Chapter 14

(J. S. Bl.)

In the last quarter of the 19th century the Free Church continued to be the most active, theologically, of the Scottish Churches. The College chairs were almost uniformly filled by advanced critics or theologians, inspired more or less by Professor A. B. Davidson. Dr A. B. Bruce, author ofThe Training of the Twelve, &c., was appointed to the chair of apologetics and New Testament exegesis in the Glasgow College in 1875; Henry Drummond (author ofNatural Law in the Spiritual World, &c.) was made lecturer in natural science in the same college in 1877 and became professor in 1884; and Dr George Adam Smith (author ofThe Twelve Prophets, &c.) was called to the Hebrew chair in 1892. Attempts were made between 1890 and 1895 to bring all these professors except Davidson (similar attacks were also made on Dr Marcus Dods, afterwards principal of the New College, Edinburgh) to the bar of the Assembly for unsound teaching or writing; but in every case these were abortive, the Assembly never taking any step beyond warning the accused that their primary duty was to teach and defend the church’s faith as embodied in the confession. In 1892 the Free Church, following the example of the United Presbyterian Church and the Church of Scotland (1889), passed a Declaratory Act relaxing the stringency of subscription to the confession, with the result that a small number of ministers and congregations, mostly in the Highlands, severed their connexion with the church and formed the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, on strictly and straitly orthodox lines. In 1907 this body had twenty congregations and twelve ministers.

The Free Church always regarded herself as a National Church, and during this period she sought actively to be true to that character by providing church ordinances for the increasing population of Scotland and applying herself to the new problems of non-church-going, and of the changing habits of the people. Her Assembly’s committee on religion and morals worked toward the same ends as the similar organization of the Established Church, and in her, as in the other churches, the standard of parochial and congregational activity was raised and new methods of operation devised. She passed legislation on the difficult problem of ridding the church of inefficient ministers. The use of instrumental music was sanctioned in Free Churches during this period. An association was formed in 1891 to promote the ends of edification, order and reverence in the public services of the church, and published in 1898A New Directory for Public Worshipwhich does not provide set forms of prayer, but directions as to the matter of prayer in the various services. The Free Church took a large share in the study of hymnology and church music, which led to the production ofThe Church Hymnary. From 1885 to 1895 much of the energy of all the Presbyterian churches was absorbed by the disestablishment agitation. In the former year the Free Church, having almost entirely shed the establishment principle on which it was founded, began to rival the United Presbyterian Church in its resolutions calling for the disestablishment of the Church of Scotland. In spite of the offers of the Establishment Assembly to confer with the dissenting churches about union, the assaults upon its status waxed in vigour, till in 1893 the Free Church hailed the result of the general election as a verdict of the constituencies in favour of disestablishment, and insisted upon the government of the day taking up Sir Charles Cameron’s bill.

During the last four or five years of the century the Free and United Presbyterian churches, which after the failure of their union negotiations in 1873 had been connected together by a Mutual Eligibility Act enabling a congregation of one church to call a minister from the other, devoted their energy to the arrangement of an incorporating union. The Synod of the United Presbyterian Church resolved in 1896 to “take steps towards union,” and in the following year the Free Assembly responded by appointing a committee to confer with a committee of the other church. The joint committee discovered a “remarkable and happy agreement” between the doctrinal standards, rules and methods of the two bodies, and with very little concessions on either side a common constitution and common “questions and formula” for the admission of ministers and office-bearers were arranged. A minority, always growing smaller, of the Free Church Assembly, protested against the proposed union, and threatened if it were carried through to test its legality in the courts. To meet this opposition, the suggestion is understood to have been made that an act of parliament should be applied for to legalize the union; but this was not done, and the union was carried through on the understanding that the question of the lawfulness of church establishments should be an open one.

The supreme courts of the churches met for the last time in their respective places of meeting on the 30th of October 1900, and on the following day the joint meeting took place at which the union was completed, and the United Free Church of Scotland (q.v.) entered on its career. The protesting anddissenting minority at once claimed to be the Free Church. They met outside the Free Assembly Hall on the 31st of October, and, failing to gain admission to it, withdrew to another hall, where they elected Mr Colin Bannatyne their moderator and held the remaining sittings of the Assembly. It was reported that between 16,000 and 17,000 names had been received of persons adhering to the anti-unionist principle. At the Assembly of 1901 it was stated that the Free Church had twenty-five ministers and at least sixty-three congregations. The character of the church is indicated by the fact that its office-bearers were the faithful survivors of the decreasing minority of the Old Free Church, which had protested against the disestablishment resolutions, against the relaxation of subscription, against toleration of the teaching of the Glasgow professors, and against the use in worship of organs or of human hymns. Her congregations were mostly in the Gaelic-speaking districts of Scotland. She was confronted with a very arduous undertaking; her congregations grew in number, but were far from each other and there were not nearly enough ministers. The Highlands were filled, by the Union, with exasperation and dispeace which could not soon subside. The church met with no sympathy or assistance at the hands of the United Free Church, and her work was conducted at first under considerable hardships, nor was her position one to appeal to the general popular sentiment of Scotland. But the little church continued her course with indomitable courage and without any compromise of principle. The Declaratory Act of 1892 was repealed after a consultation of presbyteries, and the old principles as to worship were declared. A professor was obliged to withdraw a book he had written, in which the results of criticism, with regard to the Synoptic Gospels, had been accepted and applied. The desire of the Church of Scotland to obtain relaxation of her formula was declared to make union with her impossible. Along with this unbending attitude, signs of material growth were not wanting. The revenue of the church increased; the grant from the sustentation fund was in 1901 only £75, but from 1903 onwards it was £167.

The decision of the House of Lords in 1904 did not bring the trials of the Free Church to an end. In the absence of any arrangement with the United Free Church, she could only gain possession of the property declared to belong to her by an application in each particular case to the Court of Session, and a series of law-suits began which were trying to all parties. In the year 1905 the Free Church Assembly met in the historic Free Church Assembly Hall, but it did not meet there again. Having been left by the awards of the commission without any station in the foreign mission field, the Free Church resolved to start a foreign mission of her own. The urgent task confronting the church was that of supplying ordinances to her congregations. The latter numbered 200 in 1907, and the church had as yet only 74 ordained ministers, so that many of the manses allocated to her by the commissioners were not yet occupied, and catechists and elders were called to conduct services where possible. The gallant stand this little church had made for principles which were no longer represented by any Presbyterian church outside the establishment attracted to her much interest and many hopes that she might be successful in her endeavours to do something for the religious life of Scotland.

SeeScotland, Church of, for bibliography and statistics.

