by war, bloodshed, and confusion, so ancient kings and princes have been much disposed to encourage the craftsmen, because of their peaceableness and loyalty, .whereby they practically answered the cavils of their adversaries, and promoted the honour of the Fraternity, who ever flourished in times of peace. So that if a Brother should be a rebel against the state, he is not to be countenanced in his rebellion, however he may be pietied as an unhappy man; and, if convicted of no other crime, though the loyal brotherhood must and ought to disown his rebellion, and give no umbrage or ground of political jealousy to the government for the time being; they cannot expel him from the Lodge, and his relation to it remains indefeasible.

III. OF LODGES.

A Lodge is a place where Masons assemble and work; hence that assembly, or duly organized society of Masons, is called a Lodge and every Brother ought to belong to one, and to be subject to its bylaws and the General-Regulations. It is either particular or general, and will be best understood by attending it, and by the regulations of the General or Grand Lodge hereunto annexed. In ancient times, no Master or Fellow could be absent from it, especially when warned to appear at it, without incurring a severe censure, until it appeared to the Master and Wardens that pure necessity hindered him.

The persons admitted members of a Lodge must be good and true men, free born, and of mature and discreet age, no bondmen, no women, no immoral or scandalous men, but of good report.

IV. OF MASTERS, WARDENS, FELLOWS AND APPRENTICES.

All preferment among Masons is grounded upon real worth and personal merit only; that so the lords may be well served, the brethren not put to shame, nor the royal craft despised; therefore no Master or Warden is chosen by seniority, but for his merit. It is impossible to describe these things in writing, and every Brother must attend in his place, and learn them in a way peculiar to this Fraternity: only candidates may know that no Master should take an Apprentice unless he has sufficient employment for him, and unless he be a perfect youth, having no main or defect in his body, that may render him uncapable of learning the art, of serving his Master,s lord, and of being made a Brother, and then a Fellow-Craft in due time, even after he has served such a term of years as the custom of the country directs; and that he should be descended of honest parents; that so, when otherwise qualified, he may arrive to the honour of being the Warden, and then the Master of the Lodge, the Grand Warden, and at length the Grand Master of all the Lodges, according to his merit.

No Brother can be a Warden until he has passed the part of a Fellow-Craft; nor a Master, until he has acted as a Warden, nor Grand Warden, until he has been Master of a Lodge, nor Grand Master, unless he has been a Fellow Craft before his election, who is also to be nobly born, or a gentleman of the best fashion, or some eminent scholar, or some curious architect or other artist, descended of honest parents, and who is of singular great merit in the opinion of the Lodges. And for the better and easier, and more honourable discharge of his office, the Grand Master has a power to choose his own Deputy Grand Master, who must be then, or must have been formerly, the Master of a particular

Lodge, and has the privilege of acting whatever the Grand Master, his principal, should act, unless the said principal be present, or interpose his authority by a letter.

These rulers and governors, supreme and subordinate, of the ancient Lodge, are to be obeyed in their respective stations by all the brethren, according to the Old Charges and Regulations, with all humility, reverence, love, and alacrity.

V. OF THE MANAGEMENT OF THE CRAFT IN WORKING.

All Masons shall work honestly on working days, that they may live creditably on holy days; and the time appointed by the law of the land, or confirmed by custom, shall be observed.

The most expert of the Fellow Craftsmen shall be chosen or appointed the Master or Overseer of the lord's work: who is to be called Master by those that work under him. The craftsmen are to avoid all ill language, and to call each other by no disobliging name, but Brother or Fellow; and to behave themselves courteously within and without the Lodge.

The Master, knowing himself to be able of cunning, shall undertake the lord's work as reasonably as possible, and truly dispend his goods as if they were his own; nor to give more wages to any Brother or Apprentice than he really may deserve.

Both the Master and the Mason receiving their wages justly, shall be faithful to the lord, and honestly finish their work, whether task or journey; nor put the work to task that hath been accustomed to journey.

None shall discover envy at the prosperity of a Brother, nor supp lant him, or put him out of his work, if he be capable to finish the same: for no man can finish another's work so much to the lord's profit, unless he be throughly acquainted with the designs and draughts of him that began it.

