The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

for the relief of those who are unable to relieve them selves . An opinion has been gaining ground for some time pas * thafc for a Steward to be of much service he must secure . * .

tolerably large list . Nothinsr is further from the facts of the ense . Large totals are of course desirable , but if we cannot have large ones let us have medium ones , or even small ones . If a brother can only secure one or two

amounts in addition to his own , let him not despair on that account ; if he cannot secure even one amount to support his own donation , let him not keep back . His efforts in the

cause must do good , and will without doubfc bear fruit some day , while his example will lead others to follow in his footsteps , perhaps to meet with greater success from friends than he was able to secure from his . If once

it becomes the rule for brethren to give up Stewardships because I hey cannot at first command a number of contributions ontside their own , the whole system of Stewardship will speedily come to an end , while it is only after setting

a good example , and then trying what can be done that brethren secure large totals . In face of the present outlook we urgently implore all who are able to lend a hand on behalf of the Benevolent Institution , and endeavour to make its Festival—to bo held this month—so great a success as to allow of au increase in the number o ' vacancies beino * declared before the next election .

Albert Pike's "Masonic Origins."

ALBERT PIKE'S "MASONIC ORIGINS . "

BY Bi . 0 . JACOB NORTON .

A REFORMER of religion , science , or politics , is very apt to be assailed by those whose cherished faith he is endeavouring to destroy , and such is also the case in Masonry : thus Bro . Krause was persecuted unto death by his contemporaries in Germany because he differed with

them about something . Bro . Daleho was deposed by two of his associates from Sovereignty of the A . and A . Rite because he knew more than they did . Bro . Findel is still detested by American Templars and other high

degreers because he exploded their fallacies , and Ave all remember what a hue and cry was raised against . Bro . Gould because he disproved Wren ' s connection with Freemasonry . The opponents to free inquiry can he divided into several classes . First , are those who believe in " the wisdom of

onr ancestors . They are opposed to innovation , simply because it is new . These are mentally mere crystalized fossils , ancl are impervious to reason . Second , are the luminaries , who have acquired a high reputation as Masonic

authorities . These , as a rule , will fight to the lasfc for every old absurdity , even after they are convinced that it is an absurdity . Here , however , we have a high degreer who frankly acknowledges that the legends of all our Rites and Degrees are mere fictions .

I have here , seemingly , a bran new pamphlet , minus , however , the names of the author and publisher—it is headed "Masonic Origins , " at the end of which is the well-known cross of a S . G . C . of ihe A . and A . Rite , and I have reason to believe that Bro . Albert Pike is its author .

I have made up my mind long ago that Bro . Pike was not Masonically orthodox , as far as Mnsonic traditions are concerned , ancl verily believe that the few concessions which Mackey , in the latter part of his life , made to reason and

common sense , were mainly due to Pike s influence . But be that as it may , Bro . Pike has come out with a confession of faith , and his motives , as well as his reasoning thereupon , seem to me very curious .

Bro . Pike seems to regard the Masonic degree manufacturing business from a political economy standpoint , viz ., supply and demand . It seems to be bis opinion that when Masons firsfc began to hanker after Christian

from Berlin or Paris a series of ancient Rites and degrees overflowing with Masonic light , and that the possessors of those Rites will be called Emperors of the Easfc and West ,

Masonry , that the degree inventor was perfectly right in making the hankerers believe that De Molay and the Knights Templars were Masons , that he was in possession of the Templars' mysteries , he , and that for a certain sum

he could transform them into genuine Knights Templars . After our Christian became Templarised , the degree manufacturer found that high titles were appreciated amono * our brethren ; and here again the degree inventor was perfectly justified in m . king that class believe that he had received

Albert Pike's "Masonic Origins."

Princes of Jerusalem , Princes of the Royal Secret . In 'short , tho Rite will confer npon a Mason moro titles than my Kinsr , Emporor , or Potentate ever had . And of course 'ho ambitious brethren rush into the newlv-invented

concern , and imagine themselves to bo very high in Masonry . Now , as a rule , the hankerers for more and more light , never can find time to read anything , but some of the infected with tho hi < rh decree fever seem to have srot old of

¦ - . ome old Masonic history , wherein they learned that old father Adam was a Mason . Thereupon they began to inquire as to what had become of the Adamite ritual , he . And here again , the degree inventor was justified in

persuading those zealous seekers for " more light that somebody from Egypt , Timbuotoo , or elsewhere , had empowered him to confer a scries of degrees , covering the whole period from the days of Adam to those of Solomon . And it is

amusing to read the writings of these high degree luminaries , boasting that four or five thousand years ago their Masonic degrees were deemed to have been ancient . Bro . Pike not only approves of the Masonic degree inventing

business , but he also lays down the law that the inventor of a degree or rite has a right to bo Grand Nabob thereof for life , that he may sell his right to another , and that whichever way the Nabobship was acquired the members of the concern are bound to obey the Nabob's dictum .

Here is a strange perversion of ideas , viz ., because supply ancl demand , in legitimate business transactions , is all right , therefore , when a Masonic simpleton hankers after ancient Degrees , the Degree manufacturer may palm off upon him

his new-made Degrees for old ones . Now , if a man sells an old coin , manuscript , & c , for a high price , and guarantees it to he old , and it is afterwards discovered that the seller himself had manufactured it , he is taken up and

punished as an impostor ; hence , I can see no reason why the seller of old Masonic degrees may nofc also be punished as an impostor . The truth , however , is the craze for more

degrees is now so great that our Masons will rash into any kind of humbug , knowing it to be such . Bro . Pike ' s motive , however , for coming out with the truth , is simply to convince the reader thafc as far as truth is concerned one

rite is just as good as another , he says : " The primary or earliest rite of Freemasonry was the Symbolic , commonly known as Blue Masonry , consisting

afc first of either one or two degrees , to which afterwards a third was added . When the first or second degree was invented , or by whom , or how , is not known . It is only known that until about a certain date there wero no

degrees , ancl that ifc was some time after the first two were invented and used , that the third degree was adopted . The three were invented in succession , and came into use before there were other organisations than that of Blue Masonry . '' Again .

" Every one knows that no snch a history , charges , and regulations , had come from Italy ( meaning Anderson ' s Constitutions , & o . ) , that the charges were nofc extracted from ' Ancient Records ' of Lodges beyond Seas . . . . that

the whole account of the Constitutions adopted by the Grand Lodge at York , of which Prince Edwin was Grand Master , and the adoption of the Constitutions in the times of Henry VI . and of Edward IV . was fabulous .

" But being drawn out by Anderson , they were adopted by the Grand Lodge , and by tlia ! , bovine obligatory , being in no wise vitiated by the false statements as to the

antiquity of the sources from which they were derived , any more than the laws of Numa Pompilius , because , to give them greater sanctity , he pretended thafc they were dictated to him by the Nymph Egeria . "

Now it is my humble opinion that if the laws of Numa had been ridiculous or unjust , and were only obeyed because the Nymph Egeria was believed to have dictated

them , thafc the moment the Romans discovered that the Nymph did not dictate them , they had a perfect right to discard them .

After our author has had his say about Blue Masonry , he skims over the origin of a dozen or more other Masonries . It seems that the A . and A . Rite historians claimed that nine Commissioners assembled afc either Berlin or

Bordeaux ( they do not seem to know which ) in 1762 . Thereupon Bro . Pike says : " Whether there was such an assembly ; whether , if there

was , it met in 1 / 62 , who the Commissioners were , how appointed and empowered , and how , when , and by what Body these Regulations were adopted , nothing whatever is , or has been , known . " Again , " The Templar degree made its appearance in England ,