclusively 
 to science, this is confined to morals ; and will be 
 found equally comprehensive. "The end, the
 
 moral, and purport of masonry is, to subdue our 
 passions, not to do our own will ; to make a daily 
 progress in a laudable art, and to promote morality, 
 charity, good fellowship, good nature, and human- 
 ity." 1 
 
 I have considered this definition with great at- 
 tention, and cannot find anything exclusive in the 
 terms by which it is set forth. It is applicable to 
 all mankind, in every situation, condition, and re- 
 ligion. There can be no exceptions to the univer- 
 sality of its principles ; and the virtues which it 
 enjoins, may be practised by old and young of 
 both sexes, in all nations, whether savage or civil- 
 ized. To subdue the passions has been the uni- 
 versal aim of mankind. All have placed their 
 hopes upon it ; and hence sprang the first idea of 
 the rvco& o-eavrov, which was inscribed on the portal 
 of the heathen temples, that it might prove a 
 stimulus to virtue, of which it was the first lesson, 
 and lead to the desirable consummation in which 
 all excellence was blended, of subduing the pas- 
 sions. Few attained this blessed serenity of mind, 
 but Socrates was amongst the number ; for Zopy- 
 rus, an eminent physiognomist, having declared 
 that he discovered in the features of that philos- 
 opher evident traces of many vicious passions ; 
 the friends of Socrates derided his judgment, 
 which they declared was eminently at variance 
 with fact. But Socrates acknowledged his pen- 
 etration; confessing that he was naturally dispo- 
 
 1 Golden Remains, Vol. 1. p. 49.
 
 8 
 
 ed to vicious indulgences, but that he had sub- 
 dued his passions by reason and philosophy. 
 
 Amongst the early Christians, many of whose 
 names have been inscribed on the lists of the order, 
 whether truly or not is immaterial to our present 
 purpose, this result was frequently acquired ; of 
 which the history of the persecutions affords nu- 
 merous instances; and without it the religion of 
 Christ could not have been successfully promul- 
 gated in the midst of dangers, and under the con- 
 stant dread of bonds, imprisonment, and death. 
 Tacitus thus mentions the facts. "Their sufferings 
 at their execution were aggravated by insult and 
 mockery ; for some were disguised in the skins of 
 wild beasts, and worried to death by dogs ; some 
 were crucified ; and others were wrapped in pitch 
 shirts, and set on fire when the day closed, that 
 they might serve as lights to illuminate the night." 
 And Juvenal, to the same purport says " they were 
 subjected to be burned in their own flame and 
 smoke, their head being held up by a stake fixed 
 to their chin, till they made a long stream of blood 
 and melted sulphur on the ground.'' And they 
 endured these accumulated sufferings with a con- 
 stancy that elicited the admiration even of their 
 enemies. They had a great contempt for the 
 things of this world, and cherished such strong 
 hopes of immortality, that they surrendered them- 
 selves cheerfully to sufferings, and despised death 
 under whatever fearful form it might be presented 
 to them.
 
 Here then we have a clear proof that the early 
 Christians practised the moral definition masonry. 
 They subdued their passions; did not their own 
 will; made a daily progress in a laudable art; and 
 practised morality, charity, goodnature, and hu- 
 manity. 
 
 If we turn to the savages of the east or the 
 west, we shall find the same general principle ex- 
 emplified; they attained such a mastery over their 
 passions under circumstances the most distressing, 
 that when the fortune of war placed them in the 
 hands of their enemies, they despised torment and 
 courted death ; and instead of trying to conciliate 
 their persecutors, they taunted them with their 
 own performances, and dared them to proceed to 
 the utmost extremity of inflicting pain ; dying at 
 length with a song in their mouth, and joy and 
 peacefulness in their hearts. 
 
 So extensive was the operation of masonic prin- 
 ciples, even in the absence of masonry itself; and 
 so boundless was the influence of those peculiar 
 virtues \vhich it recommends and enforces, that 
 their operation may justly be pronounced to be 
 universal in extent, and consequently unlimited in 
 its practice. 
 
 3. The next definition we meet with was pro- 
 mulgated about the middle of the 18th century. 
 It is peculiarly cosmopolitical, and requires no 
 explanation to point out its universal tendency. 
 " Masonry is a science confined to no particular 
 country, but extends over the whole terrestrial
 
 10 
 
 globe. Wherever arts flourish, there it flourishes 
 also. Add to this, that by secret and inviolable 
 signs, carefully preserved among the fraternity, it 
 becomes an universal language. Hence many ad- 
 vantages are gained ; the distant Chinese, the 
 wild Arab, and the American savage, will embrace 
 a brother Briton, and know, that besides the com- 
 mon ties of humanity, there is still a stronger 
 obligation to induce him to kind and friendly 
 offices." 
 
 4. " Freemasonry is a benevolent order, insti- 
 tuted by virtuous men, for the praiseworthy pur- 
 pose of spreading the blessings of morality and 
 science amongst all ranks and descriptions of 
 men." 
 
 5. " Freemasonry is the grand and universal 
 science which includes all others, but having a 
 more immediate reference to those branches which 
 teach us a knowledge of ourselves, and our duty 
 to others." 
 
 These definitions of masonry convey the same 
 truth, that its purposes are benevolent, and being 
 spread over the whole universe, operate, without 
 respect of persons to make men happy in this 
 world, with the hope of having it increased in the 
 world to come. Like the former definitions, they 
 refer, not only to the inhabitants living in the 19th 
 century, wheresoever dispersed under the wide and 
 lofty canopy of heaven, but to all nations, kindreds, 
 and people, from the formation of the world. In 
 this respect it is like Christianity, which is also a
 
 11 
 
 cosmopolite institution, comprehending all mankind 
 in one fold under one shepherd, and embracing 
 them in the universal scheme of unlimited redemp- 
 tion. There never was any nation under heaven, 
 how savage soever its inhabitants might be, who 
 had not some notion of a Supreme Being, and a 
 future state of existence. Their opinions were 
 often fanciful, and frequently erroneous, but none 
 were buried in a gloomy atheism. Each had its 
 scale of virtue which was reputed to translate them 
 to the Good Spirit after death. 
 
 Amongst the principal nations of the earth, a 
 peculiar institution was in existence which promised 
 eternal happiness in Elysium to all who were initi- 
 ated into its mysteries ; while the deepest and most 
 painful carverns of Tartarus were allotted to the 
 atheist, and the despiser of these celebrations. 
 Thus Cicero asserts that it is by the influence of 
 the Mysteries that mankind are drawn from a 
 savage life, and modelled by humanity. Hence 
 they are called Initia, because they are the begin- 
 ings of a life of reason and virtue; and men 
 receive from them a superior degree of happiness 
 here, with the promise of a better life hereafter. 
 And Plato says to the same effect. " In my 
 opinion the institutors of the Mysteries were well 
 acquainted with the manners and dispositions of 
 men ; for in these rites the aspirants were taught 
 that those who died without being initiated, would 
 for ever stick fast in the mud and filth of Tartarus ; 
 while those who were purified by initiation, should,
 
 12 
 
 after death, be advanced to the habitations of the 
 celestial deities." 
 
 In these extracts we find principles enunciated 
 which correspond in a great measure with the 
 above definitions of Freemasonry ; and show that 
 similar ideas existed, and produced the same con- 
 clusions in every age and nation of the world ; for 
 the precepts of our noble order have been admitted 
 throughout all time, as the best calculated to pro- 
 duce human happiness here, and lead to a more 
 perfected and ineffable bliss hereafter. The patri- 
 archs practised it, and founded their dearest hopes 
 upon it. The Jews professed it, although they 
 did not in practice conform to its dictates, as may 
 be instanced in the case of the woman taken in 
 adultery. " Her crime was manifest/' says Dean 
 Kirwan, " and her punishment exactly laid down 
 in the law ; yet it filled the just soul of the Re- 
 deemer with indignation, to see men so criminal 
 as the Pharasees, the slaves of every passion, 
 under the mask of extraordinary zeal, standing 
 forward with clamour and eagerness, to avenge the 
 violated law ; he therefore answered them in a way 
 not to palliate the offence, but which strikingly 
 conveyed the indispensable concomitant of true 
 zeal, Let the man who is without sin amongst 
 you cast the first stone at this unfortunate woman !" 
 A decision too pointed not to have a most apt and 
 a most humiliating effect ; for, as the Evangelist 
 reports, " they retired one after another silent and 
 confounded. 5 '
 
 13 
 
 Even the heathen eulogised the beauty of virtue, 
 although they misapplied the term, and believed 
 it to consist in practices which revelation condemns 
 in the strongest terms. " Disciplines," says Hip- 
 podamus the Pythagorean, Sf are the sources of 
 erudition, and cause the desires to be impelled to 
 virtue. But the laws, partly detaining by fear, 
 repel men from the commission of crimes, and 
 partly alluring by honours and gifts, excite them 
 to virtue. And manners and studies fashion the 
 soul like wax, and through their continued energy 
 impress in it propensities that become, as it were, 
 natural. It is necessary, however, that these three 
 should have an arrangement in conjunction with 
 the beautiful, the useful, and the just; and that 
 each of these three should, if possible, have all 
 these for its final intention; but if not all of them, 
 it should at least have two or one of them as the 
 mark at which it aims, in order that disciplines, 
 manners, and laws, may be beautiful, just, and ad- 
 vantageous." 
 
 This reasoning is purely masonic; but if we refer 
 to the lives of those to whom this man preached, 
 we shall find them replete with conduct which is 
 in direct opposition to the precepts, because they 
 mistook the meaning of the word virtue, and classed 
 on an equality with it, many unsocial, selfish, and 
 fiend-like passions. How different are the conclu- 
 sions of our glorious science, which centre all the 
 benevolent affections of the mind in charity and 
 Brotherly Love. In the words of one who was 
 
 c
 
 14 
 
 not a mason by initiation, but was truly a brother 
 in his heart, "how perfective of human nature and 
 human happiness that system is, which, even in the 
 face of an enemy, observes a brother; which is one 
 continued line of exhortation to unbounded benev- 
 olence, and whose illustrious founder has declared, 
 that its professors should be known and immor- 
 talized by that one sentiment alone ; thus pointing 
 out the means of beginning our heaven upon earth, 
 and antedating here below the joys and tranquillity 
 of the blessed." 
 
 6. " Speculative masonry is so far interwoven 
 with religion, as to lay us under the strongest 
 obligations to pay that rational homage to the 
 deity, which at once constitutes our duty and our 
 happiness. It leads the contemplative to view 
 with reverence and admiration the glorious works 
 of creation and inspires them with the most 
 exalted ideas of the perfections of the Divine 
 Creator." 
 
 Here we have a direct assertion of the univer- 
 sality of masonry, for the precept is applicable to 
 all people that ever existed, or that ever shall exist 
 throughout the whole course of time. The hom- 
 age which is due from the creature to the Creator 
 is a natural feeling, implanted in the heart by the 
 deity himself, and existing with the most barbarous 
 as well as the most enlightened people. None, 
 who saw the course of the sun by day, the moon 
 and the stars by night, the growth of vegetables, 
 summer and winter, seedtime and harvest, could
 
 15 
 
 be ignorant of the existence of some superintend- 
 ing phenomena ; every thing preserving the most 
 perfect order and regularity ; for the most barba- 
 rous and savage people possessing but a single 
 spark of reason could not be induced to believe 
 that the sun and the moon occupied their places 
 by chance, that by the effect of accident the trees 
 put out their buds at one season of the year, the 
 blossoms and leaves at another, which ripened into 
 fruit in a third, and were cast aside in a fourth, 
 because they were useless in an inclement winter. 
 Even Aristotle, who, if not an absolute atheist, 
 was on the very verge of it, could say, " that to 
 believe the gods to be the first beings, is a divine 
 truth ; and that, though arts and sciences have 
 probably been often lost and revived, yet this opin- 
 ion has been preserved as a relic to this very time/' 
 There is an excellent passage to the same effect 
 in a writer of the last century, which is worth 
 preserving. "The judgment that every wicked 
 man necessarily and immediately makes concern- 
 ing any unjust act of another, by which he himself 
 happens to suffer, will for ever convict him of 
 knowing well that difference of moral good and 
 evil, which he is not willing to acknowledge, or 
 which he is not willing to make the rule of his 
 own behaviour. This is what the Apostle calls 
 the law written in men's hearts, by which they 
 are a law unto themselves, their conscience also 
 bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile 
 accusing or excusing one another ; therefore it is 
 
 c3
 
 16 
 
 certain men are naturally conscious of the differ- 
 ence of good and evil, and of the consequent desert 
 of their own actions. It is natural for them to 
 apprehend that this judgment of their own con- 
 sciences is the judgment that God also passes 
 upon them ; and the scripture very clearly affirms 
 that it is so." 
 
 From such arguments we deduce the universal 
 application of the definitions of masonry under 
 our present notice, in proof of the fact that the 
 order is cosmopolitical. 
 
 7- "The zeal of masons in the acquisition of 
 knowledge is bounded by no space, since they 
 travel from east to west in its pursuit ; and the 
 principles which actuate them are highly conducive 
 to morality ; viz., the attempt to rule and govern 
 the passions, and to keep a tongue of good report, 
 that where candour cannot commend, silence will, 
 at least, avoid reproach." 
 
 8. " The masonic system exhibits a stupendous 
 and beautiful fabric, founded on universal piety, 
 unfolding its gates to receive, without prejudice 
 or discrimination, the worthy professors of every 
 description of genuine religion ; concentrating, as 
 it were, into one body, their just tenets, unincum- 
 bered by the disputable peculiarities of all sects 
 and persuasions." 
 
 These definitions need no comment. The refer- 
 ence which they contain to universality, to the 
 application of masonry by all religious sects, and 
 the professors of every mode of faith who practice
 
 17 
 
 genuine religion in its purity, are too evident to be 
 denied, and too plain to admit of dubitation or 
 dispute. They exhibit a beautiful picture of the 
 genius of masonry opening wide her arms of be- 
 nevolence to receive the children of men ; like the 
 Saviour of mankind inviting his creatures to accept 
 the salvation which he freely offers without money 
 and without price. " Come unto me all ye that 
 labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
 rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me ; 
 for I am meek and lowly in heart ; and you shall 
 find rest \into your souls. For my yoke is easy, 
 and my burden is light." 2 And his benevolent 
 intentions are confirmed by St. Paul in his cos- 
 mopolite assertion that " there is neither Jew nor 
 Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is 
 neither male nor female ; for ye are all one in 
 Christ Jesus." 3 And again, with more univer- 
 sality of application in another place, " there is 
 neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncir- 
 cumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free ; 
 but Christ is all and in all." 4 
 
 9. " Masonry is a beautiful system of morality, 
 veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols/' 
 
 This illustration, when divested of its first 
 member, is peculiarly applicable to all those re- 
 markable institutions which prevailed amongst 
 heathen nations, and were denominated Mysteries, 
 but are now called the Spurious Freemasonry. 
 
 2 Mat. xi. 28, to end. 3 Gal. iii. 28. 
 
 < Col. iii. 11. 
 
 c 5
 
 18 
 
 It is true, they eulogised morality in pompous 
 language, but practised it not ; or more correctly 
 speaking, understood it not. Ovid affirms, 
 
 Ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes, 
 Emollit mores, nee sinit esse feros ; 
 
 a sentiment which is extremely apposite, and em- 
 bodies an attribute of masonry ; for by the study 
 of the sciences, our order asserts that we acquire 
 a propensity to benevolence, and a desire to be 
 useful to our fellow creatures. Horace, however, 
 excludes morality from the practice of his " good 
 man," and confines it to obedience to the laws of 
 our country. Vir bonus est quis ! Qui consulta 
 patrum, qui leges juraque servat. 
 
 Charondas, the Catanaean philosopher, thus 
 recommends morality. " Wanton insolence and 
 injustice are the attendants of shamelessness and 
 impudence. And destruction follows these. Let, 
 however, no one be impudent, but let every one 
 be modest and temperate ; because he will thus 
 have the gods propitious to him, and will procure 
 for himself salvation. For no vicious man is dear 
 to divinity. Let every one likewise honour probity 
 and truth, and hate what is base and false ; for 
 these are the indications of virtue and vice." 
 
 It will be unnecessary to multiply instances of 
 the love of virtue amongst the heathen in theory 
 the fact is notorious. But the fate of their best 
 and most virtuous men will show the kind of esti- 
 mation in which their moral harangues were held
 
 19 
 
 by the people. Pythagoras was slain. As he sat 
 in council with his friends in the house of Milo, it 
 was set on fire by some one out of envy because 
 he had been refused admission. Pythagoras made 
 his escape, for the envious man had vowed to take 
 away his life ; and having procured the assistance 
 of a few unworthy men the philosopher w r as hotly 
 pursued. Coming to a place full of beans, he 
 stopped short saying, "it is better to be taken 
 than to tread amongst the beans ; it is better to 
 be killed than to speak," and his pursuers accord- 
 ingly slew him. In a similar manner most of his 
 disciples lost their lives. Aristides was banished 
 from his country out of envy, because by his up- 
 right and virtuous conduct he had acquired the 
 appellation of " the Just." Alcibiades was killed 
 by a faction ; Socrates was put to death for his 
 virtues ; and it was at all times dangerous for any 
 one to be celebrated for his benevolence, justice, 
 or kindness to the poor. 
 
 If we take a view of the heathen morality 
 through the medium of its public institutions, we 
 shall not enjoy a more favourable picture of its 
 operation. Law and religion were equally sangui- 
 nary ; and a benevolent feeling towards those 
 miserable beings who filled the laborious situations 
 of life, would have been considered the extremity 
 of weakness and folly. " They showed no mercy 
 to the widow, did no good to the fatherless, nor 
 helped any man in his distress." 5 To accomplish 
 
 5 Baruch vi. 37, 38.
 
 20 
 
 a favourite object, human life was sacrificed freely 
 and without compunction or regret, as Pharaoh 
 Necho sacrificed 120,000 men in a fruitless attempt 
 to cut a channel from the Mediterranean to the 
 Red Sea. 
 
 And if we refer to morality in a national point 
 of view, the result will be exactly the same. 
 Philosophers and hierophants gave public disser- 
 tations in praise of virtue, while they practised in 
 private the most unbounded licentiousness. The 
 morality of the Pagans in India may be estimated 
 from the Bayaderes or dancing girls, who were the 
 property of the priests ; and the public worship 
 of the Lingam ; that of Greece and Rome by the 
 excesses of the Dionysiaca, and the prostitution 
 of virgins in the temple of Mylitta; while the 
 nations of northern Europe and America were 
 addicted to the sacrifice of human victims, and 
 believed the practice to be a service well pleasing 
 to God. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that if we would apply 
 the last definition to the ages which were past at 
 the advent of Christ ; we must reject the first 
 member of the sentence, and leave out the allusion 
 to morality. Its practice is indeed cosmopolite, 
 and it was lauded amongst every description of 
 people, but its object was mistaken, and conse- 
 quently true morality the love of God and of our 
 neighbour, and the practice of every moral and 
 social virtue was unknown. But the remainder 
 of the definition applies with great propriety to the
 
 21 
 
 ancient mysteries of every country in the world, 
 which were truly veiled in allegory, and illustrated 
 by symbols. The former consisted in a description 
 of the reputed death of a celebrated individual who 
 was indifferently named Osiris, or Bacchus, or 
 Adonis, or its equivalent in every other nation ; 
 with the ceremony of discovering the lost remains, 
 and raising them to a more decent interment. 
 The same legend with precisely the same reference, 
 formed the basis of the Spurious Freemasonry, in 
 every quarter of the globe. 
 
 10. The following, with which I conclude this 
 portion of the subject, can scarcely be termed a 
 definition of masonry. It is rather a general ad- 
 monition respecting the practice of religion, which 
 has been introduced into the ancient charges for 
 the express purpose of showing the cosmopolitical 
 nature of the institution. " In ancient times the 
 Christian masons were charged to comply with 
 the Christian usages of each country where they 
 travelled and worked ; but masonry being found 
 in all nations, even of divers religions, they are 
 now only charged to adhere to that religion in 
 which all men agree (leaving each brother to his 
 own particular opinions) by whatever names, re- 
 ligions, or persuasions they may be distinguished; 
 for they all agree in the three great articles Noah, 
 enough to preserve the cement of the lodge. Thus 
 masonry is the centre of their union, and the 
 happy means of conciliating persons that other- 
 wise must have remained at a perpetual distance."
 
 22 
 
 This latitudinarian principle is well adapted to a 
 society which is considered to be universal. It is 
 expressed in such general terms as to be no burden 
 upon any man's conscience, because it meddles with 
 no system of religion, and leaves every member at 
 full liberty to follow that way of faith in which he 
 had been educated. 
 
 The modern lectures have rather encroached 
 upon this universal principle by the introduction 
 of subjects which bear a direct and exclusive refer- 
 ence to Christianity. The historical Landmarks of 
 masonry, as laid down in the lectures which are 
 enjoined by authority in the 19th century, are, 
 many of them, types of the Christian religion; and 
 they cannot be otherwise explained. And in a 
 Christian lodge, they either refer to Christianity or 
 nothing. In a Jewish lodge, our Hebrew brethren 
 would interpret them differently, if they form a 
 portion of their lectures, which is somewhat doubt- 
 ful; and we are quite certain that in a Turkish 
 lodge they would be carefully excluded. It is 
 clear therefore that the lectures of masonry are 
 arbitrary; and, with the exception of a few de- 
 terminate Landmarks, vary essentially in different 
 countries ; being constituted in such a manner as to 
 agree with the peculiar habits and belief of the 
 fraternity who use them ; that the introduction 
 of no startling facts or unacceptable doctrines, 
 may cause disputes or divisions to arise amongst 
 a brotherhood who profess to be cemented by the 
 indissoluble chain of Brotherly Love.
 
 23 
 
 The cosmopolitical construction of masonry may 
 be also verified by the reputed extent of the lodge,, 
 which in length, and breadth, and depth, and 
 height, is a representation of the universe as the 
 temple of the living God. Thus the Lectures of 
 masonry teach that " the universe is the temple of 
 the deity whom we serve ; wisdom, strength, and 
 beauty are about his throne as the pillars of his 
 work; for his wisdom is infinite, his strength is 
 omnipotent, and beauty shines forth throughout all 
 creation in symmetry and order; he hath stretched 
 forth the heavens as a canopy, and the earth he 
 planted as his footstool ; the canopy of his temple 
 is crowned with stars as with a diadem ; the sun 
 and moon are messengers of his will, and all his 
 law is concord." 
 
 In this quotation from the old lectures of ma- 
 sonry we find that a mason's lodge is a symbol of 
 the universe, which is the magnificent temple of 
 the deity, or the centre of the divine circle. But 
 where is the circumference ? This we are totally 
 ignorant of. The centre however is sufficient for 
 our present purpose, for it fills all known space, 
 and extends throughout extent. The centre of the 
 Almighty circle which the deity alone can fill, oc- 
 cupies millions upon millions of miles, farther than 
 the human eye can reach, with all the assistance 
 which the most improved instruments are able to 
 afford. Sir John Herschel, in his " Essay on the 
 power of the Telescope to penetrate into Space," 
 a quality distinct from the magnifying power, in-
 
 24 
 
 forms us that there are stars so infinitely remote 
 as to be situated at the distance of twelve millions 
 of millions of millons of miles from our earth ; so 
 that light, which travels with a velocity of twelve 
 millions of miles in a minute, would require two 
 millions of years for its transit from those distant 
 orbs to our own, while the astronomer, who should 
 record the aspect or mutation of such a star, would 
 not be relating its history at the present day, but 
 that which took place two millions of years gone 
 
 by- 
 
 So universal is masonry. All mankind are 
 creatures of the same God, and equally the objects 
 of his care. He makes his Sun to shine upon the 
 evil and the good alike, and sendeth rain on the 
 just and unjust, for there is no respect of persons 
 with him. Thus also in Freemasonry " a king is 
 reminded that though a crown may adorn his head 
 and a sceptre his hand, the blood in his veins is 
 derived from the common parent of mankind, and 
 is no better than that of his meanest subject. The 
 statesman, the senator, and the artist, are there 
 taught that, equally with others, they are by nature 
 exposed to infirmity and disease ; and that an 
 unforeseen misfortune or a disordered frame, may 
 impair their faculties, and level them with the 
 most ignorant of their species. Men of inferior 
 talents, who are not placed by fortune in such ex- 
 alted stations, are instructed by masonry to regard 
 their superiors with respect, when they behold 
 them voluntarily divested of the trappings of ex-
 
 25 
 
 ternal grandeur, and condescending, in a badge 
 of innocence and bond of friendship, to trace 
 wisdom and to follow virtue, assisted by those 
 who are of a rank beneath them. Virtue is true 
 nobility, and wisdom is the channel by which 
 virtue is directed and conveyed. Wisdom and Vir- 
 tue alone, mark distinction amongst masons." 
 