(A. M.*)

1“It is her being free, not her being established, that constitutes the real historical and hereditary identity of the Reformed National Church of Scotland.” SeeAct and Declaration, &c., of Free Assembly, 1851.2In the actAnent the true and holy Kirk, and of those that are declared not to be of the same. This act was supplemented by that of 1579,Anent the Jurisdiction of the Kirk.3The Second Book of Discipline was not formally recognized in that act; but all former acts against “the jurisdiction and discipline of the true Kirk as the same is used and exercised within the realm” were abolished; and all “liberties, privileges, immunities and freedoms whatsoever” previously granted were ratified and approved.4The most important of these had reference to the full right of a constituted church to the enjoyment of an absolutely unrestricted freedom in convening Assemblies. This very point on one occasion at least threatened to be the cause of serious misunderstandings between William and the people of Scotland. The difficulties were happily smoothed, however, by the wisdom and tact of William Carstares.5SeeAct and Declarationof Free Assembly, 1851.6This principle had been asserted even by an Assembly so late as that of 1736, and had been invariably presupposed in the “call,” which had never ceased to be regarded as an indispensable prerequisite for the settlement of a minister.7According to the Free Church “Protest” of 1843 it was in these cases decided (1) that the courts of the church were liable to be compelled to intrude ministers on reclaiming congregations; (2) that the civil courts had power to interfere with and interdict the preaching of the gospel and administration of ordinances as authorized and enjoined by the church; (3) that the civil courts had power to suspend spiritual censures pronounced by the courts of the church, and to interdict their execution as to spiritual effects, functions and privileges; (4) that deposed ministers, and probationers deprived of their licence, could be restored by the mandate of the civil courts to the spiritual office and status of which the church courts had deprived them; (5) that the right of membership in ecclesiastical courts could be determined by the civil courts; (6) that the civil courts had power to supersede the majority of a church court of the Establishment in regard to the exercise of its spiritual functions as a church court, and to authorize the minority to exercise the said functions in opposition to the court itself and to the superior judicatories of the church; (7) that processes of ecclesiastical discipline could be arrested by the civil courts; and (8) that without the sanction of the civil courts no increased provision could be made for the spiritual care of a parish, although such provision left all civil rights and patrimonial interests untouched.8The narrative and argument of this elaborate and able document cannot be reproduced here. In substance it is a claim “as of right” on behalf of the church and of the nation and people of Scotland that the church shall freely possess and enjoy her liberties, government, discipline, rights and privileges according to law, and that she shall be protected therein from the foresaid unconstitutional and illegal encroachments of the said court of session, and her people secured in their Christian and constitutional rights and liberties. This claim is followed by the “declaration” that the Assembly cannot intrude ministers on reclaiming congregations, or carry on the government of Christ’s church subject to the coercion of the court of session; and by the “protest” that all acts of the parliament of Great Britain passed without the consent of the Scottish church and nation, in alteration or derogation of the government, discipline, rights and privileges of the church, as also all sentences of courts in contravention of said government, discipline, rights and privileges, “are and shall be in themselves void and null, and of no legal force or effect.”9The Scottish members voted with the minority in the proportion of 25 to 12.10The number ultimately rose to 474.11By this formal recognition of the qualifications to the Confession of Faith made in 1647 the scruples of the majority of the Associate Synod of Original Seceders were removed, and 27 ministers, along with a considerable number of their people, joined the Free Church in the following year.12See Taylor Innes,Law of Creeds in Scotland, p. 258 seq.13The language of Dr Buchanan, for example, in 1860 was (mutatis mutandis) the same as that which he had employed in 1838 in moving the Independence resolution already referred to.

2In the actAnent the true and holy Kirk, and of those that are declared not to be of the same. This act was supplemented by that of 1579,Anent the Jurisdiction of the Kirk.

3The Second Book of Discipline was not formally recognized in that act; but all former acts against “the jurisdiction and discipline of the true Kirk as the same is used and exercised within the realm” were abolished; and all “liberties, privileges, immunities and freedoms whatsoever” previously granted were ratified and approved.

4The most important of these had reference to the full right of a constituted church to the enjoyment of an absolutely unrestricted freedom in convening Assemblies. This very point on one occasion at least threatened to be the cause of serious misunderstandings between William and the people of Scotland. The difficulties were happily smoothed, however, by the wisdom and tact of William Carstares.

5SeeAct and Declarationof Free Assembly, 1851.

6This principle had been asserted even by an Assembly so late as that of 1736, and had been invariably presupposed in the “call,” which had never ceased to be regarded as an indispensable prerequisite for the settlement of a minister.

7According to the Free Church “Protest” of 1843 it was in these cases decided (1) that the courts of the church were liable to be compelled to intrude ministers on reclaiming congregations; (2) that the civil courts had power to interfere with and interdict the preaching of the gospel and administration of ordinances as authorized and enjoined by the church; (3) that the civil courts had power to suspend spiritual censures pronounced by the courts of the church, and to interdict their execution as to spiritual effects, functions and privileges; (4) that deposed ministers, and probationers deprived of their licence, could be restored by the mandate of the civil courts to the spiritual office and status of which the church courts had deprived them; (5) that the right of membership in ecclesiastical courts could be determined by the civil courts; (6) that the civil courts had power to supersede the majority of a church court of the Establishment in regard to the exercise of its spiritual functions as a church court, and to authorize the minority to exercise the said functions in opposition to the court itself and to the superior judicatories of the church; (7) that processes of ecclesiastical discipline could be arrested by the civil courts; and (8) that without the sanction of the civil courts no increased provision could be made for the spiritual care of a parish, although such provision left all civil rights and patrimonial interests untouched.

8The narrative and argument of this elaborate and able document cannot be reproduced here. In substance it is a claim “as of right” on behalf of the church and of the nation and people of Scotland that the church shall freely possess and enjoy her liberties, government, discipline, rights and privileges according to law, and that she shall be protected therein from the foresaid unconstitutional and illegal encroachments of the said court of session, and her people secured in their Christian and constitutional rights and liberties. This claim is followed by the “declaration” that the Assembly cannot intrude ministers on reclaiming congregations, or carry on the government of Christ’s church subject to the coercion of the court of session; and by the “protest” that all acts of the parliament of Great Britain passed without the consent of the Scottish church and nation, in alteration or derogation of the government, discipline, rights and privileges of the church, as also all sentences of courts in contravention of said government, discipline, rights and privileges, “are and shall be in themselves void and null, and of no legal force or effect.”

9The Scottish members voted with the minority in the proportion of 25 to 12.

10The number ultimately rose to 474.

11By this formal recognition of the qualifications to the Confession of Faith made in 1647 the scruples of the majority of the Associate Synod of Original Seceders were removed, and 27 ministers, along with a considerable number of their people, joined the Free Church in the following year.

