Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

430 LECTURER
LECTURES
liminary essay, enabling the student, as
advances in his initiation, to become acguainted
with the symbolic character of the
Institution . But if he ever expects to become
a learned Mason, he must seek in other sources
for the true development of Masonic symbolism
. The lectures alone are but the primer of
the science .
Lecturer, Grand . An officer known only
in the United States. He is appointed by the
Grand Master or the Grand Lodge . His duty
is to visit the subordinate Lodges, and instruct
them in the ritual of the Order as practised in
his jurisdiction, for which he receives compensation
partly from the Grand Lodge and partly
from the Lodges which he visits .
Lectures, History of the . To each of the
degrees of Symbolic Masonry a catechetical
instruction is appended, in which the ceremonies,
traditions, and other esoteric instructions
of the degree are contained . A knowledge
of these lectures which must, of course, be
communicated by oral teaching-constitutes
a very important part of a Masonic education ;
and, un the great progress made within the
resent century Masonic literature, many
p`bright Masons," as they are technically
styled, could claim no other foundation than
such a knowledge for their high Masonic reputation.
But some share of learning more
difficult to attain, and more sublime in its
character than anything to be found in these
oral catechisms, is now considered necessary
to form a Masonic scholar. Still, as the best
commentary on the ritual observances is to be
found in the lectures, and as they also furnish a
large portion of that secret mode of recognition,
or that universal language, which has
always been the boast of the Institution, not
only is a knowledge of them absolutely necessary
to every practical Freemason, but a history
of the changes which they have from time
to time undergone constitutes an interesting
part of the literature of the Order.
Comparatively speaking (comparatively in
respect to the age of the Masonic Institution),
the system of Lodge lectures is undoubtedly a
modern invention . That is to say, we can
find no traces of any forms of lectures like the
present before the middle, or perhaps the close,
of the seventeenth century . Examinations,
however, of a technical nature, intended to
test the claims of the person examined to the
privileges of the Order, appear to have existed
at an early period . They were used until at
least the middle of the eighteenth century,
but were perpetually changing, so that the
tests of one generation of Masons constituted
no tests for the succeeding one . Oliver very
properly describes them as being "something
like the conundrums of the present day-difficult
of comprehension-admitting only of
one answer, which appeared to have no direct
correspondence with the question, and applicable
only in consonance with the mysteries
and symbols of the Institution." (On the Masonic
Tests of the Eighteenth Century . Golden
Remains, vol . iv ., p . 16 .) These tests were
sometimes, at first, distinct from the lectures,
and sometimes, at a later period, incorporated
with them . A specimen is the answer to the
question, "How blows the wind? " which was,
"Due east and west ."
The "Examination of a German Stone-
Mason," which is given by Findel in the appendix
to his History, was most probably in
use in the fourteenth century . Dr . Oliver
was in possession of what purports to be a
formula, which he supposes to have been used
during the Grand Mastership of Archbishop
Chichely, in the reign of Henry VI ., and from
which (Rev, of a Sq ., p . 11) he makes the following
extracts :
"Q . Peace be here? A . I hope there is .
Q . What o'clock is it? A . It is going to six,
or going to twelve . Q . Are you very busy?
A . No. Q . Will you give or take? A . Both ;
or which you please . Q . How go squares?
A . Straight . Q . Are you rich or poor? A .
Neither. Q . Change me that? A . I will .
Q. In the name of the King and the Holy
Church, are you a Mason? A . I am so taken
to be. Q . What is a Mason? A . A man
begot b a man, born of a woman, brother to a
king . Q. What is a fellow? A . A companion
of a prince, etc ."
There are other questions and answers of a
similar nature, conveying no instruction, and
intended apparently to be used only as tests .
Dr . Oliver attributes, it will be seen, the date
of these questions to the beginning of the fifteenth
century ; but the correctness of this
assumption is doubtful . They have no internal
evidence in style of having been the invention
of so early a period of the English tongue .
The earliest form of catechism that we have
on record is that contained in the Sloane
MS ., No. 3329, now in the British Museum,
which has been printed and published by the
Rev. A . F . A . Woodford. One familiar with
the catechisms of the eighteenth century will
detect the origin of much that they contain
in this early specimen. It is termed in the
manuscript the Mason's "private discourse
by way of question and answer," and is in
these words :
"Q . Are you a mason? A . Yes, I am a
Freemason. Q. How shall I know that? A .
By perfect signes and tokens and the first
poynts of my Entrance . Q. Which is the first
signe or token, shew me the first and I will
shew you the second. A . The first is heal
and conceal or conceal and keep secrett by no
less paine than cutting my tongue from my
throat. Q . Where were you made a mason?
A . In a just and perfect or just and lawfull
lodge . Q. What is a just and perfect or just
and lawfull lodge? A . A just and perfect
lodge is two Interprintices two fellow crafter
and two Mast'rs, more or fewer the more the
merrier the fewer the better chear but if need
require five will serve that is, two Inter rintices,
two fellow craftes and one Mast r on
the highest hill or lowest valley of the world
without the crow of a cock or the bark of a
dogg. Q . From whome do you derive your
rincipalls? A . From a great'r than you .
. Who is that on earth that is great'r than a
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