The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1882-03-15
THE MYSTIC BROTHERHOOD
Or. Crissom's Address to the
Masons, at Wilmington.

which under the prohibition OF write
chronicles, have been retained Of Ma
sonry In The East in remote ages
spreading TO Europe and the BIRTHS
Isles, with the gradual enlightenment
OF the earth in The arts and sciences,
will point you to the we'll ascertaiDe,
assemblage of treemasons in Yor k
shire, nearly t ousand years ago.
ModeIn iav,stiSati, rs by those bes
qualified 10 pronounce, confirm til
ancient belief that in 926 A D.. Lodg
was Instituted near the city of York
under the character OF King Atbelstane
and near that city, an ancient lodg
exists whose character is yet preserved
written in Anglo Saxon
Here and there, scattered through
Pfofane history may be found the fossil
remains, as it were, of masonic existenc,
under the tedious folios which contain
the strata of annual social progression
In the twelfth century the order ad
vanced to Scotland, where among /,
people of such Intelligence and native
| force cf character, the order reached {
high degree of prosperity. James | o.
that kingdom specified the revenue te
be paid by each Master Mason to the
Grand Master
| In the thirteenth century we learr
that the masons of Germany accepted
the obligations which affiliated then
with their bretheren of England
In later days efforts were made t(
circumscribe the growing influence Of
Masonry, az by the Act of Parliament
in 1925, under Henry vi, prohibiting
the meetings Of chapters, and the Vir-
gin Queen, Elizabeth, strove at one
time to destroy Masonry in England al
together, but her mistaken wrath was
turned aside.
There are numerous references IL
local histories and personal geographic:
to the social influences of Masonry fol
several centuries succeeding, down tt
the present day. Of these may bt
noted the diary Of Ashmole, the an
tiquaiy, who was made a mason il
| 1916.
On the accession of George l, tht
operative masons, then deprived of Si
Christopher Wren as their Grand Mas
| ter, as we are informed by Masonic his
torians. met together on st. j ohm the
Ban lists Day. at their place of ather
ing in st. Paul's Church in the yeal
l7l7, and the only four lodges in the
South Of England being present, to
gether with various old Masons, in the
words of Preston,* the lecturer and his
torian.
"The oldest Master Mason and the
Master of Lodge having taken tne
shair, list of proper candidates fol
the Office of Grand Master was pro-
duced, and the names being separately
proposed, the brethren, by great ma
jority of hands, elected MIR. Anthony
Sayer, Grand Master of Masons for the
ensuing year; who was forthwith in'
vested by the said oldest Master, in
stalled by the Master of the oldest
Lodge, and duly congratulated by the
assembly, who paid him homage
1t is not contended by intelligent
Masons that much has not been added
by the great lights in speculative Ma
sonry since the revival of the craft in
l717, which was undeveloped or fallen
into disuse before that period. The
spirit of Masonry is one of progress, but
is of slow and steady growth. But the
declaration of Mackay, in the most
learned and comprehensive work upon
whatever pertains to our craft, after the
results OF the most severe Investigations
have been duly considered, is given in
the following language:
There is unquestionable evidence
that the modes OF recognition, the
method of government, the legends, anC
much Of the ceremonial of initiation
were in existence among the Operative
Masons of the Middle Ages, and were
transmitted to the Speculative Masons
of the eighteenth century,
In 1929, the Duke Of n orfolk selected
Daniel Cox as Provincial Grand Master
for the colony of New Jersey, but or
ganic history in this country Begin
with the establishment of St. John
Lodge 10 Boston, in 1888 under charter
from the Grand Lodge of England, tn,
warrant being granted by Lord Viscoun
Montacute, Grand Master.
The Ancient or Scottish system wa
introduced into America, by charte
from Lord Aberdeen in 1856, and tn
two were maintained side by side il
various states until their union in 1892
lett but one Grand Lodge in each state
General Joseph Warren who fell a
Bunker Hill was the first Grand Maste
of the Lodge organized under the au
thcrity referred to, Of the Ancien
Grand Lodge of Scotland.
MASONRY IN NORTH CAROLINA.
The early annals Of Masonry in Nortl
Carolina are of surprising interest
while they are not free from points o
uncertainty in date, as to respective
events Thus Mackay the historian re
proves the carelessuess of Grand Sec
Williams of North Carolina, who in
formed the Grand Lodge of Kentuck
in 1903, that ''the Grand Lodge Q
North Carolina was instituted charte
from the Grand Lodge of Scotland, b
Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort, a
Grand Master. But he himself assert
probably the true date of the Provin
cial Grand Lodge of North Carolin
was by the appointment Of Josep
Montford as Provincial Grand Maste
toward 1869, by the Duke of Beaufor
of the Grand Lodge Of England, an
that in l77l, said Montfort constitr
ted St. Johns Lodge at Newbern.
Hele it may be well to state that th
unpublished manuscript history {
James Banks, who had examined tn
.opie with tilial zeal, contains an ex