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  • Oct. 1, 1878
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The Masonic Magazine, Oct. 1, 1878: Page 36

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    Article NOTES ON LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART. ← Page 2 of 4 →
Page 36

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Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

twenty centuries , one can look back into Judea , ancl see the usurper , Adonijah , on hearing how his half-brother , Solomon , had been anointed king , by command of their common father , David , fleeing to lay "hold on the horns of the altar " at Gribeon , ancl we can almost fancy that we , too , hear the new king exclaiming when the tidings are brought to him : " If ho will show himself a worthy man , there shall not a hair of him fall to thc earth : but if wickedness shall be found in him , he

shall die . " And we can easily imagine we see Benaiah , tho son of Johoiada , the year following , savagely slaughtering Joab , by his cousin Solomon ' s command , even after he had " fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord , ancl caught hold on the horns of the altar , " vainly hoping to there find sanctuary . But , though blood is said to be thicker than water , the common ties of kith and kin did not avail in the least to save the two offenders from thc fatal penalties of their treason . Indeed the heathen nations seem

to have held the privilege of sanctuary more sacred than the Jews ; though no man could ever count on safety anywhere who had offended his monarch and the priesthood as well . Macaulay has well remarked , that " in times when life ancl when female honour were exposed to daily risk from tyrants and marauders , it was better that the precinct of a shrine should be regarded with an irrational awe than that there should be no refuge

inaccessible to cruelty ancl licentiousness . " Our Saxon forefathers duly regulated the privilege of sanctuary by law , ancl therein protected the offender for thirty days , at tho expiration of which he was safely handed over to his relations ; thus giving him some time in ivhich to arrange for those money mulcts which were then , as now , too frequently the unequal punishment of crimes . It was in their clays that tho custom arose at Beverley ivhich Mr . Andrews has ably but not exhaustively chronicled in a few pases .

In the able History and Antiquities of the Town and Minster of Beverley , from the prolific pen of our late Reverend Brother , George Oliver , we are told : — " It was reserved for Athelstane , the benefactor of the town of Beverley , to unite the whole kingdom under one head , by the annihilation of the Danish sovereignty ; " and how , "in the first year of his reign , he gave a charter of liberties to the church ancl town of Beverley , which placed it at the head of the East Riding of Yorkshire : " ancl , after

particularizing a few of those , ho adds : " The right of sanctuary was now first vested in the Church of St . John , by tho pious munificence of Athelstan , ancl a Fridstol , or chair of peace , was placed in a conspicuous situation near the altar , as an emblem of protection to the refugee . Tho limits of the sanctuary , called Leuga , were comprehended within the circumference of a circle , of which the church ivas the centre , and whose radius was about a mile . It was defined by four crossesone of ivhich still [ 1829 ]

, remains in a dilapidated state . These crosses were placed on the four principal roads leading to the town . One was called Molescroft Cross , and stood near Leckonfield Park ; another towards North Burton ; a third towards Kinwal graves ; ancl the lasttc the south of Beverley , on the road which led to the ferry across the Humber . " The penalties for arresting any malefactor within the crosses were very severe , —two hundreth , each hundredth containing eight pounds ; which was doubled to four hundredth within

the town ; increased to six hundredth if within the walls of thc churchyard . : which was doubled to twelve hundredth if within the church : and again increased to eig hteen hundredth , besides penance for sacrilege , if within the doors of the choir ; "but if he presumed to take him out of tho stone chair near the altar , called Pridstol , or from among the holy relics behind the altar , the offence was not redeemable with any sum , but was then become sine emendatione , boteles , and nothing but the utmost severity of the offended Church , " says Pegge , " was to be expected , by a dreadful excommunication , besides what the secular power would impose for the presumptuous misdemeanor . "

When our ancient operative brethren at Beverley had completed "the north porch , and the ivest front , ivith its majestic towers and battlements , and , perhaps , some of tbe windows in the choir and east end , " as Bro . Oliver expresses it , Richard H . confirmed , among other liberties and privileges , " its sacred right of sanctuary ; which , within a very few year's , afforded its protection to Sir John Holland , kni ght , half-brother