12See Taylor Innes,Law of Creeds in Scotland, p. 258 seq.

13The language of Dr Buchanan, for example, in 1860 was (mutatis mutandis) the same as that which he had employed in 1838 in moving the Independence resolution already referred to.

FREEDMEN’S BUREAU(officially theBureau of Freedmen, Refugees and Abandoned Lands), a bureau created in the United States war department by an act of Congress, 3rd of March 1865, to last one year, but continued until 1872 by later acts passed over the president’s veto. Its establishment was due partly to the fear entertained by the North that the Southerners if left to deal with the blacks would attempt to re-establish some form of slavery, partly to the necessity for extending relief to needy negroes and whites in the lately conquered South, and partly to the need of creating some commission or bureau to take charge of lands confiscated in the South. During the Civil War a million negroes fell into the hands of the Federals and had to be cared for. Able-bodied blacks were enlisted in the army, and the women, children and old men were settled in large camps on confiscated Southern property, where they were cared for alternately by the war department and by the treasury department until the organization of the Freedmen’s Bureau. At the head of the bureau was a commissioner, General O. O. Howard, and under him in each Southern state was an assistant commissioner with a corps of local superintendents, agents and inspectors. The officials had the broadest possible authority in all matters that concerned the blacks. The work of the bureau may be classified as follows: (1) distributing rations and medical supplies among the blacks; (2) establishing schools for them and aiding benevolent societies to establish schools and churches; (3) regulating labour and contracts; (4) taking charge of confiscated lands; and (5) administering justice in cases in which blacks were concerned. For several years the ex-slaves were under the almost absolute control of the bureau. Whether this control had a good or bad effect is still disputed, the Southern whites and many Northerners holding that the results of the bureau’s work were distinctly bad, while others hold that much good resulted from its work. There is now no doubt, however, that while most of the higher officials of the bureau were good men, the subordinate agents were generally without character or judgment and that their interference between the races caused permanent discord. Much necessary relief work was done, but demoralization was also caused by it, and later the institution was used by its officials as a means of securing negro votes. In educating the blacks the bureau made some progress, but the instruction imparted by the missionary teachers resulted in giving the ex-slaves notions of liberty and racial equality that led to much trouble, finally resulting in the hostility of the whites to negro education. The secession of the blacks from the white churches was aided and encouraged by the bureau. The whole field of labour and contracts was covered by minute regulations, which, good in theory, were absurd in practice, and which failed altogether, but not until labour had been disorganized for several years. The administration of justice by the bureau agents amounted simply to a ceaseless persecution of the whites who had dealings with the blacks, and bloody conflicts sometimes resulted. The law creating the bureau provided for the division of the confiscated property among the negroes, and though carried out only in parts of South Carolina, Florida and Georgia, it caused the negroes to believe that they were to be cared for at the expense of their former masters. This belief made them subject to swindling schemes perpetrated by certain bureau agents and others who promised to secure lands for them. When negro suffrage was imposed by Congress upon the Southern States, the bureau aided the Union League (q.v.) in organizing the blacks into a political party opposed to the whites. A large majority of the bureau officials secured office through their control of the blacks. The failure of the bureau system and its discontinuance in the midst of reconstruction without harm to the blacks, and the intense hostility of the Southern whites to the institution caused by the irritating conduct of bureau officials, are indications that the institution was not well conceived nor wisely administered.

See P. S. Pierce,The Freedmen’s Bureau(Iowa City, 1904);Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction(Washington, 1866); W. L. Fleming (ed.),Documents relating to Reconstruction(Cleveland, O., 1906); W. L. Fleming,Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama(New York, 1905); and James W. Garner,Reconstruction in Mississippi(New York, 1901).

(W. L. F.)

FREEHOLD,a town and the county-seat of Monmouth county, New Jersey, U.S.A., in the township of Freehold, about 25 m. E. by N. of Trenton. Pop. (1890) 2932; (1900) 2934, of whom 215 were foreign-born and 126 were negroes; (1905) 3064; (1910) 3233. Freehold is served by the Pennsylvania and the Central of New Jersey railways. It is the trade centre of one of the most productive agricultural districts of the state and has various manufactures, including carriages, carpets and rugs, files, shirts, underwear, and canned beans and peas. The town is the seat of two boarding schools for boys: the Freehold Military School and the New Jersey Military Academy (chartered, 1900; founded in 1844 as the Freehold Institute). One of the residences in the town dates from 1755. A settlement was made in the township about 1650, and the township was incorporatedin 1693. In 1715 the town was founded and was made the county-seat; it was long commonly known (from the county) as Monmouth Court-House, but afterwards took (from the township) the name Freehold, and in 1869 it was incorporated as the Town of Freehold. An important battle of the War of Independence, known as the battle of Monmouth, was fought near the court-house on the 28th of June 1778. A short distance N.W. of the court-house is a park in which there is a monument, unveiled on the 13th of November 1884 in commemoration of the battle; the base is of Quincy granite and the shaft is of Concord granite. Surmounting the shaft is a statue representing “Liberty Triumphant” (the height to the top of which is about 100 ft.). The monument is adorned with five bronze reliefs, designed and modelled by James E. Kelly (b. 1855); one of these reliefs represents “Molly Pitcher” (d. 1832), a national heroine, who, when her husband (John C. Hays), an artillerist, was rendered insensible during the battle, served the gun in his place and prevented its capture by the British.1Joel Parker (1816-1888), governor of New Jersey in 1863-1866 and 1872-1875, was long a resident of Freehold, and the erection of the monument was largely due to his efforts. A bronze tablet on a boulder in front of the present court-house, commemorating the old court-house, used as a hospital in the battle of Monmouth, was unveiled in 1907. Freehold was the birthplace and home of Dr Thomas Henderson (1743-1824), a Whig or Patriot leader in New Jersey, an officer in the War of Independence, and a member of the Continental Congress in 1779-1780 and of the national House of Representatives in 1795-1797.

The name Freehold was first used of a Presbyterian church established about 1692 by Scottish exiles who came to East Jersey in 1682-1685 and built what was called the “Old Scots’ Church” near the present railway station of Wickatunk in Marlboro’ township, Monmouth county. In this church, in December 1706, John Boyd (d. 1709) was ordained—the first recorded Presbyterian ordination in America. The church was the first regularly constituted Presbyterian church. No trace of the building now remains in the burying-ground where Boyd was interred, and where the Presbyterian Synod of New Jersey in 1900 raised a granite monument to his memory; his tombstone is preserved by the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia. John Tennent (1706-1732) became pastor of the Freehold church in 1730, when a new church was built by the Old Scots congregation on White Hill in the present township of Manalapan (then a part of Freehold township), near the railway station and village called Tennent; his brother William (1705-1777), whose trance, in which he thought he saw the glories of heaven, was a matter of much discussion in his time, was pastor in 1733-1777. In 1751-1753 the present “Old Tennent Church,” then called the Freehold Church, was erected on (or near) the same site as the building of 1730; in it Whitefield preached and in the older building David Brainerd and his Indian converts met. In 1859 this church (whose corporate name is “The First Presbyterian Church of the County of Monmouth”) adopted the name of Tennent, partly to distinguish it from the Presbyterian church organized at Monmouth Court-House (now Freehold) in 1838.

