“I, N. N., in the presence of the Grand Geometrician of the Universe,
and in this worshipful and warranted Lodge of Fellow-Craft Masons, duly
constituted, regularly assembled, and properly dedicated, of my own
free will and accord, do hereby and hereon most solemnly promise and
swear that I will always hail, conceal, and never reveal any or either
of the secrets or mysteries of, or belonging to, the second degree
of Freemasonry, known by the name of the Fellow-Craft; to him who is
but an Entered Apprentice, no more than I would either of them to the
uninitiated or the popular world who are not Masons. I further solemnly
pledge myself to act as a true and faithful craftsman, obey signs, and
maintain the principles inculcated in the first degree. All these points
I most solemnly swear to obey, without evasion, equivocation, or mental
reservation of any kind, under no less a penalty, on the violation of
any of them, in addition to my former obligation, than to have my left
breast cut open, my heart torn therefrom, and given to the ravenous
birds of the air, or the devouring beasts of the field, as a prey: So
help me Almighty God, and keep me steadfast in this my great and solemn
obligation of a Fellow-Craft Mason.”
After taking this oath with all formality, the Fellow-Craft is entrusted
with the sign, grip and pass-word by the Master, who thus addresses him:—
“You, having taken the solemn obligation of a Fellow-Craft Freemason, I
shall proceed to entrust you with the secrets of the degree. You will
advance towards me as at your initiation. Now take another pace with
your left foot, bringing the right heel into its hollow, as before. That
is the second regular step in Freemasonry, and it is in this position
that the secrets of the degree are communicated. They consist, as in the
former instance, of a _sign_, _token_, and _word_; with this difference
that the sign is of a three-fold nature. The first part of a three-fold
sign is called the sign of fidelity, emblematically to shield the
repository of your secrets from the attacks of the cowan. (_The sign
is made by pressing the right hand on the left breast, extending the
thumb perpendicularly to form a square._) The second part is called the
hailing sign, and is given by throwing the left hand up in this manner
(_horizontal from the shoulder to the elbow, and perpendicular from the
elbow to the ends of the fingers, with the thumb and forefinger forming
a square_.) The third part is called the penal sign, and is given by
drawing the hand across the breasts and dropping it to the side. This is
in allusion to the penalty of your obligation, implying that as a man
of honour, and a Fellow-Craft, you would rather have your heart torn
from your breast, than to improperly divulge the secrets of this degree.
The grip, or token, is given by a distinct pressure of the thumb on the
second joint of the hand or that of the middle finger. This demands a
word; a word to be given and received with the same strict caution as the
one in the former degree, either by letters or syllables. The word is
JACHIN. As in the course of the evening you will be called on for this
word, the Senior Deacon will now dictate the answers you will have to
give.”
The next oath is that of the highest substantial degree in old
Freemasonry, namely, that of Master. Attention is specially to be paid to
the words “or at my own option.”
“I, N. N., in the presence of the Most High, and of this worthy and
worshipful lodge, duly constituted, regularly assembled, and properly
dedicated, of my own free will and accord, do hereby and hereon, most
solemnly promise and swear, that I will always hail, conceal, and never
reveal, any or either of the secrets or mysteries of, or belonging to,
the degree of a Master Mason, to anyone in the world, unless it be to
him or them to whom the same may justly and lawfully belong; and not
even to him or them, until after due trials, strict examination, or
full conviction, that he or they are worthy of that confidence, or in
the bosom of a Master Mason’s Lodge. I further most solemnly engage,
that I will keep the secrets of the Third Degree from him who is but
a Fellow-Craft Mason, with the same strict caution as I will those of
the Second Degree from him who is but an Entered Apprentice Freemason:
the same or either of them, from anyone in the known world, unless to
true and lawful Brother Masons. I further solemnly engage myself, to
advance to the pedestal of the square and compasses, to answer and
obey all lawful signs and summonses sent to me from a Master Mason’s
Lodge, if within the length of my cable-tow, and to plead no excuse
except sickness, or the pressing emergency of my own private or public
avocations. I furthermore solemnly pledge myself, to maintain and support
the five points of fellowship, in act as well as in word; that my hand
given to a Mason shall be the sure pledge of brotherhood; that my foot
shall traverse through danger and difficulties, to unite with his in
forming a column of mutual defence and safety; that the posture of my
daily supplications shall remind me of his wants, and dispose my heart to
succour his distresses and relieve his necessities, as far as may fairly
be done without detriment to myself or connexions; that my breast shall
be the sacred repository of his secrets, when delivered to me as such;
murder, treason, felony, and all other offences contrary to the law of
God, or the ordinances of the realm, being at all times most especially
excepted or at my own option: and finally, that I will support a Master
Mason’s character in his absence as well as I would if he were present.
