bestowing good gifts and working good works; for, by a just praise to industry, you recommend the industrious man to those to whom he might never be known, and thereby enlarge his credit and his trade. By a just commendation of merit, you may open the paths of advancement through those whose power might never have been petitioned. By a proper praise of genius and art, you may arouse the attention of those patrons to whom the greatest deservings might have remained a secret. It is a degree of justice which every man has a right to from his brother, that his virtues be not concealed.

To shroud the imperfections of our friend, and cloak his infirmities, is Christian-like and charitable, consequently, befitting a Mason. Even the truth should not be told at all times; for, where we cannot approve, we should pity in silence. What pleasure or profit can there arise by exposing the secrets of a brother? To exhort him is virtuous; to revile him is inhuman; and to set him out as an object of ridicule, is infernal.

From hence we must necessarily determine that the duty of a good man leads to work out the works of benevolence; and his heart is touched with joy whilst he acts within these precepts. Let us, therefore, be steadfast and immovable in our ordinances, that we be proved to have a tongue of good report.

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LECTURE XIII.

ON THE OCCUPATIONS OF MASONS.

IN the former lectures we have declared it to be the opinion that Masons, in the present state of Masonry, were never a body of architects.1 By the Book of Constitutions, published by authority, we see no grand communication held in form, till of very late date; neither is there any evidence therein to contradict the positions we have laid down. The succession therein described is by no means to be accepted and understood in a literal sense, but as a pedigree or chronological table of the servants of the Deity working the duties of righteousness.

We ground a judgment of the nature of our profession on our ceremonials, and flatter ourselves every Mason will be convinced that they have not any relation to building and architecture, but are emblematical, and imply moral, and spiritual, and religious tenets. It appears self-evident that the situation of the lodge and its several parts are copied after the Tabernacle and Temple, and are representative of the universe, implying that the universe is the temple in which the Deity is everywhere present; our mode of teaching the principles of our profession is derived from the Druids; our maxims of morality from Pythagoras; our chief emblems originally from Egypt; to Basilides we owe the science of Abrax, and the characters of those emanations of the Deity which we have adopted, and which are so necessary for the maintenance of a moral society. We believe

1 Aliquando bonus Homerus dormitat. Our worthy brother has overlooked that proposition on which the revival of Masonry was founded, viz., "That the privileges of Masonry should no longer be restricted to operative masons, but extend to men of various professions, provided they were regularly approved and initiated into the Order.-EDITOR.

that our present ceremonies were more generally taught, and more candidates were initiated therein, on the opening of the crusades, than any other era, or on any other known occasion.

The English historians agree, that in the reign of Henry the Second, and the year 1188, at an interview between the Kings of England and France, attended by the prelates and nobility of both nations, the Archbishop of Tyre pronounced such a melancholy account of Saladine's successes in the Holy Land, and the miseries of the Christians in that country, that the audience was greatly affected with the relation, and the two kings agreed to convert their whole attention to the relief of those adventurers. They received the cross from the hands of the archbishop, resolving to go there in person; and their example was followed by Philip, Count of Flanders, and a great number of the prelates and nobility there present: a plenary indulgence was published in the Pope's name, for all those who would make a fair confession of their sins, and engage in the crusade: the different nations assumed crosses of a different colour, and rules and orders were established for preventing riot, luxury, and disorder on the enterprise.

These were the principal rules made for the regulation of the crusaders. We may conjecture, these religious campaigns being over, that men initiated in the mysteries of Masonry, and engaged and enrolled under those rules and orders which were established for the conduct of the nations in the holy war, would form themselves into lodges, and keep up their social meetings when returned home, in commemoration of their adventures and mutual good offices in Palestine, and for the propagation of that knowledge into which they had been initiated.

As a further argument that builders and architects were not the original members of our society, the Masons of the city of London obtained their incorporation and charter in the reign of King Henry the Fifth, in or about the year 1419; they taking on themselves the name of Freemasons. By their charter they are governed by a Master and two Wardens, with twenty-five assistants. Of this incorporated body, sixty-five are of the livery of London.