See Frank R. Symmes,History of the Old Tennent Church(2nd ed., Cranbury, New Jersey, 1904).

1Her maiden name was Mary Ludwig. “Molly Pitcher” was a nickname given to her by the soldiers in reference to her carrying water to soldiers overcome by heat in the battle of Monmouth. She married Hays in 1769; Hays died soon after the war, and later she married one George McCauley. She lived for more than forty years at Carlisle, Penn., where a monument was erected to her memory in 1876.

FREEHOLD,in the English law of real property, an estate in land, not being less than an estate for life. An estate for a term of years, no matter how long, was considered inferior in dignity to an estate for life, and unworthy of a freeman (seeEstate). “Some time before the reign of Henry II., but apparently not so early as Domesday, the expressionliberum tenementumwas introduced to designate land held by a freeman by a free tenure. Thus freehold tenure is the sum of the rights and duties which constitute the relation of a free tenant to his lord.”1In this sense freehold is distinguished from copyhold, which is a tenure having its origin in the relation of lord and villein (seeCopyhold). Freehold is also distinguished from leasehold, which is an estate for a fixed number of years only. By analogy the interest of a person who holds an office for life is sometimes said to be a freehold interest. The termcustomary freeholdsis applied to a kind of copyhold tenure in the north of England, viz. tenure by copy of court-roll, but not, as in other cases, expressed to be at the will of the lord.

1Digby’sHistory of the Law of Real Property.

FREELAND,a borough of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., about 20 m. S. of Wilkes-Barre, in the E. part of the state. Pop. (1890) 1730; (1900) 5254 (1339 foreign-born, many being Slavs); (1910) 6197. Freeland is served by the Lehigh Valley railway and by electric railway to Upper Lehigh (1 m. distant, served by the Central Railroad of New Jersey) and to other neighbouring places. The borough is built on Broad Mountain, nearly 2000 ft. above sea-level, and the chief industry is the mining of coal at the numerous surrounding collieries. Freeland is the seat of the Mining and Mechanical Institute of the Anthracite Region, chartered in 1894, modelled after the GermanSteigerschulen, with elementary and secondary departments and a night school for workmen. The borough has foundries and machine shops of considerable importance, and manufactures silk, overalls, beer and hames. Freeland was first settled about 1842, was laid out in 1870, and was incorporated in 1876.

FREEMAN, EDWARD AUGUSTUS(1823-1892), English historian, was born at Harborne, Staffordshire, on the 2nd of August 1823. He lost both his parents in infancy, was brought up by a grandmother, and was educated at private schools and by a private tutor. He was a studious and precocious boy, more interested in religious matters, history and foreign politics than in boyish things. He obtained a scholarship at Trinity College, Oxford, and a second class in the degree examination, and was elected fellow of his college (1845). While at Oxford he was much influenced by the High Church movement, and thought seriously of taking orders, but abandoned the idea. He married a daughter of his former tutor, the Rev. R. Gutch, in 1847, and entered on a life of study. Ecclesiastical architecture attracted him strongly. He visited many churches and began a practice, which he pursued throughout his life, of making drawings of buildings on the spot and afterwards tracing them over in ink. His first book, save for his share in a volume of English verse, was aHistory of Architecture(1849). Though he had not then seen any buildings outside England, it contains a good sketch of the development of the art. It is full of youthful enthusiasm and is written in florid language. After some changes of residence he bought a house called Somerleaze, near Wells, Somerset, and settled there in 1860.

Freeman’s life was one of strenuous literary work. He wrote many books, and countless articles for reviews, newspapers and other publications, and was a constant contributor to theSaturday Reviewuntil 1878, when he ceased to write for it for political reasons. HisSaturday Reviewarticles corrected many errors and raised the level of historical knowledge among the educated classes, but as a reviewer he was apt to forget that a book may have blemishes and yet be praiseworthy. For some years he was an active county magistrate. He was deeply interested in politics, was a follower of Mr Gladstone, and approved the Home Rule Bill of 1886, but objected to the later proposal to retain the Irish members at Westminster. To be returned to Parliament was one of his few ambitions, and in 1868 he unsuccessfully contested Mid-Somerset. Foreign rather than domestic politics had the first place with him. Historical and religious sentiment combined with hisdetestationof all that was tyrannical to inspire him with hatred of the Turk and sympathy with the smaller and subject nationalities of eastern Europe. He took a prominent part in the agitation which followed “the Bulgarian atrocities”; his speeches were intemperate, and he was accused of uttering the words “Perish India!” at a public meeting in 1876. This, however, was a misrepresentation of his words. He was made a knight commanderof the order of the Saviour by the king of Greece, and also received an order from the prince of Montenegro.

Freeman advanced the study of history in England in two special directions, by insistence on the unity of history, and by teaching the importance and right use of original authorities. History is not, he urges, to be divided “by a middle wall of partition” into ancient and modern, nor broken into fragments as though the history of each nation stood apart. It is more than a collection of narratives; it is a science, “the science of man in his political character.” The historical student, then, cannot afford to be indifferent to any part of the record of man’s political being; but as his abilities for study are limited, he will, while reckoning all history to be within his range, have his own special range within which he will master every detail (Rede Lecture). Freeman’s range included Greek, Roman and the earlier part of English history, together with some portions of foreign medieval history, and he had a scholarly though general knowledge of the rest of the history of the European world. He regarded the abiding life of Rome as “the central truth of European history,” the bond of its unity, and he undertook hisHistory of Sicily(1891-1894) partly because it illustrated this unity. Further, he urges that all historical study is valueless which does not take in a knowledge of original authorities, and he teaches both by example and precept what authorities should be thus described, and how they are to be weighed and used. He did not use manuscript authorities, and for most of his work he had no need to do so. The authorities which he needed were already in print, and his books would not have been better if he had disinterred a few more facts from unprinted sources.

