ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FREEMASONRY AND ITS KINDRED SCIENCES
by ALBERT C. MACKEY M. D.

L

In Hebrew, Samaritan, 4. The shape of the twelfth English letter is borrowed from that of the Oriental lomad, coinciding with the Samaritan. The numerical value in Hebrew is thirty. The Roman numeral L is fifty. Hebrew name of Deity, as an equivalent, is h, dimmed, or Doctus. This letter also signifies a stimulus, generally feminine.

LABARUM

The monogram of the name of Christ, formed by the first two letters of that word, XPI2TOZ, in Greek. It is the celebrated sign which the legend says appeared in the sky at noonday to the Emperor Constantine, and which was afterward placed by him upon his standard. Hence it is sometimes called f the Cross of Constantine. It was adopted as a symbol by the early Christians, and frequent instances of it are to be found in b the catacombs. According to Eusebius, the Labarum was surrounded by the motto EN TOTTQ NIGH, or Conquer oy this, which has been Latinized to In hoc signo Minces, the motto assumed by the Masonic Knights Templar (see In hoc signo Minces). In his Life of Constantine (i, page 31), Eusebius describes the arrangement of the Labarum as on a long gilded spear having a crosspiece supporting a square purple cloth jewelled richly, at end of spear a gold wreath enclosing monogram. The derivation of the word Labansm is uncertain. The Greek word Labaron means a flag.

LABOR

It is one of the most beautiful features of the Masonic Institution, that it teaches not only the necessity, but the nobility of labor. From the time of opening to that of closing, a Lodge is said to be at labor. This is but one of the numerous instances in which the terms of Operative Masonry are symbolically applied to Speculative; for, as the Operative Masons were engaged in the building of material edifices, so Free and Accepted Masons are supposed to be employed in the erection of a superstructure of virtue and morality upon the foundation of the Masonic principles which they were taught at their admission into the Order.

When the Lodge is engaged in reading petitions, hearing reports, debating financial matters, etc., it is said to be occupied in busyness; but when it is engaged in the form and ceremony of initiation into any of the Degrees, it is said to be at work. Initiation is Masonic labor. This phraseology at once suggests the connection of our Speculative System with an Operative Art that preceded it, and upon which it has been founded. Gadicke says: Labor is an important word in Freemasonry- indeed, we might say the most important. For this, and this alone, does a man become a Freemason.

Every other object is secondary or incidental. Labor is the costumed design of every Lodge meeting. But do such meetings always furnish evidence of industry? The labor of an Operative Mason will be visible, and he will receive his reward for it, even though the building he has constructed may, in the next hour, be overthrown by a tempest. He knows that he has done his labor. And so must the Freemason labor. His labor must be visible to himself and to his Brethren, or, at least, it must conduce to his own internal satisfaction. As we build neither a visible Solomonic Temple nor an Egyptian pyramid, our industry must become visible in works that are imperishable, so that when we vanish from the eyes of mortals it may be said of us that our labor was well done.

As Freemasons, we labor in our Lodge to make ourselves a perfect building, without blemish, working hopefully for the consummation, when the house of our earthly tabernacle shall be finished, when the Lost Word of Divine Truth shall at last be discovered, and when we shall be found by our own efforts at perfection to have done God service.

LABORERS, STATUTES OF

Toward the middle of the fourteenth century, a plague of excessive virulence, known in history as the Black Death, invaded Europe, and swept off fully one-half of the inhabitants. The death of 80 many workmen had the effect of advancing the price of all kinds of labor to double the former rate. In England, the Parliament, in 1350, enacted a Statute, which was soon followed by others, the object of which was to regulate the rate of wages and the price of the necessaries of life. Against these enactments, which were called the Statutes of Laborers, the artisans of all kinds rebelled; but the most active opposition was found among the Masons, whose organization, Doctor Mackey asserts, being better regulated, was more effective (see Freemason). In 1360, Statutes were passed forbidding their “Congregations, Chapters, Regulations, and Oaths,” which were from time to time repeated, until the third year of the reign of Henry VI, 1425 A.D., when the celebrated Statute entitled “Masons shall not confederate themselves in Chapters and Congregations,” was enacted in the following words:

Whereas, by yearly Congregations and Confederacies made by the Masons in their General Assemblies, the good course and effect of the Statutes for Laborers be openly violated and broken, in subversion of the law, and to the great damage of all the Commons, our said sovereign lord and King, willing in this case to provide a remedy, by the advice and assent aforesaid, and at the speei31 rev quest of the Commons, hath ordained and established that such chapters and congregations shall not be hereafter holden; and if any such be made, they that cause such Chapters and Congregations to be assembled and holden, if they thereof be convicted, shall be judged for felons. and that the other Masons that come to such Chapters and Congregations be punished by imprisonment of their bodies and make fine and ransom at the king’s will.

All the Statutes of Laborers were repealed in the fifth year of Elizabeth; and Lord Coke gave the opinion that this act of Henry VI became, in consequence, “of no force or effect”; a decision which led Anderson, very absurdly, says Brother Mackey, to suppose that “this most learned judge really belonged to the ancient Lodge, and was a faithful Brother” (Constitutions, 1723, page 57); as if it required a judge to be a Freemason to give a just judgment concerning the interests of Freemasonry.

