‘At last: The Book M’

    

The Masonic Book Club has done it again—or at least it will later this year.

The 2026 volume, announced by the MBC and Arturo de Hoyos yesterday, will be William Smith’s The Book M, or Masonry Triumphant from 1736. I’ve wanted my own printed copy of this an awfully long time. I first encountered a mention of this title in Chetwode Crawley’s Caementaria Hibernica, itself reprinted by the MBC long ago, where it was described as an important source of Masonic theory—and even as “hortatory.” And then it came up again elsewhere. Then again over time, while remaining elusive on the web. I have not been able to include this on my list of the Masonic essential books without reading it, but always suspected it merits inclusion.

In a paper on the subject of Smith and this book, the late John Belton of QC2076 writes:

In 1736 there was another William Smith production: Book M: Or Masonry Triumphant. Suddenly the moral and ethical values of Freemasonry appear in an extended readable and spoken form. One might possibly think of this as the contribution from the northeast of England to Freemasonry! And from that part of England that worked the Harodim degrees. That is the opinion of Professor Jan Snoek and increasingly I think he is correct. The oratorical tradition in Masonry came from the northeast of England.

Crawley, Lionel Vibert, and others have written of the similarities of The Book M to Smith’s Pocket Companion from 1735. Belton attributes to that book what your lodge might call the Entered Apprentice Charge, saying:

John Belton

“But finally I would like to tell you about my discovery in the 1735 Pocket Companion of William Smith. It is finding the earliest piece of ritual prose in English Masonic ritual yet discovered. Masonry Dissected was pure catechism. What William Smith added to that catechism was the innovation of a “Charge to Newly Admitted Brethren.” And which uses words and phrases which still resound in English lodges to this day. When I first read it (aloud in my mind) it was the same piece of oratorical prose that remember from my initiation forty years ago. But I was beguiled by the flow of words, because there had been some changes. I showed it to few other brothers and got the same response that I had.

So I’m hooked just for the opportunity to read the early text of that charge. With a $40 price tag, we’ll be paying almost a buck a page for this reproduction of The Book M, but of course an MBC printing will include explanatory text. Take my money, please!

From the publicity:

In the decades following the formation of the Premier Grand Lodge of England in 1717 and the publication of James Anderson’s The Constitutions of the Free-Masons (1723), Freemasonry was undergoing both consolidation and public exposure. William Smith’s The Book M or, Masonry Triumphant (1736), participated in this transition by offering a blend of history, ritual elements, and songs which reflected the increasing literate and social mobility of the Craft’s membership.

The Book M is essentially a “Pocket Companion” augmented with original commentary on Northern English Masonry, “Memorables,” and ceremonial observations. This dual format, part historical narrative plus musical/occasional material, informed and entertained brethren as well as promoting a positive self-image of the fraternity. The author was likely the same William Smith who was initiated at Swalwell Lodge (Lodge of Industry 48) in 1733.

Internal evidence suggests that The Book M represents the traditions of the “Harodim,” an early form of Masonry distinct from the “Moderns” (post-1717) and “Ancients” (post-1752). Some scholars suggest that the Harodim encompassed ritual elements later found in other high degrees, such as the Rose Croix, the Passing of the Bridge, and the Mark, Ark, and Link ceremonies. However, historical records indicate that the Harodim was primarily a lecture-based assembly. It preserved some of the older traditions of Masonry, including Noah and the Flood, the Tower of Babel, Enoch’s Columns, and the construction of Solomon’s Temple as part of the Fraternity’s mythology.

Although published in a relatively large edition, surviving copies are quite rare, with fewer than ten known to exist. This attractive Masonic Book Club edition, which was re-typeset for clarity, preserves the pagination and some of the engravings of the original. Some of the engravings have been reproduced or reimagined. A new introduction by Arturo de Hoyos adds a historical context and frames the book within the traditional works of the Craft.

Getting back to Chetwode Crawley and Caementaria Hibernica, he humorously writes: “The enigmatical title of The Book M, was doubtless designed to excite curiosity. It stands among the earliest instances of that affection for the clair-obscur, which has now and again led Masonic writers into stringing together long rows of initials. It has been suggested that M stands for Mystic, or for Mirific, or for Microcosmic, or for Megalocosmic, or for a host of words, each a little longer than its superseded predecessor in the list. The irreverent reader will miss the wonder-working Mesopotamian.”

