237 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
237 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
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SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XIII August, 1935 No.8
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OLD ROMANCE
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by: Unknown
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<EFBFBD>Old Charges<65> - <20>Manuscript Constitutions<6E> - Manuscript Rolls<6C> - do
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these sound forbidding, only for students and delvers into musty
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antiquity? They should not, for in their withered pages and faint
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inks of days long gone lies old romance of Freemasonry, a genuine
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thrill for him who finds joy in being one of a long, unbroken line of
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brethren which stretches back into a dim and distant past.
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Some seventy-six of these old manuscripts are in existence; nine more
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are printed versions of ancient lineage, and thirteen others are know
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to have existed. Whether these latter have been destroyed, or will
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yet be found, only time will tell.
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The oldest of Freemasonry<72>s documents is the <20>Regius Poem,<2C> sometimes
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called the Halliwell Manuscript. It days from the fourteenth
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century; it probably was written A.D. 1390; antiquarians are fairly
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well agreed that while it can hardly be from earlier, and it could be
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from a few years later.
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It is the only one which is wholly in verse; an especially
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interesting circumstance in view of its age.
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Before the invention of printing, when writing was an art known only
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to a few learned men, it was common practice to pass important
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information from man to man by means of song, doggerel, sayings with
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some meter or rhythm which made them easy to remember. As the Regius
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Poem is obviously a copy of some older document, or documents, its
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form bears out the contention of critics that its antiquity of
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substance is much greater than the date of its writing
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Never a freemason attends lodge who does not utter the closing words
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of this ancient poem, which so far as evidence goes, are thus the
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oldest words in our ritual. . <20>Amen - So Mote It Be.<2E>
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The manuscript is beautifully hand written, on sixty-four pages of
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vellum, some four by five inches in size. The script, is old
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English, and many of the words are difficult for the non-antiquarian
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reader to understand.
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For instance, the first two lines are:
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Whose wol bothe wel rede and loke
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He may fynde wryte yn olde boke
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Which is literally:
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Who will both well read and look
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He may find written in an old book
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G.W. Speth, famous English Masonic authority, compiled a glossary of
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the old English words of the poem, invaluable to those who wish to
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translate this oldest document of the Craft.
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The Monk or Priest - which the writer probably was - embellished his
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work with red shading on all initial letters. The <20>Fifteen
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articles,<2C> and <20>fifteen point<6E> - <20>articulus<75> and <20>punctus<75> in the
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poem - are also in red. The verse is written in couplets, the
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majority of which are bracketed at the right hand side in red.
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The poem has seven hundred ninety-four lines, of which the first five
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hundred seventy-six are Masonic, the rest being a sort of sermon,
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with a distinctly Roman Church flavor, including references to <20>the
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sins seven,<2C> <20>the sweet lady<64> (Virgin Mary), <20>holy water,<2C> etc.
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The document is of intense interest to Freemasons for many reasons;
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the fifteen articles and points, repeated with variations in a large
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number of the older manuscripts, are incontrovertible evidence that
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Masonry even in those early days endeavored to inculcate morality,
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clean living and right thinking; develop character, thus having a
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speculative side in operative days. Indeed, Robert Freke Gould,
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famous Masonic Historian, initiated a controversy that has not yet
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ended when he commented on this poem as follows:
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<EFBFBD>These rules of decorum read very curiously in the present age, but
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their inapplicability to the
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circumstances of the working Masons of the fourteenth or fifteenth
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century will be at once apparent. They were intended for the
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gentlemen of those days, and in the instruction for behavior in the
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presence of a Lord at table and in the society of ladies - would have
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been equally out of place in a code of manners drawn up for the use
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of a Guild or Craft of Artisans.<2E>
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In other words Gould thought the <20>code of manners<72> was intended for
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speculative Masons, and that gentlemen, not engaged as Craftsmen, had
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already joined the Fraternity as Speculatives. This has been denied
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by other scholars, who maintain that men of good families (gentlemen)
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joined the Craft in the early days as operative Masons. The articles
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and points, both in this and later manuscripts. are the foundations
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of many speculative teachings of the Craft as know during the
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<EFBFBD>historical period<6F> from 1717 on. Moreover, internal evidence in
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this as in other manuscripts seems to indicate that the articles or
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points were read and recited to new brethren, just as modern Masons
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give a charge at the end of each degree, to impress the initiate with
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his duty as a Mason.
