but by penances, servility to the monks, and an abject and illiberal devotion. The ecclesiastics, in those days of ignorance, [middle of the ninth century,] made rapid advances in the acquisition of power and grandeur; and in inculcating the most absurd and most interested doctrines. Not content with the donations of land made them by the Saxon Princes and nobles, they had cast a wishful eye on a vast revenue, which they claimed as belonging to them, by a sacred and indefeasible title. However little versed in the scriptures, they had been able to discover, that, under the Jewish law, a tenth of all the produce of land was conferred on the priesthood; and, forgetting what they themselves taught, that the moral part only was obligatory on Christians, they insisted that this donation conveyed a perpetual property, inherent, by divine right, in those who officiated at the altar. During some centuries, the whole scope of sermons and homilies was directed to this purpose; and one would have imagined, from the general tenor of these discourses, that all the practical parts of Christianity were comprised in the exact and fathful payment of the tithes to the clergy. Encouraged by their success in inculcating these doctrines, they ventured farther than they were warranted, even by the Levitical law, and pretended to draw the tenth of all industry, merchandize, wages of laborers, and pay of soldiers; nay, some canonists went so far as to affirm, that the clergy were entitled to the tithe of the profits made by courtesans in the exercise of their profession.

Slavery in England.

As slaves are not admitted into the society of Freemasons, it may be interesting to some of my readers, unacquainted with the fact, to know the vast extent of the evils of slavery in England at the time when this institution is supposed to have been established, and the great proportion of the inhabitants, particularly of the mechanical and laboring classes, that were consequently excluded from a participation in its charitable and benevolent purposes. I, therefore, give the following extract from Dr. Henry's History of the different ranks of people, in Britain, from the arrival of the Saxons, A. D. 449, to the landing of William, duke of Normandy, 1066.

The lowest order of people among the Anglo-Saxons, and the other nations of Britain, in this period, were slaves, who with their wives and children were the property of their masters. Besides those who were native slaves, or slaves by birth, others frequently fell into this wretched

state, by various means; as, by an ill run at play,—by the fate of war, or by forfeiting their freedom by their crimes, or even by contracting debts which they were not able to pay. These unhappy people, who were very numerous, formed an article, both of internal and foreign trade; only if the slave was a Christian, he was not to be sold to a Jew or a Pagan; or if he belonged to the same nation with his master, he was not to be sold beyond the sea. Slaves were, however, of various kinds, among the Anglo-Saxons, employed in various works, and were not all in an equal state of thraldom. Some of them were called villani, or villains, because they dwelt at the villages belonging to their mas. ters, and performed the servile labors of cultivating their lands, to which they were annexed, and transferred with these lands from one owner to another. Others were domestic slaves, and performed various offices about the houses and families of their masters. Some of these domestic slaves of the king and the nobility, were taught the mechanic arts, which they practised for the benefit of their owners; and the greatest number of the mechanics of those times seem to have been in a state of servitude. Slaves were not supposed to have any family or relations who sustained any loss by their death; and, therefore, when one of them was killed by his master, no mulct was paid, because the master was supposed to be the only loser; when slain by another, his price or manbote was paid to his master. In a word, slaves of the lowest order, were considered merely as animals of burden, and parts of their owners' living stock. In the laws of Wales it is expressly said: "That a master hath the same right to his slaves as to his cattle.”

The horrors of this cruel servitude were gradually mitigated; and many of those unhappy wretches were raised from this abject state to the privileges of humanity. The introduction of Christianity contributed not a little, both to alleviate the weight of servitude, and diminish the number of slaves. By the canons of the church, which were in those times incorporated with the laws of the land, and of the same authority, Christians were commanded to allow their slaves certain portions of time to work for their own benefit, by which they acquired property, the bishops had authority to regulate the quantity of work to be done by slaves,—and to take care that no man used his slave harshly but as a fellow-Christian. The bishops and clergy recommended the manumission of slaves as a most charitable and meritorious action; and in order to set the example, they procured a law to be made, that all English slaves of every bishop should be set at liberty at his death, and that every other bishop and abbot in the kingdom should set three

slaves at liberty. But after all these mitigations of the severities of slavery, and diminuitons of the number of slaves, the yoke of servitude was still very heavy, and the greatest part of the laborers, mechanics, and common people, groaned under that yoke at the conclusion of this period. The next class or rank of people in Britain, in this period, was composed of those who were called frilazin; who had been slaves, but had either purchased, or by some other means obtained their liberty. Though these were in reality free-men, they were not considered as of the same rank and dignity with those who had been born free; but were still in a more ignoble and dependent condition, either on their former masters, or on some new patrons. This custom, the Anglo-Saxons seemed to have derived from their ancestors in Germany, among whom those who had been made free did not differ much in point of dignity or importance in the state, from those who continued in servitude. This distinction, between those who had been made free, and those who enjoy freedom by descent from a long race of freemen, still prevails in many parts of Germany; and particularly in the original seasts of the Anglo-Saxons. Many of the inhabitants of towns and cities in England, in this period, seem to have been of this class of men, who were in a kind of middle state, between slaves and freemen.