When a Fellow Craftsman is chosen Warden of the work under the Master, he shall be true both to Master and Fellows; shall carefully oversee the work in the Master's absence to the lord's profit; and his brethren shall obey him.

All Masons employed shall meekly receive their wages without murmuring or mutiny, and not desert the Master till the work is finished. A younger Brother shall be instructed in working, to prevent spoiling the materials for want of judgment, and for increasing and continuing of brotherly love.

All the tools used in working shall be approved by the Grand Lodge.

No labourer shall be employed in the proper work of Masonry nor shall Free Masons work with those that are not free, without an urgent necessity; nor shall they teach labourers and unaccepted Masons, as they should teach a Brother or Fellow.

VI. OF BEHAVIOUR, VIZ:

I. In the Lodge while Constituted.

You are not to hold private committees, or separate conversation, without leave from the Master, nor to talk of any thing impertinent or unseemly, nor interrupt the Master or Wardens, or any Brother speaking to the Master; nor behave yourself ludicrously or jestingly while the

Lodge is engaged in what is serious and solemn; nor use any unbecoming language upon any pretence whatsoever; but to pay due reverence to your Master, Wardens, and Fellows, and put them to worship.

If any complaint be brought, the Brother found guilty shall stand to the award and determination of the Lodge, who are the proper and competent judges of all such controversies (unless you carry it by appeal to the Grand Lodge,) and to whom they ought to be referred, unless a lord's work be hindered the meanwhile, in which case a particular reference may be made; but you must never go to law about what concerneth Masonry, without an absolute necessity apparent to the Lodge.

2. Behaviour after the Lodge is over and the Brethren not gone.

You may enjoy yourself with innocent mirth, treating one another according to ability, but avoiding all excess, or forcing any Brother to eat or drink beyond his inclination,, or hindering him from going when his occasions call him, or doing or saying any thing offensive, or that may forbid an easy and free conversation; for that would blast our harmony and defeat our laudable purposes. Therefore no private piques or quarrels must be brought within the door of the Lodge, far less any quarrels about religion, or nations, or state policy, we being only, as Masons, of the Catholic religion above-mentioned; we are also of all nations, tongues, kindreds, and languages, and are resolved against all politicks, as what never yet conduced to the welfare of the Lodge, nor ever will. This Charge has been always strictly enjoined and observed; but especially ever since the Reformation in Britain, or the dissent and secession of these nations from the communion of Rome.

3. Behaviour when Brethren meet without Strangers, but not in a Lodge formed.

You are to salute one another in a courteous manner, as you will be instructed, calling each other Brother, freely giving mutual instruction as shall be thought expedient, without being overseen or overheard, and without encroaching upon each other, or derogating from that respect which is due to any Brother, were he not a Mason; for though all Masons are as brethren upon the same level, yet Masonry takes no honour from a man that he had before; nay, rather it adds to his honour, especially if he has deserved well of the Brotherhood, who must give honour to whom it is due, and avoid ill manners.

4. Behaviour in Presence of Strangers not Masons.

You shall be cautious in your words and carriage, that the most penetrating stranger shall not be able to discover or find out what is not proper to be intimated; and sometimes you shall divert a discourse and manage it prudently for the honour of the worshipful Fraternnity.

5. Behaviour at Home, and in your Neighbourhood.

You are to act as becomes a moral and wise man; particularly not to let your family, friends, and neighbours know the concerns of the Lodge, &c., but wisely to consult your own honour and that of

the ancient Brotherhood, for reasons not to be mentioned here. You must also consult your health, by not continuing together too late, or too long from home, after Lodge hours are past; and by avoiding of gluttony or drunkenness, that your families be not neglected or injured, nor you disabled from working.

6. Behaviour towards a Strange Brother.

You are cautiously to examine him, in such a method as prudence shall direct you, that you may not be imposed upon by an ignorant false pretender, whom you are to reject with contempt and derision, and beware of giving him any hints of knowledge.