His reputation as a historian will chiefly rest on hisHistory of the Norman Conquest(1867-1876), his longest completed book. In common with his works generally, it is distinguished by exhaustiveness of treatment and research, critical ability, a remarkable degree of accuracy, and a certain insight into the past which he gained from his practical experience of men and institutions. He is almost exclusively a political historian. His saying that “history is past politics and politics are present history” is significant of this limitation of his work, which left on one side subjects of the deepest interest in a nation’s life. In dealing with constitutional matters he sometimes attaches too much weight to words and formal aspects. This gives certain of his arguments an air of pedantry, and seems to lead him to find evidences of continuity in institutions which in reality and spirit were different from what they once had been. As a rule his estimates of character are remarkably able. It is true that he is sometimes swayed by prejudice, but this is the common lot of great historians; they cannot altogether avoid sharing in the feelings of the past, for they live in it, and Freeman did so to an extraordinary degree. Yet if he judges too favourably the leaders of the national party in England on the eve of the Norman Conquest, that is a small matter to set against the insight which he exhibits in writing of Aratus, Sulla, Nicias, William the Conqueror, Thomas of Canterbury, Frederick the Second and many more. In width of view, thoroughness of investigation and honesty of purpose he is unsurpassed by any historian. He never conceals nor wilfully misrepresents anything, and he reckoned no labour too great which might help him to draw a truthful picture of the past. When a place had any important connexion with his work he invariably visited it. He travelled much, always to gain knowledge, and generally to complete his historical equipment. His collected articles and essays on places of historical interest are perhaps the most pleasing of his writings, but they deal exclusively with historical associations and architectural features. The quantity of work which he turned out is enormous, for the fifteen large volumes which contain hisNorman Conquest, his unfinishedHistory of Sicily, hisWilliam Rufus(1882), and hisEssays(1872-1879), and the crowd of his smaller books, are matched in amount by his uncollected contributions to periodicals. In respect of matter his historical work is uniformly excellent. In respect of form and style the case is different. Though his sentences themselves are not wordy, he is extremely diffuse in treatment, habitually repeating an idea in successive sentences of much the same import. While this habit was doubtless aggravated by the amount of his journalistic work, it seems originally to have sprung from what may be called a professorial spirit, which occasionally appears in the tone of his remarks. He was anxious to make sure that his readers would understand his exact meaning, and to guard them against all possible misconceptions. His lengthy explanations are the more grievous because he insists on the same points in several of his books. His prolixity was increased by his unwillingness, when writing without prescribed limits, to leave out any detail, however unimportant. His passion for details not only swelled his volumes to a portentous size, but was fatal to artistic construction. The length of his books has hindered their usefulness. They were written for the public at large, but few save professed students, who can admire and value his exhaustiveness, will read the many hundreds of pages which he devotes to a short period of history. In some of his smaller books, however, he shows great powers of condensation and arrangement, and writes tersely enough. His style is correct, lucid and virile, but generally nothing more, and his endeavour to use as far as possible only words of Teutonic origin limited his vocabulary and makes his sentences somewhat monotonous. While Froude often strayed away from his authorities, Freeman kept his authorities always before his eyes, and his narrative is here and there little more than a translation of their words. Accordingly, while it has nothing of Froude’s carelessness and inaccuracy, it has nothing of his charm of style. Yet now and again he rises to the level of some heroic event, and parts of his chapter on the “Campaign of Hastings” and of his record of the wars of Syracuse and Athens, his reflections on the visit of Basil the Second to the church of the Virgin on the Acropolis, and some other passages in his books, are fine pieces of eloquent writing.

The high quality of Freeman’s work was acknowledged by all competent judges. He was made D.C.L. of Oxford and LL.D. of Cambridgehonoris causa, and when he visited the United States on a lecturing tour was warmly received at various places of learning. He served on the royal commission on ecclesiastical courts appointed in 1881. In 1884 he was appointed regius professor of modern history at Oxford. His lectures were thinly attended, for he did not care to adapt them to the requirements of the university examinations, and he was not perhaps well fitted to teach young men. But he exercised a wholesome influence over the more earnest students of history among the resident graduates. From 1886 he was forced by ill-health to spend much of his time abroad, and he died of smallpox at Alicante on the 16th of March 1892, while on a tour in Spain. Freeman had a strongly marked personality. Though impatient in temper and occasionally rude, he was tender-hearted and generous. His rudeness to strangers was partly caused by shyness and partly by a childlike inability to conceal his feelings. Eminently truthful, he could not understand that some verbal insincerities are necessary to social life. He had a peculiar faculty for friendship, and his friends always found him sympathetic and affectionate. In their society he would talk well and showed a keen sense of humour. He considered it his duty to expose careless and ignorant writers, and certainly enjoyed doing so. He worked hard and methodically, often had several pieces of work in hand, and kept a daily record of the time which he devoted to each of them. His tastes were curiously limited. No art interested him except architecture, which he studied throughout his life; and he cared little for literature which was not either historical or political. In later life he ceased to hold the theological opinions of his youth, but remained a devout churchman.

See W. R. W. Stephens,Life and Letters of E. A. Freeman(London, 1895); Frederic Harrison,Tennyson, Ruskin, Mill and other Literary Estimates(London, 1899); James Bryce, “E. A. Freeman,”Eng. Hist. Rev., July 1892.

(W. Hu.)

FREEMAN,primarily one who is free, as opposed to a slave or serf (seeFeudalism;Slavery). The term is more specifically applied to one who possesses the freedom of a city, borough or company. Before the passing of the Municipal CorporationsAct 1835, each English borough admitted freemen according to its own peculiar custom and by-laws. The rights and privileges of a freeman, though varying in different boroughs, generally included the right to vote at a parliamentary election of the borough, and exemption from all tolls and dues. The act of 1835 respected existing usages, and every person who was then an admitted freeman remained one, retaining at the same time all his former rights and privileges. The admission of freemen is now regulated by the Municipal Corporations Act 1882. By section 201 of that act the term “freeman” includes any person of the class whose rights and interests were reserved by the act of 1835 under the name either of freemen or of burgesses. By section 202 no person can be admitted a freeman by gift or by purchase; that is, only birth, servitude or marriage are qualifications. The Honorary Freedom of Boroughs Act 1885, however, makes an exception, as by that act the council of every borough may from time to time admit persons of distinction to be honorary freemen of the borough. The town clerk of every borough keeps a list, which is called “the freeman’s roll,” and when any person claims to be admitted a freeman in respect of birth, servitude or marriage, the mayor examines the claim, and if it is established the claimant’s name is enrolled by the town clerk.