 From all these arguments and demonstrations we 
 conclude that masonry is an institution which is 
 applicable to all mankind, in all ages and con- 
 ditions of humanity ; and its construction is so 
 perfect, that, although it has been strictly scruti- 
 nized, by enemies as well as friends, yet, notwith- 
 standing the existence of a few anomalies, from 
 which no human establishment is free, no material 
 flaw has hitherto been found, of sufficient im- 
 portance to endanger its existence. It has outlived 
 the envy of its opponents, and gathered strength 
 from every hostile attack. In some countries 
 Church and State have been arrayed against it 
 without effect ; demagogues and adventurers have 
 endeavoured to obscure its purity by heaping upon 
 it every kind of absurd innovation ; but their re- 
 spective systems, after an ephemeral existence have 
 sunk, one after another, into merited oblivion, 
 leaving Freemasonry to enjoy its triumph ; se- 
 ceders have threatened to betray its secrets, but all 
 their attempts have signally failed. The order 
 being based on Brotherly Love and Charity, is 
 imperishable. " Masonic secresy," says brother 
 Blanchard, a learned transatlantic mason, "is a- 
 
 D
 
 26 
 
 mysterious thing it has never been divulged. 
 The most tattling man, if he be a mason, keeps 
 the secret. There is no risk of him. Enrage, 
 discipline, expel he never tells ! Mad, drunk, or 
 crazy he never tells ! Does he talk in his sleep ? 
 It is not about masonry. Bribe him in his wants 
 tempt him in his pleasures threaten him, or 
 torture him, he will endure being a martyr, but 
 he never tells \" All that have opposed its pro- 
 gress have shared the same fate, being met by the 
 obloquy and derision of mankind."
 
 27 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 THE LODGE. 
 
 The secunde artycul of good masonry, 
 As ye mowe hyt here hyr specyaly, 
 That every mayster, that ys a mason, 
 Most ben at the generale congregacyon, 
 Where that the semble" schal be holde ; 
 And to that semble" he most nede gon, 
 But he have a resenabul skwsacyon, 
 Or but he be unboxom to that craft, 
 Or with falssehed ys over raft, 
 Or ellus sekenes hath hym so stronge, 
 That he may not come hem amonge ; 
 That ys a skwsacyon, good and abulle, 
 To that sembld withoute fabulle. 
 
 ANCIENT MASONIC MANUSCRIPT. 
 
 I have often admired the observation of Plutarch, 
 when treating on mental tranquillity. " That saying 
 of Diogenes," he remarks, "extremely pleaseth me, 
 who, seeing some person dressed very neatly to 
 attend a public entertainment, asWed him whether 
 every day was not a festival of a good man ? And 
 certainly, that which makes it more splendid is 
 sobriety. For the world is a spacious and beautiful 
 temple, which a man is brought into as soon as he 
 is born, not to be a dull spectator of the works of 
 art ; but of things of a more sublime nature, which 
 
 D3
 
 28 
 
 have the principles of life and motion in themselves; 
 such as the sun, moon, and stars ; rivers, which are 
 constantly supplied with fresh accessions of water; 
 and the earth, which with the indulgence of a ten- 
 der mother, suckles the plants, and nourishes her 
 sensitive creatures. If life therefore is the most 
 perfect institution to which we are introduced, it 
 is but just that it should be passed in cheerfulness 
 and tranquillity." 
 
 In like manner, wiien a candidate is first intro- 
 duced into a lodge, which is a lively type of the 
 world, he must not be an inattentive spectator, if 
 he desires to reap any benefits from his initiation. 
 He must, "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest," 
 all he sees, for everything which is visibly displayed 
 before his eyes is invested with a moral signification, 
 that may be beneficially applied to some useful pur- 
 pose of civil, social, or religious life. The lessons 
 of virtue which are drawn from these sensible ob- 
 jects are of the utmost value, because they are ap- 
 plicable to all views and circumstances ; and they 
 are extremely pleasing and attractive, because they 
 are dictated in a spirit of kindness and cheerful 
 benevolence. 
 
 The earliest description of a Lodge that I have 
 met with explains it as being "just and perfect by 
 the numbers 3, 5, and 7-" This was subsequently 
 exemplified in the following prescribed form. " A 
 lodge of masons is an assemblage of brothers and 
 fellows met together for the purpose of expatiating 
 on the mysteries of the craft ; with the Bible,
 
 29 
 
 Square, and Compasses, the Book of Constitu- 
 tions, and the Warrant empowering them to act." 
 In the formula used in the present day a further 
 amplification has been adopted. It is here denom- 
 inated " an assembly of masons, just, perfect, and 
 regular, who are met together to expatiate on the 
 mysteries of the order; -just, because it contains the 
 volume of the Sacred Law unfolded ; -perfect, from 
 its numbers, every order of masonry being virtually 
 present by its representatives, to ratify and confirm 
 its proceedings ; and regular, from its warrant of 
 constitution, which implies the sanction of the Grand 
 Master for the country where the lodge is held." 
 Some distinguish between the Charter, Warrant, 
 and Constitutions, which indicate the regularity of 
 a lodge; the first includes the sanction of the mys- 
 teries, forms, and ceremonies enjoined by the laws 
 of the country where the lodge is assembled; the 
 second is the ancient and lawful authority of the 
 Grand Master ; and the third is the sanction of 
 the Grand Lodge. In the middle of the last cen- 
 tury the Lodge was described as "a representation 
 of the world, in which, from the wonders of nature, 
 we are led to contemplate the Great Original, and 
 worship him for his mighty works ; and for the 
 same reason we are also moved to exercise those 
 moral and social virtues which are incumbent on 
 mankind as the servants of the Great Architect of 
 the Universe, in whose form they were created." 
 
 The above definitions combined will show that 
 a lodge of masons is a school for the practice of 
 
 D 5
 
 30 
 
 science and good manners ; and a microcosm, or 
 representation of the universe. From a principle 
 of piety to the Most High, its pursuits lead to a 
 knowledge of virtue both moral and social, and 
 the exercise of those courtesies which produce con- 
 fidence and mutual esteem betwixt man and man. 
 In form and extent it is an oblong square ; its 
 length reaching from east to west, its breadth from 
 north to south, its height, according to the most 
 ancient definition, (e inches, feet, and yards innu- 
 merable, extending to the heavens;" and its depth 
 "to the centre of the earth;" which, in a globe or 
 sphere, is the greatest extent that can be imagined. 
 This universality was symbolized by the Theo- 
 sophical masons of the last century, as the " Heart 
 of God in the centre of a cross, signifying the 
 trinity in a globular Rainbow, wherein the red, sig- 
 nifies the Father's property in the glance of fire ; 
 yellow the Son's lustre and majesty; blue, the sub- 
 stantiality; the dusky brown, the kingdom of dark- 
 ness. On such a Rainbow will Christ sit to judge; 
 and thus is he undivided every where, and in that 
 man who is born of God, is the whole undivided 
 Heart of God, the Son of Man, sitting in the circle 
 of his life upon the Rainbow at the right hand of 
 God ; for that man is Christ's member, his body, 
 his brother, his flesh, his spirit; power, majesty, 
 heaven, paradise, elemental stars, earth and all, is 
 that man's who in Christ is above hell and devils, 
 though his earthy life be under heaven, stars, 
 elements, hell and devils."
 
 31 
 
 The lodge stands " on holy ground " having 
 been consecrated by three offerings on the spot 
 where Solomon's temple was erected j all of which 
 were distinguished by the visible appearance of 
 the Angel Lord of the Covenant Jehovah the 
 Messiah, or Christ, as types of his presence on 
 the same mountain to work out human salvation 
 by his death upon the cross. It is placed, accord- 
 ing to the testimony of the old York Lectures, 
 " on the highest hill or in the lowest vale ; in the 
 valley of Jehoshaphat or any other secret place ;" 
 that if a cowan, or intrusive listener should appear, 
 the Tyler might announce the fact by the usual 
 report ; and the Master, being thus cautioned, the 
 business of the lodge might be suspended till 
 enquiry were made into the causes of the inter- 
 ruption ; and in case of actual danger, the Jewels 
 might be put by, the Lodge closed, and the breth- 
 ren dismissed to their respective homes. This 
 exclusive principle was used by the Essenes and 
 the early Christians in times of hot persecution, 
 when they were reduced to the alternative of either 
 abandoning their religion, or celebrating its rites 
 in secret crypts and caverns. The same custom 
 was resorted to by the Freemasons in the middle 
 ages, but with a different purpose. Their design 
 was not to practice forbidden rites, but to guard 
 the secrets of their art from the knowledge of the 
 profane ; and it is well known that in the earliest 
 era of the masonic establishment, a geometrical 
 figure, or canon, was adopted in all sacred build-
 
 32 
 
 ings, which had an import hidden from the vulgar. 
 It was called the Vesica Piscis ; and had a decided 
 reference to the Christian religion, and also an 
 equal analogy with other mysteries professed by 
 the first society of masons. 1 For the purposes of 
 these meetings, crypts and secret conclaves were 
 constructed, where the lodges were always held. 
 
 The pavement of a lodge is mosaic the opus 
 Grecanicum of the ancients skirted with the 
 "indented Tarsell," or tesselated border. These 
 little lozenge-like tessarae, being alternately white 
 and black, refer to the quick recurrence of pleasure 
 and pain, happiness and misery, by which this life 
 is diversified ; the white squares representing virtue 
 and happiness, and the black ones vice and misery. 
 Indeed the designs of Providence could scarcely 
 be accomplished in the absence of such a wise 
 dispensation. The nature of man is so very im- 
 perfect, that uninterrupted ease and enjoyment 
 would introduce presumption and impiety, and 
 terminate in destruction. It was from such con- 
 siderations as these that our Royal Grand Master 
 confessed, " It is good for me that I have been 
 afflicted, that I might learn the statutes of the 
 Lord." Affliction and pain are sent to us as friends 
 and correctors ; for (( whom God loveth he chasten- 
 eth." In a word, without affliction we should 
 never become master of that valuable masonic 
 precept which teaches us to know ourselves, and 
 to do to others as we would have them do to us. 
 
 i Dallaway. Archit. p. 418.
 
 33 
 
 The equal distribution of the tesserae in our 
 Mosaic pavement would seem to imply that virtue 
 and vice are equally spread over the face of the 
 earth. A moral writer of the last century however 
 disputes the fact, and I am inclined to agree with 
 him. He says, " whatever be the sum of misery 
 in the world, there is a much larger sum of happi- 
 ness. The weather is sometimes foul; but it is 
 oflener fair. Storms and hurricanes are frequent ; 
 but calms are more common. There is some sick- 
 ness ; but there is more health. There is some 
 pain ; but there is more ease. There is some 
 mourning ; but there is more joy. There is com- 
 plexion al depression that asks wherefore is light 
 given to him that is in misery ? but it bears no 
 proportion to the native cheerfulness which is open 
 to the agreeable impressions of surrounding nature. 
 Multitudes have been crushed under the foot of 
 cruelty ; but greater multitudes have remained un- 
 molested by the oppressor. Many have perished 
 with hunger and nakedness ; but more have been 
 supplied with food and raiment. If we thus sur- 
 vey the chequered face of human life at large, 
 we shall find its bright spaces more numerous than 
 its shadows." 
 
 This conclusion has been formed under the in- 
 fluence of Christianity. Other religions entertain 
 a more melancholy view of the state of human 
 nature. " I have heard/' says Lane, 2 " Arabs 
 confess that their nation possesses nine-tenths of 
 2 Arabian Nights, vol. i. p. 125.
 
 34 
 
 the envy that exists among all mankind collectively. 
 Ibn Abbas assigns nine-tenths of the intrigue or 
 artifice that exists in the world to the Copts ; nine- 
 tenths of the perfidy to the Jews ; nine-tenths of 
 the stupidity to the Maghrabees ; nine-tenths of 
 the hardness to the Turks ; and nine-tenths of the 
 bravery to the Arabs. According to Kaab El- 
 Ahbar, reason and sedition are most peculiar to 
 Syria ; plenty and degradation to Egypt ; and 
 misery and health to the Desert." 
 
 Freemasonry teaches her children, through the 
 medium of the symbolical floor of the lodge, to 
 observe the diversity of objects which beautify and 
 adorn the creation, the animate as well as the in- 
 animate parts thereof. The Blazing Star in the 
 centre, refers us to that grand luminary the Sun, 
 which enlightens the earth by its benign influence, 
 and dispenses its blessings to mankind in general ; 
 giving light, life, and motion, to all things here 
 below. The indented Tarsel, or tesselated border, 
 refers to the planets in their several revolutions, 
 which form a beautiful skirtwork round the Sun, 
 as the other does to the pavement of a mason's 
 Lodge. 
 
 The ornamental crown of the lodge is its cloudy 
 canopy, which is accessible by a series of steps 
 called the Ladder of Jacob, that reaches to the 
 heavens, and rests on the volume of the sacred 
 law ; because, by the doctrines contained in that 
 holy book, we are taught to believe in the wise 
 dispensations of Providence ; which belief strength-
 
 35 
 
 ens our faith and enables us to ascend the first 
 step. This naturally creates in us a hope of be- 
 coming partakers of the promises therein recorded ; 
 which hope enables us to ascend the second step. 
 But the third and last being charity, comprehends 
 the whole, and the mason who is possessed of that 
 virtue in the amplest sense, may justly be deemed to 
 have attained the summit of his profession ; figura- 
 tively speaking to an ethereal mansion veiled from 
 mortal eye by the starry firmament, and em- 
 blematically depicted in a mason's lodge by seven 
 stars, which have an allusion to as many worthy 
 brethren, regularly initiated, passed, and raised, 
 without which number no lodge is esteemed per- 
 fect, nor can any gentleman be legally initiated 
 into masonry within its walls. 
 
 The altar of the lodge is a pedestal in the form of 
 a double cube, on which is displayed the holy 
 bible to confer upon it the attribute of justice. 
 And why is the open bible said to be the emblem 
 of justice ? I answer in the expressive words of an 
 eloquent writer, because there is no other virtue of 
 such absolute importance and essential necessity 
 to the welfare of society. Let all the debts of 
 justice be universally discharged ; let every man 
 be just to himself and to all others ; let him en- 
 deavour, by the exercise of industry and economy, 
 to provide for his own wants, and prevent himself 
 from becoming a burden upon society, and abstain, 
 in the pursuit of his own subsistence, from every 
 thing injurious to the interests of others ; let every
 
 36 
 
 one render unto all their due that property which 
 he is obliged by the laws of the land or by those 
 of honourable equity, to pay them ; that candour 
 and open dealing to which they have a right, in 
 all his commercial intercourse with them ; that 
 portion of good report to which their merit entitles 
 them ; with that decent respect and quiet sub- 
 mission which their rightful civil authority de- 
 mands. If justice were thus universally done, 
 there would be little left for mercy to do. The 
 universal discharge of this one duty would pro- 
 duce, in human life, a picture of happiness that 
 would content the eye of charity. Generosity 
 would have only to spread a heightening colour 
 over, and breathe a richer spirit into the piece. 
 The acts of Justice are the pillars of society ; if 
 they stand firm, undefaced, and fair, charity will 
 have only to beautify the capitals of the eternal 
 columns, and lend a little ornament to the well 
 supported fabric. Let mankind be left to them- 
 selves without molestation ; to the unimpeded 
 operations of their own powers ; to the goodness 
 of nature and of God ; and pity will have few 
 tears to shed ; friendship few words of comfort to 
 utter ; and beneficence but few offices of relief to 
 perform. 
 
 The fixed lights of the lodge were formerly 
 represented by " three windows supposed to be in 
 every room where a lodge is held ; referring to the 
 cardinal points of the compass, according to the 
 antique rules of masonry." There was one in the
 
 37 
 
 East, another in the West, and another in the 
 South, to light the men to, at, and from labour ; 
 but there was none in the north, because the sun 
 darts no rays from thence. These constitute the 
 symbolical situations of the three chief officers. 
 Hence our transatlantic brethren affirm that <e a 
 lodge is, or ought to be a true representation of 
 king Solomon's temple, which was situated north 
 of the ecliptic ; the sun and moon therefore, dart- 
 ing their rays from the south, no light was to be 
 expected from the north; we therefore, masonic- 
 ally, term the north a place of darkness." The 
 W. Master's place is in the East ; to call the 
 brethren to labour ; the J. W. is placed in the 
 South, to cheer and encourage them at their work ; 
 and the S. W. in the West, to dismiss them from 
 their daily toil. And the lodge was so constructed 
 that if a cowan was caught listening or prying 
 into the business of masonry, he was punished by 
 " being placed under the eaves in rainy weather, 
 to remain exposed to the droppings till the water 
 ran in at his shoulders, and out at his heels." 3 
 
 The above description of a mason's lodge will 
 be found to embrace a perfect picture of the uni- 
 verse, both in its attributes and its extent. The 
 sun governs the day, the moon the night, and the 
 stars illuminate the spangled canopy of heaven ; 
 while the earth is spread with a carpet of natural 
 mosaic work, beautiful to the eye, and administer- 
 ing to the necessities of man. The hills are 
 3 Old Lectures. 
 
 E
 
 38 
 
 adorned with flocks and herds ; the valleys stand 
 thick with golden grain ; the parterres of nature 
 are covered with fragrant flowers and nutritive 
 herbage. (f He watereth the hills from above ; 
 the earth is filled with the fruit of his works. He 
 bringeth forth grass for the cattle ; and green herb 
 for the service of men ; that he may bring food 
 out of the earth, and wine that maketh glad the 
 heart of man, and oil to make him a cheerful coun- 
 tenance, and bread to strengthen man's heart." 4 
 The ocean flows round it as a beautiful skirtwork 
 or tesselated border, not merely as an ornament, 
 but as a medium of communication between distant 
 countries, and a gigantic reservoir for the pro- 
 duction of food, " wherein are things creeping 
 innumerable, both small and great beasts." The 
 cloudy canopy is a symbol of heaven, and the steps 
 which lead to it are the innumerable emanations 
 from the three Theological virtues, Faith, Hope., 
 and Charity. 
 
 4 Psalm civ. 13, 14, 15.
 
 39 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 THE RITUAL OF BUILDING. 
 
 Every towere bretered was so clene 
 
 Of chose stone, that were far asundre ; 
 
 The workmen have with fell and sterne visages 
 
 Of riche entayle 
 
 Wrought out of stone, and never like to fail, 
 
 And on each turrett were raised up figures 
 
 Of savage beasts. 
 
 LlDGATE. 
 
 SUCH is the design and such the uses of a 
 mason's Lodge. But before it arrives at this per- 
 fection, many preliminary ceremonies are neces- 
 sary. If an oblong building be erected for the 
 purposes of a barn or warehouse, it never changes 
 its character, but remains a barn or warehouse to 
 the end of its days. But if the same edifice be 
 constructed for a mason's lodge, the rites of build- 
 ing, dedication, and consecration, convey to it a 
 higher destiny. It then becomes a place where 
 science is taught, and the precepts of morality and 
 virtue are unfolded ; and by the influence of its 
 ornaments, furniture, and jewels, it acquires a 
 solemnity of character, and a devotion of purpose, 
 that excite veneration, and give it an aspect of 
 
 E 3
 
 40 
 
 holiness even in the opinion of the most casual 
 visitor, who, though not a mason, may be incited 
 by curiosity to inspect its internal arrangements, 
 and speculate upon the uses of the various sym- 
 bols and regalia which are disposed with such 
 order and regularity within its walls. 
 
 Freemasonry is an institution of ceremonies. 
 Every point, part, and secret which it contains, is 
 hedged about with forms that preserve it from the 
 prying eyes of the uninitiated on the one hand, 
 and from deterioration in its transmission from 
 age to age amongst ourselves, on the other. This 
 attachment to ceremonial observances is by no 
 means either singular or of modern invention. 
 Their use was dictated by the divine example at 
 the creation ; J sanctioned on the same authority, 
 by the practice of the patriarchs, and the elaborate 
 ordinances of the Jewish church ; and at length 
 introduced into Christianity by the command of its 
 founder, and the precepts and admonitions of his 
 holy Apostles. Thus St. Paul, speaking to the 
 Corinthians on the ceremonies of the church, which 
 had been violated by the introduction of new and 
 unauthorized innovations, said, " Let all things be 
 done decently and in order." 2 His admonitions on 
 this head are extremely comprehensive, and em- 
 brace a series of observances which were dictated 
 by inspiration, and intended to be binding on 
 Christians to the end of time. On this subject the 
 
 1 See the Historical Landmarks of Masonry, vol. i. p. 494. 
 2 1 Cor. xiv. 40.
 
 41 
 
 Church of England is eloquent. She says, " with- 
 out some ceremonies it is not possible to keep any 
 order or quiet discipline ; and therefore we think 
 it convenient that such ceremonies should be used 
 as are best to the setting forth of God's honour 
 and glory, and to the reducing of the people to a 
 most perfect and godly living." 3 
 
 As the use of ceremonies was considered neces- 
 sary in a church divinely founded; how much 
 more in an institution like that of Freemasonry, is 
 it necessary and appropriate to confer beauty and 
 solidity on the system. Ceremonies, however, con- 
 sidered abstractedly, are of little value, except 
 they contribute their aid to impress upon the mind 
 scientific beauties and moral truths. And I will 
 undertake to affirm that our system, complicated 
 as it is, does not contain a single rite that is barren 
 of intellectual improvement; and they all bear a 
 reference to corresponding usages contained in the 
 book which is always spread open on the pedestal 
 of a mason's lodge. Bishop Sanderson makes 
 them the test of obedience. He says, " let Cere- 
 monies be as very trifles as any man can imagine 
 them to be ; yet obedience sure is no trifle. They 
 mistake the question when they talk of pressing 
 ceremonies. It is Obedience, formally, that is re- 
 quired ; ceremonies not otherwise pressed than 
 as the matter wherein that obedience is to be ex- 
 ercised. If a master appoint his servant to do 
 
 3 Introduction to the Book of Common Prayer. Of Cere- 
 monies. 
 
 E 5
 
 42 
 
 some small matter that he thinketh fit to have 
 done, though of itself of no great moment, yet he 
 will expect to be obliged ; and it is great reason 
 he should. If in such case the servant should 
 refuse to do the thing appointed, because he had 
 no mind thereunto, and should receive a check or 
 correction for such refusal; could he sufficiently 
 excuse his own fault, or reasonably complain of 
 his master for dealing hardly with him by saying 
 the thing was but a trifle. Is it not evident that 
 the thing which made the master angry, and the 
 servant an offender in that case, was not precisely 
 and formally, the leaving of the thing undone, 
 which, had it not been commanded, might have 
 been left undone without any fault or blame at all, 
 but the refusing to do it when he that had a right 
 to his service commanded him ?" 4 
 
 Ceremonies are considered of such importance 
 amongst masons, as sometimes to be exhibited to 
 the dead ; but these are not proper to be publicly 
 expatiated on, because they apply to such brethren 
 only as have acquired a competent knowlege of 
 the art ; and are never displayed but in the most 
 secret recesses of a closely tiled lodge, and during 
 the solemnization of a peculiar rite which none 
 but Master Masons know. The ceremonies of 
 masonry commence before the footstone of the 
 lodge is deposited in the ground ; and this is also 
 accompanied by peculiar forms which consecrate 
 
 4 Preface to Bishop Sanderson's Sermons.
 
 43 
 
 the proceedings, and invest them with importance 
 in the estimation of the public. 
 
 When the erection of a Masonic Hall, or Lodge 
 Room has been determined on, the first thing to 
 be considered is the Plan, which is a matter of the 
 greatest importance ; for the regularity of all the 
 rites and ceremonies of the order depend, prin- 
 cipally, upon the proper construction of the place 
 of assembly. Our continental brethren are gov- 
 erned in this particular by a Ritual of Building, 
 which it is venal to violate ; and they feel a more 
 than common interest in a punctual observance of 
 the ordinances there prescribed, that their lodges 
 may be erected, like horoscope of an expert astrol- 
 oger, without the violation of any rule, even in 
 the minutest particular ; for as no correct decision 
 respecting the native's destiny can be elicited from 
 an informal figure of the heavens ; so our con- 
 tinental brethren believe that the efficacy of Free- 
 masonry will be considerably deteriorated, if there 
 be any error or imperfection in the formation of 
 the lodge where its benefits are imparted. 
 
 In this country, Masonic Halls are frequently 
 erected at a great expence, and when finished, are 
 deficient in many things which contribute to the 
 effect of the ceremonies, and the comfort of the 
 brethren. These evils will surely arise when an 
 Architect is employed who is not a mason, and 
 consequently ignorant of those especial accom- 
 modations which are indispensable to a good 
 lodge ; and which none but masons can appro-
 
 44 
 
 priately introduce. Vitruvius tells us that the 
 Ephesians had a very wise law relative to the con- 
 struction of public edificies. The architect whose 
 plan is chosen, enters into a bond by which he 
 engages to forfeit the whole of his property if the 
 building be not erected conformably thereto. If 
 he fulfils the condition of his agreement, honours 
 are decreed to him. If the expence exceeds the 
 estimate by only one quarter, the surplus was paid 
 by the party building ; but if it amounted to more 
 the architect was compelled to suffer the loss. It 
 requires not only a talented architect, but an ex- 
 perienced Freemason, to build a Lodge which shall 
 contain every requisite for the proper administra- 
 tion of all the ceremonies of the order. The 
 following directions may be useful, but they are 
 necessarily restricted in their application, because 
 it is a subject on which it is impossible to be fully 
 explicit on all points connected therewith. 
 