The third class, or rank of people in Britain, in the period we are now considering, consisted of those who were completely free, and descended from a long race of freemen. This numerous and respectable body of men, who were called ceorls constituted a middle class, between the laborers and mechanics, who were generally slaves, or descended from slaves on the one hand, and the nobility on the other. They might go where they pleased, and pursue any way of life that was most agreeable to their humor.—vol. iii. p. 320

In the time of the Anglo-Saxon rule, says Dr. Lingard, not less than two thirds of the population of Britain, existed in a state of slavery. And the sale and purchase of slaves publicly prevailed during the whole of this period. These unhappy men were sold like cattle in the market. The Northumbrians, like the savages of Africa, are said to have carried off, not only their own countrymen, but even their friends and relatives, and to have sold them as slaves in the ports of the continent. The men of Bristol were the last to abandon this nefarious traffic. Their agents travelled into every part of the country; they were instructed to give the highest price for females in a state of pregnancy; and the slave ships regularly sailed from that port to Ireland, where they were secure of a ready and profitable market.

CHAPTER V.

OPINIONS AND OBSERVATIONS

OF LEARNED

WRITERS ON FREE

MASONRY, WHO ARE IN FULL COMMUNION WITH THE order.

Most of those writers on masonry who belong to the craft, either through ignorance or design, have mystified the subject in such a manner as to render it, not only unintelligible, but absolutely forbidding. The opinions, therefore, of those of the order who have written with candor, and with a view of eliciting the truth, so far as they deemed consistent with their obligations, are entitled to great consideration. Such are the writings from which the following extracts are made, or, at least, the passages selected generally bear that character.

From "The Spirit of Masonry," by William Hutchinson. Carlisle, (England,) 1802.

I am induced to believe the name of mason has its derivation from a language, in which it implies some strong indication, or distinction, of the nature of the society; and that it has no relation to architects.

The titles of masons and masonry most probably were derived from the Greek language, as the Greek idiom is adopted by the Druids, as is shown in many instances in the course of this work. When they committed any thing to writing, they used the Greek alphabetand I am bold to assert the most perfect remains of the Druidical rites and ceremonies are preserved in the ceremonials of masons, that are to be found existing among mankind. My brethren may be able to trace them with greater exactness than I am at liberty to explain to the public. The original names may probably be derived from or corrupted of Mysterion, res arcana, mysteries, and Mystes, sacris initiatus mystis— those initiated to sacred mysteries."

There is no doubt that our ceremonies and mysteries were derived from the rites, ceremonies, and institutions of the ancients, and some of them from the remotest ages.

The English word mason has a very simple origin; it comes from maçon, French; "From mas, an old word which signifies house; thus a mason is a person who makes houses." (French Enc.) The awkard connection which architecture is made to bear towards the mysteries involved in freemasonry, is easily accounted for on the supposition, which is undoubtedly a fact, that the Druids made use of the craft of masonry merely as a cover to their mystic worship.

The ancient masonic record, [the examination of a freemason by Henry VI.] says, that masons knew the way of gaining an understanding of Abrac. On this word all commentators (which I have yet read) on the subject of masonry, have confessed themselves at a loss.

Abrac, or Abracar, was a name which Basilides, a religious of the second century, gave to God, who he said was the author of three hundred and sixty-five.

The author of this superstition is said to have lived in the time of Adrian, and that it had its name after Abrasan, or Arbaxas, the denomination which Basilides gave to the Deity He called him the Supreme God, and ascribed to him seven subordinate powers or angels, who presided over the heavens:—and also, according to the number of the days in the year, he held that three hundred and sixty-five virtues, powers, or intelligences, existed as the emanations of God: the value, or numerical distinctions of the letters in the word, according to the ancient Greek numerals, made 365 A B P AXA E. 1 2 100 1 60 1 200.

With antiquaries, Abraxas is an antique gem or stone, with the word abraxas engraven on it. There are a great many kinds of them, of various figures and sizes, mostly as old as the third century. Persons professing the religious principles of Basilides, wore this gem with great veneration, as an amulet; from whose virtues, and the pro. tection of the Deity, to whom it was consecrated, and with whose name it was inscribed, the wearer presumed he derived health, prosperity, and safety.

In the British museum is a beryl stone, the form of an egg. The head is in camio, and reversed in taglio. The head is supposed to represent the image of the Creator, under the denomination of Jupiter Ammon-the sun and moon on the reverse, the Osiris and Isis of the Egyptians; and were used hieroglyphically to represent the omnipotence, omnipresence, and eternity of God. The star seems to be used as a point only, but is an emblem of prudence, the third emanation of the Basilidian divine person.

In church history, Abrax is noted as a mystical term, expressing the Supreme God; under whom the Basilidians supposed three hundred and sixty-five dependent deities; it was the principle of the gnostic hierarchy; whence sprang their multitudes of Thæons. From Abraxas proceeded their primogonial mind; from the primoganial mind, the logos or word; from the logos, the Phronasis or prudence: from phronesis, Sophia and Dynamis, or wisdom and strength; from these