LACEPEDE;, B. G. E. DE LA VILLE

A French savant and naturalist, born in 175d, died 1825. President of the Legislative Assembly in 1791. Master of the Lodge de Saint Napoléon in 1805. An account of his installation is recorded by Kloss.

LACORNE

The Count of Clermont, who was Grand Master of Francis having abandoned all care of the French Lodges, left them to the direction of his Deputies. In 1761, he appointed one Lacorne, a dancing-master, his Deputy; but the Grand Lodge, indignant at the appointment, refused to sanction it or to recognize Lacorne as a presiding officer. He accordingly constituted another Grand Lodge, and was supported by adherents of his own character, who were designated by the more respectable Freemasons as the Lacorne Faction. In 1762, the Count of Clermont, influenced by the representations that were made to him, revoked the commission of Lacorne, and appointed Monsieur Chaillou de Joinville his Substitute General. In consequence of this, the two rival Grand Lodges became reconciled, and a union was effected on the 24th of June, 1769. But the reconciliation did not prove altogether satisfactory.

In 1765, at the annual election, neither Lacorne nor any of his associates were chosen to office. They became disgusted, and, retiring from the Grand Lodge, issued a scandalous protest, for which they were expelled; and subsequently they organized a spurious Grand Lodge and chartered several Lodges. But from this time Lacorne ceased to have a place in regular Freemasonry, although the dissensions first begun by him ultimately gave rise to the Grand Orient as the successor of the Grand Lodge.

LADDER

A symbol of progressive advancement from a lower to a higher sphere, which is common to Freemasonry and to many, if not all of the Ancient Mysteries. In each, generally, as in Freemasonry, the number of steps was seven (see Jacob’s Ladder).

LADDER, BRAHMANICAL

The symbolic ladder used in the Mysteries of Brahma. It had seven steps, symbolic of the seven worlds of the Indian universe. The lowest was the Earth; the second, the World of Coexistence; the third, Heaven; the fourth, the Middle World, or intermediate rexion between the lower and the upper worlds; the fifth, the World of Births, in which souls are born again; the sixth, the Mansion of the Blessed; and the seventh, or topmost round, the Sphere of Truth, the abode of Brahma, who was himself a symbol of the sun.

LADDER, CABALISTIC

The ladder of the Cabalists consisted of the ten Sephiroths or Emanations of Deity. The steps were in an ascending series the Kingdom, Foundation, Splendor, Firmness, Beauty, Justice, Mercy, Intelligence, Wisdom, and the Crown. This ladder formed the exception to the usual number of seven steps or rounds.

LADDER, JACOB’S

See Jacob’s Ladder

LADDER, MITHRAITIC

The symbolic ladder used in the Persian Mysteries of Mithras. It had seven steps, symbolic of the seven planets and the seven metals. Thus, beginning at the bottom, we have Saturn represented by lead, Venus by tin, Jupiter by brass, Mercury by iron, Mars by a mixed metal, the Moon by silver, and the Sun by gold; the whole being a symbol of the sidereal progress of the sun through the universe.

LADDER OF IZADOSH

This ladder, belonging to the advanced Degrees of Freemasonry, consists of the seven following steps, beginning at the bottom Justice, Equity, Kindliness, Good Faith, Labor, patience, and Intelligence or Wisdom. Its supports are love of God and love of our neighbor, and their totality constitute a symbolism of the devoir or duty of Knighthood and Freemasonry, the fulfilment of which is necessary to make a Perfect Knight and Perfect Freemason.

LADDER, ROSICRUCIAN

Among the symbols of the Rosicrucians is a ladder of seven steps standing on a globe of the earth, with an open Bible, Square, and Compasses resting on the top. Between each of the steps is one of the following letters, beginning from the bottom: I. N. R. I. F. S. C., being the initials of Iesus, Nazarenus, Rex, Iudaeorum, Fides, Spes Caritas. These words suggesting Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews; Faith, Hopc, Charity. But a more recondite or hidden meaning is sometimes given to the first four letters.

LADDER, SCANDINAVIAN

The symbolic ladder used in the Gothic Mysteries. Doctor Oliver refers it to the Yggrasil, or sacred ashtree. But the symbolism is either very abstruse or very doubtful. It retains, however, the idea of an ascent from a lower to a higher sphere, which was common to all the mystical ladder systems. At its root lies the dragon of death; at its top are the eagle and hawk, the symbols of life.

LADDER, THEOLOGICAL

The symbolic ladder of the Masonic Mysteries. It refers to the ladder seen by Jacob in his vision, and consists, like all symbolical ladders, of seven rounds, alluding to the four cardinal and the three theological virtues (see Jacob’s Ladder).

LADRIAN

In the Sloane Manuscript 3848 and probably meant for Edwin.

LADY

In the androgynous, both sexes, Lodges of Adoption, where the male members are called Knights, the female members are called Ladies, as, the Knights and Ladies of the Rose. The French use the word Dame.

LAKAK DEROR PESSAH

The Hebrew words, NDD nn: npi. The initials of these three words are found on the symbol of the Bridge in the Fifteenth Degree of the Scottish Rite, signifying Liberty of Passage and Liberty of Thoughd (see Bridge, also Liber) .

