An Illegitimate Son Disqualified For Masonry.

AN ILLEGITIMATE SON DISQUALIFIED FOR MASONRY .

HE who assumes to be a teacher in Freemasonry should first have been a learner , or his opinion will be worthless . Everything of value in Freemasonry is based upon authority . No brother can evolve Masonic doctrine out of his inner consciousness . Masonio truth is objective , not

subjective . It exists in tho Usages , Customs and Landmarks of the Craft , and these are matters of Masonic record . It is not in the power of any brother to make Masonio law—he can only declare it . That law was made generations and centuries ago , and every purely modern

enactment should be in harmony with it , and justly interpret it , or else it becomes a departure from the primitive Usage , Custom , or Landmark , vicious in effect , and injurious not only to the local , bnt also to the universal Craft .

Under the caption , " Is His Record Clear ?"—that is , " Is the Candidate ' s record clear ?"—the Masonic editor of the New York Sunday Times , in its issue of 14 th June , has a remarkable article—remarkable for its ex-cathedra

character , its erroneous interpretation of Masonic Usage , Cnstom , and Landmark , its mis-statement of Masonic practice , and its perversion of the principles of Freemasonry . Every one of its assertions is contrary to the Masonic law and the Masonic fact involved .

We give , below , for fairness , the article entire , and shall then point out its errors , basing our remarks not upon our individual opinion , bufc upon the highest authorities known to , and accepted by , Freemasonry . Our judgment is only

of value so far as it is the voice of undoubted Usage , Custom and Landmark . We do not now , and never have assumed to , make Masouic law ; we only declare it . The Times says :

" Grand Master MacCalla , of Pennsylvania , is credited with a decision which , fortunately , is neither official nor final . He is vp . ported as having decided' that an illegitimate son is disqualified for initiation into Freemasonry , ' adding that ' according to the Landmark , an applicant mnst be the son of honest paronts . ' Kegnrding

the ' Landmark ' to whioh he ullndes , he must have an exclusive right to it , aa it is ono of his own raising . Wo never havo soon or heard of such a creed in any legitimate Masonic literature , and for the credit of the Craft we rejoice that such is the case . Snch a creed is at direct variance with every principle and essenco of

Masonry , and ho who propounds such a theory , or attfinpts to engraft such dangerons creeds into tho Masonio formula , is certainly most injadicionp , to use no harsher term . " Fortunately , however , this ' decision' is bnt the opinion , and a most ill jndged one , of one man , nnd as such by no means binding in

its application , nor wide-spread in its operation . Masonry owns no snch norrow theorism ; it is truer , broador , deeper in its humanitarian iam , owning no such vindictive creed as this—visiting the sins of the paronts upon the children , another form of ancient injustice , a modern application of vicarious atonement .

" No ! In Masonry , merit alone is the standard j by that each one is weighed , and woe to him if ho be fonnd wanting . Let his individual record be clear , and we care not who nor what his father was . Whilo we honour hereditary integrity and appreciate tho dignity of transmitted nobility , wo own no law of primogeniture that will throw

our portals open to the coming roan who seeks admission merely on the merits of hia father . It is the man himself we gauge—for it is he , individually , whom we must sit in council with . " Another point in thia matter—and a most significant one , is : This law , if observed , would carry with it other conditions

inferentially . If the worthy ones outside our doors are denied admission becanse of the sins of their parents , how shall we deal with onr Brothers in good standing when , as has occurred frequently , their parents may have sinned against God and man ? To be jnst , one must

be consistent—and , with Bro . MaoCalla ' s creed put in operation , either of these would be impossible . " No ! Let no consideration but personal merit hold sway when a candidate knocks at onr doors . "

We will endeavour to correct the errors stated above , and correct them by authority , found abundantl y in "legitimate Masonic literature . " The Grand Master ' s decision referred to , that " an illegitimate son is disqualified for initiation into

Freemasonry , was both official and final , in the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania , where it was rendered . But it set forth no new law : this law is as old as the Craft , and has been uniformly interpreted as set forth above , by the highest and best authorities , both in America and Europe .

