"WHY do you tell me of the generality of people, the very worst patterns of conduct? Why do you talk to me of custom, the teacher of all that is bad? Let us accustom ourselves to that which we know is best; so that will become usual which was unusual, and that will become agreeable which was disagreeable, and that fashionable which appeared unfashionable." ERASMUS.

"The sons of Saturn, among whom the empire of the world was divided, were three. Jupiter's fulmen trifidum, or threeforked thunderbolt, and Neptune's trident, were equally tokens of the profound veneration which the ancients entertained for this particular number."-BRYANT.

LECTURE I.

THE YORK CONSTITUTIONS.

"And after that was a worthy king of England that was callyd Athelstone, and his yongest sone lovyd well the sciens of Gemetry, and he wyst well that hand craft had the practyke of the sciens of Gemetry so well as Masons, wherefore he dreive hym to consell and lernyd practyke of that science to his speculatyf. For of speculatyf he was a master, and he lovyd well Masonry and Masons. And he bicom'a Mason hymselfe. And he yaf hem charges."-ANCIENT MANUSCRIPT.

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"May all Freemasons be enabled to act in strict conformity with the Constitutions of their order."-SECTIONAL CHARGE.

THE system of Freemasonry is a literal illustration of our traditional Grand Master Solomon's remark that "there is nothing new under the sun." The institution is ancient and unchangeable; the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Its details,

indeed, have been amplified and extended by a judicious application of the kindred sciences, but its fundamental principles are theoretically unalterable. And, therefore, although innovations innumerable have from time to time been superadded to the original system, yet they have failed to swamp its immoveable basis; and, like a rock in the midst of a raging sea, though storms and tempests have for ages beat furiously upon its breast, it still remains in its pristine integrity to enlighten mankind by the

effulgence of its doctrines and the purity of its humanizing precepts which point the way to another and a better world. The scions which have been progressively engrafted on the parent stem for good or evil, have not detoriated its original principles of pure and unsullied morality. Their design may be estimable, useful, and praiseworthy, but they are alien to genuine Freemasonry, and therefore most justly placed under the cognizance of other governing bodies, that no blending or spurious admixture may sully the purity of their symbolical prototype.

I do not, however, pledge myself to establish by documentary evidence that the Constitutions of Masonry are coeval with the building of King Solomon's Temple; although Doctor Anderson asserts that "the fraternity have always had a book, in manuscript, called the "Book of Constitutions." All we know of them, however, is, that they existed on the Continent of Europe before the tenth century, and at that period were pronounced ancient; but it must be admitted that the precise meaning which our Brethren of such a remote age attached to the word is somewhat problematical; and I am unwilling to hazard a positive assertion on that, as on some other doubtful subjects, unless borne out by undeniable evidence. Our traditions carry their antiquity to a very remote period; but as these traditions were transmitted down the stream of time by oral communication only, it is not improbable but they shared the fate of all other unwritten testimony; and if deteriorations became insensibly incorporated with them, some primitive truths might also be superseded,

which would effect great and organic changes in the historical legend relating to the antiquity of the Masonic Constitutions.

In order to verify these observations it may be useful to revert to the primitive York Constitutions, for the purpose of ascertaining what particular Points or Landmarks were enjoined by competent authority in the tenth century; and this will clear the way for an inquiry whether any of them have been encroached on; and, if so, how far such changes affect the moral and ceremonial status of the Craft. From a general view of Symbolical Freemasonry it would appear that the present arrangement was the result of a grand movement made by Prince Edwin and his confreres at the above period, during which all its ancient and genuine principles were brought together and remodelled into one consistent system, and permanently established by a Royal Charter, which was granted by King Athelstan to the first English Grand Lodge holden in the City of York. This portion of Masonic history is affirmed in an old record dating back as far as the reign of Edward IV., which testifies that "under the Charter of Athelstan, Prince Edwin summoned all the Masons in the realm to meet him in a congregation at York, and there a Grand Lodge was formed, of which he himself was Grand Master. His colleagues and agents had, with unparalleled industry, collected in foreign countries all the writings and records extant; some in Greek, some in Latin, some in French, and some in other languages; from the contents of which that assembly framed the Constitutions and Charges, and