But if you discover him to be a true and genuine Brother, you are to respect him accordingly; and if he is in want, you must relive him if you can, or else direct him how he may be relieved. You must employ him some days, or else recommend him to be employed. But you are not charged to do beyond your ability, only to prefer a poor Brother that is a good man and true, before any other poor people in the same circumstances.

Finally, all these Charges you are to observe, and also those that shall be communicated to you in another way; cultivating brotherly love, the foundation and cape-stone, the cement and glory of this ancient Fraternity; avoiding all wrangling and quarreling, all slander and backbiting, nor permitting others to slander any honest Brother, but defending his character, and doing him all good offices, as far as is consistent with your honour and safety, and no farther. And if any of them do you injury, you must appeal to your own or his Lodge, and from thence you may appeal to the Grand Lodge at the Quarterly Communication, and from thence to the Annual Grand Lodge, as has been the ancient laudable conduct of our forefathers in every nation; never taking a legal course but when the case cannot be otherwise decided, and patiently listening to the honest and friendly advice of Master and Fellows, when they would prevent you going to law with strangers, or would excite you to put a speedy period to all lawsuits, that so you may mind the affair of Masonry with the more alacrity and success; but with respect to Brothers or Fellows at law, the Master and Brethren should kindly offer their mediation, which ought to be thankfully submitted to by the contending brethren; and if that submission is impracticable, they must however, carry on their process or lawsuit without wrath and rancor, (not in the common way) saying or doing nothing which may hinder brotherly love, and good offices to be renewed and continued; that all may see the benign influence of Masonry, as all true Masons have done from the beginning of the world, and will do to the end of time.

E.

THE GENERAL REGULATIONS OF 1721.

General Regulations, first complied by Mr. George Payne, anno 1720, when he was Grand Master, and approved by the Grand Lodge on St. John Baptist's day, anno 1721, at Stationers Hall, London, when the Most Noble Prince John, Duke of Montagu, was unanimously chosen our Grand Master for the year ensuing; who chose John Beal, M. D., his Deputy Grand Master; and Mr. Josiah Villenau and Mr. Thomas Morris, Jun., were chosen by the Lodge Grand Wardens. And now, by the command of our said Right Worshipful Grand Master Montagu, the author of this book has compared them with, and reduced them to the ancient records and immemorial usages of the Fraternity, and digested them into this new method, with several proper explications, for the use of the Lodges in and about London and Westminster.

(In subsequent editions of the Book of Constitutions, these Regulations were altered or amended in various points.)

I. The Grand Master or his Deputy has the authority and right not only to be present in any true Lodge, but also to preside wherever he is, with the Master of the Lodge on his left hand, and to order his Grand Wardens to attend him, who are not to act in any particular Lodges as Wardens, but in his presence, and at his command; because there the Grand Master may command the Wardens of that Lodge, or any other brethren he pleaseth, to attend and act as his Wardens pro tempore.

II. The Master of a particular Lodge has the right and authority of congregating the members of his Lodge into a Chapter at pleasure upon any emergency or occurrence, as well as to appoint the time and place of their usual forming; and in case of sickness, death, or necessary absence of the Master, the Senior Warden shall act as Master pro tempore, if no Brother is present who has been Master of that Loge before, for in that case the absent Master's authority reverts to the last Master then present; though he cannot act until the said Senior Warden has once congregated the Lodge, or in his absence the Junior Warden.

III. The Master of each particular Lodge, or one of the Wardens, or some other Brother by his order, shall keep a book cantaining their by-laws, the names of their members, with a list of all the Lodges in town, and the usual times and places of their forming, and all theirs transactions that are proper to be written.

IV. No Lodge shall make more than five new brethren at one time, nor any man under the age of twenty-five, who must be also his own master, unless by a dispensation from the Grand Master or his Deputy.

V. No man can be made or admitted a member of a particular Lodge without previous notice one month before given to the said Lodge, in order to make due enquiry into the reputation and capacity of the candidate, unless by the dispensation aforesaid.

VI. But no man can be entered a Brother in any particular Lodge, or admitted to be a member thereof, without the unanimous consent of all the members of that Lodge then present when the candidate is proposed, and their consent is formally asked by the Master; and they are

Findel, History of FM.

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