A person may become a freeman or freewoman of one of the London livery companies by (1) apprenticeship or servitude; (2) patrimony; (3) redemption; (4) gift. This last is purely honorary. The most usual form of acquiring freedom was by serving apprenticeship to a freeman, free both of a company and of the city of London. By an act of common council of 1836 apprenticeship was permitted to freemen of the city who had not taken up the freedom of a company. By an act of common council of 1889 the term of service was reduced from seven years to four years. Freedom by patrimony is always granted to children of a person who has been duly admitted to the freedom. Freedom by redemption or purchase requires the payment of certain entrance fees, which vary with the standing of the company. In the Grocers’ Company freedom by redemption does not exist, and in such companies as still have a trade,e.g.the Apothecaries and Stationers, it is limited to members of the trade.

See W. C. Hazlitt,The Livery Companies of the City of London(1892).

FREEMASONRY.According to an old “Charge” delivered to initiates, Freemasonry is declared to be an “ancient and honourable institution: ancient no doubt it is, as having subsisted from time immemorial; and honourable it must be acknowledged to be, as by a natural tendency it conduces to make those so who are obedient to its precepts ... to so high an eminence has its credit been advanced that in every age Monarchs themselves have been promoters of the art, have not thought it derogatory from their dignity to exchange the sceptre for the trowel, have patronised our mysteries and joined in our Assemblies.” For many years the craft has been conducted without respect to clime, colour, caste or creed.

History.—The precise origin of the society has yet to be ascertained, but is not likely to be, as the early records are lost; there is, however, ample evidence remaining to justify the claim for its antiquity and its honourable character. Much has been written as to its eventful past, based upon actual records, but still more which has served only to amuse or repel inquirers, and led not a few to believe that the fraternity has no trustworthy history. An unfavourable opinion of the historians of the craft generally may fairly have been held during the 18th and early in the 19th centuries, but happily since the middle of the latter century quite a different principle has animated those brethren who have sought to make the facts of masonic history known to the brotherhood, as well as worth the study of students in general. The idea that it would require an investigator to be a member of the “mystic tie” in order to qualify as a reader of masonic history has been exploded. The evidences collected concerning the institution during the last five hundred years, or more, may now be examined and tested in the most severe manner by literary and critical experts (whether opposed or favourable to the body), who cannot fail to accept the claims made as to its great antiquity and continuity, as the lineal descendant of those craftsmen who raised the cathedrals and other great English buildings during the middle ages.

It is only needful to refer to the old works on freemasonry, and to compare them with the accepted histories of the present time, to be assured that such strictures as above are more than justified. The premier work on the subject was published in London in 1723, the Rev. James Anderson being the author of the historical portion, introductory to the first “Book of Constitutions” of the original Grand Lodge of England. Dr Anderson gravely states that “Grand Master Moses often marshalled the Israelites into a regular and general lodge, whilst in the wilderness.... King Solomon was Grand Master of the lodge at Jerusalem.1... Nebuchadnezzar became the Grand Master Mason,” &c., devoting many more pages to similar absurdities, but dismisses the important modern innovation (1716-1717) of a Grand Lodge with a few lines noteworthy for their brief and indefinite character.In 1738 a second edition was issued, dedicated to the prince of Wales (“a Master Mason and master of a lodge”), and was the work of the same brother (as respects the historical part), the additions being mainly on the same lines as the former volume, only, if possible, still more ridiculous and extravagant;e.g.Cyrus constituted Jerubbabel “provincial grand master in Judah”; Charles Martel was “the Right Worshipful Grand Master of France, and Edward I. being deeply engaged in wars left the craft to the care of several successive grand masters” (duly enumerated). Such loose statements may now pass unheeded, but unfortunately they do not exhaust the objections to Dr Anderson’s method of writing history. The excerpt concerning St Alban (apparently made from Coles’sAncient Constitutions, 1728-1729) has the unwarranted additional title of Grand Master conferred on that saint, and the extract concerning King Æthelstan and Prince Edwin from the “Old MS. Charges” (given in the first edition) contains still more unauthorized modern terms, with the year added of 926; thus misleading most seriously those who accept the volume as trustworthy, because written by the accredited historian of the Grand Lodge, Junior Grand Warden in 1723. These examples hardly increase our confidence in the author’s accuracy when Dr Anderson comes to treat of the origin of the premier Grand Lodge; but he is our only informant as to that important event, and if his version of the occurrence is declined, we are absolutely without any information.

In 1738 a second edition was issued, dedicated to the prince of Wales (“a Master Mason and master of a lodge”), and was the work of the same brother (as respects the historical part), the additions being mainly on the same lines as the former volume, only, if possible, still more ridiculous and extravagant;e.g.Cyrus constituted Jerubbabel “provincial grand master in Judah”; Charles Martel was “the Right Worshipful Grand Master of France, and Edward I. being deeply engaged in wars left the craft to the care of several successive grand masters” (duly enumerated). Such loose statements may now pass unheeded, but unfortunately they do not exhaust the objections to Dr Anderson’s method of writing history. The excerpt concerning St Alban (apparently made from Coles’sAncient Constitutions, 1728-1729) has the unwarranted additional title of Grand Master conferred on that saint, and the extract concerning King Æthelstan and Prince Edwin from the “Old MS. Charges” (given in the first edition) contains still more unauthorized modern terms, with the year added of 926; thus misleading most seriously those who accept the volume as trustworthy, because written by the accredited historian of the Grand Lodge, Junior Grand Warden in 1723. These examples hardly increase our confidence in the author’s accuracy when Dr Anderson comes to treat of the origin of the premier Grand Lodge; but he is our only informant as to that important event, and if his version of the occurrence is declined, we are absolutely without any information.

In considering the early history of Freemasonry, from a purely matter-of-fact standpoint, it will be well to settle as a necessary preliminary what the term did and does now include or mean, and how far back the inquiry should be conducted, as well as on what lines. If the view of the subject herein taken be correct, it will be useless to load the investigation by devoting considerable space to a consideration of the laws and customs of still older societies which may have been utilized and imitated by the fraternity, but which in no sense can be accepted as the actual forbears of the present society of Free and Accepted Masons. They were predecessors, or possibly prototypes, but not near relatives or progenitors of the Freemasons.2

The Mother Grand Lodge of the world is that of England, which was inaugurated in the metropolis on St John Baptist’s day 1717 by four or more old lodges, three of which still flourish. There were other lodges also in London and the country at the time, but whether they were invited to the meeting is not now known. Probably not, as existing records of the period preserve a sphinx-like silence thereon. Likewise there were many scores of lodges at work in Scotland, and undoubtedly in Ireland the craft was widely patronized. Whatever the ceremonies may have been which were then known as Freemasonry in Great Britain and Ireland, they were practically alike, and the venerableOld Chargesor MS. constitutions, dating back several centuries, were rightly held by them as the title-deeds of their masonic inheritance.

