The Builders: A Story and Study of MasonryNewton, Joseph Fort
Religion
The Builders: A Story and Study of Masonry
Newton, Joseph Fort
Freemasons
Only a brief account need here be given of the dates and
characteristics of these documents, of the two oldest especially, with
a digest of what they have to tell us, first, of the Legend of the
order; second, its early History; and third, its Moral teaching, its
workings, and the duties of its members. The first and oldest of the
records is known as the _Regius MS_ which, owing to an error of David
Casley who in his catalogue of the MSS in the King's Library marked it
_A Poem of Moral Duties_, was overlooked until James Halliwell
discovered its real nature in 1839. Although not a Mason, Halliwell
was attracted by the MS and read an essay on its contents before the
Society of Antiquarians, after which he issued two editions bearing
date of 1840 and 1844. Experts give it date back to 1390, that is to
say, fifteen years after the first recorded use of the name
_Free_-mason in the history of the Company of Masons of the City of
London, in 1375.[71]
More poetical in spirit than in form, the old manuscript begins by
telling of the number of unemployed in early days and the necessity of
finding work, "that they myght gete there lyvyngs therby." Euclid was
consulted, and recommended the "onest craft of good masonry," and the
origin of the order is found "yn Egypte lande." Then, by a quick
shift, we are landed in England "yn tyme of good Kinge Adelstonus
day," who is said to have called an assembly of Masons, when fifteen
articles and as many points were agreed upon as rules of the craft,
each point being duly described. The rules resemble the Ten
Commandments in an extended form, closing with the legend of the Four
Crowned Martyrs, as an incentive to fidelity. Then the writer takes up
again the question of origins, going back this time to the days of
Noah and the Flood, mentioning the tower of Babylon and the great
skill of Euclid, who is said to have commenced "the syens seven." The
seven sciences are then named, to-wit, Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric,
Music, Astronomy, Arithmetic, Geometry, and each explained. Rich
reward is held out to those who use the seven sciences aright, and the
MS proper closes with the benediction:
/P
Amen! Amen! so mote it be!
So say we all for Charity.
P/
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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