LALANDE

See De la Lande

LAMAISM

The name of the religion prevalent in Tibet and Mongolia. The Tibetian word, Llama, is pronounced lama, a chief or high priest. The faith is Buddhism, corrugated by Sivaism, an adoration of saints. At the summit of its hierarchy are txvo Lama Popes, having equal rank and authority in spiritual and temporal affairs.

LAMA SABACHTHANI

An expression used in the Masonic French Rite of Adoption. The words are from Matthew (xxvu, 46), “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

LAMB

In Ancient Craft Masonry the Lamb is the symbol of innocence; thus in the instructions of the First Degree: “In all ages the Lamb has been deemed an emblem of innocence.” Hence it is required that a Freemason’s Apron should be made of lambskin. In the advanced Degrees, and in the Degrees of chivalry, as in Christian iconography, or station, the lamb is a symbol of Jesus Christ. The introduction of this Christian symbolism of the lamb comes from the expression of Saint John the Baptist, who exclaimed, on seeing Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God”; which was undoubtedly derived from the prophetic writers, who compare the Messiah suffering on the cross to a lamb under the knife of a butcher. In the vision of Saint John, in the Apocalypse, Christ is seen, under the form of a lamb, wounded in the throat, and opening the book with the seven seals. Hence, in one of the Degrees of the Scottish Rite, the Seventeenth, or Knight of the East and West, the lamb lying on the book with the seven seals is a part of the jewel.

LAMBALLE, THE PRINCESS OF

Marie Thérese Louise, born at Turin, 1749, devoted companion of Marie Antoinette, who appointed her Superintendent of the Royal Household. Imprisoned with the Queen at the Revolution, she refused to take the oath against the royalty and was on September 3, 1799, delivered to the populace for execution, her head on a spear being carried before the windows of the Queen’s apartment. The Grand Mistress of the so-called Mother Lodge of La Masonnerie d’Adoption.

LAMB OF GOD

See Lamb, Paschal

LAMB, PASCHAL

The Paschal Lamb, sometimes called the Holy Lamb, was the lamb offered up by the Jews at the paschal feast, the Passover. This has been transferred to Christian symbolism, to Easter, and naturally to Chivalric Freemasonry; and hence we find it among the symbols of modern Templarism. The paschal lamb, as a Christian and Masonic symbol, called also the Agnw Dez, or Lamb of God, first appeared in Christian art after the sixth century.

This is depicted as a lamb standing on the ground, holding by the left forefoot a banner, on which a cross is inscribed. This paschal lamb, or Lamb of God, has been adopted as a symbol by the Knights Templar, being borne in one of the banners of the Order, and constituting, with the square which it surmounts, the jewel of the Generalissimo of a Commandery. The lamb is a symbol of Christ; the cross, of His passion; and the banner, of His victory over death and hell. Barrington states (Archaeologia ix, page 134) that in a Deed of the English Knights Templar, granting lands in Cambridgeshire. the seal is a Holy Land, and the arms of the Master of the Temple at London were argent, a cross gules, and on the nombril point thereof a Holy Lamb, that is, a Paschal or Holy Lamb on the center of a red cross in a white field.

LAMBSKIN APRON

See Apron

LAMP, KNIGHT OF THE INEXTINGUISHABLE

A Degree quoted in the nomenclature of Fustier (see Thory, Greta Latomorum I, page 320).

LANCE

A weapon for thrusting at an enemy, usually adorned with a small flag, made of tough ash, weighted at one end to balance it in use, and pointed at the other.

LANE, JOHN

Born in England, in 1843, he died suddenly on December 30, 1899. Statistician of the Masonic Fraternity, as he was so termed by Brother W. J. Hughan. Initiated on September 10, 1878, in the Jordan Lodge, No. 1402, at Torquay, he scarcely ever missed one of its meetings. He became Worshipful Master in 1882.

Brother Lane published his Masonic Records, 1717 -1886, in 1886, a second edition appearing in 1895. The Board of General Purposes, Grand Lodge of England, warmly praised the colossal volume and remarked most truly “that many years of patient labor and careful research were spent by the compiler in its preparation, and it is perhaps the most useful Masonic work ever published.” In 1889 he published A Handy Book to the study of the engraved, printed, and manuscript Lists of Lodges of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of England Moderns and Ancient 1723-1814; and in 1891, Centenary Warrants and Jewels, comprising an account of all the Lodges under the Grand Lodge of England to which Centenary Warrants had been granted, together with illustrations of all the special Jewels.

He contributed several papers to Freemasonry during his affiliation with the Inner Circle of Quatuor Coronati Lodge which Brother Lane joined in 1887, and of which he was a very active and devoted member. A representative list of these articles is given here: “Another New List of Lodges, A.D. 1732,” 1898; “Early Lodges of Freemasons, Their Constitution and Warrants, 1717-1760;” “Masters Lodges,” 1888 and 1895; “Date of Origin of the Grand Lodge of the Ancient 1751,” 1892, appeared in the Transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge; “motes on the Minute Book of an Early Athol Lodge,” 1887; “Old Warrants, Lodge of Unanimity, No. 89, Dukinfield,” 1891: “Notes on the FPrlv Minute Book of Premier Grand Lodge of England, 1887, appeared in the Freemason, and an article entitled “Lodges in America under the English Constitution, 1733-1889, ” was printed in the History of Freemasonry and Concordant Orders. An important Lecture of Brother Lane’s led to considerable discussion, but could not be reproduced in print. It bore the suggestive title “Some Aspects of Early English freemasonry Esoteric, with Special Reference to the Signs, Tokens, Words and Obligations.”