I will not revile him myself, nor knowingly suffer others to do so; but
will boldly repel the slanderer of his good name, and strictly respect
the chastity of those that are most dear to him, in the persons of his
wife, sister, or his child: and that I will not knowingly have unlawful
carnal connexion with either of them. I furthermore solemnly vow and
declare, that I will not defraud a Brother Master Mason, or see him
defrauded of the most trifling amount, without giving him due and timely
notice thereof; that I will also prefer a Brother Master Mason in all
my dealings, and recommend him to others as much as lies in my power,
so long as he shall continue to act honourably, honestly and faithfully
towards me and others. All these several points I promise to observe,
without equivocation or mental reservation of any kind, under no less a
penalty, on the violation of any of them, than to have my body severed
in two, my bowels torn thereout, and burned to ashes in the centre, and
those ashes scattered before the four cardinal points of heaven, so that
no trace or remembrance of me shall be left among men, particularly among
Master Masons: So help me God, and keep me steadfast in this grand and
solemn obligation, being that of a Master Mason.”
“A long ceremony, in which the newly-made Master is made to sham a dead
man and to be raised to life by the Master, grasping, or rather clawing
his hand or wrist, by putting his right foot to his foot, his knee to his
knee, bringing up the right breast to his breast, and with his hand over
the back. This is practised in Masonry as the five points of Fellowship.”
Then the Master gives the signs, grip, and pass-word, saying:
“Of the signs, the first and second are casual, the third is penal. The
first casual sign is called the sign of horror, and is given from the
Fellow-Craft’s hailing sign, by dropping the left hand and elevating
the right, as if to screen the eyes from a painful sight, at the same
time throwing the head over the right shoulder, as a remove or turning
away from that sight. It alludes to the finding of our murdered Master
Hiram by the twelve Fellow-Crafts. The second casual sign is called the
sign of sympathy or sorrow, and is given by bending the head a little
forward, and by striking the right hand gently on the forehead. The third
is called the penal sign, because it alludes to the penalty of your
obligation, and is given by drawing the hand across the centre of the
body, dropping it to the side, and then raising it again to place the
point of the thumb on the navel. It implies that, as a man of honour,
and a Master Mason, you would rather be severed in two than improperly
divulge the secrets of this Degree. The grip or token is the first of
the five points of fellowship. The five points of fellowship are: first,
a grip with the right hand of each other’s wrist, with the points of
the fingers: second, right foot parallel with right foot on the inside:
third, right knee to right knee: fourth, right breast to right breast:
fifth, hand over shoulder, supporting the back. It is in this position,
and this only, except in open lodge, and then but in a whisper, that the
word is given. It is MAHABONE or MACBENACH. The former is the ancient,
the latter the modern word.”
I have here given an idea of the principal ceremonies used in making
English Freemasons. I could not in the space I have allotted to myself,
enter, as I would wish to do, upon other features of its ridiculous
rites and observances, many of which in still higher degrees, get a
gradually opening, Atheistic and most anti-Christian interpretation. But
it will suffice for my purpose to bring one fact under your observation.
In the ceremonies accompanying initiations, many charges are made to
the candidates and lectures and catechisings are given. In these, in
the highest degrees, the real secret is gradually divulged in a manner
apparently the most simple. For instance in the degree of the Knights
Adepts of the Eagle or the Sun, the Master in his charge describing the
Bible, Compass, and Square, says:—
“By the _Bible_, you are to understand that it is the only law you ought
to follow. It is that which Adam received at his creation, and which
the Almighty engraved in his heart. _This law is called natural law_,
and shows positively that there is but _one God_, and to adore only
him without any sub-division or interpolation. The _Compass_ gives you
the faculty of judging for yourself, that whatever God has created is
well, and he is the sovereign author of everything. Existing in himself,
nothing is either good or evil, because we understand by this expression,
an action done which is excellent in itself, is relative, and submits
to the human understanding, judging to know the value and price of such
action, and that God, with whom everything is possible, communicates
nothing of his will but such as his great goodness pleases; and
everything in the universe is governed as he has decreed it with justice,
being able to compare it with the attributes of the Divinity. I equally
say, that in himself there is no evil, because he has made everything
with exactness, and that _everything exists according to his will;
consequently, as it ought to be_. The distance between good and evil,
with the Divinity, cannot be more justly and clearly compared than by a
circle formed with a compass: from the points being reunited there is
formed an entire circumference; and when any point in particular equally
approaches or equally separates from its point, it is only a faint
resemblance of the distance between good and evil, which we compare by
the points of a compass forming a circle, _which circle, when completed,
is God_!”