“The Masonic Magazine: 1878-10-01, Page 36” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 9 June 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmg/issues/mmg_01101878/page/36/.
  • List
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Title Category Page
Monthly Masonic Summary. Article 1
CHARTER OF SCOON AND PERTH LODGE, A.D. 1658. Article 2
THE SO-CALLED LOCKE MS. Article 4
AN OPENING ODE. Article 7
MASONRY AND CHRISTIANITY. Article 8
A SONG FOR SUMMER. Article 9
FIVE POINTS OF FELLOWSHIP. Article 10
BEATRICE. Article 11
ART-JOTTINGS IN ART-STUDIOS.* Article 14
LEND A HELPING HAND. Article 16
AUTUMN LEAFLETS. Article 17
AN IMPROMPTU. Article 19
LORELEI. Article 19
MILDRED: AN AUTUMN ROMANCE. Article 21
A VISIT TO ASHOVER CHURCHYARD. Article 25
LOST AND SAVED; OR, NELLIE POWERS, THE MISSIONARY'S DAUGHTER. Article 28
REVIEW. Article 32
SONNET. Article 34
NOTES ON LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART. Article 35
THE MODERN ORDER OF "KNIGHTS TEMPLAR" IN THE BRITISH DOMINIONS. Article 38
THE ORIGIN AND REFERENCES OF THE HERMESIAN SPURIOUS FREEMASONRY. Article 46
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

twenty centuries , one can look back into Judea , ancl see the usurper , Adonijah , on hearing how his half-brother , Solomon , had been anointed king , by command of their common father , David , fleeing to lay "hold on the horns of the altar " at Gribeon , ancl we can almost fancy that we , too , hear the new king exclaiming when the tidings are brought to him : " If ho will show himself a worthy man , there shall not a hair of him fall to thc earth : but if wickedness shall be found in him , he

shall die . " And we can easily imagine we see Benaiah , tho son of Johoiada , the year following , savagely slaughtering Joab , by his cousin Solomon ' s command , even after he had " fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord , ancl caught hold on the horns of the altar , " vainly hoping to there find sanctuary . But , though blood is said to be thicker than water , the common ties of kith and kin did not avail in the least to save the two offenders from thc fatal penalties of their treason . Indeed the heathen nations seem

to have held the privilege of sanctuary more sacred than the Jews ; though no man could ever count on safety anywhere who had offended his monarch and the priesthood as well . Macaulay has well remarked , that " in times when life ancl when female honour were exposed to daily risk from tyrants and marauders , it was better that the precinct of a shrine should be regarded with an irrational awe than that there should be no refuge

inaccessible to cruelty ancl licentiousness . " Our Saxon forefathers duly regulated the privilege of sanctuary by law , ancl therein protected the offender for thirty days , at tho expiration of which he was safely handed over to his relations ; thus giving him some time in ivhich to arrange for those money mulcts which were then , as now , too frequently the unequal punishment of crimes . It was in their clays that tho custom arose at Beverley ivhich Mr . Andrews has ably but not exhaustively chronicled in a few pases .

In the able History and Antiquities of the Town and Minster of Beverley , from the prolific pen of our late Reverend Brother , George Oliver , we are told : — " It was reserved for Athelstane , the benefactor of the town of Beverley , to unite the whole kingdom under one head , by the annihilation of the Danish sovereignty ; " and how , "in the first year of his reign , he gave a charter of liberties to the church ancl town of Beverley , which placed it at the head of the East Riding of Yorkshire : " ancl , after

particularizing a few of those , ho adds : " The right of sanctuary was now first vested in the Church of St . John , by tho pious munificence of Athelstan , ancl a Fridstol , or chair of peace , was placed in a conspicuous situation near the altar , as an emblem of protection to the refugee . Tho limits of the sanctuary , called Leuga , were comprehended within the circumference of a circle , of which the church ivas the centre , and whose radius was about a mile . It was defined by four crossesone of ivhich still [ 1829 ]

, remains in a dilapidated state . These crosses were placed on the four principal roads leading to the town . One was called Molescroft Cross , and stood near Leckonfield Park ; another towards North Burton ; a third towards Kinwal graves ; ancl the lasttc the south of Beverley , on the road which led to the ferry across the Humber . " The penalties for arresting any malefactor within the crosses were very severe , —two hundreth , each hundredth containing eight pounds ; which was doubled to four hundredth within

the town ; increased to six hundredth if within the walls of thc churchyard . : which was doubled to twelve hundredth if within the church : and again increased to eig hteen hundredth , besides penance for sacrilege , if within the doors of the choir ; "but if he presumed to take him out of tho stone chair near the altar , called Pridstol , or from among the holy relics behind the altar , the offence was not redeemable with any sum , but was then become sine emendatione , boteles , and nothing but the utmost severity of the offended Church , " says Pegge , " was to be expected , by a dreadful excommunication , besides what the secular power would impose for the presumptuous misdemeanor . "

When our ancient operative brethren at Beverley had completed "the north porch , and the ivest front , ivith its majestic towers and battlements , and , perhaps , some of tbe windows in the choir and east end , " as Bro . Oliver expresses it , Richard H . confirmed , among other liberties and privileges , " its sacred right of sanctuary ; which , within a very few year's , afforded its protection to Sir John Holland , kni ght , half-brother

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