262 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



far modifying its spirit and its constitution that 

 the final transformation appears rather as the 

 completion of long - contemplated reforms than 

 as the establishment of a new order of things, 

 and the Freemasons of the present day may just- 

 ly claim, with a sort of ancestral pride, the 

 Steinmetzen and operative guilds of the middle 

 ages as their direct forerunners and forefathers 

 in the mystic art. 



The constitutions of the German Steinmetzen 

 agree in every essential with those of modern 

 Freemasonry. They were divided into the same 

 degrees of apprentice, fellow-craft, and master 

 mason ; the government of the lodge, though 

 simpler, was similar to ours, the moral qualifica- 

 tions for admission, the rite of initiation, and the 

 secrets intrusted to the entered apprentice, were 

 the same, or nearly the same, as among modern 

 Freemasons ; so were the conduct of the lodge, 

 the opening and closing ceremonies, and the sub- 

 sequent banquet. The uninitiated were strictly 

 excluded, and strange brethren submitted to close 

 examination. The same fraternal equality among 

 the members, the same obligation mutually to 

 relieve one another when in distress, the same 

 allegorical teaching derived from the symbolical 

 meaning attached to the several instruments em- 

 ployed by the working mason, in short the whole 

 of their rites and regulations were almost identi- 

 cal with what is now known as " pure and an- 

 cient Masonry." 



Many authentic documents of the German 

 Steinmetzen had long been known, but it was 

 only in the year 1865 that Dr. Findel discovered 

 in the British Museum, among the Sloane MSS., 

 one belonging to the English Operative Masons, 

 which fully confirms the genuineness of those 

 which had passed from the old architectural 

 guilds to the original Grand Lodge of England 

 at the commencement of the last century. 



Such, then, has been the origin and progress 

 of this remarkable institution which, from the 

 little gathering at the Apple - Tree Tavern in 

 Charles Street, Covent Garden, in February, 1717, 

 has extended to every quarter of the globe. It 

 is obviously impossible for a private individual 

 to state with any approach to accuracy the nu- 

 merical strength of the craft. We shall, how- 

 ever, not be far from the truth if we estimate 

 the number of lodges in the world at between 

 8,000 and 9,000, holding under about seventy- 

 five grand lodges, and comprising about 450,000 

 members. 



Over 1,600 lodges in England and the colo- 

 nies are in connection with the English Grand 



Lodge, and considerably over 5,000 with the 

 forty-odd Grand Lodges in the United States. 

 In Germany the lodges do not number much over 

 400, but they are individually far stronger than 

 elsewhere, frequently mustering some hundreds 

 of members. * 



It cannot be too strongly insisted on that 

 Freemasonry is not a benefit society, as is often 

 supposed. A benefit society is an insurance 

 office, into which a man pays certain premiums, 

 and from which he in return receives, in the 

 event of sundry contingencies, as illness, acci- 

 dent, etc., certain pecuniary .assistance. This he 

 claims as a right — a quid pro quo. All masonic 

 relief, on the contrary, is voluntary, is dependent 

 on the merits of the case, is fixed in amounts by 

 no hard and fast lines, is given silently and un- 

 ostentatiously, is, in short, " charity " in the truest 

 import of the word. 



The Grand Lodge has the disposal of a Fund 

 of Benevolence, derived from fees and contribu- 

 tions received from the several lodges, amount- 

 ing to between £6,000 and £*7,000 per annum, 

 though considerably more is occasionally sub- 

 scribed. About £3,000 is given away, in sums 

 ranging usually between £5 and £30, to about 

 200 petitioners, and another £2,000 or more, in 

 grants of £50 to £200, to special cases, the names 

 of these latter brethren only appearing in the 

 printed reports. 



The greatest discretion is exercised in these 

 awards; not only are the private character and 

 the previous history of the petitioner subjected 

 to strict investigation, but the time during which 

 he has been a subscribing member of the craft, 

 the earnestness and devotion which he has shown 

 in the work of the lodge, and the amount of his 

 contributions to charitable purposes when in 

 more prosperous circumstances, are all taken 

 into account. The time and the form of the 

 relief are so adjudged that it may not be lost on 

 the recipient, but that he may be thereby en- 

 abled to recover his independence, and to make a 

 fresh start in life. 



That the order should ever degenerate into a 

 benefit society, or should offer a means of es- 

 cape from the consequences of indolence or im- 

 providence, is repugnant to the feelings of every 

 loyal Mason. 



In the year 1842 the Grand Lodge voted a 

 sum for granting annuities to aged and distressed 

 Masons, and seven years later the scheme was 

 extended by the establishment of a like fund for 

 widows, and the purchase of the asylum at Croy- 

 don, where at present 130 masons and 100 wid- 