Let us begin with Pennsylvania . The decision was immediately based upon a report of the Committee on Landmarks of tho Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania mado on 2 nd Juno 1869 , and approved by vote of the Grand Lodge , as follows : — " As to the real question involved , in the communication referred to

An Illegitimate Son Disqualified For Masonry.

this Committee , it is of opinion that it is only necessary to quote the Landmark , which cannot be altered . It is aa follows : ' No Master shonld take a ' prentice that is not the son of honest parents , a

perfect youth , without maim or defect in his body , and capable of learning tho mysteries of the art . ' This is the Landmark . It is not necessary to say , as a Landmark it is beyond the power of £ any Mason to alter or change it . "

It is clear , therefore , that the decision referred to is the authoritative and established law of Pennsylvania . But it is more than this : it is , and always has been , the law of the universal Craft . This is provable from the oldest of the "Masonic Charges , " the "Regius" or " Halliwell "

MS . of A . D . 1390 , the " Torgau Ordinances" of the German Stonemasons of 1462 , the German " Brother-Book " of the Steinmetzen of A . D . 1563 , the " Dowland " MS . of 1550 , the " Lansdowne " MS . of 1560 , the " York "

MS ., No . 1 , of 1600 , the "Sloane" MS . of 1646 , the "Harleian" MS . of 1670 , tbe "Alnwick" MS . of 1701 , the " Papworth " MS . of 1814 , and others , too numerous to mention .

The oldest ( " Regius " ) MS . states it thus : " So that the prentice be of lawful blood . " The Harleian MS . phrases it :

* ' Descended of good and honest parentage . " Bro . Robert Freke Gould , in his Commentary on tho " Regius " MS ., says : " The Apprentice must be of lawful blood . "

Writing concerning the German Ordinances of 1462 and 1563 , Bro . Gould very positively and distinctly says ( History of Freemasonry , Vol . I ., p 144 ) : — '

" Tho first condition , preliminary to binding an apprentice , was that he should prove his legitimate birth . " Bro . George F . Fort , in his " Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry , " is equally explicit : —

" It was an unvarying qualification , nnd one not restricted to Masonic fraternities , that the candidate should be of sound body and mind , and unqualifiedly of legitimate parentage . This last stipulation was insisted noon in the thirteenth century , by the French stonecutters , nnder penalty of a heavy fine . "

Tho Boileau MS ., of 1254 , a collection of rules regulating the various trades— " Reglemens sur Les Arts et Metiers do Paris , " codified by Etienne Boileau , Provost

of Paris under King Louis IX ., according to Bro . Fort contained : i similar provision ; and ho adds , " Thus early , it would seem , no bastard could become a Mason . " Fort ' s History , pp 206 , 105 .

So , P . G . M . Bro . Dr . Rub Moms , in his "Dictionary of Freemasonry , " p 249 , under tbo caption , " Qualifications requisite to admission into Blue Lodgo Masonry , " gives

the following : " 5 . Of honest parentage . * No bastard ? ' ' Descended of honest parents , ' * Of a good kindred , ' ' Of honest parentage . '"

The old "Constitutions bear the samo testimony , including Anderson ' s 1723 and 1738 Constitutions , and Noorthouk's 1784 Constitutions .

To sum it all up , for five hundred years , at least ( from A . D . 1390 , the date of the " Regius " MS ., to A . D . 1890 , the date of the last official decision , of Grand Master

MacCalla , on tho subject in Pennsylvania ) , it has been a Landmark in Freemasonry that a candidate must be " of lawful blood , " " the son of honest parents , " and " no bastard . "

Having abundantly established the fact that the law of Masonry , from the very earliest days concerning which a record remains , has forbidden the initiation of an illegitimate son , let ns consider the reason of the rule . A bastard is a degraded , unfortunate creature , the child

of crime—the " son of the pack-saddle , " as tho French called him , fils de bast , becanse the muleteers were accustomed to use their saddles for beds in tho inns where they stopped over night . Would the reader have his daughter marry a bastard , or his son habitually associate with him ?

No more would Freemasonry include him among its " good men and true . " The Craft's aims are high , its purpose ennobling , its usages , cutoms and Landmarks its own . Let other societies include illegitimate sons among their

initiates , if they will , Freemasonry will not . Wo proudly style ourselves , " ancient and honourable . " We certainly shonld not be " honourable " if we included bastards in onr membership . —Keystone .

Ar00402

FUNERALS properly carried out and personally attended in London and Country , by Bro . Ch A . HTTTTON , 17 Newcastle Street , Strand , W . C . Monuments erected . Valuations made