For biographical references to Brother Lane see Freemason, No. 34, 1895 (pages 33G5), and Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge (volume XLU, page 41, 1900).

LANGES, SAVALEITE DE

The Master of Les Amis Réunis, meaning Reunited Friends, who aided in founding the system of Philalethes in in 1775.

LANGLEY, BATTY

An English architect who died March 31, 1751. His Ancient Masonry published in 1736 is dedicated to Francis, Duke of Lorraine and “to all others the Right Hon. and Right Worshipful Masters of Masonry, by their humble servant and affectionate Brother, Batty Langley.” There is art interesting introduction to Geometry in the fourth edition of the Builders Complete Assistant. The Build ers Jewel or the Youth’s Instructor and Workman’s Remembrance, written by Batty and Thomas Langley and published at London in 1751, has a remarkable frontispiece full of Masonic symbols.

LANGUAGE, UNIVERSAL

The invention of a universal language, which men of all nations could understand and through which they could communicate their thoughts, has always been one of the dreams of certain philologists. In the seventeenth century, Dalgarno had written his Ars Signorum to prove the possibility of a universal character and a philosophical language. About the same time Bishop Wilkins published his Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language; and even the mathematical Leibnitz entertained the project of a universal language for all the world. It is not, therefore, surprising, that when the so-called Leland Manuscript stated that the Freemasons concealed a “Universal Language,” John Locke, or whoever was the commentator on that document, should have been attracted by the statement. He says:

A universal language has been much desired by the learned of many ages. It is a thing rather to be wished than hoped for. But it seems the Masons pretend to have such a thing among them. If it be true, I guess it must be something like the language of the Pantomimes among the ancient Romans, who are said to be able, by signs only, to express and deliver any oration Intelligibly to men of all nations and languages.

The guess of the commentator was near the truth. A universal language founded on words is utterly impracticable. Even if once inaugurated by common consent, a thing itself impossible, the lapse of but a few years, and the continual innovation of new phrases would soon destroy its universality. But there are signs and symbols which, by tacit consent, have always been recognized as the exponents of certain ideas, and these are everywhere understood. It is well known that such a system exists over the vast territory occupied by the North American savages, and that the Indians of two tribes, which totally differ in language, meeting on the prairie or in the forest, are enabled, by conventual signs of universal agreement, to hold long and intelligible intercourse.

On such a basis the Universal Language of Freemasonry is founded. It is not universal to the world, but it is to the Craft; and a Freemason of one country and language meeting a Freemason of another can make himself understood for all practical purposes of the Craft, simply because the system of signs and symbols has been so perfected that in every language they convey the same meaning and make the same impression. This, and this only, is the extent to which the universal language of Freemasonry reaches. It would be an error to suppose that it meets the expectations of Dalgarno or Wilkins, or any other dreamer, and that it is so perfect as to supersede the necessity of any other method of intercommunication.

Thus far Brother Mackey whose comments on Masonic universality are as applicable today as when his words were written, though his criticisms of the possibilities in universal languages are less successful in view of the work accomplished in that direction since his day and generation. However, we must admit that the same prejudice exists and is likely to persist and long continue. Part of this objection is due to misunderstanding, a belief that the projected language is intended to take the place of some national tongue. But this is an error; at best the attempts have been directed at an easily acquired auxiliary means of spoken and written communication, an agency especially promising of purpose in a world that is so readily misled by lack of correct knowledge concerning the peoples of the earth. Surely this is a task of importance to all Brethren of the Craft.

As to the earlier attempts to which Brother Mackey alludes, they were failures, it is true. Dalgamo’s Ars Szgnorum of 1661 and Wilkins’ Real Character of 1668 failed because of insufficient foundation, the preliminary scientific labor had not then been done. But what was attempted was deserving of admiration and Wilkins in particular made a contribution to phonetics that is valuable among experts of modern times while his classification of ideas was the acknowledged forerunner of later efforts by Roget and Linnaeus. More recently we have had Volapuk of 1880, Esperanto, 1887, and Idiom Neutral, 1902. Of these the second is admittedly the most reasonable and practical artificial language.

Born as it was among the feuds of four races using different languages, its inventor, Dr. L. Zamenhof, believed that the evil could be remedied by a neutral speech. A Masonic Lodge using Esperanto was established at Paris, one has been planned for London, and an international group of Freemasons using Esperanto has also functioned (see Universals Framasona Ligo).

LANDMARKS

In ancient times, it was the custom to mark the boundaries of lands by means of stone pillars, the removal of which, by malicious persons, would be the occasion of much confusion, men having no other guide than these pillars by which to distinguish the limits of their property. To remove them, therefore, was considered a heinous crime. “Thou shalt not,” says the Jewish law, “remove thy neighbor’s Landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance.” Hence those peculiar marks of distinction by which we are separated from the profane world, and by which we are enabled to designate our inheritance as the Sons of Light, are called the Landmarks of the Order.

