We hear from every side a great deal regarding the difference said to
exist between Freemasonry as it has remained in the United Kingdom,
and as it has developed itself on the Continent of Europe since its
introduction there chiefly, we must remember, by British Jacobites, in
the last century. It is argued, that the Illuminism of Weishaupt, or
that of Saint Martin, did not cross the Channel to any great extent; and
that, on the whole, the lodges of England, Ireland, and Scotland remained
loyal to Monarchy and to religion. There is much truth in all this. The
Conservative character of the mass of English Freemasons, and the fact,
that amongst them were found the real governors and possessors of the
country, made it impossible that such men could conspire against their
own selves. But, as I have already shown, the fact that British lodges
have always had intercourse with the lodges of the Continent,[22] makes
it equally impossible that some, at least, of the theories of the latter
should not have got into the lodges at this side of the water. I believe
it is owing mainly to this influence over British Freemasons, that so
many revolutionary movements have found favour with our legislators,
who are, when they are not Catholics, generally of the craft. It was
through it, that the fatal foreign policy of Lord Palmerston obtained
such support, even against the conviction and instincts of the best and
most farseeing statesmen of the country, as, for instance, the late Lord
Derby. It was through it, certainly, that the cry for secular education
was welcomed amongst us; that divorce and “liberal” marriage laws came
into force, and that attacks were permitted upon the sanctity of the
Sabbath and other Christian institutions.
Speaking on this latter subject, I must say, that one change in the
habits of the people of England, and Scotland, too, struck me very
forcibly on my return to the United Kingdom after a long absence. When,
some twenty-three years ago, I last visited these Islands, it was a
pleasure—and when one thought of the desecration of the Sabbath on the
Continent, it was a pride—to witness the state of the streets of our
great cities on Sundays. The shops were as shut up as at midnight.
Every thoroughfare manifested a religious quiet, which reverentially
and most emphatically proclaimed the reign of God in the country. On my
return, I found that a new departure from good, old, holy customs had
commenced, which to me looked anything but an improvement. I found in
London and elsewhere, a multitude of shops with shutters removed, and
goods displayed in the most tempting profusion, marked for sale, and
distracting the passers-by even more than they could do on a week-day.
A contrivance to keep within the law was introduced in many cases. It
was a kind of iron-rail door-way, which left the full inside of the shop
or store visible; so that, to all intents and purposes, the interior
was within the turn of a key of being as much in the way of business as
shops of the same kind in Paris. What prevented business being done, and
clerks and assistants being forced to labour as vigorously on the Sabbath
as on any other day? The law alone. This, a breath might destroy; and
public opinion, already accustomed to the sight of shop windows open on
Sundays, would easily become reconciled to the turn of the key in the
iron door. At first this would be only for a few hours, of course; but
afterwards, just as in Paris, for ever. No doubt, a large percentage of
good, religious shopkeepers avoid this scandal; and I hope the public
of our cities will make out these, and patronize them in preference
to others, who put the thin end of the wedge of destruction into our
observance of the Christian sanctity of the Sabbath—an observance which,
in the midst of a world falling fast from God, sustains that great,
divine institution; and, besides giving time to worship God, protects the
liberties of the poor, and prevents them from again becoming slaves. The
doing away by degrees of the “Lord’s Day” is a favourite aim of Atheism;
and it is by resisting this aim—by resisting all its aims on morality and
religion—that we can hope to sustain the Christianity and the religious
character of this country and its people.[23]
But granting that British lodges remain unaffected by Atheism and
Anti-Christianity which, as we have seen, influence the whole mass
of Continental Freemasonry, would they on that account be innocent?
Could a conscientious man of any Christian denomination join them? The
question is, of course, decided for Catholics. The Church forbids her
children to be members of British or any Freemasonry under penalty of
excommunication. The reasons which have led the Church to make a law so
stringent and so serious must have been very grave. We have seen some
at least of these reasons; and it is certainly with a full knowledge
of facts that she has decreed the same penalties against such of her
children as join the English lodges as she has against those who join the
lodges of the Continent. Then, though parsons have become “chaplains” to
lodges, Anglicans generally have shown no sympathy with the Freemasonry
of England. I am not aware that Protestant denominations assume, or that
their members grant them, the power of making laws which could bind
in conscience. If they did possess such power, many of them, I have
no doubt, would forbid Freemasonry, as dangerous and evil in itself.