 First then, a Masonic Hall should be isolated, 
 and, if possible, surrounded with lofty walls, so as 
 to be included in a court, and apart from any 
 other buildings to preclude the possibility of being 
 overlooked by cowans or eavesdroppers ; for Free- 
 masonry being a secret society, the curiosity of 
 mankind is ever on the alert to pry into its mys- 
 teries, and to obtain by illicit means, that know- 
 ledge which is freely communicated to all worthy 
 applicants. As however such a situation in large 
 towns where masonry is usually practised, can 
 seldom be obtained, with convenience to the breth-
 
 45 
 
 ren, the Lodge should be formed in an upper story ; 
 and if there be any contiguous buildings, the 
 windows should be either in the roof, or very high 
 from the floor. In the latter case, the altitude of 
 the lower part of the window, as prescribed in the 
 Helvetian Ceremonies, is five cubits, calculating 
 by the masonic cubit of 18 inches, and measuring 
 from the superficies of the floor within. The ob- 
 servance of this rule would effectually protect our 
 mysteries from profanation, and assure the brethren 
 of a perfect security in the performance of their 
 secret ceremonies. These windows ought to be all 
 on one side the South, if practicable and fur- 
 nished with proper ventilators, that the brethren be 
 not incommoded when pursuing their accustomed 
 avocations, by the heat of the lodge. The utility 
 of ventilation is known to all good masons ; nor 
 can a building be properly finished without these 
 conveniences judiciously disposed. 
 
 The windows being placed at the above distance 
 from the ground, will indicate, in some measure, 
 the height of the room ; which, to preserve a just 
 proportion, must of course be lofty. The proper 
 height, as prescribed by the ancient rituals, is 
 27 feet, corresponding with the dimensions of the 
 Pillars in front of the Porch of Solomon's Temple, 
 which had a mystical signification, and therefore, 
 as we shall presently see, had an appropriate place 
 assigned to them in the lodge. They were hollow, 
 to contain the constitutional records, being of 
 sufficient capacity for that purpose ; the diameter
 
 46 
 
 being 6 feet and the outer rim 4 inches thick. 
 Some think that the lodge room should be 32 
 feet in height to accord with the entire altitude of 
 the Pillars including the plinths and capitals ; but 
 this would be out of all proportion ; and if the 
 principle be accounted orthodox, there is no reason 
 why the entire bases should be rejected, which 
 would make the room 54 feet in height, and con- 
 stitute a monstrous absurdity. 
 
 The room should be furnished with a pitched 
 roof, open within, and relieved with an ornamental 
 framework of oak, or painted so as to resemble 
 that species of timber. It should be supported on 
 corbels running along the cornice, on which should 
 be engraven masonic ornaments, or the armorial 
 bearings of eminent masons in the Province where 
 the Hall is situated, as a memorial of their zeal 
 and activity for the general prosperity of the order. 
 In estimating the height, it is to be reckoned from 
 the surface of the floor to the extreme point of the 
 gable. The dimensions of the room in length and 
 breadth have not been authoritatively prescribed, 
 because they will depend in a great measure on 
 the situation of the lodge, or the space which is 
 assigned for its position ; and this will often be 
 extremely circumscribed in a large and populous 
 place, where building land is scarce and dear, or 
 the fund inadequate to any extensive operations. 
 But in all cases, a due proportion should be 
 observed in the several members of the fabric 
 wherever it is practicable, that no unsightly ap-
 
 47 
 
 pearance may offend the eye, by disturbing that 
 general harmony of parts which constitutes the 
 beauty and excellence of every architectural pro- 
 duction. 
 
 The principal entrance to the lodge room ought 
 to face the East, because the East is a place of Light 
 both physical and moral ; and therefore the breth- 
 ren have access to the lodge by that entrance, as a 
 symbol of mental illumination ; for as Polydore 
 Virgil quaintly says, " the manner of turnyne our 
 faces into the easte when wee praie, is taken of 
 the old Ethnikes, vvhiche, as Apuleius remembereth 
 used to loke eastwarde and salute the Sonne. We 
 take it in a custom to put us in remembraunce 
 that Christe is the sonne of righteousnes, that 
 discloscth secretes." The approaches to the lodge 
 must be angular, for a straight entrance is un- 
 masonic and cannot be tolerated. The advance 
 from the external avenue to the East ought to 
 consist of three lines and two angles. The first 
 line passes through a small room or closet for the 
 accommodation of visitors before they have proved 
 their qualifications to be admitted into the Lodge, 
 by signs, tokens, and perfect points of entrance ; 
 for strangers must be lodged somewhere, and it 
 ought to be out of sight and hearing of the Lodge, 
 because on examination it is possible they might 
 prove impostors, and their claims be consequently 
 rejected. At the extremity of this apartment there 
 ought to be another angular passage leading to 
 the tyler*s room adjacent to the lodge ; and from 
 thence, by another right angle, you are admitted
 
 48 
 
 into the presence of the brethren with your face 
 to the Light, and stand prepared to salute the 
 W. M. So sacred are the proceedings of a lodge, 
 and such is their immeasurable distance from com- 
 mon observation and remark, that the door which 
 opens from the tyler's room into the Lodge should 
 be protected by a screen of thick moreen, or a 
 double entrance door, that nothing whatever which 
 passes in the lodge should be heard even in this 
 privileged apartment. 
 
 In every convenient place the architect should 
 contrive secret cryptae or closets. They are of indis- 
 pensable utility, but in practice are not sufficiently 
 attended to in this country. On the Continent 
 they are numerous, and are dignified with the 
 name of Chapels. Two of these apartments have 
 already been mentioned ; (1) a room for visitors ; 
 (2) the Tyler's room ; added to which there ought 
 to be (3) a Vestry where the ornaments, furniture, 
 jewels, and other regalia are deposited. This is 
 called the Treasury or Tyler's conclave, because 
 these things are under his especial charge ; and a 
 communication is usually made to this apartment 
 from the Tyler's room. There ought also to be 
 (4) a Chapel for preparations, hung with black, 
 and having only one small light placed high up, 
 near the ceiling ; (5) a Chapel for the dead, fur- 
 nished with a table, on which are a lamp, and 
 emblems of mortality ; (6) the Master's conclave, 
 where the records, the warrant, the minutes, and 
 every written document are kept. To this room 
 the W. M. retires when the Lodge is called from
 
 49 
 
 labour to refreshment, and at other times when his 
 presence in the lodge is not essential ; and here he 
 examines the visitors, for which purpose a com- 
 munication is formed between his conclave and 
 the visitor's chapel. It is furnished with blue ; 
 and here he transacts the lodge business with his 
 Secretary. The Ark of the Covenant is also de- 
 posited in this apartment. None of these closets 
 should exceed 12 feet square; and may be of 
 smaller dimensions according to circumstances. 
 In the middle of the Hall there should be (7) a 
 moveable trap door in the floor, 7 feet long and 3 
 or 4 broad, opening into a small crypt about 3 feet 
 in depth ; the use of which is known to none but 
 perfect masons who have passed through all the 
 symbolical degrees. 
 
 These conveniences having been arranged by the 
 expert architect, and transferred to the Tracing 
 Board for permanent reference ; the next care of 
 the Master is to make due preparation for the 
 ceremony of commencing the building in peace 
 and harmony, and consecrating the ground to the 
 purposes of masonry by laying the foundation 
 stone with all the usual formalities of the craft. 
 In Germany this duty is discharged with the 
 greatest care and circumspection ; for it is con- 
 sidered inauspicious to omit any one ceremony, 
 how trifling soever it may appear, which custom 
 has rendered necessary on such an august occasion. 
 A building committee is therefore appointed to 
 make the preliminary arrangements, and nothing 
 is done without its previous sanction. 
 
 F
 
 50 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 THE FOUNDATION STONE. 
 
 " Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a 
 Foundation Stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a 
 sure foundation ; he that believeth shall not make haste. 
 Judgement also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to 
 the plummet." ISAIAH. 
 
 THE appointment of a favourable day for level- 
 ling the footstoue, is a question which occupies 
 the serious attention of the building committee; 
 for our ancient brethren, in the construction of 
 any magnificent edifice, whether civil or religious, 
 believed that the success of the undertaking de- 
 pended, in a great measure on the genial influence 
 of the time when the work was commenced. The 
 masonic days proper for this purpose, are from 
 the 15th of April, to the 15th of May; and the 
 18th of April has been pronounced peculiarly 
 auspicious for laying the Foundation Stone of a 
 mason's lodge. 
 
 In this reference we find some remnant of the 
 superstitions of bygone ages, when a potentate 
 consulted his astrologers on the most fortunate 
 period for commencing any public enterprize. 
 According to Lane, who quotes from El-Is-hakee,
 
 51 
 
 the Mahometans consider thursday and Friday, 
 especially the latter to be fortunate ; monday and 
 Wednesday doubtful ; Sunday, tuesday, and Satur- 
 day, especially the last, unfortunate. It is said 
 that there are seven evil days in every month ; 
 viz., the third, on which Cain killed Abel; the 
 fifth, on which God cast out Adam from paradise, 
 and on which Joseph was cast into the well ; the 
 thirteenth, on which God took away the wealth of 
 Job and the kingdom of Solomon, and on which 
 the Jews killed the prophets ; the sixteenth, on 
 which God exterminated the people of Lot, trans- 
 formed the Jews into apes, and on which the Jews 
 sawed Zacharias asunder ; the 21st, on which 
 Pharoah was born, and drowned ; the 24th, on 
 which Nimrod killed 70 women, and cast Abraham 
 into the fire ; and the 25th, on which a suffocating 
 wind was sent upon the people of Hood. On the 
 contrary, with us, friday is deemed an unlucky 
 period to undertake any important business. Thus 
 Fynes Moryson, in his Itinerary, speaking of the 
 king of Poland, in 1593, says, " the next day the 
 king had a good wind, but before this, because 
 they esteemed friday to be an unlucky day, had 
 lost many fair winds." And it still continues to be 
 a superstition amongst the working classes of this 
 country, that it is unlucky to be married on a 
 friday. 
 
 The above named time for laying the Foundation 
 Stone of a Masonic Hall however, appears to be 
 appropriate without any reference to a superstitious 
 
 F3
 
 52 
 
 custom ; because nothing can be more consonant 
 with reason and propriety, than to commence a 
 building in the early spring, that the workmen 
 may have the whole summer before them to com- 
 plete the undertaking advantageously, in order 
 that they may celebrate the cape stone with con- 
 fidence and joy. 
 
 A Master and two Fellow Crafts, if there be a 
 dearth of workmen, or war, or famine, or distress, 
 may lawfully begin the work of building a Lodge ; 
 but if none of these causes be in operation to im- 
 pede the undertaking, he ought not to proceed 
 with less than seven workmen, for reasons which 
 are evident to every brother, but cannot be re- 
 vealed. And seven days, at the least, before the 
 period which the building Committee have fixed 
 for the commencement of the work, the Master, 
 by the assistance of his Secretary, should com- 
 municate such intention to every Lodge in the 
 Province ; having previously made his arrange- 
 ments with the Provincial Grand Master. The 
 Masters of Lodges are expected, on such occasions, 
 to render their assistance, not only by being present 
 at the ceremony of laying the foundation stone, 
 but also "by furnishing a beam of cedar, syca- 
 more, or fir, to place in the roof, besides such other 
 voluntary offerings as may be most convenient to 
 themselves/ 5 
 
 On the appointed day, the Lodges being all 
 assembled in some convenient place, the Provincial 
 Grand Lodge is opened in due form ; and proof is
 
 53 
 
 strictly required of every visitor that he is a mason, 
 and qualified to be present, and to assist at the 
 ceremonial. Visitors residing in the Province, not 
 being members of any Lodge, should have a well 
 known brother ready to testify that they have 
 been regularly initiated into the order. Masters of 
 Lodges ought solemnly to assure the Provincial 
 Grand Master, that the persons whom they pre- 
 sent, really belong to their own company ; because 
 at a great meeting, where many strangers are sure 
 to assemble together on such an important occasion, 
 unqualified persons might, if due caution were not 
 observed, succeed in imposing upon the lodge, and 
 the brethren be innocently led to forfeit their Ob- 
 ligation. Strangers, therefore, should not only be 
 strictly examined, but should also be required to 
 produce their Grand Lodge Certificate, so that no 
 doubts may remain on the mind of any of the 
 brethren respecting the regularity of their initiation, 
 and their indefeasible right to be present. They 
 will then take the stranger's place ; which is at the 
 head of the procession ; except they be Grand 
 Masters or Deputy Grand Masters of another 
 province, when the testimony of any brother that 
 they hold, or have held this high office, shall be 
 deemed a sufficient warrant for their admission ; 
 and a high place in the procession is usually 
 assigned to them, at the pleasure of the Provincial 
 Grand Master. 
 
 Instructions respecting the ceremonial are de- 
 livered by the Provincial Grand Master, who then 
 
 p 5
 
 54 
 
 demands to see the Warrant of the Building Lodge ; 
 and being satisfied on this point and all others by 
 the usual enquiries, he proceeds to address the 
 brethren present to the following effect. " I 
 hereby, in the presence of all these Worshipful 
 Masters, Wardens, and Deacons, and of all these 
 Master Masons, worthy and diligent workmen of 
 our secret Craft, do ask of you, and of your com- 
 pany, if you know yourselves, at this time, to have 
 done anything contrary to the laws of masonry, 
 which has not been communicated to the provincial 
 authorities, and whereby you ought to be sus- 
 pended from your work ? 
 
 WORSHIPFUL MASTER. 
 We are all good masons at this very time. 
 
 PROVINCIAL, GRAND MASTER. 
 Have you, amongst your company any brother 
 guilty of brawlings, strife, and disobedience, in 
 open lodge ? 
 
 WORSHIPFUL, MASTER. 
 We have none, Right Worshipful Sir. 
 PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER. 
 Have you any brother, who, after open Lodge, 
 is guilty of drunkenness, common swearing, or 
 profane words ? 
 
 WORSHIPFUL MASTER. 
 We have none, Right Worshipful Sir. 
 PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER. 
 Have you permission to do this day's work ? 
 
 WORSHIPFUL MASTER. 
 
 We have ; and if it be your will and pleasure, 
 it shall be here communicated.
 
 55 
 
 After this ceremony has been performed, the 
 Provincial Grand Master proceeds to say ; 
 
 (t Masters, Wardens, Deacons, and brethren ; 
 all here is right and as it should be. I give you 
 joy of this day's work. It has begun in zeal let 
 it end in charity and brotherly love. May all 
 masons help us in our present undertaking ; and 
 let us give due honour to the Master and brethren 
 
 of the Lodge, No. for wishing to raise a 
 
 Temple to Masonry. May the blessing of the 
 Most High rest upon it. May the new Lodge 
 increase in its prosperity ; and may it be an asylum 
 to harbour the poor brethren, and console the 
 rich. Amen. So mote it be." 
 
 The Ark of the Covenant is now furnished by 
 the Stewards with the Volume of the Sacred Law ; 
 and also with salt, clay, a pair of compasses, and 
 other masonic emblems ; and they deliver the Veil 
 to the Provincial Grand Master, who sprinkles it 
 with essences. All the brethren present then 
 walk round the room in procession, preceded by 
 the purple, and from a basin of perfume, the Pro- 
 vincial Grand Master sprinkles them as they pass 
 by him, exclaiming 
 
 " May all our deeds be sweet and savoury ! 
 May we be a refreshing odour to our poor and 
 worthy brethren ; for Charity is as sweet as roses I" 
 
 The Lodge being now adjourned, the public 
 procession is formed ; which will be found in a 
 subsequent page, arranged for a Province, in ac- 
 cordance with the form prescribed by the authority
 
 56 
 
 of the Grand Lodge. The principles on which it 
 is founded are precisely similar to the regulations 
 of civil society ; for although Freemasonry is un- 
 doubtedly a democratic institution, yet its degrees 
 of rank are placed on the same scale of systematic 
 gradation, as is used for the regulation of pre- 
 cedency in a state or kingdom. 
 
 It is an admitted principle in masonry that the 
 post of honour is the last place in the procession ; 
 which is accordingly taken by the Grand, or Pro- 
 vincial Grand Master, if he be present ; a Grand 
 Tyler with a sword being placed on each side, and 
 a Sword Bearer before him ; the swords being 
 drawn, and the scabbards left behind. The Sword 
 Bearer is preceded by the Standard of the Grand 
 Master or of the Province, as the case may be, 
 flanked by the Stewards with wands. Next in 
 precedence are his company of the Grand or Pro- 
 vincial Grand Lodge, according to their office, 
 clothed in purple, with Jewels of gold, and pre- 
 ceded by a Tyler with his sword also drawn. Then 
 follow the private lodges according to their num- 
 bers, each arranged in form ; i. e. the brethren 
 first ; then the officers agreeably to their rank, the 
 Master being the last person, who is attended by 
 the banner of the lodge. Thus the W. M. of the 
 oldest lodge will be placed immediately before the 
 purple brethren ; and if the Provincial Grand 
 Master and his Staff be not present, he will then 
 take precedence, or the last place in the pro- 
 cession.
 
 57 
 
 On the Continent the Grand Master walks 
 under a gorgeous canopy of blue, purple, and 
 crimson silk, with gold fringes and tassels, borne 
 upon staves painted purple and ornamented with 
 gold, by eight of the oldest Master Masons 
 present ; and the Masters of private lodges walk 
 under canopies of light blue silk with silver tassels 
 and fringes, borne by four members of their own 
 respective companies. The canopies are in the 
 form of an oblong square, and are in length six 
 feet, in breadth and height three feet, having a 
 semicircular covering. The framework should be 
 of cedar; and the silken covering ought to hang 
 down two feet on each side. In the centre of the 
 procession is carried the Ark of Alliance, covered 
 with a veil of blue, purple, and crimson silk, in 
 alternate stripes, by four of the most aged masons 
 present, without regard to their rank in masonry. 
 
 When the procession moves onward to the place 
 where the foundation stone is prepared to be 
 levelled, the music should play some solemn air ; 
 for lively tunes are indecorous and unsuited to this 
 stage of the proceedings. Pleyel's German Hymn, 
 Haydn's National Anthem, Handel's Minuet in 
 Samson, or a slow march would be considered 
 appropriate. 
 
 Having arrived within a proper distance of the 
 spot, the procession halts, the brethren open to 
 the right and left, so as to leave room for the 
 Grand Master to pass up the centre, he being 
 preceded by his standard and sword Bearer, the
 
 58 
 
 Grand Officers and brethren following in succes- 
 sion from the rear, so as to invert the order of 
 procession. The Grand Master having arrived at 
 his station on a platform, the brethren form them- 
 selves into a square round the stone, which is 
 directed to be laid in the corner of the Amorites. 
 An Ode is then sung ; the Grand Chaplain repeats 
 a prayer, and the Grand Treasurer having deposited 
 the various coins of the realm, the cement is laid 
 on the lower stone, and being spread with a silver 
 trowel by the Grand Master, the upper one is let 
 down slowly to solemn music. The Grand Master 
 then descends to the stone, and proves that it is 
 properly adjusted by the plumb, level, and square, 
 which are delivered to him in succession by the 
 three officers to whom they belong ; after which 
 the architect delivers to him the mallet, with which 
 he gives three knocks upon the stone. When the 
 operations are completed, the Grand Master makes 
 an address to the assembly, in which he tells them, 
 in such language as he may be pleased to use, that 
 we are lawful masons, true and faithful to the laws 
 of our country, and engaged by solemn obligations, 
 to erect magnificent buildings, to be serviceable to 
 the brethren, and to fear God, the Great Architect 
 of the Universe ; that we have amongst us, 
 concealed from the eyes of all men, secrets which 
 cannot be divulged, and which have never been 
 found out ; but that these secrets are lawful and 
 honourable, and not repugnant to the laws of God 
 or man. They were entrusted, in peace and hon-
 
 59 
 
 our, to the masons of ancient times, and have been 
 faithfully transmitted to us ; and that it is our 
 duty to convey them unimpaired to the latest 
 posterity. Unless our craft were good, and our 
 calling honourable, we should not have lasted for 
 so many centuries, nor should we have been hon- 
 oured with the patronage of so many illustrious 
 men in ah 1 ages, who have ever shown themselves 
 ready to promote our interests, and to defend us 
 against all adversaries. We are assembled here 
 to-day in the face of you all to build a house for 
 masonry, which we pray God may deserve to 
 prosper ; by becoming a place of concourse for 
 good men, and promoting harmony and brotherly 
 love throughout the world till time shall be no 
 more. 
 
 The brethren all exclaim, " So mote it be." 
 The above detail has been adapted from the 
 rituals which are used in Germany, France, and 
 other continental nations ; but I have inserted 
 nothing which is inconsistent with our own prac- 
 tice ; or which might not be used in this country 
 without the slightest violation of the ordinance for 
 the above has been issued by our own Grand 
 Lodge ; and there are some points which I con- 
 sider to be an improvement on our practice. I 
 subjoin the continental formula. 
 
 After the brethren have formed themselves into 
 a fellow crafts lodge round the foundation stone, 
 the architect is called for, who places himself in 
 front of the Grand Master, who whispers in his
 
 60 
 
 ear something which all Master Masons know ; on 
 which the architect produces the plan of the build- 
 ing, which is inspected, and handed round amongst 
 the brethren. An anthem is then sung ; and the 
 Grand Master calls for the working tools of a 
 mason and anoints them with oil. He then de- 
 livers them to the W. M. of the building lodge, 
 who hands them to the architect. The Grand 
 
 Master then says ; " W. M. of the Lodge, 
 
 what will your lodge be like ? 
 
 The W. M. answers nothing, but lifting up his 
 right hand points first the heavens, and then to 
 the earth, and then extends his arms to their 
 utmost limit. 
 
 GRAND MASTER. 
 
 That is a good plan, Worshipful Master ; but 
 have you nothing more to tell me ? 
 
 The W. M. makes no verbal reply to this ques- 
 tion, but puts his right hand on his heart, and 
 presses the fore fingers of his left hand on his 
 lips. 
 
 GRAND MASTER. 
 
 The W. M. does well, brethren, let us copy his 
 example. 
 
 Underneath the foundation stone the officiating 
 Master places some grains of Wheat, with a few 
 drops of Oil and Wine, along with the coins of 
 the country. In addition to which the Grand 
 Master throws in a spoonful of salt, which is his 
 exclusive privilege. The mortar is then spread as 
 already described, and the stone descends ; which
 
 61 
 
 is adjusted, &c. as before, accompanied by the 
 following dialogue. 
 
 GRAND MASTER. 
 
 W. M. of the Lodge, what is the proper 
 
 Jewel of your office ? 
 
 WORSHIPFUL MASTER. 
 The Square, Right Worshipful Sir. 
 
 GRAND MASTER. 
 
 Have you applied the Square to those parts of 
 the stone that should be square ? 
 
 WORSHIPFUL MASTER. 
 I have so applied it, and find it to be correct. 
 
 GRAND MASTER. 
 
 Brother Senior Warden what is the proper 
 Jewel of your office ? 
 
 SENIOR WARDEN. 
 The Level, Right Worshipful Sir. 
 
 GRAND MASTER. 
 Have you applied the Level to the stone ? 
 
 SENIOR WARDEN. 
 I have done so, and find it to be correct. 
 
 GRAND MASTER. 
 
 Brother Junior Warden what is the proper 
 Jewel of your office ? 
 
 JUNIOR WARDEN. 
 The Plumb Rule, Right Worshipful Sir. 
 
 GRAND MASTER. 
 
 Have you applied that instrument to the several 
 edges of the stone ? 
 
 JUNIOR WARDEN. 
 
 I have taken the precaution to do so, and find 
 the stone perfect ? G
 
 62 
 
 GRAND MASTER. 
 
 Having full confidence in your skill in the Royal 
 art, it only remains that I finish the work. (Here 
 he strikes three times with a mallet upon the 
 stone.) May this undertaking be conducted and 
 completed by the craftsman, according to the grand 
 plan, in peace, harmony, and brotherly love. 
 
 The Grand Master, attended by the purple 
 brethren then descends from the platform, and 
 compasses the foundations of the building in solemn 
 procession ; after which returning to his canopy, 
 he anoints the foundation stone with fresh oil 
 copiously, till it runs down on all sides, saying, 
 
 " As Jacob the son of Isaac, the son of Abra- 
 ham, fled from the face of his brother Esau, going 
 from Beersheba toward Haran, he tarried in a 
 certain place all night where he slept on the cold 
 ground, with a stone for his pillow in great dis- 
 comfort. Here he had a vision of the gates of 
 heaven, and when he awoke he anointed the stone 
 on which he slept with oil, and named the place 
 Beth El, or the House of God. In like manner I 
 anoint this stone with pure oil, praying that in the 
 building which may arise from it none but good 
 men may enter, and men that fear God. Then 
 may it truly be said, Behold how good and joyful 
 a thing it is, brethren to dwell together in unity ! 
 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, 
 that ran down unto the beard, even unto Aaron's 
 beard, and went down to the skirts of his clothing. 
 Like as the dew of Hermon which fell on the hill
 
 63 
 
 of Sion ; for there the Lord promised his blessing 
 and life for evermore." 
 