The Universal Language and the Universal Laws of Freemasonry are Landmarks, but not so are the local ceremonies, laws, and usages, which vary in different countries. To attempt to alter or remove these sacred Landmarks, by w hich we examine and prove a brother’s claims to share in our privileges, is one of the most heinous offenses that a Freemason can commit.

In the decision of the question what are and what are not the Landmarks of Freemasonry, there has been much diversity of opinion among writers. Doctor Oliver says (Dictionary of Symbolic Masonry) that “some restrict them to the 0. B. signs, tokens, and words. Others include the ceremonies of initiation, passing, and raising; and the form, dimensions, and support; the ground, situation, and covering; the ornaments, furniture, and jewels of a Lodge, or their characteristic symbols. Some think that the Order has no Landmarks beyond its peculiar secrets.” But all of these are loose and unsatisfactory definitions, excluding things that are essential, and admitting others that are unessential.

Perhaps the safest method is to restrict them to those ancient, and therefore universal, customs of the Order, which either gradually grew into operation as rules of action, or, if at once enacted by any competent authority, were enacted at a period so remote, that no account of their origin is to be found in the records of history. Both the enactors and the time of the enactment have passed away from the record, and the Landrnarks are therefore “of higher antiquity than memory or history can reach.” The first requisite, therefore, of a custom or rule of action to constitute it a Larulrnark, is, that it must have existed from “time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary.” Its antiquity is its essential element.

Were it possible for all the Masonic authorities at the present day to unite in a Universal Congress, and with the most perfect unanimity to adopt any new regulation, although such regulation would, so long as it remained unrepealed, be obligatory on the whole Craft, yet it would not be a Landmark. It would have the character of universality, it is true, but it would be wanting in that of antiquity. Another peculiarity of these Landmarks of Freemasonry is, that they are unrepealable. As the Congress to w hich we have just alluded would not have the power to enact a Landmark, so neither would it have the prerogative of abolishing one. The Landmarks of the Order, like the laws of the Medes and the Persians, can suffer no change. What they were centuries ago, they still remainf and must so continue in force until Freemasonry itself shall cease to exist.

Until the year 1858, no attempt had been made by any Masonic writer to distinctly enumerate the Landmarks of Freemasonry, and` to give to them a comnrehensibie form. In October of that year, the author of this work published in the American 4uarterl1y Renew of Freemasonry (volume ii, page 230) an article on “The Foundations of Masonic Law,” which contained a distinct enumeration of the Landmarks which was the first time that such a list had been presented to the Fraternity. This enumeration was subsequently incorporated by the author in his Text Book of Masonic Jurisprudence. It has since been very generally adopted by the Fraternity and republished by many writers on Masonic law; sometimes without any acknowledgment. According to this recapitulate tion, the result of much labor and research, the Landmarks are twenty-five, and are as follows:

1. The modes of recognition are, of all the Landmarks, the most legitimate and unquestioned. They admit of no variation; and, if ever they have suffered alteration or addition, the evil of such a violation of the ancient law has always made itself subsequently manifest.

2. The division of Symbolic Freemasonry into three Degrees is a Landmark that has been better preserved than almost any other, although even here the misehievous spirit of innovation has left its traces, and, by the disruption of its concluding portion from the Third Degree, a want of uniformity has been created in respect to the final teaching of the Master s Order; and the Royal Arch of England, Scotland, Ireland, and America, and the high degrees” of Franee and Germany, are all made to differ in the mode in which they lead the neophyte to the great consummation of all Symbolic Freemasonry.

In 1813, the Grand Lodge of England vindicated the ancient Landmark, by solemnly enacting that Ancient Craft Masonry consisted of the three Degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow-Craft, and Master Mason, including the Holy Royal Arch. But the disruption has never been healed, and the Landmark. although acknowledged in its integrity by all, still continues to be violated.

3. The Legend of the Third Degree is an important Landmark, the integrity of which has been well preserved. There is no Rite of Freemasonry, prnetised in any eountr,v or language, in which the essential elements of this Legend are not taught. The Leetures may vary, and indeed are constantly changing, but the legend has ever remained substantially the same. And it is necessary that it should be so, for the legend of the Temple Builder constitutes the very essence and identity of Freemasonry Anv Rite which should exclude it, or materially alter it, would at once, by that exclusion or alteration, cease to be a Masonic Rite.

4. The government of the Fraternity by a presiding officer called a Grand Master, who is elected from the body of the Craft, is a fourth Landmark of the Order. Many persons suppose that the election of the Grand Master is held in consequence of a law or regulation of the Grand Lodge. Such, however, is not the ease. The office is indebted for its existence to a Landmark of the Order.

Grand Masters, or persons performing the functions under a different but equivalent title, are to be found in the records of the Institution long before Grand Lodges were established, and if the present system of legislative government by Grand Lodges were to be abolished, a Grand Master would still be necessary.