But it needs not a law from man to guide one in determining what is
clearly prohibited by reason and revelation. Now that which is called
harmless Freemasonry with us, is, besides the evident danger to which it
is exposed, of being made what it has become in the rest of the world,
both sacrilegious and dangerous. If it be only a society for brotherly
intercourse and mutual help, where can be the necessity of taking for
such purposes, a number of oaths of the most frightful character? I shall
with your permission quote some of these oaths—the most ordinary ones
taken by every English Freemason who advances to the first three degrees
of the Craft. Oaths far more blasphemous and terrible are taken in the
higher degrees both in England and on the Continent. I shall also give
you the passwords, grips, and signs for these three main degrees. You can
then judge of the nature of the travesty that is made of the name of God
for purposes utterly puerile, if not meant to cover such real and deadly
secrecy as that of Continental Masonry.
The first of these oaths is administered to the candidate who wishes to
become an apprentice. He is divested of all money and metal. His right
arm, left breast and left knee are bare. His right heel is slipshod. He
is blindfolded, and a rope called a “cable-tow,” adapted for hanging,
is placed round his neck. A sword is pointed to his breast, and in this
manner he is placed kneeling before the Master of the Lodge, in whose
presence he takes the following oath, his hand placed on a Bible:
“I, N. N., in the presence of the great Architect of the Universe, and
of this warranted, worthy and worshipful Lodge of free and accepted
Masons, regularly assembled and properly dedicated, of my own free will
and accord, do hereby and hereon, most solemnly and sincerely swear,
that I will always hail, conceal, and never reveal, any part or parts,
point or points, of the secrets and mysteries of, or belonging to, free
and accepted Masons in masonry, which have been, shall now, or hereafter
may be, communicated to me, unless it be to a true and lawful brother
or brothers, and not even to him or them, till after due trial, strict
examination, or sure information from a well-known brother, that he or
they are worthy of that confidence, or in the body of a just, perfect,
and regular lodge of accepted Freemasons. I further solemnly promise,
that I will not write those secrets, print, carve, engrave, or otherwise
them delineate, or cause or suffer them to be done so by others, if
in my power to prevent it, on anything movable or immovable under the
canopy of heaven, whereby or whereon any letter, character or figure, or
the least trace of a letter, character or figure may become legible or
intelligible to myself, or to anyone in the world, so that our secrets,
arts, and hidden mysteries, may improperly become known through my
unworthiness. These several points I solemnly swear to observe, without
evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation of any kind, under no less
a penalty, on the violation of any of them, than to have _my throat cut
across, my tongue torn out by the root, and my body buried in the sand
of the sea at low water mark_, or a cable’s length from the shore, where
the tide regularly ebbs and flows twice in the twenty-four hours, or
the more efficient punishment of being branded as a wilfully perjured
individual, void of all moral worth, and unfit to be received in this
warranted lodge, or in any other warranted lodge, or society of Masons,
who prize honour and virtue above all the external advantages of rank
and fortune: So help me, God, and keep me steadfast in this my great and
solemn obligation of an Entered Apprentice Freemason.
“W. M.—What you have repeated may be considered a sacred promise as a
pledge of your fidelity, and to render it a solemn obligation, I will
thank you to seal it with your lips on the volume of the sacred law.”
(_Kisses the Bible._)
When the above oath is duly taken, the “sign” is given. This, for an
Apprentice, consists of a gesture made by drawing the hand smartly across
the throat and dropping it to the side. This gesture has reference to
the penalty attached to breaking the oath. The grip is also a penal sign.
It consists of a distinct pressure of the top of the right hand thumb to
the first joint from the wrist of the right hand forefinger, grasping
the finger with the hand. The pass-word is Boaz, and is given letter by
letter.
There are a number of quaint ceremonial charges and lectures which may
be seen by consulting any of the Manuals of Freemasonry, and which are
perfectly given in a treatise by one Carlile, an Atheist, who undertook
for the benefit of Infidelity to divulge the whole of the mere ceremonial
secrecy of English Freemasons, in order to advance the real secret of
it all, namely, Pantheism or Atheism, and hatred for every form of
Christianity. The English Freemasons made too much of the ceremonies and
too little of Atheism, and hence the design of real Infidelity to get the
“real secret” into English lodges by expelling the pretended one.