 An Anthem is then sung, and the brethren re- 
 turn to the lodge from whence they set out. 
 
 It may be useful in this place to add a few words 
 on the custom of scattering corn, wine, and oil, 
 and salt, on the foundation, as the elements of 
 consecration ; which appears to have been a custom 
 of great antiquity. Corn, wine, and oil, taken to- 
 gether, are a symbol of prosperity and abundance ; 
 and refer in this case to the anticipated success of 
 the Lodge where they have been used, in pro- 
 moting amongst its members the blessings of 
 morality and virtue, and by an increase of the 
 brethren, to disseminate amongst mankind, the 
 benefits resulting from Brotherly Love, Relief, 
 and Truth, that society in general may profit by 
 an infusion of the principles of masonry into every 
 class, and introducing a better feeling into the 
 whole mass. Thus, as a little leaven leaveneth the 
 whole lump, so all may become masons in practice, 
 although not masons by profession ; and the gen- 
 eral amelioration of society be produced by the 
 genial influence of masonic wisdom, goodness, and 
 truth. 
 
 Corn was a symbol of the resurrection, which 
 is significantly referred to in the third degree of 
 masonry. Jesus Christ compares himself to a corn 
 of wheat falling into the ground, as a symbol of 
 the resurrection. St. Paul says, the sower sows 
 a simple grain of corn, no matter of what kind, 
 
 G3
 
 64 
 
 which at its proper season rises to light, clothed 
 in verdure. So also is the resurrection of the 
 dead. The Apostle might, says Calmet, have 
 instanced the power of God in the progress of 
 vivification ; and might have inferred that the 
 same power which could confer life originally, 
 could certainly restore it to those particles which 
 once had possessed it. It is possible he has done 
 this covertly, having chosen to mention vegetable 
 seed, that being most obvious to common notice ; 
 yet not intending to terminate his reference in any 
 quality of vegetation. We find the same manner 
 of expression in Menu, who, discoursing of chil- 
 dren says, " whatever be the quality of the seed 
 scattered in a field prepared in due season, a plant 
 of the same quality springs in that field with 
 peculiar visible properties. That one plant should 
 be sown and another produced, cannot happen ; 
 whatever seed may be sown, even that produces 
 its proper stem/' All this reasoning serves to 
 prove that corn is a correct symbol of the resur- 
 rection. 
 
 Wine is a symbol of cheerfulness and joy. Thus 
 David, speaking of the divine beneficence, says, 
 " He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and 
 herb for the service of man, that he may bring 
 forth the food out of the earth, and wine that 
 maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make 
 his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth 
 man's heart." Vineyards were plentiful in Pales- 
 tine. It was indeed peculiarly a land of
 
 and wine, and oil. Thus to show the abundance 
 of vines which should fall to the lot of Judah in 
 the partition of the promised land, Jacob, in his 
 prophetic benediction, says of this tribe, he shall 
 be found 
 
 Binding his colt to the vine, 
 
 And to the choice vine, the foal of his ass. 
 
 Washing his garments in wine, 
 
 His clothes in the blood of the grape. 
 
 The Jews planted their vineyards, says "the 
 Investigator," most commonly on the south side 
 of a hill or mountain, the stones being gathered 
 out, and the space edged round with thorns, or 
 walled in. The expression of ee sitting every man 
 under his own vine" which is used more than 
 once in our scriptures, probably alludes to the 
 delightful eastern arbours, which were partly com- 
 posed of vines. Norden speaks of vine arbours 
 as being common in the Egyptian gardens ; and 
 the Praenestine pavement in Shaw's Travels, gives 
 us the figure of an ancient one. The expression 
 is intended to refer to a time of public tranquillity 
 and profound peace. 
 
 Oil was anciently considered the symbol of 
 prosperity and happiness. The oil of gladness 
 mentioned in the Jewish writings, was a perfumed 
 oil with which the people anointed themselves on 
 days of public rejoicing and festivity. Every 
 thing that was appropriated to the purposes of 
 religion in the tabernacle and temple, were all con- 
 secrated with oil. Kings and priests were anointed 
 
 G 5
 
 66 
 
 in the same manner. And our lodges, as temples 
 consecrated to morality and virtue, are also hallow- 
 ed by the application of corn, wine, and oil. 
 
 Our ancient brethren used salt as an emblem of 
 consecration, because it was a symbol of Wisdom 
 and Learning. Our Saviour says, " have salt in 
 yourselves, and have peace one with another." 
 And St Paul adds, " let your speech be always 
 with grace, and seasoned with salt." Salt is also a 
 symbol of perpetuity and incorruption. Thus the 
 Jewish law is said to have been " a covenant of 
 salt before the Lord." And again in another 
 place, " the Lord gave the kingdom of Israel to 
 David and to his sons, by a covenant of salt." A 
 foreign writer, under the date of 1666, quoted by 
 Brand, says, " the sentiments and opinions both 
 of divines and philosophers, concur in making salt 
 the emblem of wisdom and learning ; and that, 
 not only on account of what it is composed of, 
 but also with respect to the several uses to which 
 it is applied. As to its component parts, as it 
 consists of the purest matter, so ought Wisdom 
 to be pure, sound, immaculate, and incorruptible ; 
 and similar to the effects which salt produces upon 
 bodies, ought to be those of wisdom and learning 
 upon the mind. This rite of salt is a pledge or 
 earnest of the study of good hearts, and of obedi- 
 ence and duty." The application of this meaning 
 of the symbol to our society is not difficult, be- 
 cause our profession is to cultivate Wisdom, to 
 maintain charity, and to live in harmony and
 
 67 
 
 brotherly love. And it is ordained that none can 
 use salt in the consecration of a Lodge but the 
 Grand Master, because he is, in a peculiar manner, 
 the pillar of Wisdom. The following epigram was 
 written when the tax was first laid upon salt about 
 the middle of the last century. 
 
 The emblem o'th' nation, so grave and precise, 
 
 On the emblem of wisdom have laid an excise. 
 
 Pray tell me, grave sparks, and your answer don't smother, 
 
 Why one representative taxes another ? 
 
 The Commons on Salt a new impost have laid, 
 
 To tax Wisdom too, they most humbly are pray'd 5 
 
 For tell me ye patrons of woollen and crape, 
 
 Why the type should be fin'd, and the substance escape ? 
 
 Salt has ever been distinguished as an emblem 
 of hospitality. Thus the governors of the Prov- 
 inces beyond the Euphrates, writing to king 
 Artaxerxes, tell him that " they are salted with 
 the salt of the palace ;" meaning that they have 
 the right of maintenance there. Waldron in his 
 description of the Isle of Man, says, " no person 
 will go out on any material affair without taking 
 some salt in their pockets ; much less remove from 
 one house, marry, put out a child, or take one to 
 nurse, without salt being mutually interchanged ; 
 nay, though a poor creature be almost famished in 
 the streets, he will not accept of any food, unless 
 you join salt to the rest of your benevolence." 
 We have a curious instance of the regard paid to 
 salt as an emblem of hospitality and friendship in 
 distant countries, related by Harmer from D* Her-
 
 68 
 
 belot. " Jacoub ben Laith, who appears to have 
 been nothing more than a captain of banditti in 
 Persia, having broken into the palace of the prince, 
 and collected a very large booty ; he was on the 
 point of departing, when his foot kicked against 
 something which made him stumble. Imagining 
 it might be something of value, he put it to his 
 mouth and found it to be a lump of salt. Upon 
 this, according to the superstition of the country, 
 where the people considered salt as a symbol and 
 pledge of hospitality, he was so touched that he 
 left all his booty, and retired without taking any- 
 thing with him. The next morning, the risk they 
 had run in losing so many valuables caused a strict 
 enquiry to be made, and Jacoub being found to be 
 the person concerned, he frankly told the whole 
 story to the prince, by which he so effectually 
 gained his esteem that he took him into his service, 
 and he ultimately succeeded his master on the 
 Persian throne." 
 
 Salt was also a symbol of Fidelity. Whence 
 the propriety of its use amongst masons. It was 
 also an emblem of eternity and immortality ; be- 
 cause it is not liable to putrefaction itself, and pre- 
 serves every thing that is seasoned with it from 
 decay. Reginald Scott, in his discourse concerning 
 Devils and Spirits, asserts that " the devil loveth 
 no salt to his meat, for that it is a sign of eternity, 
 and used by God's commandments in all sacrifices." 
 In like manner the science of Freemasonry may be 
 aptly symbolized by salt, because it is eternal and
 
 69 
 
 will never decay. It has existed from the creation, 
 and will remain a blessing to man till this earth is 
 burnt up and the elements shall melt with fervent 
 heat ; and then Love universal shall exist for ever 
 amongst the glorified fraternity of saints and angels.
 
 70 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 THE DECORATIONS. 
 
 In which ther were mo ymages 
 Of gold standing in sondrie stages ; 
 In mo riche tabernacles ; 
 And with pierre moe pinnacles, 
 And moe curious pourtraytures 
 And quent mannere figures. 
 ***** 
 
 Of these yates flourishinges 
 Ne of compaces ne of kervings, 
 Ne how the hacking in masonries ; 
 As corbelles and imageries. 
 
 CHAUCER. 
 
 THE next ceremony' by which the newly-built 
 hall is appropriated to masonic purposes is the dis- 
 posal of its furniture and decorations preparatory 
 to the solemn rite of dedication and consecration. 
 Great discrimination is required to accomplish this 
 point correctly and with proper effect ; and very 
 frequently the imposing appearance which a lodge 
 ought to present to the eye, is lost for want of due 
 attention to these preliminary arrangements. The 
 expert mason will be convinced that the walls of a 
 lodge room ought neither to be absolutely naked
 
 71 
 
 nor too much decorated. A chaste disposal of 
 symbolical ornaments in the right places, and 
 according to propriety, relieves the dulness and 
 vacuity of a blank space ; and though but sparingly 
 used, will produce a striking impression, and con- 
 tribute to the general beauty and solemnity of the 
 scene. 
 
 The embellishment of the interior of a Lodge 
 room is indeed of vast importance ; although I am 
 afraid, very h'ttle attention is usually paid to it; 
 and nothing but a fine and discriminating taste 
 can do it ample justice. Nor is it necessary to 
 incur heavy expences in the details, for it is the 
 design, and not the value of the materials, that 
 produces the effect. A few brief hints for this 
 purpose may be acceptable ; although after all, 
 much will depend on the judgment of the archi- 
 tect, who ought, in all cases, to be a brother. 
 
 Over the row of windows, which, as I have 
 already observed, are disposed on one side of the 
 room, should be placed, running from east to west, 
 a thick brass rod, on which is suspended, from a 
 series of rings of the same metal, a great curtain 
 extending the whole length of the room, and 
 when drawn, covering all the windows at once, 
 for separate window curtains are unmasonic, and 
 not to be tolerated in a good lodge. This great 
 curtain must be composed of blue, purple and 
 crimson moreen, disposed in alternate stripes, the 
 breadth of the stuff, and lined with black cloth. 
 Silk may be used if the lodge be prosperous enough
 
 72 
 
 to incur the expence, but neither cotton or linen 
 are allowed. It must, however, be quite plain and 
 devoid of ornament ; for the intended effect would 
 be entirely destroyed by the introduction of tassels, 
 fringes, or binding of any other colour. 
 
 In the east should be a raised platform or dais 
 for the Master and his attendant officers. Here 
 are the two pillars already mentioned flanking the 
 Chair or Throne, which is elevated on three steps 
 at some distance from the wall ; for sufficient 
 space ought to be left for two persons to pass con- 
 veniently, which is concealed from the observation 
 of the brethren by a screen placed behind the 
 chair, higher than the Master's head when seated. 
 The two extremities of the screen are made to fold 
 inwards at right angles, thus enclosing the officers 
 on the dais by three sides of a parallellogram. On 
 the back of the screen a design should be painted 
 on a ground of black or dark purple, emblematical 
 of the name of the lodge ; and the flaps should be 
 decorated with intersecting triangles, emblems of 
 mortality, or other masonic designs according to 
 the taste of the architect. The effect will be 
 augmented by painting it as a transparency. In 
 foreign Lodges there is placed behind the throne, 
 and high up in the gable of the roof, a well toned 
 bell or Indian gong ; and I have known it used 
 with good effect in our own country. 
 
 The pedestal is placed in front of the throne. 
 In form it is a double cube ; and should be made 
 of shittim wood or acacia, in imitation of the Altar
 
 73 
 
 of incense and other appendages to the tabernacle 
 of Moses. This masonic altar is consecrated by 
 the Book of the Law, which is always spread open 
 upon it, at some important passage of scripture, 
 during the continuance of the solemn ministrations 
 of the lodge. In the first degree it is usually 
 unfolded at Ruth iv. 7 ; in the second degree at 
 Judges xxii. 6 ; and in the third at 1 Kings vii. 
 13, 14. These usages however, it may be neces- 
 sary to add, are arbitrary ; for we find, at different 
 periods during the last century that Genesis xxii. 
 and xxviii, were indifferently used for the first 
 degree; 1 Kings vi. 7* a d 2 Chronicles iii. 17, 
 for the second ; and Amos x. 25, 26, and 2 Chron- 
 icles vi. for the third. In the United States, ac- 
 cording to the instructions contained in Cross's 
 Chart, the Bible is opened in the first degree at 
 Psalm cxxxiii ; in the second at Amos vii ; and in 
 the third at Ecclesiastes xii. 
 
 Again, during the ceremony of consecrating a 
 Lodge the Volume should be displayed at 1 Kings 
 viii ; in processions at Numbers x ; and at funerals 
 at Gen. i., or 1 Cor. xv. It is however, a matter 
 of little importance, provided the passage cor- 
 respond with the structure of any part of the 
 degree. A section of our brethren have always 
 evinced the greatest anxiety that this arrangement 
 should be punctually observed ; and are even so 
 particular as to have the obligation sealed on the 
 appropriate verse ; while others treat it with in- 
 difference ; and some care very little whether it be 
 
 H
 
 74 
 
 wholly omitted. In fact I knew a lodge where the 
 Master always opened his Bible at Eccles. x, 
 which has no masonic reference whatever. 
 
 In the West, and facing the Master's Throne, 
 there ought to be a gallery furnished with an 
 organ; which is also useful for a musical band, 
 or for the accommodation of ladies on festive 
 occasions. 
 
 The technical ornaments of a lodge are, as is 
 well known, the mosaic pavement, the blazing 
 star, and the tesselated border ; but a well disposed 
 lodge room admits of other ornaments which add 
 considerably to the brilliancy of its appearance. 
 These decorations, however, ought to be in the 
 strictest conformity with the genius of the order. 
 Their introduction is frequently the effect of acci- 
 dent. A cheap purchase at a sale, or the indis- 
 criminate liberality of an individual brother, will 
 frequently place amongst the ornaments, a picture 
 or bust, which is not in keeping with the general 
 contour of the lodge furniture. Such anomalies 
 ought to be avoided. 
 
 The Freemason's Hall, Great Queen Street, is 
 a beautiful specimen of this kind of ornament, as 
 it was designed by the architect at the period of 
 its erection. It is purely masonic ; and hence it 
 is to be presumed that statues or paintings of the 
 Virtues are in good taste ; as also of the worthies 
 named in the Bible, who are celebrated in the 
 system of masonry ; such as Abraham or Moses, 
 Solomon or H A B, or the two St. Johns ; any or
 
 75 
 
 all of these would be appropriate. Nor should 
 pictures of the great benefactors of masonry be 
 omitted, as a memento of departed worth which 
 the craft delights to honour. These decorations, 
 judiciously interspersed with masonic emblems, if 
 properly managed, may contribute to produce a 
 very imposing appearance. A marble slab, con- 
 taining the name of the lodge, with its founder, 
 and the contributors to the building fund, ought 
 to be let into the north wall. The candlesticks 
 should be made of brass, and very lofty. These 
 add a grace to the appearance of a lodge which 
 can only be estimated by those who have witnessed 
 the effect. Some of the most gorgeous foreign 
 lodges use a seven branched candelabrum, in imita- 
 tion of the golden candlestick of the tabernacle 
 and temple ; and this appears to be a most appro- 
 priate article of furniture to occupy a conspicuous 
 place in the lodge. It was a truly magnificent 
 utensil, weighing 125 pounds, and therefore would 
 be worth about 6000 of our money. It stood 
 upon a base with a perpendicular stem, at the top 
 of which was the centre light. Three branches 
 projected from the stem on each side, forming 
 the segment of a circle, and rising as high as the 
 centre light. The whole of the candlestick was 
 adorned with a variety of carved ornaments, all in 
 chased gold. In a lodge the candlesticks should 
 always be composed of bright brass ; wood of all 
 kinds being extremely improper. 
 
 H 3
 
 76 
 
 In a good lodge silence and gravity are great 
 recommendations during the hours appropriated 
 to labour. The ordinary business is of too serious 
 a nature to admit of any disturbances ; and hence 
 the ancient charges direct that no brother shall 
 behave himself ludicrously or jestingly while the 
 lodge is engaged in what is serious and solemn ; 
 nor use any unbecoming language upon any pre- 
 tence whatever ; but to pay due reverence to the 
 Master, Wardens, and fellows, and put them to 
 worship. Even the noise of moving the seats or 
 the feet, is to be avoided as much as possible ; 
 and for this purpose sand is not allowed to be 
 strewed on the floor ; nor are the brethren per- 
 mitted to leave the Lodge during the solemn 
 ceremonies, lest the noise thus made should disturb 
 the proceedings. The effect of an initiation would 
 be entirely destroyed by any interruption of this 
 kind ; and it is easy to understand that the same 
 kind of disturbance would be calculated to distract 
 the attention of the brethren during the delivery 
 of the lectures. It would also create a degree of 
 embarrassment to the Master, and tend to dis- 
 arrange his ideas, and consequently, to some ex- 
 tent, nullify his instructions. It is to prevent the 
 occurrence of all such irregularities that the Grand 
 Lodge have provided that " if any brother behave 
 in such away as to disturb the harmony of the 
 lodge, he shall be thrice admonished by the Master ; 
 and if he persist in his irregular conduct he shall
 
 77 
 
 be punished according to the By-Laws of the 
 lodge ; or the case may be reported to higher 
 masonic authority/' The best method of prevent- 
 ing any casual disturbance on the floor of the 
 lodge, is to have it covered with drugget or carpet- 
 ing ; and this is generally used in foreign lodges. 
 
 H 5
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 THE NAME. 
 
 What's in a name ? that which we call a rose 
 By any other name would smell as sweet. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 " The Phoenicians gave appellations to places according to 
 their respective commodities and manufactures, wherein, if we 
 do hut seriously consider for what particular thing each country, 
 in former time, was most especially taken notice of, and then 
 apply the Phoenician name of that thing, let it be custom, situa- 
 tion, trade, or anything else, and we shall find the Phoenician 
 word so exactly agreeing with the nature of the country so ex- 
 pressed, that we must conclude it impossible so constant and 
 general an harmony between them should happen by chance ; 
 but rather, that the names were imposed for some particular 
 reason or design." 
 
 SAMMES. 
 
 A word on the Names of lodges may not be 
 unacceptable. The brethren who drew up the 
 code of " the Helvetian Ceremonies of Masons, 
 said to come from Egypt, translated from the 
 French and German of L. S. U. and 2 B 7 C," con- 
 demn the use of such names as the Apollo, the 
 Minerva, the Vesta, &c., as being heathen, and 
 furnishing ideas of idolatry and superstition. They 
 also disapprove of the names which savour of any 
 sect or party, either religious or political. " These,"
 
 79 
 
 they say, " can have nothing to do with masonry." 
 Des Etangs, however, contends that it is lawful 
 to use as the names of lodges, any of the great 
 heathen philosophers, such as Zoroaster, Confucius, 
 Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, &c. ; and also Wis- 
 dom, Good Faith, Friendship, Constancy, or any 
 other of the moral virtues. 
 
 In this country the titles of lodges are frequently 
 determined by chance ; but the most appropriate 
 are those which are assumed from the names of 
 some ancient benefactor, or meritorious individual 
 who was a native of the place where the lodge is 
 held ; as in a city, the builder of the Cathedral 
 Church ; because it is quite certain that he was a 
 mason ; for none but those who are impregnated 
 with the true scientific principles of the order, 
 could possibly have produced the mysterious and 
 complicated effect which those gorgeous edifices 
 uniformly display. The name of a Hundred or 
 Wapentake in which the lodge is situated, or of a 
 navigable river which confers wealth and dignity 
 on the town, are proper titles for a lodge ; as are 
 also the orders of architecture, the theological or 
 cardinal virtues ; and Harmony, Brotherly Love, 
 Friendship, Unity, or other social qualities of the 
 mind. In all cases the temper of the brethren 
 should correspond with the name of the lodge ; 
 otherwise they will expose themselves to be ranked 
 as hypocrites, and instead of masonry constituting 
 their pride, it will subject them to obloquy and 
 shame. If the members of a lodge dedicated to
 
 80 
 
 Friendship or Harmony be notoriously at variance 
 with each other; if the brethren of a lodge of 
 Fidelity be, in practice, unfaithful to every trust ; 
 if a lodge called Social Union be distinguished 
 by bickerings and disputes ; or of Good Faith, by 
 defrauding or swindling their neighbours ; what 
 can be expected to result from such anomalies, 
 but disorder amongst themselves and unpopularity 
 in the world ; their own character will be compro- 
 mised, the lodge disgraced, and Freemasonry, 
 which ought to be the vehicle of perfect friendship, 
 will become a by- word and a reproach, in the esti- 
 mation of all good and worthy men. 
 
 The precedency of lodges, however, depends on 
 the Number and not on the Name ; although by 
 custom every lodge has its proper name ; and this 
 is considered of such importance by the masonic 
 authorities, that the approbation of the Grand 
 Master, or at least of the Provincial Grand Master 
 must be obtained before any name can be legiti- 
 mately used ; and even then it must be registered 
 with the Grand Secretary. Nor can any lodge 
 alter its name without the same authority. The 
 privilege of giving a name has always been con- 
 sidered as a token of authority. Thus a father is 
 empowered to determine the names of his children, 
 and a master those of his servants. For the same 
 reason the Master determines the name of his 
 lodge. It is said in Scripture that Adam gave a 
 name to his wife and to all the animals, which they 
 ever after retained. God himself condescended to
 
 81 
 
 change the names of Abram, Jacob, and Sarai, as 
 a token of honor, and an addition expressing his 
 particular regard for them. Hence he gave a 
 name, even before their birth, to some persons to 
 whom he purposed to extend his favours in an 
 especial manner ; as to Solomon whom he called 
 Jedidiah ; to the Messiah whom he called Emanuel 
 and Jesus, to John the Baptist, &c. 
 
 Assigning a name to a lodge, like the deter- 
 mination of the name of a son or daughter, is 
 frequently a matter of much serious deliberation ; 
 and is sometimes attended with powerful religious 
 feelings. " The strange prejudice of lucky and 
 unlucky names," says D'Israeli, " prevailed all 
 over modern Europe. The successor of Adrian 
 VI., wished to preserve his own name on the 
 papal throne ; but he gave up the wish when the 
 conclave of Cardinals used the powerful argument 
 that all the Popes who had preserved their own 
 names, had died in the first year of their pontificate. 
 Cardinal Marcel Cervin, who preserved his name 
 when elected Pope, died on the twentieth day of 
 his pontificate, which confirmed this superstitious 
 opinion. La Moth le Vays gravely asserts that all 
 the queens of Naples of the name of Joan, and 
 the kings of Scotland of the name of James, have 
 been unfortunate ; and we have formal treatises on 
 the fatality of particular names." 
 
 The same credulity still operates, to a certain 
 extent, amongst ourselves ; and not only the 
 ignorant, but also men of learning and talent are
 
 82 
 
 scarcely able to divest themselves of certain fancies 
 about the names of their children ; as if their 
 success in life were to be dependant on a casual 
 appellation imposed at the font. Nor is the super- 
 stition confined to any nation or people ; but 
 appears indigenous to the human mind. Amongst 
 the Romans there were certain mysterious notions 
 connected with the names of individuals. In 
 calling over a muster roll of soldiers, the Serjeants 
 always began with names of good omen, as Felix, 
 Faustus, &c., analagous to our Good luck, Happy, 
 &c. Livy, speaking of a person named Atrius 
 Umber, calls it abominandi ominis nomen ; and in 
 like manner Plautus says of one whose name was 
 Lyco, 
 
 Vosmet nunc facite conjecturam cacterum, 
 Quid id sit hominis, cui Lyco nomeu siet. 
 