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Almost as old, and fully as important as the Regius, is the Matthew
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Cooke manuscript, so called because it was prepared for publication
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by that scholar in 18611. The whole is dated with considerable
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assurance by scholars as about 1450, but the latter part seems older,
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perhaps almost contemporary with the Regius Poem.
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Like the Regius, the Cooke manuscript is written on velum, forty
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folios, each about four and one-half by three and one-half inches in
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size, nine hundred sixty lines. It is embellished with handsome
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initial letters in red and blue, in considerable contrast to the
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brown ink of the old English text. The book is bound in oak covers,
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which bear the remains of a clasp.
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The English is considerably easier to read than that in the Regius
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Poem, but it is still difficult. The commences with the seven
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liberal arts, continues with an explanation of geometry, includes a
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fanciful but romantic history of Freemasonry (to be found in many
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other of the Old Charges or Manuscript Rolls) and ends with <20>nine<6E>
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articles and <20>nine<6E> points, and a charge, concluding with the
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familiar <20>Amen, So Mote It Be.<2E>
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Papers without end have been written of this precious old document;
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briefly, it is highly important because is seems definitely to show
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that it is a copy of an old docu-ment, which was copied by a member
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of the Craft. He not only wrote his own words, but added the <20>Booke
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of Charyges<65> as it had been written and commented on by still older
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writers. The word <20>speculatyf<79> occurs in its present Masonic sense.
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The nine articles seem to be legal enactments; the points, matters
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enforced by the Craft in ordinary Guild life. A Grand Master existed
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in fact, if not in name, presiding over <20>congregations<6E> of Masons
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only for the duration of the assembly. Finally, this document is
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obviously the source of many present usages, and even ritual.
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Custom and ritual come not only from the Cooke manuscript but from
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many of the older of Freemasonry<72>s documents. Masons today require
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that a man be <20>free born.<2E> This is <20>not<6F> a modernism designed to
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prevent Negroes from being permitted in the Craft. The fourth
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article of the Cooke manuscript reads: (words modernized)
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<EFBFBD>That no Master shall for any reward take as an apprentice a bondsman
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born, because his lord to whom he is bondsman to, from his art and
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carry him away with him out of the Lodge, or out of the place he is
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working in. And because his fellows, peradventure, might help him
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and take his part and thence manslaughter might arise; herefore it is
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forbidden. And there is another reason, because his art was begun by
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the freely begotten children of great lords, as forsaid.<2E>
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<EFBFBD>The doctrine of the perfect youth<74> is increasingly under fire in
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these times. More than one Grand Lodge has modified the ancient idea
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that only a physically perfect man can be made a Mason, changing a
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custom which has five hundred years of antiquity behind it. The
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sixth article of the Matthew Cooke Manuscript reads: (Words
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modernized)
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<EFBFBD>That no Master from covetousness or for gain shall accept an
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apprentice that is unprofitable; that is, having any maim (or defect)
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by reason of which he is incapable of doing a man<61>s proper work.<2E>
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The ninth article, Cooke Manuscript, will have a familiar ring to all
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Master Masons; (words modernized)
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<EFBFBD>That no Master shall supplant another. For it is said in the art of
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Masonry that no man can so well complete a work, to the advantage of
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the lord, begun by another as he who began it intending to end it in
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accordance with his own plans, or (he) to whom he shows his plans.<2E>
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The word <20>lord<72> of course, refers to he employer, not to Deity.
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No man become a Mason who will not or cannot express a belief in
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Deity. The first point, Cooke Manuscript, reads:
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(Words Modernized)
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<EFBFBD>To wit; whosoever desires to become a Mason, it behooves him before
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all things to (love) God and the holy Church and all Saints; and his
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master and fellows as his own brothers.<2E>
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All Masons obligate themselves in loyalty to the laws, edicts and
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resolutions of the Grand Lodge, the by-laws of their own Lodge.
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Compare the Cooke fourth point: (Words Modernized)
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<EFBFBD>He shall be no traitor to the art and do it no harm, nor conform to
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any enactments against the art nor against the members thereof; but
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shall maintain it in all honor to the best of his ability.<2E>
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From whence comes a Master<65>s autocratic power in the Lodge, by which
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he controls the brethren with the stroke of a gavel to do his
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pleasure in all that pertains to work or refreshment, debate or
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business? Read the Cooke sixth point: (Words Modernized)
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<EFBFBD>In the case of a disagreement between him and his fellows, he shall
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unquestioning obey the Master and be silent thereon at the bidding of
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the Master, or of his Masters<72> Warden in his Master<65>s absence, until
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the next following holiday, and shall then settle the matter
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according to the verdict of his fellows; and not upon a work day
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because of the hinderance to the work and to the lord<72>s interest.<2E>
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Modern Masonic appeal from a Master<65>s decision is to the Grand
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Master, or his representative, or Grand Lodge. The <20>verdict of his
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fellows<EFBFBD> is as binding today as in 1450.