It has never been pretended that the society of Free and Accepted Masons have in any manner been connected, or much less have united themselves, with the incorporated body of Masons enchartered; but, on the contrary, have kept themselves totally apart.2

It has been alleged, that in the reign of King Henry the Sixth, a law was enacted, setting forth, "That by the yearly congregations and confederacies made by Masons in their general assemblies, the good course and effects of the statute of labourers were openly violated and broken, and making the future holding of their chapters and congregations felony."

It is impossible that this statute should relate to any other persons than the incorporated body of working masons; who, under an exclusive charter, by secret combinations raised the prices of their labour, and prevented craftsmen of their fraternity, not members of the charter, from exercising their trade within the limits of London; which might occasion a grievance worthy of parliamentary redress, but in what manner the statutes of labourers could be affected by the associations of our fraternity, is not in our power to comprehend. Our records give us no evidence of any such convocations, at the time mentioned.$

2 And yet a document has been produced by Halliwell which shows that the name of Freemason was given to those who practised the actual trade. "In the year 1506, John Hylmer and Wilson Vertue, Freemasons, were engaged to vaulte, or doo to bee vaulted with freestone, the roof of the quere of the College Roiall of our Lady and St. George, within the castell of Wyndsore, according to the roof of the body of the said College."-EDITOR.

It is, however, well known that about the time when the Norman dynasty was established in this kingdom, the study of architecture, as a science, was enjoined on the bishops and other dignitaries of the Church; because it was under their superintendence that ecclesiastical edifices rose in all the pride of gorgeous splendour; and the profession of Masonry was fostered and encouraged throughout Christendom. The Roman pontiffs conferred on the fraternity many valuable privileges, and induced its members to form themselves into lodges, where they practised those peculiar ceremonies by which they not only secured to their own body the essential benefits of companionship, to the exclusion of all the world besides, but also framed their own rules, settled their own wages, and enjoyed the proud satisfaction of knowing that they contributed, by their art, in no small degree, to the dignity and security of kingdoms; while the superb structures which they raised, dazzling with every rich variety

By the charter of Masons, they assumed the title of Freemasons, being entitled to the franchises of the city of London. Why the title of Free is annexed to our society, or that of Accepted, we hope we may be allowed to conjecture, was derived from the crusades. There the volunteers entering into that service must be freemen, born free, and not villains or under any vassallage; for it was not until long after the crusades, that vasallage and feudal services, together with the slavish tenures, were taken away.

They were entitled to the style of Accepted, under that plenary indulgence which the Pope published for all that would confess their sins, and enlist in the enterprise of the holy war; whereby they were accepted and received into the bosom of the Father of the Church. Some authors have presumed to tell us, that it was the original design of the Christian powers, in their enterprise in the Holy Land, to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem; but we cannot discover any good authority for this assertion. In modern Masonry it is given as a principle, why our dedication of lodges is made to St. John, that

5

of ornamental decoration, confirmed the superiority which they assumed in the walks of genius and learning, and secured for them the distinction and respect which always attend superior talent. Indeed, the appearance of so many stately ecclesiastical edifices spread over the island in all the unparalleled magnificence of Gothic architecture, during an age of semi-barbarism, could scarcely fail to impress upon the ignorant serf an idea that their builders were possessed of more than mortal powers. And this feeling would not be diminished by the impenetrable veil which was thrown over their transactions in tyled lodges; their habits of secrecy and taciturnity; and the profound deference which was always paid to their opinions by the rich and powerful, both in Church and State.-EDITOR.

We assign a different reason for those appellations. It is said that the Masons who were selected to work at Solomon's Temple, were declared free, and invested with other privileges. But the posterity of these Masons being carried into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, when the time was expired, they were set at liberty by Cyrus, and received permission to erect a new temple out of the ruins of the old one. This is the reputed origin of the title of Freemasons.— EDITOR.

5 There is no good authority for this assertion. The Templars were originally established to defend the pilgrims in their passage to and from the Holy Land; during which they were subjected to insult and injury from Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics. And, having erected their domicile on Mount Moriah within the precincts of the Temple, they were styled Templars.-EDITOR.