5 The prerogative of the Grand Master to preside over every Assembly of the Craft, wheresoever and whensoever held, is a fifth Landmark. It is in consequence of this law, derived from ancient usage, and not from any special enactment, that the Grand Master assumes the chair, or as it is called in England, the throng at everv Communication of the Grand Lodge, and that he is also entitled to preside at the communication of every subordinate Lodge. where he mav happen to be present.

6. The prerogative of the Grand Master to grant Dispensations for conferring Degrees at irregular times, is another and a very important Landmark. The statutorv law of Freemasonrv requires a month, or other deternninate period, to elapse between the presentation of a petition and the election of a candidate. But the Grand Master has the power to set aside or dispense with this probation and to allow a candidate to be initiated at onee. This prerogative he possessed before the enaetment of the law requiring a probation, and as no statute can impair his prerogative, he still retains the nower.

7. The prerogative of the Grand Master to give Dispensations for opening and holding Lodges as another Landmark. He may grant in virtue of this, to a sufficient number of Freemasons, the privilege of meeting together and conferring Degrees. The Lodges thus established are called Lodges under Dispensation (see Lodges).

8. The prerogative of the Grand Master to make Free masons at sight is a Landmark which is closely connected with the preceding one. There has been much misap prehension in relation to this Landmark, which misap plehension has sometimes led to a denial of its existence in Jurisdietions where the Grand Master was, perhaps, at the very time substantially exercising the prerogative without the slightest remark or opposition (see Sight Making Freemasons at).

9. The necessity for Freemasons to congregate in Lodges is another Landmark. It is not to be understood by this that any ancient Landmark has directed that permanent organization of subordinate Lodges which constitutes one of the features of the Masonie system as it now prevails. But the Landmarks of the Order alwavR prescribed that Freemasons should, from time to time congregate together for the purpose of either Operative or Speeulative Labor, and that these Congregations should be called Lodges. Formerly, these were extemporary meetings called together for special purposes, and then dissolved, the Brethren departing to meet again at other times and other places, according to the necessity of eircumstanees. But Warrants of Constitution, by-laws permanent officers, and annual arrears are modern innovations wholly outside the Landmarks, and dependent entirely on the special enactments of a comparatively recent period.

10. The government of the Craft, when so congregated in a Lodge, by a Master and two Wardens, is also a Landmark. A Congregation of Freemasons meeting together under any other government, as that, for instance of a president and vice-president, or a chairman and Sulk chairman, would not be recognized as a Lodge The presence of a Master and two Wardens is as essential to the valid organization of a Lodge as a Warrant of Constitution is at the present day. The names, of course, vary in different languages; but the officers, their number prerogatives, and duties are everywhere identical.

11. The necessity that every Lodge, when congregated should be duly tiled, is an important Landmark of the Institution which is never neglected. The necessity of this law arises from the esoterie character of Freemasonry The duty of guarding the door, and keeping off cowans and eayesdroppers, is an ancient one, which therefore constitutes a Landmark.

12. The right of every Freemason to be represented in all general meetings of the Craft, and to instruct his representatives, is a twelfth Landmark. Formerly, these general meetings, which were usually held once a year were called General Assemblies, and all the Fraternity even to the youngest Entered Apprentiee, were permitted to be present. Now they are called Grand Lodges, and only the Masters and Wardens of the subordinate Lodges are summoned. But this is simply as the representatives of their members. Originally, each Freemason represented himself; now he is represented by his officers (see Representatives of Lodges).

13. The right of every Freemason to appeal from the decision of his Brethren, in Lodge convened, to the Grand Lodge or General Assembly of Freemasons, is a Landmark highlv essential to the preservation of justiee and the prevention of oppression. A few modern Grand Lodges, in adopting a regulation that the decision of Subordinate Lodges, in cases of expulsion, cannot be wholly set aside upon an appeal, have violated this unquestioned Landmark, as well as the principles of just government

14. The right of every Freemason to visit and sit in every regular Lodge is an unquestionable Landmark of the Order. This is called the Right of Visitation. This right of visitation has always been recognized as an inherent right which inures to everv Freemason as he travels through the world. And this is because Lodges are justlv considered as onlv divisions for convenience of the universal Masonic family The right mav, of course. be impaired or forfeited on special occasions by various eircumstanees, but when admission is refused to a Freemasor in good standing, who knocks at the door of s Lodge as a visitor, it is to be expected that some good and euffieient leason shall be furnished for this violation of what is. in general. a Masonic right, founded on the Landmarks of the Order.

15. It is a Landmark of the Order, that no visitor unknown to the Brethren present, or to some one of them as a Freemason, can enter a Lodge without first passing an examination according to ancient usage. Of course, if the visitoris known to any Brother present to be a Freemason in good standing, and if that Brother will vouch for his qualifications, the examination may be dispensed with as the Landmark refers only to the cases of strangers, who are not to be recognized unless after strict trial, due examination, or lawful information.

16. No Lodge can interfere in the business of another Lodge, nor give Degrees to Brethren who are members of other Lodges. This is undoubtedly an ancient Landmark, founded on the great principles of courtesy and fraternal kindness, which are at the very foundation of our Institution. It has been repeatedly recognized by subsequent statutory enactments of all Grand Lodges.