 Plato recommended to parents to select lucky 
 names (fausta nomina) for their children ; and 
 Pythagoras thought a man's success in life was 
 dependant on his name. Camden has a story 
 illustrative of his feeling. " We reade that two 
 Ambassadours were sent out of France into Spaine 
 to king Alphonse the ninth to demand of the 
 daughters which he had by the daughter of king 
 Henrie the second of England, to bee married to 
 their soveraigne king Lewes the eighth. One of 
 these ladies was very beautiful!, called Vrraca, the 
 other not so beautifull, but named Blanche. When 
 they were presented to the Ambassadours, all men 
 held it as a matter resolved that the choyce would
 
 83 
 
 light upon Vrraca, as the elder and fairer. But 
 the Ambassadours enquiring each of their names, 
 tooke offence at Vrraca, and made choyce of the 
 lady Blanche, saying that her name would bee 
 better received in France then the other, as sig- 
 nifying faire and beautifull, according to the verse 
 made to her honour." 
 
 Candida, candescens candore, et cordis et oris. 
 And a modern French writer has the following 
 passage, which shows that the same feeling still 
 prevails amongst that people. " What is your 
 name, Mademoiselle ? Felise, replied the child. 
 It is a pretty name, said the kind hearted woman. 
 Felise that means happy ; one that is born under 
 a fortunate star ! Hearing these words, the travel- 
 ler and her attendant involuntarily turned, and, 
 doubtless struck by the same thought, cast a 
 singular look upon the child." 
 
 Pegge has quoted from Fuller an amusing in- 
 stance of the same superstition in a Spaniard. 
 Such was the ridiculous attachment to long and 
 high sounding names and titles in Spain, that 
 when an epidemical sickness raged in London in 
 the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the Spanish Am- 
 bassador, who, I suppose, enjoyed a sesquipedal 
 name, was consigned for safety to the charge of 
 Sir John Cutts, at his seat in Cambridgeshire. 
 The don, upon the occasion expressed some dis- 
 satisfaction ; feeling himself disparaged at being 
 placed with a person whose name was so short. 
 An amnesty, however, was soon granted by the
 
 84 
 
 Spaniard ; for my author says, that what the 
 knight lacked in length of name, he made up in 
 the largeness of his entertainment." 
 
 When dramatic representations were first intro- 
 duced into this country, the subjects were extracted 
 from the Bible history j and the names of the 
 patriarchs and saints were principally used, the 
 devil being the chief comic performer. They were 
 managed by the clergy, and enacted in churches 
 and monasteries ; or under their direction, in the 
 public streets on Corpus Christi day. About the 
 time of the Reformation, these Mysteries and 
 Miracle Plays were rivalled and ultimately super- 
 seded by historical dramas called Moralities ; and 
 the names of the Virtues and Vices were substi- 
 tuted for scripture characters ; the devil's place in 
 Comedy being supplied by a personage named Yg- 
 norance ; whence was derived the Clown or Fool 
 of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. These 
 were secular Interludes, and the origin of the 
 regular drama. Thus, in 1520, we find " A new 
 Interlude and a Mery, of the nature of the IV. 
 elements " which contained the following char- 
 acters the Messengere, Nature, Naturale, Hu- 
 manytie, Taverner, Experyence, Studious, Desire, 
 Sensuall Appetyte, and Ygnorance. In 1567, 
 was printed by Thomas Purfoote, a new and Mery 
 Enterlude called the Trial of Treasure ;" with 
 these names : Sturdines, Contentation, Visitation, 
 Time, Lust, Sapience, Consolation, the Preface, 
 Just, Pleasure, Greedy Gutts, Elation, Trust,
 
 85 
 
 Treasure, and the Vice, who is here called In- 
 clination. And to close these extracts, we find a 
 multitude of curious names in a drama called 
 Cambises, written by Thomas Preston about the 
 same period ; viz. Councell, Huf, Lob, Ruf, Com- 
 mons Cry, Commons Complaint, Venus, Snuf, 
 Small H ability, Proof, Execution, Diligence, 
 Crueltie, Hob, Preparation, Ambidexter, Triall, 
 Meretrix, Shame, Otian, and many others. 
 
 From this personification of the Virtues, the 
 custom of giving similar names to children was 
 greatly fostered and increased, in the hope that a 
 propitious name might be the harbinger of virtue, 
 prosperity, and happiness ; whence the female 
 names of Faith, Grace, Hope, Temperance, Charity, 
 &c., abounded throughout England ; and have 
 become standard names, with which the poor as 
 well as the rich daily flatter their own feelings by 
 conferring them on their beloved offspring; and 
 Freemasons usually follow the example in giving 
 propitious names to their lodges. 
 
 I do not find, however, that our lodges had any 
 distinctive names before the latter end of the last 
 century. The four regular lodges which were 
 found in practice in the south of England at the 
 revival of masonry were designated by the sign 
 of the taverns where they were respectively held. 
 The same practice continued for many years. Be- 
 fore 1738, by an order of the Grand Lodge, an 
 engraved list was published, which was received 
 as occasion required. The two copies of this list 
 
 i
 
 86 
 
 in my possession were respectively printed in 1764 
 and 1767 ; the former dedicated to Lord Blaney, 
 G. M., and the latter to the Duke of Beaufort, 
 G. M. In both cases the lodges are usually 
 designated by a pictorial representation of the 
 sign of the tavern where the brethren met. A 
 printed list, dated 1774, appears to be in uniformity 
 with those which were engraven. In 1784, Noor- 
 thouck published his edition of Anderson's Con- 
 stitutions ; and the laws of the Grand Lodge 
 therein recorded, make no mention of the name 
 of a lodge, but recognise the engraved list. In a 
 catalogue dated 1790, the lodges have names as 
 well as numbers ; and two years later a list was 
 published with names and numbers, as altered by 
 the Grand Lodge. In the present Book of Con- 
 stitutions the names of lodges are formally recog- 
 nised, and directed to be enrolled in the Grand 
 Lodge Books.
 
 87 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 THE CONSECRATION. 
 
 " And now the king's command went forth 
 Among the people, bidding old and young, 
 Husband and wife, the master and the slave, 
 All the collected multitudes of Ad, 
 Here to repair, and hold high festival." 
 
 SOUTHEY. 
 
 " All hail to the morning that bids us rejoice ; 
 The temple's completed, exalt high each voice ; 
 The Capestone is finished, our labour is o'er, 
 The sound of the gavel shall hail us no more. 
 Almighty Jehovah descend now and fill 
 This lodge with thy glory, our hearts with good will ; 
 Preside at our meeting, assist us to find 
 True pleasures in teaching good will to mankind. 
 Companions assemble on this joyful day, 
 The occasion is glorious, the Keystone to lay ; 
 Fulfil'd is the promise by the Ancient of Days, 
 To bring forth the Capestone with shouting and praise." 
 MASONIC CONSECKATION HYMN. 
 
 WE will now suppose the Lodge to be built, 
 furnished, decorated, and named ; it remains that 
 the ceremony of Dedication and Consecration be 
 performed before it can be legally used for masonic 
 purposes ; and that every thing may done decently 
 and in order, these rites should be performed with 
 
 I 3
 
 88 
 
 every fitting solemnity, and in due and ample 
 form. The Worshipful Master having first made 
 the necessary arrangements with the Provincial 
 Grand Master, should instruct the Provincial 
 Grand Secretary to make his preparations with the 
 minutest accuracy, because the smallest omission 
 may produce a very serious impediment in the 
 ceremonial, and utterly destroy its effect. Much 
 also will depend on the tact and activity of the 
 Director of Ceremonies, whose duty it is to super- 
 intend the processions, and to see that every 
 brother has his proper rank, according to the code 
 of precedency which distinguishes the order. 
 
 It is usual on these occasions for the Provincial 
 Grand Chaplain to preach a sermon at the church, 
 to which the brethren move in formal procession. 
 How trifling soever this may be considered by 
 some inconsiderate persons, its regulation is the 
 result of no ordinary management. To give it the 
 proper effect requires the utmost nicety of arrange- 
 ment. Every brother's place should be marked 
 down on paper by the Director of Ceremonies, 
 and openly proclaimed before he leaves the lodge 
 to join his brethren in public. In the church, 
 certain pews should be marked out as appropriated 
 to the brethren according to their rank ; others for 
 ladies; and the rest for the miscellaneous con- 
 gregation. Care should also be taken to prevent 
 all ingress and egress during the celebration of 
 divine service, by children or loose persons, who 
 are attracted by curiosity, and feel no interest in
 
 89 
 
 the proceedings. In the course of my experience 
 I have witnessed great disorders for want of a 
 little preliminary caution in this respect. It should 
 also be seriously impressed upon the Worshipful 
 Master of every lodge, that he is responsible for 
 the regularity and decorum of his Company ; and 
 that it is his duty to instruct and admonish them 
 at some lodge of emergency to be convened at 
 home for that especial purpose, on the necessity of 
 appearing in the proper clothing of masonry ; and 
 on the conduct which it becomes them to observe 
 at the approaching commemoration, that masonry 
 in general, and their own lodge in particular may 
 not suffer in the estimation of the public. 
 
 On the appointed day, the lodge having been 
 opened in due form by the Provincial Grand 
 Master, and the Minutes read and confirmed; 
 the Provincial Grand Secretary is directed to read 
 the order of procession; after which a charge is 
 delivered from the throne on propriety of conduct, 
 and the necessity of adhering strictly to all the 
 forms, as they have been regulated by the masonic 
 authorities. After which the lodge is adjourned, 
 and the ladies are admitted into the gallery. The 
 procession now moves round the lodge thrice, and 
 afterwards the brethren remain stationary ; the 
 elements of consecration arranged, and the follow- 
 ing passage from scripture is read by the Pro- 
 vincial Grand Chaplain. 
 
 " Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, 
 and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers 
 
 i 5
 
 90 
 
 of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in 
 Jerusalem, that they might bring up the Ark of 
 the Covenant of the Lord out of the city of 
 David, which is Zion. And all the men of Israel 
 assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the 
 feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh 
 month. And all the elders of Israel came, and the 
 priests took up the Ark ; and they brought up the 
 Ark of the Lord, and the tabernacle of the con- 
 gregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the 
 tabernacle ; even those did the priests and the 
 Levites bring up. And king Solomon, and all 
 the congregation of Israel that were assembled 
 unto him were with him before the Ark, sacrificing 
 sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor num- 
 bered for multitude. And the priests brought in 
 the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord unto his 
 place, into the oracle of the house, to the Most 
 Holy Place." (1 Kings, viii. 16.) 
 
 An Anthem proper for the occasion is then 
 sung, which is usually written for the purpose by 
 some member of the lodge. The Architect then 
 makes his report ; and the Provincial Grand 
 Master delivers a suitable Oration ; and concludes 
 by directing the brethren to move forward in pro- 
 cession to church. 
 
 This is the point when the talent of the Director 
 of Ceremonies displays itself. Without the most 
 judicious management on his part, a scene of great 
 confusion would ensue. His duty is to place him- 
 self within the entrance of the lodge and proclaim
 
 every brother by his office or rank as he is to take 
 his situation in the procession, beginning at the top 
 of his Roll, and suffer no person to pass, under 
 any pretence whatever, until his name be called. 
 This process, with an assistant below to arrange 
 the brethren as they arrive in the street, or in the 
 court of the lodge, as the case may be, will pre- 
 serve due order, and complete the regularity of 
 the proceedings. To give facility to this move- 
 ment, the Masters of the several lodges should 
 act the part of captains of companies in a regiment 
 of soldiers on parade, and keep the brethren of 
 their respective lodges strictly together, not allow- 
 ing them to mix with other lodges ; because it 
 would occasion considerable embarrassment when 
 the names were called ; and at this point of the 
 ceremonial no time ought to be wasted in re- 
 arrangement. Every lodge should be ready to 
 obey the summons of the Director of Ceremonies. 
 The following form of procession I should 
 recommend as being most appropriate for the use 
 of the Provinces ; every brother or file of brethren, 
 observing a distance of six feet in the rear of his 
 predecessor ; so that a procession of fifty brethren 
 walking by pairs may occupy a space of about 
 one hundred yards. 
 
 A Tyler with a sword. 
 
 Union Flag. 
 Band of Music. 
 
 Union Flag. 
 Visiting Brethren two and two.
 
 92 
 
 Rough Ashlar borne on a pedestal. 
 
 Lodges out of the Province. 
 The private lodges of the County in the follow- 
 ing order ; the highest numbers walking first. 
 
 Tyler with a sword. 
 
 Brethren two and two. 
 
 Inner Guard with a sword. 
 
 Two Deacons. 
 
 Stewards. 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 Treasurer. 
 
 Chaplain. 
 
 Past Master. 
 
 Two Wardens. 
 
 The Lodge Banner. 
 
 Master. 
 
 The Perfect Ashlar borne on a Pedestal before 
 the W. Master of the senior lodge by a brother of 
 his own Company. 
 
 P. G. Tyler with a sword. 
 
 Union Flag. 
 Tracing Board of the First Degree. 
 
 Inner Guard with a sword. 
 
 Past P. G. Deacons two and two. 
 
 Tracing Board of the Second Degree. 
 
 Past P. G. Organist. 
 
 Past P. G. Architect. 
 
 The two P. G. Deacons bearing the Warden's 
 Pillars on Pedestals. 
 
 A Cornucopia borne by a Brother. 
 P. G. Organist.
 
 93 
 
 P. G. Architect. 
 
 P. G. Director of Ceremonies. 
 
 Tracing Board of the Third Degree. 
 
 Past P. G. Treasurer and Secretary. 
 
 The Book of Constitutions on a Pedestal. 
 
 P. G. Secretary. 
 
 P. G. Registrar. 
 
 P. G. Treasurer. 
 
 P. G. fThe Holy Bible, Square and] P. G. 
 
 Steward J Compasses, carried by four I Steward 
 
 with a I Master Mason's Sons ; open [ with a 
 
 wand. I at Numbers x. J wand. 
 
 P. G. Chaplain. 
 
 Past P. G. Wardens two and two. 
 
 The Three Lights placed triangularly on a Pedestal. 
 
 P. G. Junior Warden with a gavel. 
 
 P. G. Senior Warden with a gavel. 
 
 P. G. Steward "I n Q . , A / P. G. Steward 
 
 ., > P. G. Standard. < .,, 
 
 with a wand. J I with a wand. 
 
 The Globes on a Pedestal. 
 
 Banner of the D. P. G. M. 
 
 Deputy Provincial Grand Master. 
 
 P. G. Steward "1 Banner of the I" P. G. Steward 
 
 with a wand. J P. G. M. I with a wand. 
 
 P. G. Sword Bearer. 
 
 Tyler with j p rovincial Grand Master . f Tyler with 
 a sword. J La sword. 
 
 Union Flag. 
 
 Two Stewards with wands. 
 P. G. Tyler with a sword. 
 
 When the procession arrives at the church door, 
 the leading files halt, and the brethren fall back to
 
 94 
 
 the right and left as before mentioned, and make 
 an opening for the Provincial Grand Master and 
 his Staff to pass up the centre. Thus the pro- 
 cession will enter the church in a reversed order, 
 and the Covenant is placed on a pedestal in front 
 of the Reading Desk where it remains during the 
 whole service. 
 
 On returning from church, the Lodge is re- 
 sumed, and the dedication and consecration solem- 
 nized by an adherence to those ancient and secret 
 forms which it would be improper as well as need- 
 less to describe here, as the outline, so far as can 
 be legally communicated, may be found in Pres- 
 ton's Illustrations, and many other masonic works.
 
 95 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 THE PILLAR OF WISDOM. 
 
 " The eleventhe poynt ys of good dyscrecyoun, 
 As ye mowe knowe by good resoun ; 
 A mason, and he thys craft wel con, 
 That sygth hys felow hewen on a ston, 
 And ys yn poynt to spylle that ston, 
 Amende hyt sone, yef that thou con, 
 And teche hym thenne hyt to amende, 
 That the werke be not y-schende. 
 And teche hym esely hyt to amende, 
 Wyth fayre wordes, that God the hath lende, 
 For hys sake that sytte above, 
 With swete wordes noresche hym love." 
 
 ANCIENT MASONIC MANUSCRIPT. 
 
 FREEMASONRY may be justly considered as a 
 regular and well formed society, embracing, in one 
 universal bond of brotherhood, all mankind, with- 
 out any distinction arising from birth, country, 
 education, climate, and colour, who have been ad- 
 mitted to a participation of its sublime mysteries, 
 on the broad principle, that there is no respect of 
 persons in the eye of that all-wise and all-power- 
 ful being who created and governs the Universe ; 
 who is distinguished by the attributes of wisdom 
 and loving kindness, and a disposition to do every
 
 96 
 
 thing for the general benefit of his creatures. 
 Hence, wherever a mason may stray even though 
 it be into countries diversified by every variety of 
 manners and customs, language and religion, he 
 will always find a home ; he will always meet 
 with some kind friend and brother, to give him 
 welcome, to greet him with the right hand of 
 fellowship, to promote his interests, and to give 
 him comfort and consolation in his distress. 
 
 It may truly be said of the fraternity, as Arch- 
 bishop Potter predicates respecting the members 
 of the Church, that they are " united not only by 
 the love and affection, by consent of opinion, or 
 similitude of manners, which may happen to the 
 members of other societies ; but they all bear the 
 same relation to the same common head. This 
 it is, whereby regular Societies are distinguished 
 from confused multitudes ; that whereas the latter 
 are only locally united, and when their parts are 
 dispersed, they utterly cease to be ; the former are 
 joined under the same form of government to the 
 same common head, by their alliance to which 
 their several parts, how remote soever in place, do 
 maintain a strict communion with one another. 
 Thus the several persons who live in the same 
 city or kingdom, are united into one civil society. 
 And the Jews, however dispersed, were all united 
 to God and to one another in the same religious 
 society, having all obligated themselves by the same 
 Covenant, to be the people of God. Whence they 
 are called God's peculiar treasure, a kingdom of
 
 97 
 
 priests, an holy nation. And being engaged as 
 one and the same person to him, they are called 
 his Spouse, whence God is said to have married 
 them, and to be their husband. In the very same 
 manner Christians being separated from the world, 
 and united to Christ by the New Covenant, are 
 called a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a 
 holy nation." And Freemasons, however widely 
 dispersed, are united under a mystic tie, as breth- 
 ren of the same order, obligated on the same 
 Covenant, governed by the same laws, and prac- 
 tising the same ceremonies. The Constitutions 
 of the society are placed on a firm basis, and 
 the Landmarks are not susceptible of alteration, 
 although the laws which do not affect its mecha- 
 nism may be modified or changed, with the con- 
 sent of the brethren assembled in Grand Lodge, 
 to meet the demands or requisitions of any im- 
 provement in the state of society ; in order that 
 Freemasonry may not remain stationary, while 
 other sciences are making rapid strides towards 
 perfection. 
 
 There is nothing to be found in the constitution 
 of the order, but what is perfectly consistent with 
 the principles by which it is governed. Thus the 
 ancient Charges provide that " the rulers and 
 governours supreme and subordinate, of the ancient 
 lodge, are to be obeyed in their respective stations 
 by all the brethren, according to the old charges 
 and regulations, with all humility, reverence, love, 
 and alacrity." These rulers, according to an origi- 
 
 K
 
 98 
 
 nal law of revived Grand Lodge, were the Grand 
 Master and his Wardens ; and they were repeated 
 in every private lodge, which in fact is but a 
 transcript of the Grand Lodge ; although, as the 
 number of masons increasd, other officers called 
 assistants, were subsequently added. The con- 
 stitution of a lodge is essentially democratic, be- 
 cause the rulers and governours of the craft, in 
 the person of the Grand Master, as well as the 
 Master of every private lodge, are elected annually 
 by universal suffrage ; every brother having a vote 
 in the latter case, and the Masters, Wardens, and 
 Past Masters of every private lodge forming a 
 legitimate delegation to vote in the election of the 
 Grand Master. 
 
 All actual power is vested, during their term of 
 office, in the Master and his Wardens ; but the 
 former is the responsible officer, and therefore his 
 duties are carefully guarded by specific laws, and 
 solemn pledges. Thus the Constitutions provide 
 that " every Master, when placed in the Chair, 
 shall solemnly pledge himself to observe all the 
 old established usages and customs, and to pre- 
 serve the Landmarks of the order, and most 
 strictly to enfore them within his own lodge. He 
 must also take care that the By-Laws of the lodge 
 be faithfully written ; and that books be kept in 
 which he, or some brother appointed by him as 
 Secretary, shall enter the names of its members, 
 and of all persons initiated or admitted therein, 
 with the dates of their proposal, initiation or ad-
 
 99 
 
 mission, passing, and raising ; also their ages, as 
 nearly as possible, and their titles, professions, or 
 trades, together with such transactions of the lodge 
 as are proper to be written. The accounts shall also 
 be regularly kept, and the fees payable to the Grand 
 Lodge shall be entered in a separate and distinct 
 account. The Master is responsible for the correct 
 insertion of all the above particulars ; and is bound 
 to produce such lists, minutes, and accounts, when 
 required by any lawful authority " 
 
 The Master of a Lodge, however, has still more 
 onerous duties to discharge. He must be true 
 and trusty, of good report, and held in high esti- 
 mation amongst his brethren. He must be well 
 skilled in our noble science, and a lover of the 
 craft ; exemplary in his conduct, courteous in his 
 manners, easy of address, but steady and firm in 
 principle. He has imposed on him as the Pillar 
 of Wisdom, the charge of instructing the brethren 
 in masonry ; not merely by repeating certain 
 formal passages night after night, which are calcu- 
 lated rather to weary than enlighten the mind ; 
 but to adapt his instructions to the capacity of his 
 hearers, and to see that none depart unimproved 
 in moral virtue, and a steadfast resolution so to 
 adorn their masonic profession, that the world 
 may discern its influence on their outward conduct, 
 and learn from thence that its precepts have been 
 firmly planted in the heart. The Master of a 
 Lodge is by no means a routine office, although it 
 is frequently considered to be so ; and a brother, 
 
 K3
 
 100 
 
 who possesses sufficient tact and activity to work 
 the makings, passings, and raising, considers him- 
 self to be furnished with every requisite qualifica- 
 tion to rule or govern a lodge. 
 
 This is a grevious error ; and I have witnessed 
 in the course of my experience, many unfortunate 
 consequences result from an imprudent choice of 
 the chief officer of a lodge. If he be inefficient, 
 his inadequacy is soon discovered by the brethren, 
 and disgust or pity is sure to ensue. They forbear 
 to complain, because he is their own choice. They 
 cannot expostulate, because his authority is su- 
 preme, and it is their duty to obey. A secret 
 dissatisfaction is therefore indulged, which is the 
 more dangerous from being irremediable. A writer 
 of the last century, speaking on this subject, has 
 the following judicious remark. " When the body 
 languishes under any secret, lurking distemper, it 
 is always restless and uneasy ; perpetually shifting 
 its position, though every altered motion gives 
 fresh pain and disquietude ; and thus it is with 
 the mind also ; which, once deprived of that ease 
 and quiet on which its health and happiness de- 
 pend, is ever seeking after new objects to divert 
 its anguish, and deceive it into a momentary and 
 false tranquillity." 
 
 In this state of things the Master's incompe- 
 tency becoming more apparent every lodge night, 
 the brethren are remiss in their attendance ; de- 
 fections ensue ; and a very serious defalcation in 
 the constitution of the lodge soon becomes visible ;
 
 101 
 
 and its declension in numbers and respectability 
 is the inevitable result. 
 
 The evils arising from the incompetency of the 
 Master of a lodge, are practically illustrated in the 
 degree of Past Master as it is conferred in the 
 United States. Colonel Stone, who appears to 
 have been well informed on the subject, tells us 
 that the chief object of this degree is to exemplify 
 the necessity of government, and to enforce upon 
 the minds of those who are called to govern, the 
 importance of qualifying themselves for the skilful 
 and efficient discharge of their duties. The cere- 
 monies of the degree are extended to great length ; 
 but they are such as strongly impress upon the 
 newly elected Master, a sense of his own deficien- 
 cies in the matter of government, and the need 
 he has of promptness and energy in preserving 
 the discipline of the society over which he is to 
 preside. The process of conferring the degree 
 teaching by practical illustrations is appa- 
 rently grave, though withal rather amusing. The 
 Colonel here describes the process, which I omit 
 because it is inconsistent with my plan, but he 
 concludes with these observations. " It is un- 
 questionably true, that in the proceedings I have 
 thus attempted to describe, there is often much 
 confusion and not a little merriment ; arising solely 
 from the perplexity, and ludicrous conduct, per- 
 formed with sober gravity, by the candidate. I 
 shall never forget my own embarrassing exploits 
 when called to this trying station. The laugh at 
 
 K 5
 
 102 
 
 a man thus circumstanced, may argue want of 
 grace; but the couplet must be finished in ex- 
 tenuation ; for to be grave would exceed all power 
 of face. Still there is nothing wicked, or malicious, 
 or riotous in it ; although the noise may be mis- 
 construed by those without the lodge, into the 
 wild uproar of revellers. But a single rap, at 
 the proper moment, hushes all into instantaneous 
 silence. Indeed there is no body or society of 
 men on earth no meeting or assemblage, under 
 such strict, immediate, and effective control, as a 
 lodge or chapter of masons." 
 