It was a bold thing to do, thus to start a governing body for the fraternity quite different in many respects to all preceding organizations, and to brand as irregular all lodges which declinedto accept such authority; but the very originality and audacity of its promoters appears to have led to its success, and it was not long before most of the lodges of the pre-Grand-Lodge era joined and accepted “constitution” by warrant of the Grand Master. Not only so, but Ireland quickly followed the lead, so early as 1725 there being a Grand Lodge for that country which must have been formed even still earlier, and probably by lodges started before any were authorized in the English counties. In Scotland the change was not made until 1736, many lodges even then holding aloof from such an organization. Indeed, out of some hundred lodges known to have been active then, only thirty-three responded and agreed to fall into line, though several joined later; some, however, kept separate down to the end of the 19th century, while others never united. Many of these lodges have records of the 17th century though not then newly formed; one in particular, the oldest (the Lodge of Edinburgh, No. 1), possesses minutes so far back as the year 1599.

It is important to bear in mind that all the regular lodges throughout the world, and likewise all the Grand Lodges, directly or indirectly, have sprung from one or other of the three governing bodies named; Ireland and Scotland following the example set by their masonic mother of England in having Grand Lodges of their own. It is not proved how the latter two became acquainted with Freemasonry as a secret society, guided more or less by the operative MS.ConstitutionsorChargescommon to the three bodies, not met with elsewhere; but the credit of a Grand Lodge being established to control the lodges belongs to England.

It may be a startling declaration, but it is well authenticated, that there is no other Freemasonry, as the term is now understood, than what which has been so derived. In other words, the lodges and Grand Lodges in both hemispheres trace their origin and authority back to England for working what are known as the Three Degrees, controlled by regular Grand Lodges. That being so, a history of modern Freemasonry, the direct offspring of the British parents aforesaid, should first of all establish the descent of the three Grand Lodges from the Freemasonry of earlier days; such continuity, of five centuries or more, being asine qua nonof antiquity and regularity.

It will be found that from the early part of the 18th century back to the 16th century existing records testify to the assemblies of lodges, mainly operative, but partly speculative, in Great Britain, whose guiding stars and common heritage were theOld Charges, and that when their actual minutes and transactions cease to be traced by reason of their loss, these same MS.Constitutionsfurnish testimony of the still older working of such combinations of freemasons or masons, without the assistance, countenance or authority of any other masonic body; consequently such documents still preserved, of the 14th and later centuries (numbering about seventy, mostly in form of rolls), with the existing lodge minutes referred to of the 16th century, down to the establishment of the premier Grand Lodge in 1717, prove the continuity of the society. Indeed so universally has this claim been admitted, that in popular usage the term Freemason is only now applied to those who belong to this particular fraternity, that ofmasonbeing applicable to one who follows that trade, or honourable calling, as a builder.

There is no evidence that during this long period any other organization of any kind, religious, philosophical, mystical or otherwise, materially or even slightly influenced the customs of the fraternity, though they may have done so; but so far as is known the lodges were of much the same character throughout, and consisted really of operatives (who enjoyed practically a monopoly for some time of the trade as masons or freemasons), and, in part, of “speculatives,”i.e.noblemen, gentlemen and men of other trades, who were admitted as honorary members.

Assuming then that the freemasons of the present day are the sole inheritors of the system arranged at the so-called “Revival of 1717,” which was a development from an operative body to one partly speculative, and that, so far back as the MS. Records extend and furnish any light, they must have worked in Lodges in secret throughout the period noted, a history of Freemasonry should be mainly devoted to giving particulars, as far as possible, of the lodges, their traditions, customs and laws, based upon actual documents which can be tested and verified by members and non-members alike.

It has been the rule to treat, more or less fully, of the influence exerted on the fraternity by the Ancient Mysteries, the Essenes, Roman Colleges, Culdees, Hermeticism, Fehm-Gerichteet hoc genus omne, especially theSteinmetzen, the Craft Gilds and the Companionage of France, &c.; but in view of the separate and independent character of the freemasons, it appears to be quite unnecessary, and the time so employed would be better devoted to a more thorough search after additional evidences of the activity of the craft, especially during the crucial period overlapping the second decade of the 18th century, so as to discover information as to the transmitted secrets of the medieval masons, which, after all, may simply have been what Gaspard Monge felicitously entitles “Descriptive Geometry, or the Art and Science of Masonic Symbolism.”

The rules and regulations of the masons were embodied in what are known as theOld Charges; the senior known copy being theRegius MS.(British Museum Bibl. Reg. 17 A, i.), which, however, is not so exclusively devoted to masonry as the later copies. David Casley, in his catalogue of the MSS. in the King’s Library (1734), unfortunately styled the little gemA Poem of Moral Duties; and owing to this misdescription its true character was not recognized until the year 1839, and then by a non-mason (Mr Halliwell-Phillipps), who had it reproduced in 1840 and brought out an improved edition in 1844. Its date has been approximately fixed at 1390 by Casley and other authorities.

The curious legend of the craft, therein made known, deals first of all with the number of unemployed in early days and the necessity of finding work, “that they myght gete here lyvynge therby.” Euclid was consulted, and recommended the “onest craft of good masonry,” and the genesis of the society is found “yn Egypte lande.” By a rapid transition, but “mony erys afterwarde,” we are told that the “Craft com ynto England yn tyme of good kynge Adelstonus (Æthelstan) day,” who called an assembly of the masons, when fifteen articles and as many more points were agreed to for the government of the craft, each being duly described. Each brother was instructed that—

“He must love wel God, and holy Churche algateAnd hys mayster also, that he ys wythe.”“The thrydde poynt must be severle.With the prentes knowe hyt wele,Hys mayster cownsel he kepe and close,And hys felows by hys goode purpose;The prevetyse of the chamber telle he no mon,Ny yn the logge whatsever they done,Whatsever thou heryst, or syste hem do,Telle hyt no mon, whersever thou go.”

“He must love wel God, and holy Churche algate

And hys mayster also, that he ys wythe.”

“The thrydde poynt must be severle.

With the prentes knowe hyt wele,

Hys mayster cownsel he kepe and close,

And hys felows by hys goode purpose;

The prevetyse of the chamber telle he no mon,

Ny yn the logge whatsever they done,

Whatsever thou heryst, or syste hem do,

Telle hyt no mon, whersever thou go.”