17. It is a landmark that every Freemason is amenable to the laws and regulations of the Masonic Jurisdiction in which he resides, and this although he may not be a member of any Lodge. Non-affiliation,which is, infact, in itself a Masonic offense, does not exempt a Freemason from Masonie Jurisdiction.

18. Certain qualifications of candidates for initiation are derived from a Landmark of the Order. These qualifixations are that he shall be a man—unmutilated, freeborn, and of mature age. That is to say, a woman, a cripple, or a slave, or one born in slavery, is disqualified for initiation into the Rites of Freemasonry. Statutes, it is true, have from time to time been enacted, enforcing or explaining these principles; but the qualifications really arise from the very nature of the Masonie Institution, and from its symbolic teachings, and have always existed as Landmarks.

19. A belief in the existence of God as the Grand Architect of the Universe, is one of the most important Landmarks of the Order. It has been always admitted that a denial of the existence of a Supreme and Super intending Power is an absolute disqualification for initiation. The annals of the Order never yet have furnished or could furnish an instance in which an avowed Atheist was ever made a Freemason. The very initiatory ceremonies of the First Degree forbid and prevent the possibility of such an occurrence.

20. Subsidiary to this belief in God, as a Landmark of the Order is the belief in a resurrection to a future life. This Landmark is not so positively impressed on the candidate by exact words as the preceding but the doctrine is taught by very plain implication, and runs through the whole symbolism of the Order. To believein Freemasonry and not to believe in a resurrection, would be an absurd anomaly, which could only be excused by the reflection, that he who thus confounded his belief and his skepticism was so ignorant of the meaning of both theories as to have no rational foundation for his knowledge of either.

21. It is a Landmark that a Book of the Law shall constitute an indispensable part of the furniture of every Lodge. We say, advisedly, Book of the Law, because it is not absolutely required that everywhere the Old and New Testaments shall be used. The Book of the Law is that volume which, by the religion of the country, is believed to contain the revealed will of the Grand Architect of the Universe. Hence, in all Lodges in Christian countries, the Book of the Law is composed of the Old and New Testatements; in a country where Judaism was the prevailing faith, the Old Testament alone would be sufficient; and in Mohammedan countries, and among Mohammedan Freemasons, the Eoran might be substituted. Freemasonry does not attempt to interfere with the peculiar religious faith of its disciples, except so far as relates to the belief in the existence of God, and what necessarily results from that belief.

The Book of the Law is to the Speculative Freemason his spiritual Trestle-Board; without this he cannot labor- whatever he believes to be the revealed will of the Grand Architect constitutes for him this spiritual Trestle-Board, and must ever be before him in his hours of speculative labor, to be the rule and guide of his conduct. The Landmark, therefore, requires that a Book of the Law, a religious code of some kinder purporting to be an exemplar of the reveal will of God, shall form an assential part of the furniture of evety Lodge.

22. The equality of all Freemasons is another Land mark of the Order. This equality has no reference to any subversion of those graduations of rank which have been instituted by the usages of society. The monarch, the nobleman, or the gentleman is entitled to all the influence, and receives all the respect, which rightly belong to his position. But the doctrine of Masonic equality implies that, as children of one great Father, we meet in the Lodge upon the level—that on that level we are all traveling to one predestined goal—that in the Lodge genuine merit shall receive more respect than boundless wealth, and that virtue and knowledge alone should be the basis of all Masonic honors, and be rewarded with preferment.

When the labors of the Lodge are over, and the Brethren have retired from their peaceful retreat, to mingle once more with the world, each will then again resume that social position, and exercise the privileges of that rank, to which the customs of society entitle him.

23. The secrecy of the Instltution is another and most important Landmark. The form of secrecy is a form in herent in it, existing with it from its very foundation, and secured to it by its ancient Landmarks. If divested of its secret character, it would lose its identity, and would cease to be Freemasonry. Whatever objections may, therefore, be made to the Institutlon on account of its secrecy, and however much some unskilful Brethren have been willing in times of trial, for the sake of expediency, to divest it of its secret character, it will be ever impossible to do so, even were the Landmark not standing before us as an insurmountable obstacle; because such change of its character would be social suicide, and the death of the Order would follow its legalized exposure. Freemasonry as a secret association, has lived unchanged for centuries; as an open society, it would not last for as many years.

24. The foundation of a Speeulative Seienee upon an Operative Art, and the symbolic use and explanation of the terms of that art, for the purposes of religious or moral teaching, constitute another Landmark of the Order.

The Temple of Solomon was the symbolic cradle of the Institution, and, therefore, the reference to the Operative Masonry which constructed that magnificent edifice, to the materials and implements which were employed in its construction, and to the artists who were engaged in the building, are all component and essential parts of the body of Freemasonry, which could not be subtracted from it without an entire destruction of the whole identity of the Order. Hence, all the comparatively modern rites of Freemasonry, however they may differ in other respects, religiously preserve this Temple history and these operative elements, as the substratum of all their modifications of the Masonic system.

25. The last and crowning Landmark of all is, that these Landmarks can never be changed. Nothing can be subtracted from them nothing can be added to them not the slightest modification can be made in them. As they were received from our predecessors, we are bound by the most solemn obligations of duty to transmit them to our successors.