Advance orders will be accepted starting Monday and through August 6. If enough orders are received, the books will be printed and shipped to us in the fall. (Conversely, if that threshold is not reached, we’ll get our money back, so click here and think positive.)

     

‘An “unhappy Man” vs. the “pursuit of Happiness”’

    

The Sunday Times

Mr. Cole Tomas Allen of California, an unhappy man, is in custody after a failed attempt on President Donald Trump’s life hours ago at the White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual dinner in Washington, DC.

A good (and familiar) question was posed the other day on Faceypage and, since the semiquincentennial anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is near, I thought I’d expand my limited answer to that query for this edition of The Magpie Mason.

Bro. Thomas of Thornton Lodge 486 in Texas asks:

“Can someone please explain whether or not the 3rd paragraph of the EA Charge is actually a charge or a suggestion?”

Knowing nothing about any ritual(s) promulgated by the Grand Lodge of Texas, I didn’t know what might be communicated in the third paragraph of his lodge’s Entered Apprentice Charge, but the abundant replies to his question clarified that for me. In New York, we actually have two charges from which to choose to instruct the youngest Entered Apprentice. The first charge includes the following (although it’s the fourth graf):

In the State you are to be a quiet and peaceable citizen, true to your government and just to your country. You are not to countenance disloyalty or rebellion, but are patiently to submit to legal authority, and conform with cheerfulness to the government of the country in which you live.

As an aside, I’ll point out how this echoes in our Installation of Officers. In seating the new Worshipful Master, he must agree to fifteen commands, including:

II. You agree to be a peaceful citizen, and cheerfully conform to the laws of the country in which you reside.

III. You promise not to be concerned in plots or conspiracies against the government, but patiently submit to the law and the constituted authorities.

IV. You agree to pay a proper respect to the civil magistrates, to work diligently, live creditably, and act honorably by all men.

None of the above are Masonic secrets. The EA Charge is not protected by oath; the Ancient Charges and Regulations for the lodge’s new Master can be heard by all who witness the ceremony, which often is attended by our families and friends. What wisely was kept confidential were Thomas’ reasons for asking, as he did not reveal personal political opinions or why he might take being a peaceable citizen as merely a suggestion for Masons.

Anyway, here is my long form Magpie answer:

I wouldn’t think any part of a charge would be discretionary, but that [third paragraph] part most definitely is a command that reverberates through history.

The idea enters Masonic ritual via The Rev. James Anderson’s book The Constitutions of the Free-Masons from 1723, the jurisprudence (although it contains other content) of the premier Grand Lodge of England.

The best known, most frequently cited portion of that book is “The Charges of a Free-Mason.” Not only is this section kept current by the United Grand Lodge of England, but also we find this section reproduced in the pages of grand lodges’ law books all over the world. We New Yorkers can read it on page 57 of Masonic Law of New York. Freemasons who don’t know Anderson’s Constitutions should read it because it informs much of what we think, say, and do in our lodges. (This will be covered in what I’ll present to the Observant lodges of Oklahoma when I step to the lectern on St. John’s Day.)

Charge I, “Concerning God and Religion,” is credited by some historians for partly inspiring the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, but Charge II is our topic today, to wit (spelling modernized):

II. Of the Civil Magistrate supreme and subordinate.

 

A Mason is a peaceable Subject to the Civil Powers, wherever he resides or works, and is never to be concerned in Plots and Conspiracies against the Peace and Welfare of the Nation, nor to behave himself undutifully to inferior Magistrates; for as Masonry has been always injured 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 Honor of the Fraternity, whoever 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 pitied 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.

Click to enlarge.

You see the similarities to the charges shown above. This is whence they came.