 It is easy for a superficial observer to be deceived 
 in a man's true character, until the solidity of his 
 judgment has been tested by experience. Vivacity 
 may be mistaken for wit, and gravity for wisdom. 
 A brother who is stimulated to obtrude himself 
 into the high offices of a lodge prematurely, will 
 seldom be found to possess the requisite ability for 
 executing their duties with credit to himself or 
 benefit to the fraternity. He is too intent on his 
 own personal aggrandisement to care much for the 
 general interests of the community in which he 
 moves. We usually see, as through a glass, darkly ; 
 and, when it is too late, we frequently discover 
 that instead of a wise and judicious chief instead 
 of a wary and prudent ruler, we have committed 
 our interests to the keeping of an idle jester, or an 
 ignorant pretender. In either case, the reputation 
 of the lodge is put in jeopardy, and it will be 
 fortunate if it escapes public reprobation.
 
 103 
 
 The Master ought to possess knowledge, to 
 diversify his instructions ; judgment, to preserve 
 the happy medium between rashness and coward- 
 ness ; talent, to address the brethren at length on 
 every emergency ; tact, to conciliate disputes, and 
 reconcile contending brethren ; and presence of 
 mind, to decide correctly on any sudden indis- 
 cretion or irregularity which may occur amongst 
 the members of the lodge, that order and good 
 fellowship may be perfect and complete. He 
 should always bear in mind that a strict and un- 
 wavering adherence to the laws, on every prac- 
 ticable point, will never produce rebellion, although 
 temporary dissatisfaction may sometimes occur. 
 But it is always short lived. The evils arising out 
 of disorganization in a lodge are usually the effects 
 of an unnecessary interference in trifling matters, 
 which if passed over without notice, would create 
 no sensation, either of pleasure or pain. 
 
 The great secret of government is to understand 
 correctly under what circumstances authority ought 
 to be exercised, and where it would be profitably 
 witheld. The Master may be easy in his manners, 
 and courteous in disposition, but he must beware 
 how he permits any kindness of heart to interfere 
 with stringent duties, or to tolerate disobedience 
 to the laws of masonry. It has been said with 
 equal judgment and truth, that " there is no praise 
 so lightly accorded as that of being a good hearted 
 man at the bottom. It is often bestowed on men 
 guilty of notorious vices, and utterly devoid of
 
 104 
 
 principle. The secret of this strange appropriation 
 of evil lies in the unstinted toleration with which 
 such characters behold the faults of others. A 
 good hearted man at the bottom will give his hand 
 in amity to the living representative of almost any 
 crime or weakness that can disgrace humanity. 
 He will poor fellow the desperate gamester ; good 
 fellow the desperate drunkard; and fine fellow the 
 desperate libertine ; in return for all which good 
 heartedness, he expects to receive plenary in- 
 dulgence for all his own irregularities of every 
 description whatever." It will be easily seen that 
 such a good hearted man at the bottom would 
 make but an indifferent Master of a Lodge. Its 
 respectability would soon be compromised under 
 such rule, and its members would dwindle away 
 till none remained. The Pillar of Wisdom must 
 be of a very different character. 
 
 The By-laws of a lodge are usually so clear that 
 they can scarcely be misinterpreted ; and being in 
 the hands of every brother, they are universally 
 known. When these are adhered to, according to 
 then* literal construction, the interference of the 
 Master would be rather injurious than beneficial, 
 and tend to shake the confidence which the mem- 
 bers ought always to have in their chief. But 
 while he overlooks trifling and unimportant devia- 
 tions, it is his bounden duty to enforce the discipline 
 of his lodge by a strict observance of the Land- 
 marks, and by a judicious attention to every rule 
 whose breach might compromise any prominent 
 principle of the order. He must never exercise
 
 105 
 
 partiality, or be detected in the slightest bias in 
 favour of individuals ; but when fine or punish- 
 ment is incurred, he must be firm in his decisions, 
 and prompt in the enforcement of any sentence 
 which may be found necessary to promote the 
 welfare of masonry in general, or his own lodge 
 in particular. 
 
 A brother who possesses all these qualifications, 
 will rule and govern his lodge with honour to him- 
 self, and satisfaction to the brethren ; it will repre- 
 sent a well regulated and happy family/ where 
 harmony and brotherly love will prevail amongst 
 the members ; fraternal affection will preside un- 
 tainted with strife and discord; the community 
 will endeavour to promote each others welfare, and 
 rejoice in each other's prosperity ; the order will 
 become respectable in the sight of men, and the 
 Master will retire from his government crowned 
 with all the honours the fraternity can bestow. 
 
 The character of a good Master may be summed 
 up in a few words. He has been invested with 
 power that he may promote the happiness and 
 prosperity of the lodge. For this purpose he 
 considers that when he undertook the office, his 
 duties were greatly increased ; embracing many 
 points which require his utmost attention and 
 solicitude. He feels that much will depend on 
 his own example ; for how excellent soever the 
 precepts which he enforces may appear, they W 7 ill 
 lose half their value if they be not borne out and 
 verified by his own practice. This is the main- 
 spring which actuates and gives vitality to the
 
 106 
 
 whole machine. If his power be exercised tyranni- 
 cally, the brethren will not love him ; if he allow 
 the reins of government to be too much relaxed, 
 they will despise him ; if he be irregular and 
 dissolute in his habits, they will condemn him. 
 He must be a pattern of correctness to his lodge, 
 and never allow his authority to be pleaded in 
 extenuation of any serious delinquencies. 
 
 Tremblingly alive to the responsibility which 
 rests upon him, he consults the By-laws, and de- 
 termines to regulate his conduct strictly by their 
 provisions. He allows no innovations to be prac- 
 tised in the ceremonial or mechanism of the order ; 
 no private committees or separate conversation 
 amongst the brethren, but keeps them rigidly 
 attentive to the business before them ; no jesting 
 or ludicrous behaviour which may disturb the 
 serious avocations in which they are engaged ; no 
 disputes or unbecoming language amongst them- 
 selves ; and while, during the moments of relaxa- 
 tion, he enjoys himself, in common with the rest 
 of the brethren, with innocent mirth, he carefully 
 avoids all excess, and never suffers the harmony of 
 the lodge to be disturbed by any altercations on 
 the forbidden subjects of religion or politics ; and 
 before closing the lodge he cautions them in the 
 language of an ancient Charge, " to consult their 
 health by not continuing together too late or too 
 long from home after lodge hours are past ; and 
 by avoiding of gluttony or drunkenness, that their 
 families be not neglected or injured, and themselves 
 be disabled from working."
 
 107 
 
 He is regular in his habits both in the lodge 
 and in the world. Punctual to a moment in open- 
 ing and closing the lodge, as a stimulus to the 
 correct attendance of the brethren ; for nothing 
 shows to so much advantage in the Pillar of Wis- 
 dom as this exactness with regard to time. In 
 performing the rites of masonry, whether in the 
 initiation of candidates, the delivery of lectures, 
 or other routine business, he exhibits a seriousness 
 of deportment, and earnestness of demeanour, 
 which attract the attention, interest the feelings, 
 and contribute to recommend the beauties of the 
 system, while they inform the understanding and 
 improve the heart. 
 
 There is still another point of great moment to 
 the well-being of a lodge, which depends in some 
 measure on the correct judgment of the Master; 
 and that is, the proper choice of candidates for 
 initiation. The good Master will firmly resist the 
 admission of any person whatever whose character 
 does not correspond with the requisitions contained 
 in the ancient Charges. The candidates must be 
 good and true men, free-born, and of mature and 
 discreet age and sound judgment, no bondmen, no 
 women, no immoral or scandalous men, but of 
 good report ; for all preferment amongst masons 
 is grounded upon real worth and personal merit 
 only. This is of such paramount importance, that 
 the Grand Lodge has thought proper to issue a 
 penal injunction on the subject ; because " great 
 discredit and injury have been brought upon our
 
 108 
 
 ancient and honourable fraternity from admitting 
 members and receiving candidates without due 
 notice being given, or enquiry made into their 
 characters and qualifications ; and also from the 
 passing and raising of masons without due instruc- 
 tions in the respective degrees ; it is therefore 
 determined that, in future, a violation or neglect of 
 any of the laws respecting the proposing of mem- 
 bers, or of making, passing, and raising, shall 
 subject the lodge offending to erasure, because no 
 emergency can be allowed as a justification ; nor 
 can a dispensation in any case be granted." To 
 prevent, therefore the introduction of improper 
 persons, it is provided by the By-laws of every 
 lodge, that no person can be made a mason in, or 
 admitted a member of a lodge, if, on the ballot, 
 three black balls appear against him. Some lodges 
 wish for no such indulgence, but require the 
 unanimous consent of the members present ; some 
 admit one black ball, some two ; the By-laws of 
 each lodge must therefore guide them in this 
 respect ; but if there be three black balls, such 
 person cannot, on any pretence, be admitted. 
 
 If all lodges were conducted on these principles, 
 they would become, in a more perfect manner, the 
 seat of happiness and joy ; peace, harmony, and 
 brotherly love, would ever preside at their social 
 meetings ; and they would exhibit no imperfect 
 resemblance of that blessed state to which all good 
 and worthy masons aspire, when T G A O T U 
 shall eternally preside over the saints in glory.
 
 109 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 THE PILLARS OF STRENGTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 " When the Senior Warden standing in the West, 
 Calls us from our LABOURS to partake of rest, 
 We unite, whilst he recites 
 The duties of a mason. 
 * On the level meet, on the square we part, 
 
 Repeats each worthy brother ; 
 
 This rule in view, we thus review 
 
 Our friendship for each other. 
 
 When the Junior Warden to REFRESHMENT calls us 
 
 And the Sun is at meridian height, 
 Let us merrily unite most cheerily, 
 In social harmony new joys invite. 
 One and all, at his call, 
 
 To the feast repairing, 
 All around, joys resound, 
 Each the pleasure sharing." 
 
 WEBB. 
 
 " They that have used the office of a Deacon well, purchase 
 to themselves a good Degree. ST. PAUL. 
 
 THE duty of the Wardens is somewhat more 
 restricted. As the Master is presumed to be en- 
 dued with Wisdom to contrive, so the Senior 
 Warden ought to be in possession of Strength to 
 support, and the Junior Warden of Beauty to 
 adorn. And this explains the disposition of the 
 
 L
 
 110 
 
 lodge. The Worshipful Master is placed in the 
 East, to represent the Sun at its rising in the 
 morning,, that he may open his Lodge, and employ 
 and instruct the brethren in masonry ; to whom it 
 is his duty to communicate light : forcibly im- 
 pressing upon their minds the dignity and high 
 importance of Freemasonry, and zealously ad- 
 monishing them never to disgrace it. So that 
 when a person is said to be a mason, the world 
 may know that he is one to whom the burdened 
 heart may pour forth its sorrows ; to whom the 
 distressed may prefer their suit ; whose hand is 
 guided by justice, and whose heart is expanded 
 by benevolence. The Junior Warden is placed 
 in the South, that he may observe the Sun at its 
 due meridian, which is the most beautiful part of 
 the day, to call the men from labour to refresh- 
 ment, and from refreshment to labour, that pleasure 
 and profit may be the mutual result ; while the 
 Senior Warden takes his station in the West, that 
 at the setting of the Sun he may dismiss the men 
 from their labours, to renew their strength by rest, 
 and close his lodge by command of the Worshipful 
 Master, after seeing that every brother has had 
 his due. 
 
 The duty of the Senior Warden, like that of 
 the Master, is indicated by his Jewel of office, 
 which is a symbol of equality, and instructs him 
 that the duties of his situation ought to be executed 
 with strict impartiality, and without respect of 
 persons. Regularity of attendance is an essential
 
 Ill 
 
 part of this office, because if the Master should 
 die, or be removed, or be rendered incapable of 
 discharging the duties of his office, the Senior 
 Warden must supply his place until the next 
 election of officers ; and even, should the Master 
 necessarily be absent from any single lodge, the 
 Senior Warden must rule the lodge, if no former 
 master be present. 
 
 The Junior Warden is also an important officer. 
 The Jewel by which he is distinguished, is an 
 emblem of uprightness, and points out the just 
 and upright conduct which he is bound to pursue, 
 in conjunction with the Master and his brother 
 Warden, in ruling and governing the brethren of 
 the lodge according to the constitutions of the 
 order ; and more particularly by a due attention 
 to caution and security in the examination of 
 strange visitors. Lest by his neglect any unquali- 
 fied person should be enabled to impose upon the 
 lodge, and the brethren be thus innocently led to 
 forfeit their obligation. The Jewels to which refer- 
 ence has been here made, are termed Moveable 
 Jewels, because they hang pendant from the collars 
 of the three chief officers of the lodge, and are 
 transferrable to their successors at proper times 
 and seasons. 
 
 The lodges in the early part of the last century 
 were worked by three principal officers only ; and 
 the present assistant officers were then unknown. 
 In fact the office of a Deacon does not appear of 
 any great importance in the business of masonry ; 
 
 L3
 
 112 
 
 and I suspect that it was not introduced till near 
 the expiration of the century. I am not prepared 
 to name the exact date, because I have not con- 
 venient access to any Lodge Minute Books which 
 are earlier than the commencement of the present 
 century ; but I shall approximate very nearly to 
 it if I state it to be between the years 1785 and 
 1790. In the primitive lodges the Worshipful 
 Master stood in the East, and both the Wardens 
 were placed in the West. This disposition of the 
 chief officers is evident from every copy of the Lec- 
 tures down to the year 1784 ; and the old masonic 
 song, which is still used, proclaims the fact. 
 
 In the West see the Wardens submissively stand, 
 The Master to aid, and obey his command ; 
 The intent of his signal we perfectly know, 
 And we ne'er take offence when he gives us a blow. 
 
 A Continental writer of the period says to the 
 same effect. Lorsqu'on se met a table, le Vener- 
 able s'assied le premier en haut du cote de POrient. 
 Le premier et second Surveillans se placent vis-^-vis 
 le Venerable k FOccident. 
 
 The station in the South was occupied by the 
 Senior Entered Apprentice, and his business was 
 (e to obey the instructions of the Master, and to 
 welcome the visiting brethren, after due proof, first 
 had and obtained, that they were masons/' This 
 latter duty was transferred to the Junior Warden 
 when he was placed in the South on the appoint- 
 ment of Deacons, as attendants on the two chief
 
 113 
 
 officers ; and in a copy of the Lectures which 
 were used about the close of the 18th century, the 
 Junior Warden's office, amongst other important 
 matters, is said to include "the examination of 
 visitors." While in the same lectures, the office 
 of the deacons is simply explained to be, the one 
 " to carry messages from the Master to the Senior 
 Warden ;" and the other, f( to carry messages from 
 the Senior to the Junior Warden, that they may 
 be regularly dispersed round the lodge." The 
 Junior Entered Apprentice was placed in the 
 North " to prevent the intrusion of cowans and 
 eavesdroppers ;" and his duty, at the above period 
 was transferred to the Tyler. It will also be re- 
 membered that from the revival of masonry in 
 1717? no lodge was competent to confer more than 
 one degree ; and the Entered Apprentice was en- 
 titled to vote on all questions, even in the Grand 
 Lodge. The Senior Entered Apprentice was there- 
 fore an important personage, and qualified for the 
 office of a Warden ; but he could not be elected 
 to the Chair of the Lodge until he had been passed 
 to the degree of a Fellow Craft in Grand Lodge. 
 In some lodges, down to the year 1780, the above 
 two officers were denominated Senior and Junior 
 Stewards. 
 
 In 1745, the officers of the lodges on the Con- 
 tinent are thus described. " Every private lodge 
 possesses the power of chusing its Master (Vener- 
 able) from its own members, by a plurality of voices. 
 In France, however, this was frequently a life office. 
 
 L5
 
 114 
 
 There were also two other principal officers appoint- 
 ed by the Master, and called Wardens (Surveillans.) 
 It was their duty to see that the regulations of the 
 order were observed by the members ; to superin- 
 tend the ceremonies and lectures under the direc- 
 tions of the Master. Each lodge had also a 
 Treasurer to whom were entrusted the funds of 
 the lodge, of which he was obliged to render an 
 account to the brethren in an especial lodge holden 
 for the purpose on the first Sunday in every month. 
 It had also a Secretary to record the deliberations 
 of the lodge, of which he was obliged to make a 
 report periodically to the Grand Secretary. The 
 office of a Deacon is not named. 
 
 There is no mention of Deacons in any of the 
 early Constitutions of Masonry; whether edited 
 by Hunter, Senex, and Hooke, (1723) ; ditto 
 Anderson, (1725, 1738) ; Cole, 1728, 1751) ; 
 Watts, (1730); Spratt, (1751); Entick, (1756, 
 1767) ; Kearsley, (1769) ; Dermott, (1756, 1778) ; 
 or Noorthouck, (1784). In the year 1731, it was 
 declared in Grand lodge, that the Grand Master, 
 his Deputy, and the Wardens, were the only 
 Grand Officers; and in 1768 a fund being raised 
 towards building a Freemason's Hall, each Grand 
 Officer was subjected to an annual payment in 
 proportion to the dignity of his office. Amongst 
 these offices the Deacons are not registered, al- 
 though the list extends down to the Grand Sword 
 Bearer ; nor are they mentioned in it at all. 
 
 In the details of the Procession which took
 
 115 
 
 place at the dedication of the above Hall, although 
 Noorthouck has particularized the situation of 
 every officer who was present on the occasion, 
 down to the Tyler, no Deacons occur. It is clear 
 therefore, that in 1776, Deacons were unknown 
 as masonic office bearers. Again, in the Edition 
 of Preston's Illustrations dated 1781, where he 
 gives directions for the investiture of the several 
 officers of a lodge in his description of the cere- 
 mony of installation, no mention is made of the 
 Deacons, while we find them introduced into a 
 subsequent edition of the same work. In the 
 Masonic Miscellanies of Stephen Jones (1797)> 
 he describes the above ceremony ; and also inserts 
 the order of a procession at funerals, in neither of 
 which is the office of a Deacon to be found. These 
 repeated examples cannot fail to prove satisfactorily 
 that Deacons were not considered necessary in 
 working the business of a lodge before the very 
 latter end of the 18th century. 
 
 At this period the number of Masons had in- 
 creased considerably, and some additional officers 
 appeared to be necessary to assist in the govern- 
 ment of the lodges. The office of a Deacon was 
 therefore instituted ; and as there were two War- 
 dens, the same number of Deacons were appointed 
 as their immediate deputies and assistants, and 
 the representatives of all absent craftsmen. The 
 Stewards are now considered as assistants to the 
 Deacons, and the representatives of all absent 
 Entered Apprentices. The duties attached to the
 
 116 
 
 office of a Deacon are, " to convey messages, to 
 obey commands, and to assist at initiations, and in 
 the general practice of the rites and ceremonies of 
 the order." The Jewel of their office is a dove, as 
 an emblem of peace, and characteristic of their 
 duties ; and their badges are two columns, which 
 are entrusted to them at their investiture; and 
 when the work of masonry in the lodge is carrying 
 on, the Senior Deacon's column is raised ; and 
 when the lodge is called from labour to refresh- 
 ment, that of the Junior Deacon is raised, and 
 the other lowered. In the old lodges these badges 
 were called " Truncheons ;" and an Inventory of 
 the furniture belonging to a lodge at Chester, 
 taken in the year 1761, mentions among other 
 things, " two Truncheons for the Wardens." 
 
 At the present day Deacons are unknown on 
 the Continent. The Freemason's Lexicon, a Ger- 
 man publication, thus names the existing officers 
 of a lodge. " Every lodge has officers, viz. 1. 
 W. M. ; 2. S. W. ; 3. J. W. ; 4. Secretary ; 5. 
 Lecturer ; 6. Master of the Ceremonies ; 7 Two 
 Stewards ; 8. Treasurer. In most lodges there 
 are, besides these, a Past Master, a Preparer, an 
 Almoner, a Hospitalier, and a Decorator. Many 
 of the first officers have their deputies or substi- 
 tutes ; and the first three are of great importance 
 to a lodge, especially if they have another and a 
 better motive for accepting office than merely to 
 wear a decoration. It is their duty to propagate 
 Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty ; and like the Sun
 
 117 
 
 and Moon, to lighten the paths of the brethren ; 
 but they will not be fit to do this, nor to gain the 
 love and respect of the members, if they are not 
 endowed with a zeal for the real objects of the 
 society, and well acquainted with the means of 
 accomplishing those objects. They should also 
 diligently strive to obtain a thorough knowledge of 
 the mental capacities of all the brethren of their 
 lodge, in order that they may know how, with 
 greater certainty and security, to instruct and im- 
 prove them in masonry." 
 
 At the conclusion of this chapter, a few words 
 on the duties of the members may not be unac- 
 ceptable ; and they may be comprised within a 
 very narrow compass. As we are none of us free 
 from faults, it is the duty of every brother to bear 
 with the infirmities, to pardon the errors and to 
 be kind and considerate towards those with whom 
 he is so intimately connected. There are few 
 tempers so depraved, but a sincere endeavour to 
 please, will excite in their bosoms, a corresponding 
 sentiment of love and gratitude. We are under 
 peculiar obligations, and it is equally our duty and 
 our interest to' discharge them faithfully, and to 
 the letter. Amidst the various dispositions of 
 mankind, we must not expect to meet with all we 
 could wish in every brother who is linked with us 
 in the indissoluble chain of masonry ; but if we 
 resolve to do unto others as we would have them 
 do unto us, our happiness and mental satisfaction 
 will usually be amply gratified. Every relative
 
 118 
 
 and social duty is founded on mutual obligations ; 
 and where the seeds of love and friendship are 
 not sown ; or where that which springs up from 
 them is not cultivated and improved, it will be but 
 " as the grass growing on the housetop, where- 
 with," as the glorious language of the Psalmist 
 expresses it, " the mower filleth not his hand, 
 neither he that bindeth the sheaves, his bosom." 
 
 A kind and courteous behaviour, therefore, to 
 those amongst whom we live, is what I should 
 recommend and enforce as a branch of masonic 
 duty ; because if we hope to be happy in our 
 several stations and professions, and amidst all 
 the misfortunes and calamities which are incident 
 to our present state of existence, we must prac- 
 tise the masonic virtues, not only of Faith, Hope, 
 and Charity ; but also of Temperance, Fortitude, 
 Prudence, and Justice. And above all we must 
 be humane, charitable, and benevolent ; knowing 
 that whatever tends to ensure the felicity of our 
 fellow creatures will be pleasing in the sight of 
 God; and contribute, in its degree, to advance 
 our perfection in this world, and ultimately to 
 exalt us to " a building not made with hands, 
 eternal in the heavens."
 
 119 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 THE TRACING BOARD OF AN E. A. P. 
 
 Hail, Masonry ! to thee we raise 
 The song of triumph, and of Praise. 
 The Sun which shines supreme on high, 
 The Stars that glisten in the sky, 
 The Moon that yields her silver light, 
 And vivifies the lonely night 
 
 Must by the course of nature fade away, 
 
 And all the Earth alike in time decay ; 
 
 But while they last shall Masonry Endure, 
 
 Built on such Pillars solid and secure; 
 
 And at the last triumphantly shall rise 
 
 In brotherly affection to the skies. 
 
 MASONIC ODE. 
 
 A chapter on this subject may appear superflu- 
 ous after the copious illustrations of the Tracing 
 Boards which may be found in the Historical 
 Landmarks of Freemasonry, Lect. iv, v, xvi, and 
 xxvi ; but in a Book which treats professedly on 
 the Lodge and its workings, a few additional 
 observations may with strict propriety be offered 
 to render it complete ; l and particularly as our 
 
 i A Pamphlet has been recently published by the Grand 
 Lodges of the United States, called " the Masonic Trestle 
 Board for the use of Lodges and brethren." It embraces the 
 illustrations of the three degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry,
 
 120 
 
 indefatigable Bro. Harris has just published a 
 new and improved edition of the Tracing Boards, 
 which does him infinite credit, and cannot fail to be 
 of essential service to the Masters of Lodges, in 
 the instruction which is periodically given to the 
 brethren on the symbolical machinery of the order. 
 
 In the Tracing Board before us, the candidate's 
 progress in masonry bears a great resemblance to 
 that of the baptized Christian on his road to heaven, 
 according to the system recommended and prac- 
 tised in the earliest ages of Christianity. He enters 
 into Covenant at the Font, which is placed at the 
 West end of the Church, where, by his sponsors, 
 he makes profession of his faith, receives the 
 O B, and becomes entitled to the white robe as a 
 catechumen, in imitation probably of the Levites 
 who were selected by king Solomon to carry the 
 Ark of the Covenant into the Temple at Jerusalem. 
 The white garment was delivered with a solemn 
 charge in this form. " Receive the white and 
 immaculate garment, which thou mayest bring 
 forth without spot before the tribunal of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, that thou mayest have eternal life." 
 Such is the commencement of his career in the 
 Church militant ; where, if he contend faithfully 
 to the end, he will attain the Church triumphant 
 in heaven. 
 
 In like manner the candidate for masonry, being 
 
 arranged and adapted to the national system of Work or 
 Lectures, as recommended by the National Convention, and 
 adopted by all the Grand Lodges in the States.
 
