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CHAPTER XX.

A. R. 26. 193. Brick and Mortar origin of the "Divine

Craft."

"Hail Masonry! thou craft divine!
"Glory of earth, from heaven revealed!
"Which doth with jewels precious shine,
"From all but Masons' eyes concealed."

Calcott's Disquisitions, p. 231.

It is important to the truth, that clear proof be furnished of the brick and mortar origin of the "divine craft;" that within a hundred years, it has assumed its heavenly character, has exalted itself above all principalities of the earth, and now spurns its honest progenitors.

The high claims have come in abundance; now follow some extracts of a more humble character. They are taken from an ancient author, already quoted in these pages, and again to be quoted, Lawrence Dermott, whose work has high celebrity among Masons, and is entitled, "Ahiman Rezon," the most truly masonic name of any author I have read.* The edition I use, was printed in London, 1764. The author assures us, in his preface, p. 15. "In the following sheets, I have inserted nothing, but what are undeniable truths." He is not so desperate a foe to truth as some. He sides with the ancient, in distinction from the modern Masons, and has not all the extravagance of the "young archi

*From this, the Book of Constitutions of South Carolina is called " Ahiman Rezon;" and the second title of the F. M. Library, which is the Book of Constitutions of Maryland, is "Ahiman Rezon;"" The F. M. L. and General Ahiman Rezon."

tects," who wished to have dispensed with wearing aprons; but he is not destitute of great merit as a pretender. I find the "New Monitor" indebted to him for the passage quoted:

"The very enemies of Free Masonry, must own, that it is the most renowned society that ever was, is now, or perhaps ever will be, upon earth, as the following true description will clearly show:

"Hail mighty ART-gracious gift of heaven,
"To aid mankind by our Creator given:

""Twas you alone which gave the ark its form,

"That saved the faithful from the impending storm," &c.

True as Free Masonry.

The lines are too wretched to be endured, and yet the sentiment deserves notice, especially as, in conclusion, he adds, "But methinks I hear some say, if Free Masonry be such, the brotherhood are the happiest men living ;" and he would have us conclude that they are.

"A heavenly ark, to show God saved the lives
"Of Masons four, likewise their happy wives."
(Noah and his family.)

"Such are the blessings of each time and season,

"Which God has promised to the master Mason.*

At the end of these profane lines, he has the following: "None but strangers to the craft, and ungenerous enemies to good society, will doubt the veracity of what is here inserted concerning Free Masonry." But let not the reader be out of conceit of this Ahiman Rezon; it is one of the least offensive, on the whole, of any masonic treatise I have read, and gives the following

* Masonic poets have followed the opinion of an ancient Jesuit, who says, Que la Sorbone n'a point de jurisdiction sur le Parnasse; et que les erreurs de ce pays la ne sont sujettes, ni aux Censures, ni à l'Inquisition. "As if men were forbidden to be impious and blasphemous in prose only."-Paschal's Lettres Provinciales, p. 221.

Charge for the management of the craft in working;" which will mightily help to discover the true origin of the order.

"All Masons should work hard and honestly on working days, that they may live reputably, and appear in a decent and becoming manner on holidays," &c. Work means work in this charge; but preserved in modern lodges, it means nothing and less; if it bore some proportion to play, it were a redeeming quality in the modern masonic application of the term; but it is a true minus quantity, difficult for beginners to understand, and serving the expert Mason in a pinch, as x serves an algebraist, for any unknown thing.

"A master Mason only must be the surveyor or master of the work, who shall undertake the lord's work reasonably, shall dispend his goods as if they were his own, and shall not give more wages than are just to any fellow or apprentice." [A. Rezon, p. 28.]

Master Masons were the highest needed in that age. Men would not then have known at what employment to set a royal arch. It will appear in due season, that masters in that day alone had charge of the work; and that "the holy royal arch," and all the sublime degrees, have had their being since the time, when the landlord's work in stone masonry began to be perverted for her profit and praise, to the Lord's work in Free Masonry. "Mark, Jew!"

"The master and the masons shall faithfully finish the lord's work, whether task or journey; nor shall they take work at task, which hath been accustomed to journey. (A. Rezon, p. 28.)

It was evidently the design of these ancient mechanics to favour a system of rules and prices of work, which they call journey work, in opposition to task work, or work, the price of which was to be agreed upon without reference to the fixed rates of the craft.

"None shall show envy at a brother's prosperity, nor supplant him, nor put him out of his work, if capable to finish it. All Masons shall meekly receive their wages without

murmuring, or mutiny; and not desert the master till the lord's work is finished," &c.; matter enough to prepare the reader for the proof yet to be given of the very recent origin of the *Noachidae and the science Mipas: I am in the midst of heaven.

It is evident that their emblems were derived, with their ceremonies, and charge, and aprons, from the men who work in brick and stone and mortar.

This truth beautifully illustrates another which has been charged to the vanity of the craft, viz. that the lamb skin, or white leather apron, the badge of Masons, is more ancient than the golden fleece or Roman eagle, more honourable than the star and garter, &c.

"Our leather aprons we compare

"With garters red and blue;

"Princes and kings our brothers are,

"While they our rules pursue."-Preston, p. 396.

We may say with Teresa to her loving spouse, Sancho Panza," What covers, discovers thee." Substitute sheep skin, for lamb skin apron, (the badge of a stone Mason, no

* Ahiman Rezon, p. 24, says: "A Mason is obliged by his tenure to observe the moral law, as a true Noachida," which he explains in a note, "Sons of Noah, the first name of Free Masons." And in this he is followed by the New Monitor, p. 109. I am bold to follow so high masonic authority, notwithstanding a trifling dilemma in which it seems involved; not unlike that of the origin of the royal arch degree. Masonic history asserts, that Adam and his sons were Free Masons; it would seem absurd, then, to say that Noachida, was the first name of Free Masons. But, doubtless, that Mesourania, which unites men of the most opposite tenets in one sacred band, can reconcile this discrepance with perfect harmony.

""Tis Masonry unites mankind;

"To generous actions forms the soul;

"In friendly converse all conjoined,

"One spirit animates the whole."--Old Song.

doubt, since rocks were handled by architects,*) and the vanity of the pretension sinks into the most lowly humility, and its seeming falsehood is converted into self-evident truth.

The Roman eagle did not, like the royal arch, have being before its parents, the Romans, nor until some thousand years after brick and mortar Masons wore good sheep skin

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THE Ceremonies and emblems of Masonry are indicative of its origin and character. It began with labourers, men

The newly initiated brother is girded with the emblem of innocence, more ancient than the tower of Babel, more honourable than the imperial dignity. Smith's Masonry, p. 297.

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