The Masonic "Old Charges."

The Masonic " Old Charges . "

THE operative Masons had special rules and regulations for their guidance from the fourteenth century and earlier , many copies of which are still preserved in the British Museum and in other public and private libraries ; but only one of the existing scrolls can be dated so far back as 500 years . Several , howeverare of the seventeenth

, century , and cover the eventful period immediately preceding the formation of the premier Grand Lodge at London , England , in A . D . 1717 . With these laws were certain traditions which thereby distinguished the Freemasons from all other crafts , the

complete rolls being the title deeds of our inheritance as members of the " Mystic Tie " and direct successors of oinoperative and speculative forbears . About seventy of these documents have been traced , mostly during the last forty years ; and many have been

discovered and copied by the writer , who has devoted much of his time to the study of these valuable and deeply interesting relics of the past ; the results being embodied in the second edition of his "Old Charges of the British Freemasons" ( London , 1895 ) ,

WM . JAMES HUGHAN . In The Xew Age for July is an excellent review of Mr . Gould ' s " Concise History of Freemasonry , " the latest work on the subject , in which mention is made of the importance of these scrolls , known as the " Manuscript Constitutions "

, their value being duly appreciated by the Hon . George F . Moore , the accomplished editor . The texts of the numerous " Old Charges " would interest a large circle of arclneologisls , Masons and non-Masons alike , if the rolls were better known .

The majority of the " Old Charges " begin with an invocation to the Trinity , viz . : — The might of ( lie Father of Heaven wilh ( lie wisdom of ( lie glorious Son , through the grace and the goodness of the HoI ) Ghost , that be three persons in one

Godhead , be with us at our beginning , and give lis grace , so lo govern us herein our life , that we may come to his eternal bliss that never shall have ending , . linen . ( The Haddoii Manuscript . ) The cosmopolitan and unsectarian features of the craft belong to the post Grand Lodge era .

About a dozen copies or versions have the " Apprentice Charges "—agreeing mainly with the Apprentice Indentures to Trades generally ; and some contain the " New Articles , " suggestive of late modern adaptations , an incorrect and garbled copy of one of these manuscripts being given in the " Book of Constitutions , " by Dr . Anderson ( A . D . 1738 ; said to be of 1663 ) . None of such original documents are dated , however .

While the various versions , as a rule , differ from each other in some respects , they all have much in common , and their Christian character is still further emphasised by the " First Charge that you shall be true men to God and Ihe holy Church " ( Carson Manuscript , " A . D . 1677 ) , which begins all the regular operative rules ; and still more explicit references in some others are also met with , such as in the " York Manuscript No . 6 " ( late seventeenth century ) : —

1 ) oe all as you would bee done unto , and I beseech you att every meeting and Assembly you pray heartily for all Christians—( "farewell . The limit for obligatory attendance at the Annual Assemblies varies considerably , running from live to fift y miles ;

but the greater number contain Jifly . The variation from that figure is evidently an error , and is found in about twenty copies . They are often met with of paper , but sometimes the material selected is vellum , and occasionally the caligraphy

is beautiful and ornamental . The rolls are usually a few inches wide , and run to a considerable length , the longest known being that of the " Dumfries Kilwinning Manuscript No . 3 , " of nearly fifteen feet ! A few are in book form , and written on the finest vellum . The " Alnwick Version , " of

A . D . 1701 , is written in the Lodge Minute Book , the Records beginning from October 13 , 1703 , and continuing to 1757 , the old Lodge remaining independent from Iirst to last . This manuscript provides that a Master must " enter him —i . e ., Apprentice—and give him charge within a year

after ; " the "Gateshead Manuscript , however , required " that the charge must be given at the time of registering , or within thirty days after , " but there was no general rule on the subject . Differences are also to be noted as to wages .

A curious reading is met with in the " York Manuscript Xo . 4 , " of A . D . 16 93 , which I referred to in my "Masonic Sketches and Reports , " A . D . 1 S 71 . My reproduction was doubted at the time , but has since been confirmed bv Heir Findel and other experts . It occurs in the admonitory portion prior to the obligation being administered : —

The one of ( he elde ; s taking the Bool-Land ( hat hee or slice that is to bee made Mason shall lay ( heir hands thereon and the charge shall be given / i . e ., on llie Fable ) . Occasionally the clause is in Latin , so that the words tile vcl ill ! may have been read as / ' //_• vcl ilia , or possibly the

word they was written as Ihe , and thought to be she . However , to suppose-that females were initiated would be absurd and wholly unwarranted ; though , at iirst sight and without comparison with other manuscripts , the text of this roll certainly suggests such , a view .

Dr . Begemann has done much good work in classifying the various versions and arranging them in families , based upon special characteristics of certain groups , and my lodge —Ottaliior Coroitali , London—the West Yorkshire Province , and other Masonic Library Organizations and personal friends

have had many of the " Old Charges " facsimiled and published ; so that , between us , nearly all have been reproduced precisely according to the valuable originals . I have arranged full particulars of all these documents , reproductions , and reprints , their transcribers , owners , & c , in alphabetical form ,

which manuscript may be promoted to print ere long . Meanwhile , in various histories published in the United States , information as to the scrolls may be obtained by American