 121 
 
 duly prepared, is introduced into the lodge at the 
 West end, and having made profession of his faith, 
 by the assistance of his guide, he receives the 
 O B ; light dawns upon his darkened mind, and 
 he is invested by the officer in the West with a 
 white or lambskin apron, which he is told is more 
 ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, 
 more honourable than the Star and Garter, or any 
 other order under the sun which could be con- 
 ferred upon him at that time or any other, by 
 king, prince, or potentate, except he be a mason. 
 If his masonic course, thus commenced in order, 
 be conducted with decency, it affords a rational 
 prospect of being closed with decorum, and termi- 
 nating in the Grand Lodge above. 
 
 The catechumen, having been thus introduced 
 into Christianity, was then placed in an inferior 
 rank in the church, with a lighted taper in his 
 hand, that he might be instructed in the mysteries 
 of his religion. He is stationed before the altar as 
 an emblem of that glory which is to come ; the 
 taper is a symbol of the light of faith wherewith 
 bright and virgin souls go forth to meet the bride- 
 groom. 
 
 The candidate for masonry, having been obliga- 
 ted and invested, is placed at the North East 
 angle of the Lodge, near the pedestal or altar of 
 masonry, with the lights burning before him, to 
 receive instruction ; and the Tracing Board being 
 spread abroad for that purpose, the W. M. points 
 out in succession the ground, situation, extent, 
 
 M
 
 122 
 
 support^ and covering of the lodge, all of which 
 are explained in detail. To ensure his serious 
 attention to the business in hand, he is told that 
 the lodge is situated on holy ground,, for which 
 assertion three cogent reasons are assigned, either 
 of which would be sufficient to convince him that 
 any kind of levity would be unsuitable to the place, 
 and subject the offender to very severe reprehen- 
 sion. 
 
 The form and dimensions of the lodge are first 
 pointed out and explained. It is an oblong square, 
 extending from north to south, from east to west, 
 from the surface to the centre, and from the earth 
 to the heavens. This boundless extent refers to 
 the universality of masonry, and the influence of 
 its principles and laws over every clime and country 
 of the habitable globe. In the language of the 
 Grand Lodge of Hamburgh, " the Freemason is 
 taught by the principles of his Covenant to love a 
 foreign brother whom he has never seen before, 
 and with hand in hand to form the brother chain 
 without regarding his dress or his profession ; 
 so too, according to our old Landmarks, the 
 Moslem, the Jew, and the Christian, are received 
 with the same affection, and the gate of the 
 masonic temple is open for all alike." 
 
 The situation of a lodge is due east and 
 west because all places of divine worship, and 
 regularly constituted lodges are constructed in 
 that direction for three reasons. 1. The sun, 
 which is the glory of the creation, rises in the
 
 123 
 
 east and sets in the west. 2. Learning and 
 science originated in the east, and afterwards 
 spread to the western parts of the world. And 
 the third reason refers to the construction of the 
 tabernacle of Moses. 
 
 The most prominent objects in the Tracing 
 Board before us, are three great Pillars, in the 
 East, West, and South ; on each of which is placed 
 a dignified masonic character; and all are still 
 represented in every regular lodge throughout the 
 universe. The one in the East is king Solomon, 
 who stands on the pillar of Wisdom, to intimate 
 that without wisdom to contrive, no architectural 
 work can be expected to arrive at a satisfactory 
 conclusion. The monarch who occupies the pillar 
 in the West, is Hiram king of Tyre, an emblem 
 of Strength, because without his prompt assistance 
 in providing materials and men for the Temple at 
 Jerusalem, that magnificent edifice would never 
 have been completed in so perfect a manner as to 
 make it surpass every other building in the world 
 for riches and glory. And without strength to 
 support, no work how gorgeous and massive soever 
 it might be, could expect to be permanent. The 
 third is Hiram AbifF, the chief architect at the 
 erection of the temple. He is placed on the pillar 
 of Beauty, because it was owing to his consummate 
 skill and genius that it attained perfection ; for 
 without beauty to adorn, a building would be de- 
 ficient in splendour of enrichment and magnificence 
 of display. 
 
 M 3
 
 124 
 
 It will be seen that these Pillars represent the 
 Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian, which are 
 the only three original orders in architecture. 
 
 The candidate is then desired to remark that 
 the floor of the lodge is chequered with black and 
 white marble, or mosaic work, the moral significa- 
 tion of which is beautifully illustrated. It may be 
 observed here that the tesselated pavements of the 
 Romans, being worked in a regular and mechanical 
 manner, were called opus musivum, opera qu&ad 
 amussim facia sunt. Hence the Italian Musaico, 
 from whence is derived our appellation of Mosaic ; 
 but, like most of our other terms of art, through 
 the channel of the French, Mosaique. And Dr. 
 Parr says, as we are assured by Roscoe, in his 
 Notes to the Life of Lorenzo de Medici, "the 
 term Musiva was more peculiarly applicable to 
 this kind of work when used in decorating walls 
 and ceilings ; Lithostrata and Tessellata being the 
 name of the work, when executed on the floor ; 
 but as the process in both cases was the same, we, 
 in common with other writers, have not hesitated 
 to apply the same term to both, Musiva, Musea, 
 or Musia." 
 
 The working tools strewed about the floor are 
 then brought under the candidate's notice, and he 
 is told that the square, level, and plumb, although 
 to outward appearance they are nothing more than 
 common instruments of mechanical labour, yet as 
 they are used by Freemasons to express certain 
 moral virtues, they are as highly esteemed as if
 
 125 
 
 they were jewels of inestimable value ; and on 
 this account are appropriated to certain officers of 
 the lodge, as indications not only of their official 
 rank, but also of their respective duties. 
 
 The following explanation of these characteristic 
 symbols is recommended in the printed Regulations 
 of the Great Masonic National Convention of the 
 United States, holden at Baltimore in Maryland, 
 A.D. 1843. "The Square teaches to regulate our 
 actions by a rule and line, and to harmonize our 
 conduct by the principles of morality and virtue. 
 The Level demonstrates that we are descended 
 from the same stock, partake of the same nature, 
 and share the same hope ; and though distinctions 
 among men are necessary to preserve subordination, 
 yet no eminence of station should make us forget 
 that we are brethren ; for he who is placed on the 
 lowest spoke of fortune's wheel, may be entitled 
 to our regard ; because a time will come, and the 
 wisest knows not how soon, when all distinctions 
 but that of goodness shall cease ; and death, the 
 grand leveller of all human greatness, reduce us 
 to the same state. The Plumb admonishes us to 
 walk uprightly in our several stations, to hold the 
 scale of justice in equal poise, to observe the just 
 medium between intemperance and pleasure, and 
 to make our passions and prejudices coincide with 
 the line of duty." 
 
 On the pedestals of the three pillars we find 
 these symbols repeated, with the addition of others, 
 amongst which we observe a sword and staff in 
 
 M 5
 
 126 
 
 saltire, bound together with a rope ; all of which arc 
 satisfactorily explained to the candidate, although 
 the illustration would be improper here ; and a 
 Key. Now the Key was always esteemed to be 
 an instrument of power and safety ; and was 
 formerly used to inaugurate talented individuals 
 into offices of trust. Thus there was a custom 
 among the Jews in the admission of their doctors, 
 that those to whom they gave authority to interpret 
 the scriptures had a key delivered to them with 
 certain ceremonies. The stewards of a royal house- 
 hold in some countries were distinguished by a 
 golden key, as the symbol of their office; and 
 hence the phrase of giving a person a key was 
 equivalent to investing him with power ; and in 
 Christianity was applied to the ministers as stewards 
 of the mysteries of God. Peter was the first that 
 preached the gospel to the Jews and Gentiles ; 
 and was therefore said to have opened the kingdom 
 of heaven to both ; whence he is usually depicted 
 with a key in his hand, as a symbol that he had 
 power to admit and to exclude ; by declaring the 
 conditions of admission ; by the exercise of dis- 
 cipline, and the administration of the sacraments. 
 Adjoining these we see another group of work- 
 ing tools, which are peculiarly designed for the 
 use of the newly initiated entered apprentice. 
 They consist of a rule 24 inches in length, a gavel, 
 and a chisel, together with a rough block of un- 
 wrought stone ; and are thus explained. " The 
 24 inch guage" will enable you to measure and
 
 127 
 
 ascertain the size and extent of a work, that you 
 may calculate the time and labour it will take. 
 It teaches you a moral lesson that you ought to 
 apportion the 24 hours of the day into 4 parts 
 and devote them to prayer, labour, refreshment, 
 and rest. The gavel is an important instrument, 
 without the use of which no work that requires 
 manual labour can be completed ; and it teaches 
 you the uselessness of skill without labour; for 
 though the heart may conceive and the head 
 devise, no design can be executed without due 
 exertion. By the use of the chisel you may make 
 an impression on the hardest substances ; and 
 though small in size it is instrumental in the 
 erection of the most magnificent edifices. Thus 
 perseverance is necessary to perfection ; and it is 
 by slow degrees that the rude material receives its 
 polish ; and that the most indefatigable exertions 
 are necessary to enlighten the mind, ameliorate 
 the manners, and induce a consistent habit of 
 virtue and holiness. The rough stone, which is 
 called on the Continent Pierre Brute, ou chaos, 
 ou illiaste, ou byle, is an emblem of the mind of 
 man in its most rude and imperfect state, which 
 can only be brought into form by the force of 
 education and moral culture." 
 
 In a corresponding situation on the floor we see 
 a stone perfectly squared and polished, hanging by 
 a winch, and suspended from a Lewis, to symbo- 
 lize the perfect mason in his old age after he has 
 subdued his passions, and obtained a victory over
 
 128 
 
 the three great enemies of his Christian warfare, 
 the world, the flesh, and the devil. This is an 
 allusion to Rev. iii. 12, where T G A O T U 
 promises "him that overcometh will I make a 
 pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall 
 go no more out ; and I will write upon him the 
 name of my God, and the name of the city of my 
 God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down 
 out of heaven from my God; AND i WILL, WRITE 
 UPON HIM MY NEW NAME/' Which Pyle thus 
 paraphrases. "As the pillars of a sumptuous temple 
 are both the strength and ornament of it, so shall 
 all who steadily suffer in my Name, and overcome 
 the lusts and temptations of the world, be esteemed 
 worthy to be members of my future church, tri- 
 umphant and glorious, wherein they shall remain in 
 uninterrupted felicity, as they have been the honor 
 and ornaments of it in the present state of trial." 
 
 The Lewis which sustains the weight of this 
 perfect ashlar denotes strength ; and consists of a 
 certain iron instrument, which being dovetailed 
 into the centre of a stone, forms a cramp which 
 enables the operative mason to raise it, how heavy 
 soever it may be, and fix it with the greatest ease 
 on its proper basis. It symbolizes the son of a 
 Master Mason, whose duty is to bear the burden 
 and heat of the day when his aged Parents are in- 
 capable of labour ; to supply their wants and render 
 the latter end of their lives cheerful and happy. 
 
 Near the centre of the floor and in front of the 
 pedestal lies a square board on which the emblems
 
 129 
 
 of a Master are placed, to intimate that it is de- 
 voted to the use of the officer whose duty it is " to 
 contrive" the most efficient designs, and to arrange 
 the materials of the work, that it may be brought 
 to a useful and harmonious conclusion. This is 
 called a Tracing Board, and it contains the ground 
 plan of some public building surrounded by a 
 portico, designed in beautiful symmetry and order ; 
 and thus becomes a symbol of the great Charter 
 of our Faith and Hope, the Holy Bible, which is 
 the spiritual Tracing Board of T G A O T U, for 
 in that book he hath laid down such a rich series 
 of moral plans and glorious designs, that were we 
 conversant therein and adherent thereto, it would 
 bring us to a building not made with hands eternal 
 in the heavens. 
 
 The candidate now arrives in front of the 
 Pedestal, which the French masons denominate 
 an Altar, in the East, as the catechumen in Christi- 
 anity, after he has gone through all the preliminary 
 ceremonies prescribed by the church, is admitted 
 into the Bema, Chancel, or Church triumphant, 
 to partake of the most solemn mysteries of religion. 
 On the front face of the pedestal there is inscribed 
 a circle and central point flanked by two perpen- 
 dicular parallel lines, which is one of the most 
 glorious symbols of Freemasonry, when clearly 
 understood and properly applied ; but the elucida- 
 tion is too copious for introduction here. l 
 
 i The Author is at present engaged in an investigation of the 
 origin of this sublime symbol, and of the various interpretations
 
 130 
 
 From this point the Board exhibits a clear and 
 intelligible view of the progress and end of the 
 Christian system of religion. On the pedestal is 
 the Holy Bible covered with a square and a pair 
 of compasses. These have a peculiar name amongst 
 masons which denotes their power of illuminating 
 the mind with the rays of divine knowledge. The 
 Bible is the ground of our Faith, while the square 
 and compasses united serve to regulate our Prac- 
 tice. 
 
 At the foot of the Pedestal, in the place of 
 Wisdom, and imbedded in an effulgence of light, 
 the candidate sees the glorious vision of a Ladder, 
 like that by which Jacob was entranced during 
 his melancholy journey from Beersheba to Pada- 
 naram a distant country in the land of Mesopo- 
 tamia, when, by the advice of his mother, he fled 
 from the wrath of Esau. It is composed of staves 
 or rounds innumerable on which are seen angels 
 ascending and descending. 
 
 This has been usually considered as a symbol 
 of divine providence, which superintends all the 
 works of creation, and dispenses grace, mercy, 
 and justice with unerring accuracy amongst the 
 sons of men. The foot of the ladder is placed on 
 the earth to denote the stability of Providence ; 
 and its top reaches the heavens to show that the 
 designs of Omnipotence are without limit ; the 
 
 which have been attached to it at different periods as it passed 
 through the hands of our brethren of the last century ; and the 
 result will shortly be placed before the fraternity.
 
 131 
 
 innumerable staves or rounds on which the angels 
 move point out their ceaseless superintendance 
 over human affairs ; the angels ascending are 
 ministers of providence going up to the Throne 
 of grace to make their communications and to 
 receive commands ; and those descending are 
 charged with commissions to comfort the souls 
 of the just. 
 
 The Theological virtues, Faith, Hope and Char- 
 ity, each with its appropriate symbol, and the 
 former with her foot upon the Holy Bible, occupy 
 the most prominent stations on the ladder, to 
 intimate that the only true road to heaven is 
 through three gates, of which they keep the keys. 
 No one can ascend even the first step without the 
 assistance of Faith ; neither can he pass the centre 
 of the ladder unless he be supported by Hope. 
 The summit is under the guardianship of Charity, 
 to show, that although the Christian may have 
 passed through the two gates, yet he must possess 
 a still more benignant and efficacious virtue, if he 
 would master the steep ascent, and enter the ever- 
 lasting lodge above. The mason who is possessed 
 of this latter virtue, may justly be deemed to have 
 attained the summit of his profession ; figuratively 
 speaking, an ethereal mansion veiled from mortal 
 eye by the starry firmament ; and emblematically 
 depicted in a mason's lodge by seven stars, without 
 which number of regularly initiated brethren, no 
 lodge can be accounted perfect, nor any gentleman 
 be legally admitted into the order.
 
 132 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 THE TRACING BOARDS OF A FELLOW CRAFT 
 AND A MASTER MASON. 
 
 " And he with love of sacred wisdom fir'd, 
 The Mighty Prince whose pious hand, 
 To the eternal fount of truth and light 
 
 That holy temple rear'd, 
 The pride and wonder of Judea's land 
 His great and comprehensive mind, 
 A nobler edifice design'd, 
 That time and envy should defy 
 Founded on truth's eternal base, 
 Vast as the ample bounds of space, 
 And sacred to fraternal unity." 
 
 RODWELL WRIGHT. 
 
 THE Tracing Boards of the second degree are 
 two in number. Some little improvement has been 
 made in the first, which otherwise is essentially the 
 same as that which is described in the Historical 
 Landmarks of Masonry, Lect. xvi, to which I 
 again refer, as it will be unnecessary to recapitulate 
 the explanations which have been made in that 
 comprehensive work, because it is in the hands of 
 every zealous mason throughout the universe. 
 
 It will be seen that the two great Pillars are 
 omitted, and the figure of a man has been added
 
 133 
 
 who appears entering in haste to communicate 
 intelligence to the ancient Junior Warden who 
 guards the foot of the winding staircase, of the 
 great victory over the Ephraimites, together with 
 some indications of the battle, which are seen in 
 the distance ; as for instance, the tents of Jeptha, 
 and the sentinels who have been placed to guard 
 the fords of the river Jordan where the Ephraimites, 
 in endeavouring to return into their own country 
 were recognized by their inability to pronounce the 
 password Shibboleth, which the people of Ephraim, 
 who could not articulate the letter h, called Sibbo- 
 leth. This word means floods of water ; and 
 therefore they were made to utter the request, 
 " Let us pass over the water " And there fell at 
 that time two and forty thousand men ; which 
 was a terrible slaughter for one tribe to make of 
 another ; but the Ephraimites appear to have de- 
 served the punishment for their insolence and temer- 
 ity in reviling their brethren, threatening to destroy 
 the house of Jeptha by fire, and making a hostile 
 invasion of the country for that express purpose. 
 The reasons for omitting the two Pillars from 
 the first of these Tracing Boards appear to be 
 because the Middle Chamber, with its approaches 
 by the winding staircase being on the right side of 
 the House adjoining the walls of the Temple, 
 these pillars were not visible from thence, being 
 placed at the entrance of the Porch which opened 
 into the Holy Place. The winding staircase closely 
 tiled remains unaltered. It consists of fifteen steps, 
 
 N
 
 134 
 
 which alone might afford a series of useful and 
 entertaining speculations to complete our progress 
 along the mystical ascent ; for having passed over 
 the three, five, and seven steps, when from its 
 summit we look back upon the latter division, the 
 creation of the universe is naturally suggested to 
 our minds, which was effected in six equal portions 
 of time, while the seventh was consecrated to rest 
 and worship. They also represent the Sephiroth, 
 or mysterious ladder of the Jews, consisting of 
 seven steps, crowned by the sacred trinity. 
 
 The winding staircase is flanked by ornamented 
 pilasters, against which are placed the larger 
 Cherubim of the Temple, supporting the pen- 
 talpha and the seal of Solomon. Adjoining these, 
 and fronting the supports of the gallery or lobby 
 which leads to the Middle Chamber, are two arched 
 panels, containing the working tools of a Fellow 
 craft, viz., the square, the level, and the plumb. 
 The square is used amongst operative masons to 
 try and adjust all irregular angles of buildings, 
 and to assist in bringing rude matter into due 
 form ; the level is used to lay lines and prove 
 horizontals ; and the plumb to try and adjust all 
 uprights while fixing on their proper basis. By 
 speculative masons these instruments are applied 
 to the regulation of conduct. The square teaches 
 morality, the level equality, and the plumb upright- 
 ness of life and action. Thus by the moral appli- 
 cation of these working tools the Fellow craft 
 hopes to ascend to the Grand Lodge above.
 
 135 
 
 In the second Tracing Board we are favoured 
 with a perspective view, looking from between the 
 Pillars into the Holy Place, with the Sanctum 
 Sanctorum at the farthest extremity ; and the meet- 
 ing of Solomon and the queen of Sheba with 
 Hiram King of Tyre; which have been introduced 
 as figures that an adequate idea may be formed of 
 the magnitude of the pillars and the dimensions 
 of the Most Holy Place. As the name of the 
 queen of Sheba has been connected with Free- 
 masonry from the earliest times, it may not be 
 uninteresting to ascertain who she was. Bruce 
 says that amongst the Arabs her name was Belkis ; 
 while the Abyssinians called her Macqueda. Our 
 Saviour denominates her queen of the South ; and 
 says that she came from the uttermost parts of the 
 earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. It is un- 
 certain whether she were a Jewess or a Pagan ; 
 but it is clear that she visited Solomon with the 
 intention of puzzling him by hard and unanswer- 
 able questions. She appears to have been a person 
 of learning ; because the reason she assigned for 
 coming to him was to try whether fame had not 
 exaggerated the report of his wisdom. 
 
 In this subsidiary Tracing Board we find the 
 decorations of the Pillars accurately pourtayed 
 with lily work, net work, and pomegranates, de- 
 noting unity, peace, and plenty. Their construc- 
 tion was the first important work performed by 
 the chief architect Hiram Abiff. Together they 
 were 35 cubits in height or 174 cubits each. 
 
 N3
 
 136 
 
 Jeremiah says, their thickness was four fingers 
 breadth, for they were hollow and formed of cast 
 brass. The circumference was 12 cubits, and the 
 diameter 4 ; and the chapiters in all 5 cubits high. 
 They were surmounted by spherical bodies on 
 which were delineated maps of the terrestrial and 
 celestial globes ; instructions in which anciently 
 formed one chief employment of a Fellow craft's 
 Lodge. The hollow space within the cylinders 
 was used as archives of masonry and to hold the 
 constitutional records, for which they were suffi- 
 ciently capacious. 
 
 These pillars are surmounted by the acknow- 
 ledged symbol of the Holy Spirit of God, a 
 hovering dove between two cherubims in the act 
 of worship. The holy place is gorgeously enriched 
 with cherubims, to represent the hosts of angels 
 attending to execute the divine will and pleasure ; 
 and also with palm trees and wreaths of flowers. 
 Dr. Kitto justly suspects that these palm trees 
 formed'a sort of pilasters ; for certainly that seems 
 to be the form in which a palm tree, carved in re- 
 lief, might be exhibited to most advantage. The 
 figure of the palm tree was well suited for this 
 purpose, or for pillars, or for any form of orna- 
 mental exhibition. The selection of this form 
 corresponded with one of the most pure charac- 
 teristics of Egyptian taste ; as did also the form 
 of the lotus, which was given to the only two 
 pillars, of which we read in the description of 
 the Temple. We do not wish to say that Egypt
 
 137 
 
 furnished the models which were followed at 
 Jerusalem. We are more interested in observing, 
 that the earliest written account of a magnificent 
 building concurs with the most ancient structures 
 that still exist, in testifying that the most ancient 
 ornaments of architecture were immediately de- 
 rived from the types which nature offered ; viz. 
 the lotus or lily, and the pomegranate. 
 
 The Holy Place is lighted by ten candles, five 
 on each side, with the altar of incense in the 
 centre. At the west end the Holy of Holies ap- 
 pears through a slight partition between the two 
 curtains which are made to constitute the veil of 
 the temple. Now the tabernacle of Moses had 
 two veils ; the exterior one was placed at the 
 entrance of the Holy Place, which Solomon super- 
 seded by the erection of the Porch ; and the other 
 was the real veil of the temple which excluded the 
 Sanctum Sanctorum from public view. This was 
 rent at the crucifixion of Christ, to show that the 
 most secret mysteries of religion were now un- 
 veiled, and the scheme of salvation fully laid open 
 to Jew and Gentile alike, when Christ pronounced 
 the potent words " IT is FINISHED." 
 
 TRACING BOARD OF THE THIRD DEGREE. 
 
 On a view of this Tracing Board we are struck 
 with awe and veneration. The emblems of mor- 
 tality and the resurrection are calculated to extort 
 from us that holy exclamation of Grand Master 
 David, " Lord so teach us to number our days, 
 that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." In 
 
 N 5
 
 138 
 
 this document the veil of separation between Jew 
 and Gentile is wholly withdrawn, and the myste- 
 rious contents of the Most Holy Place displayed 
 to public view. These were the Ark of the 
 Covenant with the Propitiatory or Mercy Seat, 
 overshadowed by the divine Shekinah, which some 
 think was nothing more than the Sacred Name or 
 Word. Landseer conjectures that the Asherim of 
 the Hebrews were surrounded by the Name of the 
 Lord Jehovah expressed in Hebrew characters. 
 This he denominates a Mystery ; and adds, " let 
 the reader refer to those passages in the Lamen- 
 tations of the Hebrew poets where the phrase, the 
 Name of the Lord occurs, and let him observe the 
 mingled sentiment of woe and detestation that is 
 felt by the author of some of the psalms, when 
 the Babylonian invaders had violated the sanctuary, 
 and cast the NAME of the Lord to the ground." 
 
 The Cherubim, according to the opinion of the 
 Rabbi Solomon, were pictured in human shape, in 
 the form of young men ; because the angels ap- 
 peared in that form to Abraham, Lot, and others ; 
 and they were made with wings, because when the 
 angels were despatched on any divine commission, 
 they were said to fly. The description of those 
 which Solomon made states that they stood upright 
 upon their feet ; and were intended to represent 
 the glory of God. Dr. Willet, in his Hexapla, 
 institutes a curious comparison between the 
 Cherubim of Moses and those added by Solomon. 
 He says " they differed in the matter, one being
 
 139 
 
 all of gold, and the other of olive tree overlaid 
 with gold. They differed also in magnitude. 
 Their wings were spread all one way, and they 
 stood together ; with one .wing they touched one 
 another, and with the other they touched the 
 walls on each side ; while the Cherubims of 
 Moses stood at the two ends of the Mercy Seat. 
 Solomon's Cherubims looked both towards the 
 east, while those of Moses looked north and south. 
 In the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle there 
 were only two cherubims, while in the temple 
 there were four." 
 