Anderson’s book also contains a legendary history of Freemasonry, some of which is factual, some fanciful. Among the reliably accurate notes is mention of English laws dating to the Middle Ages. In England, the various Statutes of Laborers regulated stone masons’ qualifications, remuneration, ability to meet, and other details, but the statute of 1405 specifically compelled such workers to take an annual oath to comply with the law. Anderson writes (spelling modernized):

Now though in the third Year of the said King Henry VI, while an Infant of about four Years old, the Parliament made an Act, that affected only the WORKING Masons, who had, contrary to the Statutes for Laborers, confederated not to work but at their own Price and Wages; and because such Agreements were supposed to be made at the General Lodges, called in the Act: Chapters and Congregations of Masons, it was then thought expedient to level the said Act against the said Congregations: Yet when the said King Henry VI arrived to Man’s Estate, the Masons laid before him and his Lords the above-mentioned Records and Charges, who, tis plain, reviewed them, and solemnly approved of them as good and reasonable to be holden: Nay, the said King and his Lords must have been incorporated with the Free-Masons, before they could make such Review of the Records; and in this Reign, before King Henry’s Troubles, Masons were much encouraged. Nor is there any Instance of executing that Act: in that, or in any other Reign since, and the Masons never neglected their Lodges for it, nor ever thought it worthwhile to employ their NOBLE and EMINENT BRETHREN to have it repealed; because the working Masons, that are free of the Lodge, scorn to be guilty of such Combinations; and the other free Masons have no Concern in Trespasses against the Statutes for Laborers.

Stone masons’ literature of the 1400s, namely the Regius Poem, communicates the same thinking. The marvelous website of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon still shows the poem and the modern translation, from 1923 by Bro. Roderick Baxter of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076, including:

In 1799, with the bloodbath of the French Revolution in mind, the British government devised the Unlawful Societies Act. The law, which remained enforceable until 1967, banned groups, that met in secret and that required oaths, out of fear of organized political subversion. Freemasonry, being loyal and peaceful in its activities, was exempted from the law. (If you’ll be in London on May 14, get to QC 2076 at Freemasons’ Hall to hear Bro. Paul Calderwood present his paper on this law.)

New book available from Lewis Masonic.

In more recent years, Masons’ practice of being peaceable citizens has proven valuable in inoculating the Craft from suspicion. For example, when the Irish Republican Army seized the headquarters of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in Dublin exactly 104 years ago, they relinquished control of the property (after six weeks) because Michael Collins and Arthur Griffiths were satisfied that Irish Freemasonry was apolitical and nonsectarian, despite its fraternal connection to England. More information on that here.

National Archives

What about the Declaration of Independence? The American Revolution placed Freemasons here in rebellion and war against their king. That’s not very peaceful! How did our Masonic ancestors, the famous and the obscure alike, square their commitment to the Craft with their revolution? Benjamin Franklin knew about Anderson. The first Masonic book printed in the New World was Franklin’s reprint of Anderson’s Constitutions in 1734.

Perhaps Anderson’s Charge II sometimes must be a romantic ideal, something aspirational, that has to be suspended when considering “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” for yourself and your posterity. Then again, on the practical side, America’s Founders, whether Masons or not, did not see the distant British king as their civil authority. After all, the colonists had no representation in Parliament. There were sympathizers (Bro. Edmund Burke and others), but that’s not the same as electing your own MPs. Meanwhile, the colonists here did elect local representatives and were used to having their say in government. Therefore, a rebellion against the government across the ocean could be outside the boundaries of Anderson’s charge.

In addition, we would be wise to consider that Anderson wrote for his time. (He’d be stunned to hear us talking about him 300 years later.) 1723 was early in the Hanoverian era, the dawn of which finally concluded decades of political violence in England. Think about what happened there between 1640 and 1721. Some of the major points:

➢ The Long Parliament

➢  Civil War

➢  Regicide of Charles I

➢  Cromwell

➢  The Restoration

➢  Glorious Revolution

➢  Bill of Rights

➢  The Act of Union

➢  The Hanoverian Succession

➢  Bro. Walpole as Prime Minister

There’s stability by 1723. The Grand Lodge, desiring royal patronage, wants to be known as being supportive of the constitutional monarchy, and so codifies its peaceful intentions, noting their historical basis.

Other replies to Bro. Thomas’ question on Thursday placed the Declaration of Independence at odds with the EA Charge, and even hinted it may be time to knock off this peaceful citizen business. (It appears those remarks have vanished.) But that is a valid question Thomas poses. How should we today reconcile Anderson’s “unhappy Man” and Jefferson’s “pursuit of Happiness?”