From this it will be clear, to what the so-called veneration for the
Bible and for religion comes to, at last, in all Freemasonry. From
apparent agreement with Christianity it ends in Atheism. In the
essentially Jewish symbolism of Masonry, the Trinity is ignored from the
commencement, and God reduced to a Grand Architect. The mention of Christ
is carefully avoided. By degrees the Bible is not revelation at all—only
the laws written on the heart of every man by the one God—the one God,
yet, however, somewhat respected. But in a little while, we find the “one
God” reduced to very small dimensions indeed. You may judge for yourself
by the Compass that God exists in himself, “_therefore_”—though it is
hard here to see the _therefore_—“nothing is either good or evil.” Here
is a blow at the moral law. Finally, “God” spoken of with such respect
in all the going before degrees is reduced to a nonentity “_which circle
when completed is God_.” This is a perfect introduction on Weishaupt’s
lines to Weishaupt’s Pantheism.
But the theories of Masonry however developed, do less practical mischief
than the conduct it fosters. The English, happily for themselves, are,
in many useful respects, an eminently inconsistent people. The gentry
amongst them can join Freemasonry and yet keep, in the most illogical
manner possible, their very diluted form of Christianity. It has been
otherwise with the more reasoning Continental Masons. They either abandon
the Craft or abandon their Christianity. But the morality inculcated
by Freemasonry has done immense damage in English-speaking countries
nevertheless. The very oath binding a Master Mason to respect the
chastity of certain near relations of another Master Mason, insinuates
a wide field for licence; and Masons, even in England, have never been
the most moral of men. It leads them, we too well know, to the neglect
of home duties, and it leads them to an unjust persecution of outsiders,
for the benefit of Craftsmen—a matter more than once complained of as
injurious in trade, politics, and social life. I need not call to your
mind what mischief—what foul murder—it has led to in America. I prefer to
let Carlile, the Infidel apologist of dark Masonry, speak on this point.
He says:—
“My exposure of Freemasonry in 1825 led to its exposure in the United
States of America; and a Mason there of the name of William Morgan,
having announced his intention to assist in the work of exposure, was
kidnapped under pretended forms and warrants of law, by his brother
Masons, removed from the State of New York to the borders of Canada,
near the falls of Niagara, and there most barbarously murdered. This
happened in 1826. The States have been for many years much excited
upon the subject; a regular warfare has arisen between Masons and
anti-Masons;—societies of anti-Masons have been formed; newspapers
and magazines started; and many pamphlets and volumes, with much
correspondence, published; so that, before the Slavery Question was
pressed among them, all parties had merged into Masons and anti-Masons.
Several persons were punished for the abduction of Morgan; but the
murderers were sheltered by Masonic Lodges, and rescued from justice.
This was quite enough to show that Masonry, as consisting of a secret
association, or an association with secret oaths and ceremonies, is a
political and social evil.”
“While writing this, I have been informed that individual members of
Orange Lodges have smiled at the dissolution of their Lodges, with the
observation, that precisely the same association can be carried on under
the name of Masonry. This is an evil that secret associations admit.
No form of anything of the kind, when secret, can protect itself from
abuses; and this is a strong reason why Masonic associations should get
rid of their unnecessary oaths, revise their constitutions, and throw
themselves open to public inspection and report. There is enough that may
be made respectable in Masonry, in the present state of mind and customs,
to admit of scrutinising publicity.”
The question of the death of Morgan, and other unhappy incidents in the
history of Freemasonry in the United States, are very fully treated by
Father Müller, C.SS.R. Yet, strange to say, notwithstanding anti-Masonic
societies being formed extensively in the Great Republic, and the horror
created by the murder of Morgan, there is no part of the world where
Masonry flourishes more than in America. I believe it will yet become
the greatest enemy of the free institutions of that country. I am
willing to admit, however, that Freemasonry has, thank God, made little
progress amongst Catholics in Ireland, or Catholics of Irish birth or
blood anywhere. This is true, and the same may be said of millions of
Protestants who have not joined Masonry. But the evil is amongst us for
all that, and it is necessary that we should know what it is and how it
manifests itself.
We know too, that besides the movements which Masonry has been called
upon to serve by means of Masonic organs, and resolutions inspired by
Atheism, and advocated by its hidden friends scattered through British
lodges, there have been at all times, at least in London, some lodges
affiliated to Continental lodges, and doing the work of Weishaupt. Of
this class were several lodges of foreigners and Jews, which existed in
London contemporaneously with Lord Palmerston, and which aided him in
the government and direction of the secret societies of the world, and
in the Infidel Revolution which was carried on during his reign with
such ability and success. In the works of Deschamps, a detailed account
will be found of several of these high temples of iniquity and deadly,
anti-Christian intrigue. But, besides, Masonry of any description—and
every description, for reasons already stated, even the most apparently
harmless, is positively bad—bad, because of its oaths, because of its
associations, and because of its un-Christian character, there were other
societies formed on the lines of Illuminated Masonry under various names
in Great Britain, and especially in Ireland, of which I deem it my duty
while treating of the subject to speak as plainly as I possibly can. The
most notable amongst these is—