 The emblems of mortality which decorate the 
 coffin, are thus commented on in the masonic funeral 
 service. " What are all the externals of majesty, 
 the pride of wealth, or charms of beauty, when 
 nature claims her just debt ? Let us support with 
 propriety the character of our profession, advert 
 to the nature of our solemn engagements, and 
 supplicate the divine grace to enable us to pursue 
 with unwearied assiduity the sacred tenets of our 
 order. Thus shall we secure the favour of that 
 eternal being whose goodness and power can know 
 no bound ; and prosecute our journey without 
 dread or apprehension, to a far distant country 
 whence no traveller returns. By the light of the 
 divine countenance we shall pass without trembling 
 through those gloomy mountains when all things 
 are forgotten, and at that great and tremendous 
 day, when arraigned at the bar of divine justice, 
 judgment shall be pronounced in our favour, we
 
 140 
 
 shall receive the reward of our virtue, by acquiring 
 the possession of an immortal inheritance, where 
 joy flows in one continued stream, and no mound 
 can check its course." 
 
 Amongst the most remarkable symbols on this 
 Tracing Board, that of the central cavity where 
 the lost was found, is most conspicuous. By this 
 emblem we represent the beginning of life, and 
 the circle we run until the moment when we arrive 
 at the end, and at our eternal destination. The 
 working tools of a Master Mason consist of a pair 
 of compasses, a skirret, and a pencil. The skirret 
 acting on a centre pin, is used to mark out the 
 ground of a new building; with the pencil the 
 Master draws his plans for the direction of the 
 workmen ; and by the use of the compasses he 
 ascertains their limits and proportions with accuracy 
 and truth. These tools, as in both the former 
 cases, are made subservient to the purposes of 
 morality. Thus as the skirret has a chalked line 
 attached to it, it points out the straight line of 
 duty chalked out in the sacred Word of God ; 
 the pencil teaches that our words and actions are 
 recorded in the book of God's remembrance to be 
 brought against us at the day of judgment. The 
 compasses are an emblem of divine justice, which 
 has given us a law, and left us free to chuse or 
 refuse whether we will obey it or not, with the 
 certainty of reward or punishment according to 
 our works. If we attend to the teaching of these 
 working tools, and perform the duties which they
 
 141 
 
 prescribe, we may live in hopes, through the merits 
 of the Almighty Architect of the Universe, of 
 ascending to the Grand Lodge above, where peace, 
 order, and harmony eternally preside. 
 
 The ornaments of a Master Mason's lodge de- 
 picted on the Tracing Board, are the porch, the 
 dormer, and the stone pavement. The porch is 
 the Entrance to the Holy of Holies ; the dormer 
 is the window which gives light to the same ; and 
 the stone pavement is for the high priest to walk 
 on ; and his office is to burn incense to the honour 
 and glory of the Most High, and fervently to pray 
 for the continuance of prosperity and peace. 
 
 In the open air, above the coffin, a sprig or 
 branch of a tree is depicted, in conformity with 
 the custom of ancient times, when the people of 
 all nations entertained a sacred feeling on the sub- 
 ject of decking the graves of their honoured dead 
 with plants and flowers. It was used to a great 
 extent in this country a century ago, and the 
 disuse of so beautiful a custom is much to be 
 regretted. In the East the graves of deceased 
 persons are still planted with odoriferous herbs 
 and flowers, which are tended weekly by the 
 female members of their respective families. 
 
 For a more copious explanation of the symbols 
 before us, I must refer my brethren to the His- 
 torical Landmarks of Masonry, vol. ii. Lect. xxvi ; 
 recommending them to reflect seriously on the 
 uncertainty of their lives, which may be cut off at 
 a moment's notice ; and never to forget that this
 
 142 
 
 life will be followed by another which will never 
 have an end. The Tracing Board points out the 
 resurrection of the dead, and a future state of re- 
 wards and punishments, to be distributed according 
 to the measure of our faith and practice ; and its 
 silent emblems eloquently exhort us so to pass 
 through things temporal, that we may not finally 
 lose the things that are eternal. If we live right- 
 eously, the way to heaven is open to us. If we 
 wipe away the tears from the orphan's cheek, and 
 bring him up to virtue and to God ; if we make 
 the widow's heart to sing for joy ; if we cheer 
 our worthy, aged, and infirm Brother in his down- 
 ward passage to the grave, we shall have cause to 
 rejoice in the testimony of our conscience, that in 
 all simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our 
 conversation in the world. 
 
 These are the proper pursuits of Speculative 
 Masonry ; and if it be practised with a view of 
 increasing the Faith, and Hope, and Charity of its 
 professors ; and of producing a luxuriant harvest 
 of Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, and Justice, 
 Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth, it will show 
 forth its good works to the glory of our Father 
 which is in heaven. And then 
 
 At thy shrine, O Masonry, 
 
 Shall admiring nations bend ; 
 In future times thy sons shall see 
 
 Thy fame from pole to pole extend. 
 To worlds unknown thy heav'n-born light dispense, 
 And systems own thy sacred influence.
 
 143 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 LABOUR AND REFRESHMENT. 
 
 " Aftyr mete they went to play, 
 A lie the folk as I you say, 
 Some to chamhre and some to bowere, 
 And some to the hie towre, 
 And some in the halle stode." 
 
 METRICAL ROMANCE. 
 
 " Alexander subdued the world, Cesar his enemies, Hercules 
 monsters, but he that overcomes himself is the true valiant 
 captain." Ho WELL. 
 
 OUR brethren of the last century, with a view 
 to the more complete accommodation of the mem- 
 bers, had their lodges furnished with a long table 
 extending from east to west down the centre of the 
 room ; and in cases where the lodge was numerous, 
 two, flanked by benches with backs leaving a 
 commodious passage at each end for uses which 
 every brother is acquainted with ; and in the latter 
 case, the Senior Warden occupied the north-west, 
 and the Junior Warden the south-west end. On 
 these tables were disposed a pair of 1 8-in. globes ; 
 the perfect ashlar suspended from a Lewis, and 
 affixed to a winch ; and sometimes an air pump,
 
 144 
 
 an armillary sphere, and a small philosophical 
 apparatus, as well as the usual ornaments, furni- 
 ture, and jewels. The effect was imposing ; and 
 I think we have gained nothing by its sacrifice. I 
 confess I prefer this disposition of a lodge for 
 many reasons. It prevents that indiscriminate 
 arrangement of the members which occasionally 
 creates much confusion, by placing the brethren 
 more completely under the Master's eye, and con- 
 sequently under his command ; for in the present 
 arrangement of the lodge room, opportunities 
 are afforded for private conventions and conver- 
 sations, which are the bane of societies constituted 
 on the plan of masonry, and a violation of the 
 ancient charges of the order, which positively for- 
 bid them " to hold private committees or separate 
 conversation, without leave from the Master ; not 
 to talk of any thing impertinently or unseemly, 
 nor interrupt the Master or Wardens, or any 
 brother speaking to the Master." Such conduct 
 is sure to prove an obstacle to the good govern- 
 ment of the lodge, on which the stability and 
 success of the institution in a great measure de- 
 pend. 
 
 Besides, the table was a genuine Floor Cloth, 
 or great Tracing Board, not merely affording an 
 opportunity for every brother to reflect on the use 
 and application of the various symbols which he 
 has continually before his eyes, that point the way 
 to a series of invaluable conclusions, each of which 
 enforces some virtue, or inculcates some moral
 
 145 
 
 truth that may be brought into beneficial practice 
 during his commerce with the world ; but also 
 giving an increased facility of reference to the 
 Worshipful Master in the chair ; and making a 
 more permanent impression on the mind of a 
 newly initiated candidate, by a sight of the sym- 
 bols brought visibly under his notice, than by 
 merely naming them with the customary explana- 
 tions. Nothing fixes an object so firmly in the 
 recollection as to have it displayed before the eye ; 
 and therefore it was the laudable custom of some 
 worthy Masters of that period, to point out with 
 a wand to the Rough Stone in the north-east angle 
 of the lodge, the various emblems disposed before 
 him on the table, which were thus more appro- 
 priately illustrated, and more readily compre- 
 hended. The wisdom which was imparted by this 
 simple process would be esteemed of greater value, 
 because the candidate plainly saw that it was 
 practical ; and the explanations would have more 
 weight, because they would be understood to be 
 reasonable and just ; and he would depart more 
 perfectly satisfied that the institution into which 
 he had just been admitted was worthy of com- 
 mendation and approval. 
 
 The removal of the Tables at the Union in 1813, 
 was intended to supersede the custom of taking 
 refreshment during lodge hours, for which they 
 afforded the requisite convenience ; as if moderate 
 refreshment were inconsistent with the solemn 
 business of the lodge. The author of our being 
 
 o
 
 146 
 
 has better understood the nature of man. He has 
 assigned hours for labour and hours for refresh- 
 ment ; and he has appointed certain physical 
 appearances to determine beyond the possibility 
 of mistake, the recurrence of those stated periods 
 of time. The Sun rises in the East, and calls him 
 to labour ; it gains its meridian in the South, and 
 summons him to refreshment ; and it sets at length 
 in the West, to remind him that repose is necessary 
 to restore his exhausted strength for another day 
 of toil. On this principle Freemasonry was origi- 
 nally founded ; and no squeamish taste, or fastid- 
 ious opinion ought to induce us to abandon it. 
 The practice has received the sanction of all 
 antiquity, and forms one of the unchangeable 
 landmarks of the order. 
 
 Besides, its disuse precludes the duty of one of 
 the three Pillars of the lodge, the Pillar of Beauty, 
 and virtually annuls his office ; and how can a 
 lodge be supported if one of its main Pillars be 
 removed ? This officer proclaims aloud at the 
 opening of every lodge, that his duty is " to call 
 the men from labour to refreshment, and from 
 refreshment to labour, that pleasure and profit 
 may be the mutual result '" but in practice he 
 never discharges any such duty, and therefore 
 becomes liable to the imputation of negligence, 
 and his office of inutility. How does this agree 
 with the ancient charge which directs the Wardens 
 to be true to the Master and Fellows, taking care of 
 all tilings both within and without the lodge, that
 
 147 
 
 the Lord's work be not retarded ? But the Junior 
 Warden, by our present customs has no option 
 but to neglect his duty, by which therefore the 
 Lord's work is retarded, and he becomes amenable 
 to the penalty of disobedience. 
 
 I am not ashamed to acknowledge that I like 
 the good old custom of moderate refreshment 
 during lodge hours, because, under proper restric- 
 tions, I am persuaded that it is consonant with 
 ancient usage. The following are the routine cere- 
 monies which were used on such occasions by our 
 brethren of the last century. At a certain hour 
 of the evening, and by certain ceremonies, the 
 lodge was called from labour to refreshment ; when 
 the brethren " enjoyed themselves with decent 
 merriment," and the song, and the toast, prevailed 
 for a brief period. The songs were usually on 
 masonic subjects, as printed in the old Books of 
 Constitutions, and other works ; and although the 
 poetry is sometimes not of the choicest kind, yet 
 several of them may class amongst the best compo- 
 sitions of the day. Each song had its appropriate 
 toast ; and thus the brethren were furnished with 
 the materials for passing a social hour. And I can 
 say from experience, that the time of refreshment 
 iii a masonic lodge, as it was conducted up to the 
 Union in 1813, was a period of unalloyed happi- 
 ness and rational enjoyment. All was peace, 
 harmony, and brotherly love. The song appeared 
 to have more zest than in a private company ; the 
 toast thrilled more vividly upon the recollection ; 
 
 o3
 
 148 
 
 and the small modicum of punch with which it 
 was honoured, retained a higher flavour than the 
 same potation, if produced at a private board. 
 With what a profound expression of pleasure have 
 I often seen this characteristic toast received : 
 
 To him that all things understood, 
 To him that found the stone and wood, 
 To him that hapless lost his hlood, 
 
 In doing of his duty. 
 To that hlest age, and that blest morn, 
 Whereon those three great men were born, 
 Our noble science to adorn, 
 
 With Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty. 
 
 Alas ! most of the brethren of the times I speak 
 of, have gone to their long home ; and all but my- 
 self have bid adieu to masonry for ever ! 
 
 During these happy moments, the brethren 
 entered with much unction upon their refresh- 
 ments ; which were generally conducted with great 
 decorum in obedience to the old Gothic Constitu- 
 tions, which direct the brethren to " enjoy them- 
 selves with innocent mirth, treating one another 
 according to ability, but avoiding all excess ; not 
 forcing any brother to eat or drink beyond his own 
 inclination, according to the old Regulation of 
 King Ahashuerus ; nor hindering him from going 
 home when he pleases, lest the blame of their ex- 
 cess be unjustly thrown upon the fraternity. No 
 private piques, no quarrels about nations, families, 
 religions, or politics, must be brought within the 
 door of the lodge ; for as masons, we are of the 
 oldest Catholic Religion, and of all nations upon
 
 149 
 
 the Square, Level, and Plumb ; and like our pre- 
 decessors in all ages, we are resolved against 
 political disputes, as contrary to the peace and 
 welfare of the lodge." Occasionally, it is admitted, 
 the masons might and did transgress after the 
 lodge was closed ;* for, in the language of a writer 
 in Blackwood's Magazine, 2 " what says the poet, in 
 one of those inspired strains by which the gifted 
 sons of song, flinging the touch of genius around 
 them, and therewith illuminating and revealing the 
 sudden mysteries of nature, occasionally announce 
 sublime truths to the world ? 
 
 Punch cures the gout, the colic and the phthisic, 
 And is of all things the very best of physic. 
 
 Now although this is a poetical exaggeration, 
 yet it is to be presumed that the most captious 
 teetotaller will scarcely find any thing reprehen- 
 sible, amongst those who do not embrace his opin- 
 ions, if they should imbibe, in the course of an 
 evening, so much as two or three glasses not much 
 
 i I find in a printed Letter, dated " 9th Nov. in the vulgar 
 year of masonry, 5738," the following passage on the above 
 subject. " Some complain that the masons continue too long 
 in the lodge, spending their money to the hurt of their families, 
 and come home too late, nay sometimes intoxicated with liquor ! 
 But they have no occasion to drink much in lodge hours ; and 
 when the lodge is closed (always in good time) any brother 
 may go home when he pleases ; so that if any stay longer and 
 get intoxicated, it is at their own cost, not as masons, but as 
 other imprudent men may do, for which the fraternity is not 
 accountable ; and the expence of a lodge is not so great as that 
 of many a private club." 
 
 a Vol. xlviii. p. 216. 
 
 o 5
 
 150 
 
 larger than a tailor's thimble. And it is a well 
 attested fact, that the Freemason's Lodges, even 
 in those times of universal ebriety, were less liable 
 to exception than any other associations of the time, 
 notwithstanding the authority of Hogarth's libel- 
 lous portrait of Sir Thomas de Veill, in his picture 
 of Night, which is a wretched and defamatory 
 caricature, unworthy of its author, although in 
 keeping with the current slanders circulated to the 
 prejudice of the craft ; for a striking excellence of 
 the masonic system is, its dissuasives from intemp- 
 erance ; on which, as we have just seen, the ancient 
 charges are very pointed. Indeed Temperance, as 
 one of the cardinal virtues, is held in the highest 
 estimation, in the system of masonry. 
 
 When I was the Worshipful Master of a lodge, 
 the refreshments were abstemious and moderate. 
 The amount for each brother was strictly limited 
 to three small glasses of punch, and this was 
 seldom exceeded, except at the annual festival, 
 when a pint of wine was allowed ; and I am appre- 
 hensive that a similar regulation was adopted by 
 most other lodges ; at least I never met with an 
 exception on ordinary occasions. Under such re- 
 strictions, masonry was not likely to be charged 
 with intemperance and excess. It is not to be 
 denied but there were some brethren who displayed 
 an anxiety to have the allowance increased; but 
 the character of masonry prevented them from 
 persisting in their demands ; and I should think 
 au instance of a lodge, in these days, addicted to
 
 151 
 
 intemperance was not to be found. It would have 
 been a rara avis in terris, nigroque simillima cygno. 
 The mason of the last century, I am afraid, was 
 not constitutionally temperate ; but the fault was 
 not in the system, it was in the temper of the 
 times. No public literary or scientific pursuit was 
 carried on without being washed down by numer- 
 ous potations ; and it is sooth to say that most of 
 the private students of the time were addicted to 
 the same practice. 
 
 The present age has reversed the custom, and 
 fallen into an extreme equally reprehensible, and 
 at variance with scripture and reason. The prin- 
 ciple is carried to such an extent by some of the 
 Grand Lodges in the United States of America, 
 that they have enjoined total abstinence on the 
 brethren as a matter of duty. In the annual Re- 
 port of the Committee of Foreign Correspondence, 
 appointed by the Grand lodge of New York, in 
 in the year 1842, we find the following passage : 
 " Let us commend and congratulate our beloved 
 brethren of Ohio, for having grappled with and 
 subdued a more formidable enemy than even that 
 of rebellion INTEMPERANCE. The attention of 
 the Grand lodge of this state was directed to this 
 enormous evil many years ago. In June, 1816, 
 the following Resolution was adopted, and is still 
 one of the Regulations of this Grand Lodge. 
 1 The use of distilled spirits in Lodge Rooms, at 
 the meetings of the Lodges, is of evil example, 
 and may be productive of pernicious effects, and
 
 152 
 
 the same is therefore expressly forbidden under 
 any pretence whatever/ To the fraternity in 
 Ohio, we are indebted for the first bold stand in 
 a subordinate lodge in favour of total abstinence 
 from intoxicating drinks ; and while it appears to 
 be universally approved, they condemn any innova- 
 tion upon the ancient Landmarks ; referring the 
 cause to the great and all powerful test of the sub- 
 lime principles of our order, which disqualify the 
 inebriate from a participation in our rites, and by 
 enforcing which, intemperance must soon skulk 
 from our borders, and be a name known only to be 
 abhorred by every member of the fraternity. Let 
 none be initiated who have the least bias towards 
 intemperance, and let the initiated who are its 
 victims, be admonished, and we shall soon be clear 
 of this blot upon our escutcheon." 
 
 We are unable however to give this regulation 
 a decided approval, without first knowing the cir- 
 cumstances under which the injunction has been 
 issued. It appears more reasonable to believe 
 that total abstinence is contrary to our nature, and 
 at variance with the divine intention in placing 
 man on earth. 
 
 It is contrary to the nature of man to drink 
 water only, because, in most cases, the element is 
 impure and pernicious. Professor Clark, in his 
 lecture in the theatre of the Royal Polytechnic 
 Institution, on the subject of the impurities exist- 
 ing in water, stated that " serious fears ought to 
 be entertained of the consequences of swallowing
 
 153 
 
 the myriads of animalculae of the most disgusting 
 forms, and of horribly voracious and nimble habits, 
 \\hich abound in what is called the pure beverage 
 of the stream/ 5 And he further stated that ff not- 
 withstanding all the purification, by filtration and 
 otherwise, of the forty millions of gallons of water 
 which are daily supplied to the inhabitants of the 
 Metropolis, there were still held in solution, in an 
 invisible form, no less than about twenty-four tons 
 of carbonate of lime ; or in other words, of that 
 perilous stuff which constitutes the basis of the 
 calculi that, under the various terms of chalk 
 formations, concretions, &c., torment the human 
 frame, and bring it to premature decay." 
 
 The bishop of Norwich, speaking of the profes- 
 sors of total abstinence, says, " they are temperate, 
 certainly, but it is a physical kind of temperance. 
 Temperance does not consist in mere abstinence 
 from wine or from spirits, but in abstinence also 
 from anything that conduces to unhinge the mind, 
 and to unfit it for the society in which it moves. 
 This is too much to be seen in teetotalists ; they 
 are characterized by a sort of moral intoxication, 
 if we may so call it ; when once their passions 
 are excited, they know no bounds ; they irritate, 
 oppose, and denounce ; which is all foreign to the 
 precepts and principles of the gospel. Again, 
 there are certain fallacies in their arguments which 
 ought to be exposed. They object to anything 
 containing alcohol. Then why do not they object 
 to sugar ? Their common sense is at fault as well
 
 154 
 
 as their Chymistry. In order to explain the men- 
 tion of wine in scripture, they try to make out 
 that it is unfermented wine, instead of perceiving 
 that the great principle of scripture is, (as might 
 be illustrated by passages innumerable,) that it is 
 the abuse, not the use of a thing in which the sin 
 lies. I think teetotallers are in some sort, morally 
 intoxicated upon this point ; and judging from 
 their conduct upon too many occasions, I might 
 almost say they were labouring under a species of 
 delirium tremens." 
 
 This reasoning is consonant with religion. When 
 the Almighty intended to bestow the greatest 
 earthly blessings on his favoured people, he prom- 
 ised to give them for their inheritance, " a land of 
 oil and wine, of fields and vineyards;" 3 because 
 "wine maketh glad the heart of man, and oil 
 giveth him a cheerful countenance." 4 And even 
 under the present comparative neglect of the vine in 
 Palestine, it is allowed that grapes and clusters of 
 most extraordinary size are common. Doubdan, 
 in traversing the country about Bethlehem, found 
 a most delightful valley planted with vines, which 
 appeared to him of the choicest kind. He was 
 not there in proper time to make any observations 
 on the size of the clusters ; but he was assured by 
 the monks, that they still found some, even in the 
 present neglected state of the country, weighing 
 
 3 See Numb, xvi, 14. Deut. vi. ii. vii. 13. xi. 14. xii. 17. xiv. 
 23. xxviii. 51. 1 Chron. ix. 29, ct passim. 
 4 Ps. civ. 15.
 
 155 
 
 ten or twelve pounds. Reland also says that a 
 merchant who had resided several years at Ramah 
 in this neighbourhood, assured him that he had 
 there seen bunches of grapes weighing ten pounds 
 each. Forster mentions that he knew a monk who 
 had spent eight years in Palestine, and had been 
 at Hebron in the same district, where he saw 
 clusters as large as two men could conveniently 
 carry. 5 
 
 Can the advocates of total abstinence suppose 
 that all the abundance of rich fruit which Palestine 
 produced was consumed in its crude state ? Do 
 they forget the wine presses which were subjected 
 to tithe from their great value ? 6 Do they forget 
 the wine fats mentioned by Isaiah, 7 or the wine 
 cellars of David ? 8 Do they forget that when the 
 Israelites were threatened with plagues, one of the 
 severest was, an abstinence from wine, f( thou 
 shalt plant vineyards, but thou shalt not drink of 
 the wine, nor gather the grapes, for the worms 
 shall eat them ?" 9 Do they forget that when the 
 prophet reproved the hypocrisy of the Jews, he 
 called that hypocrisy a moral drunkenness, " they 
 are drunken, but not with wine," 10 intimating 
 that the former was the most debasing vice ? They 
 must have overlooked these, and many other scrip- 
 tural facts connected with the use of wine, before 
 
 5 See more of this in the Pictorial Bible under Numb. xiii. 23. 
 6 Numb, xviii. 27. 7 Isai. Ixiii. 2. 
 
 a J Chron. xxvii. 27. 9 Deut. xxviii. 39. 
 
 10 Isai. xxix. 9.
 
 156 
 
 they could make up their minds to advocate, under 
 whatever circumstances, the doctrine of total ab- 
 stinence. 
 
 While we contend, however, that the fruits of 
 the earth were vouchsafed by the divine goodness 
 to be used by man, let it not be understood that 
 we have the slightest intention of vindicating the 
 abuse of them, which, on the contrary we consider 
 to be a violation of God's gracious design. St. 
 Paul rebukes the Corinthians 11 for being drunken 
 at their feasts ; but in the very same chapter, to 
 show them the difference between temperance and 
 total abstinence, he takes wine himself, and cele- 
 brates the Lord's Supper. Those, therefore, who 
 would abolish wine because it intoxicates when 
 taken to excess, and would substitute some other 
 beverage of their own invention, even at the holy 
 sacrament, are evidently overlooking the sanction, 
 and violating the command, both of Christ and his 
 Apostles. But St. Paul in his exhortations to 
 temperance, includes meats as well as drinks, total 
 abstinence therefore, to be consistent, should do 
 the same ; for in the scriptures, gluttony is always 
 classed with drunkenness, and they are equally 
 condemned. 
 
 But while I find the Saviour of mankind recom- 
 mending " new wine to be put into new bottles ; 12 
 when he denominates Judea, which was the 
 finest country upon earth, e( the Lord's vineyard " 
 by way of excellence ; 13 when I find him drinking 
 
 11 1 Cor. xi. 12 Matt. ix. 19. 3 Mark xii. 1.
 
 157 
 
 it himself, and encouraging others to do the same, 
 by filling six water pots each containing two or 
 three firkins apiece, with wine, at the conclusion 
 of a feast "when men had well drunk ;" 14 when 
 I see him introducing it as one of the elements of 
 the most sacred rite of his religion, and declaring 
 not only that it shall be used to the end of the 
 world, but that it is also drank in the kingdom 
 of God, 15 I cannot do otherwise than conclude 
 that the system of total abstinence is a direct insult 
 to the Saviour of mankind, by a violation of his 
 commands, a renunciation of his example, and 
 setting up our own wisdom in opposition to his 
 most holy decision. 
 
 M John ii. 2, 10. Mark xiv. 25. 
 
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