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Masons today must obey a summons. Modern Lodges which forfeit their
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charter must give their resources to Grand Lodge. In the day of the
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unknown Mason who set down the articles and points of the Cooke
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Manuscript, the law ran:
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(Words Modernized)
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<EFBFBD>Therefore be it known; if any Master or fellow being forewarned to
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come to the congregation be contumacious and appear not; or having
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trespassed against any of the aforesaid articles shall be convicted,
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he shall forswear his Masonry and shall no longer exercise the Craft.
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And if he presumes to do so, the sheriff of the country in which he
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may be found at work shall put him in prison and take all his goods
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for the use of the King until his (the King<6E>s) grace shall be granted
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and showed him.<2E>
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Solar references in Freemasonry are numerous - circumambulation for
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instance, and the frequent references to the rising and setting sun.
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In an old manuscript in the possession of Lodge Scoon and Perth,
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Scotland, appears this:
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<EFBFBD>That sea lon and the sun ryseth in the East and setteth in the West,
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we would wish the blessing of God to attend us in all our wayes and
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actions.<2E>
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In the H.F. Beaumont manuscript, dated 1690, now in the West Yorks
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library, is a Latin description of <20>The Manner of Taking an Oath at
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the Making of a Free Mason.<2E>
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This is translated as follows:
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<EFBFBD>Then one of the elders holds out a book and he, or they, (that are
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to be sworn) shall place his, or their, hands upon it, and the
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following precept shall be read.<2E>
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The Colne and Clapham manuscripts (both of the second half of the
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seventeenth century, probably about 1660 or 1670) explicitly state
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that the right hand must be used. The Clapham manuscript refers to
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<EFBFBD>the Bible,<2C> the Dauntessey Manuscript (1765) to the <20>holy Bible,<2C>
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and the York Manuscript, No.2 (1704), to the Holy Scriptures.<2E>
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So many manuscript Constitutions have references to secrecy that a
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catalog might be wearisome; two, however, are of especial interest.
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In the Harleian Manuscript (somewhere between 1650 and 1700) appears
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this:
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<EFBFBD>There is seurall (several) words and signs of a free Mason to be to
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be revailed to yu wch as you will ans: Before God at the great and
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terrible day of Judgmt yu keep secrett & not to revail the same to
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any of the hears of any pson, but the Mrs. (Masters) and fellows of
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the said Society of free Masons so helpe me God xt.<2E>
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In the Dumfries-Kilwinning Manuscript, No.4 (about 1765) appears
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this<EFBFBD>
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<EFBFBD> . . . you are under voues take hee yt you keep ye ath and promis
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you made in the presence of Allmighty God think not yt mental
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reservation or equivocation will serve for to be sure every word you
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speak the whole time of your Admission is ane oath.<2E>
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In the same manuscript is a reference to modes of recognition:
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<EFBFBD>Nimrod taught ym signs and tokens so that they could distinguish one
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another from all the rest of mankind on earth.<2E>
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Again in this manuscript we find a caution for the Tiler and an
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admonition to <20>learn the work.<2E>
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<EFBFBD>No lodge or corum (quorum?) of Massons shall give the Royal Secret
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suddenly but upon great deliberation first let him learn his
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questions by heart then his symbols then do as the Lodge thinks fit.<2E>
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So this Bulletin may continue for many more pages. But enough has
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been said to show that the old, old pages, dimmed by time, the ink
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faded by the passage of hundreds of years, hold ancient romance for
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the Freemason. As he does, so did his Masonic ancestors. As says
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he, so said they; if not in the same language, at least with the same
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intent. Brethren of an old day, long before the formation of the
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first Grand Lodge, held high the Holy name of Deity, exhorted to
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brotherhood, taught morality, mutual help, charity. benevolence,
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read lessons from the working tools, tried to <20>square their actions
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by the square of virtue.<2E> But each, from the youngest to the oldest
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Mason, may catch, if he will, the sweet faint perfume of days that
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come not back; and thrill anew, as have so many uncounted and
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unknown, that he does today as did <20>all good brothers and fellows who
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have gone this way before.<2E>
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