The rules generally, besides referring to trade regulations, are as a whole suggestive of the Ten Commandments in an extended form, winding up with the legend of theArs quatuor coronatorum, as an incentive to a faithful discharge of the numerous obligations. A second part introduces a more lengthy account of the origin of masonry, in which Noah’s flood and the Tower of Babylon are mentioned as well as the great skill of Euclid, who—

“Through hye grace of Crist yn heven,He commensed yn the syens seven”;

“Through hye grace of Crist yn heven,

He commensed yn the syens seven”;

The “seven sciences” are duly named and explained. The compiler apparently was a priest, line 629 reading “And, when ye gospelme rede schal,” thus also accounting for the many religious injunctions in the MS.; the last hundred lines are evidently based uponUrbanitatis(Cott. MS. Caligula A 11, fol. 88) andInstructions for a Parish Priest(Cott. MS. Claudius A 11, fol. 27), instructions such as lads and even men would need who were ignorant of the customs of polite society, correct deportment at church and in the presence of their social superiors.

The recital of the legend of theQuatuor Coronatihas been held by Herr Findel in hisHistory of Freemasonry(Allgemeine Geschichte der Freimaurerei, 1862; English editions, 1866-1869) to prove that British Freemasonry was derived from Germany,but without any justification, the legend being met with in England centuries prior to the date of theRegius MS., and long prior to its incorporation in masonic legends on the Continent.

The next MS., in order, is known as the “Cooke” (Ad. MS. 23,198, British Museum), because Matthew Cooke published a fair reproduction of the document in 1861; and it is deemed by competent paleographers to date from the first part of the 15th century. There are two versions of theOld Chargesin this little book, purchased for the British Museum in 1859. The compiler was probably a mason and familiar with several copies of these MS.Constitutions, two of which he utilizes and comments upon; he quotes from a MS. copy of thePolicroniconthe manner in which a written account of the sciences was preserved in the two historic stones at the time of the Flood, and generally makes known the traditions of the society as well as the laws which were to govern the members.

Its introduction into England through Egypt is noted (where the Children of Israel “lernyd ye craft of Masonry”), also the “lande of behest” (Jerusalem) and the Temple of Solomon (who “confirmed ye chargys yt David his Fadir” had made). Then masonry in France is interestingly described; and St Alban and “Æthelstane with his yongest sone” (the Edwin of the later MSS.) became the chosen mediums subsequently, as with the otherCharges, portions of the Old Testament are often cited in order to convey a correct idea to the neophyte, who is to hear the document read, as to these sciences which are declared to be free in themselves (fre in hem selfe). Of all crafts followed by man in this world “Masonry hathe the moste notabilite,” as confirmed by “Elders that were bi for us of masons [who] had these chargys wryten,” and “as is write and taught in ye boke of our charges.”

Until quite recently no representative or survival of this particular version had been traced, but in 1890 one was discovered of 1687 (since known as theWilliam Watson MS.). Of some seventy copies of these old scrolls which have been unearthed, by far the greater proportion have been made public since 1860. They have all much in common, though often curious differences are to be detected; are of English origin, no matter where used; and when complete, as they mostly are, whether of the 16th or subsequent centuries, are noteworthy for an invocation or prayer which begins the recital:—

“The mighte of the ffather of heavenAnd the wysedome of the glorious Sonnethrough the grace and the goodnes of the hollyghoste yt been three p’sons and one Godbe with us at or beginning and give us graceso to gou’ne us here in or lyving that wee mayecome to his blisse that nevr shall have ending.—Amen.”(Grand Lodge MS. No. 1,A.D.1583.)

“The mighte of the ffather of heaven

And the wysedome of the glorious Sonne

through the grace and the goodnes of the holly

ghoste yt been three p’sons and one God

be with us at or beginning and give us grace

so to gou’ne us here in or lyving that wee maye

come to his blisse that nevr shall have ending.—Amen.”

(Grand Lodge MS. No. 1,A.D.1583.)

They are chiefly of the 17th century and nearly all located in England; particulars may be found in Hughan’sOld Charges of the British Freemasons(1872, 1895 and supplement 1906).3The chief scrolls, with some others, have been reproduced in facsimile in six volumes of theQuatuor Coronatorum Antigrapha; and the collection in Yorkshire has been published separately, either in theWest Yorkshire Reprintsor theAncient York Masonic Rolls. Several have been transcribed and issued in other works.

These scrolls give considerable information as to the traditions and customs of the craft, together with the regulations for its government, and were required to be read to apprentices long after the peculiar rules ceased to be acted upon, each lodge apparently having one or more copies kept for the purpose. The old Lodge of Aberdeen ordered in 1670 that the Charge was to be “read at ye entering of everie entered prenteise”; another at Alnwick in 1701 provided—

“Noe Mason shall take any apprentice [but he must]Enter him and give him his Charge, within one whole year after”;

“Noe Mason shall take any apprentice [but he must]

Enter him and give him his Charge, within one whole year after”;

and still another at Swallwell (now No. 48 Gateshead) demanded that “the Apprentices shall have their Charge given at the time of Registering, or within thirty days after”; the minutes inserting such entries accordingly even so late as 1754, nearly twenty years after the lodge had cast in its lot with the Grand Lodge of England.

Their Christian character is further emphasized by the “First Charge that you shall be true men to God and the holy Church”; theYork MS. No. 6beseeches the brethren “at every meeting and assembly they pray heartily for all Christians”; theMelrose MS. No. 2(1674) mentions “Merchants and all other Christian men,” and theAberdeen MS.(1670) terms the invocation “A Prayer before the Meeting.” Until the Grand Lodge era, Freemasonry was thus wholly Christian. TheYork MS. No. 4of 1693 contains a singular error in the admonitory lines:—

“The [n] one of the elders takeing the Booke and thathee or shee that is to be made mason, shall lay theirhands thereon and the charge shall be given.”

“The [n] one of the elders takeing the Booke and that

hee or shee that is to be made mason, shall lay their

hands thereon and the charge shall be given.”

This particular reading was cited by Hughan in 1871, but was considered doubtful; Findel,4however, confirmed it, on his visit to York under the guidance of the celebrated masonic student the late Rev. A. F. A. Woodford. The mistake was due possibly to the transcriber, who had an older roll before him, confusing “they,” sometimes written “the,” with “she,” or reading that portion, which is often in Latin, asille vel illa, instead ofille vel illi.

In some of theCodices, about the middle of the 17th century and later, New Articles are inserted, such as would be suitable for an organization similar to the Masons’ Company of London, which had one, at least, of theOld Chargesin its possession according to inventories of 1665 and 1676; and likewise in 1722, termedThe Book of the Constitutions of the Accepted Masons. Save its mention (“Book wrote on parchment”) by Sir Francis Palgrave in theEdinburgh Review(April 1839) as being in existence “not long since,” this valuable document has been lost sight of for many years.

That there were signs and other secrets preserved and used by the brethren throughout this mainly operative period may be gathered from discreet references in these old MSS. TheInstitutions in parchment(22nd of November 1696) of the Dumfries Kilwinning Lodge (No. 53, Scotland) contain a copy of the oath taken “when any man should be made”:—

Back to Index Next