The above article by Doctor Mackey gives his latest conclusions upon a highly debatable subject. His list of Landmarks has been adopted by several Grand Lodges, than which no one could expect higher praise, while on the other hand many Brethren are convinced that the Landmarks enumerated by Doctor Mackey are too many, and others believe them too few. Of the latter class five have the late able and highly esteemed Grand Secretary, H. B. Grant, of Kentucky. He prepared a list of Landmarks for the Masonic Home Journal, 1889, and added to them for the consideration of the Masonic Congress of 1893. Since then they have been reprinted, the copy at hand dated 1910, and the number of Landmarks listed being fifty-four.

The increase is due to the breadth of Brother Grant’s definition. He held that “The Ancient Landmarks of Freemasonry are the immemorial usages and fundamental principles of the Craft, and are unchangeable” (see Book of Constitute tion8, Kentucky, 1910, page 209). The Masonic Congress, 1893, as reported by Brother Grant (page 210) was assured that “The Ancient Landmarks are those fundamental principles which characterize Masonry, as defined in the Charges of a Freemason, and with out which the Institution can not be identified.”

Both the lists of Doctor Mackey and Brother Grant are exat ned on pages 183 to 199, Masonic Jurispridence and Symbolism, Rev. John T. Lawrence, 1908, the author challenging the universality of some items enumerated by the above Brethren as Landmarks.

An important and significant example of a brief list of Landmarks is the one adopted on December 11, 1918, as a part of the revised Constitutions and Regulations of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts Sections 100 to 102 state:

The Common Law of Freemasonry is to be learned from the ancient usages of the Craft as developed and interpreted from and after A.D. 1721. It is the foundation of Masonic jurisprudence. The Landmarks are those ancient and universal fundamental principles of the Craft which no Masonic authority can alter or repeal. This Grand Lodge recognizes the following Landmarks: Monotheism the sole dogma of Freemasonn-; belief in immortality the ultimate lesson of Masonie Philosophy: the Volume of the Sacred Law, an indispensable part of the furniture of a Lodge; the Legend of the Third Degree; Secrecy- the Symbolism of the Operative Art, a Mason must be a free born male adult.

The above list of Landmarks is not bewared to be exclusive. With reference to the general acceptance by Masonic authorities in the linited States, as in the foregoing list, that every Brother must be freeborn, note also the comment by Brother Lawrence on English practise (Bee Masonic Jurisdiction and Symbolism, 1908, pages 141 and 142).

That a Freemason should be a free man is axiomatic but previous to 1847 it was neee-ssaTy that he should be a free man born of a free woman. But by the Emancipation Act a good many persons became free men who yet were not born of free mothers, and on September 1, 1847 Grand Lodge decided to abolish the disqualification, and now the only reference to parentage is in Section 4 of the Antient Charges where “honest parents” are spoken of. The older Constitutions retun, of course, in the candidate’s declaration. “I . . . being free by birth . . . ,” and the Lectures have referenees to the ” degrading habit of slavery. ” The older Cenetitutums did not specify the age of the candidate, but simply required him to be of mature and discreet age. Article 187 defines mature age to be the legal age of manhood—twenty-one years and this requirement fits in with the definition of a “free” man. In present times there is no question of slavery, and therefore a free man mav well mean a man who is free to act independently of the consent of his legal guardians a freedom which he only attains at the age of manhood.

The circumstances under which the change from Free-born to Free was made by the Grand Lodge of England are in the Proceedings for the Quarterly Communication of September 1, 1847, and read as follows:

The Most Worshipful Grand Master. At the last Quarterly Communication I stated that I thought it necessary some resolution should be come to as to those persons sho at the time of their birth were not free, but who are now absolutely free, and w hose mothers are also free . I stated then that it was very hard that persons of this description should be precluded from joining our fraternity. Now this is a subj ect which deserves the attention of Grand Lodge, and should indeed be attended to without delay. My own opinion, is, that instead of making use of the term “free-born,” the expression “free man” would be sufficient to answer the end required; for 80 long as a person is a free man he should be capable of being initiated w Into our Order, and it should not be absolutely necessary that he be born free. I hope, therefore, some Brother will make a Motion to that effect..

The Grand Secretary wished to know if he should read two letters on the subject, one from Antigua, the other from Saint Vincent.

The Most Worshipful Grand Master declared his assent, and the letters were read accordingly.

Right Worshipful Brother Dobie was sure the Grand Lodge would agree with him that they were very much indebted to the Grand Master for introducing this subject. It was a subject which had been under the consideration of the late Grand Master, who, if he had lived would have brought it forward; but to the present Gran Master they were indebted that it was brought forward It therefore gave him great pleasure in moving that the term ” free ” be used instead of “free-born”; that being ali the change that would be required to give relief to the colonies and that the change be made forthwith.

Worshipful Brother Goldsworthy seconded the motion The Grand Secretary read the alterations that would be required to be made in the Ancient Charges and Book of Constitutions if the motions were carried.

Worshipful Brother Lane suggested that an omission had been made in not noticing those parts of the Lectures where the term occurs.

The Most Worshipful Grand Master said the Lectures must conform to the Law.

Worshipful Brother Crucefix was happy that Providence had spared his life to see that those whom the nation had emancipated should also be emancipated as regarded Masonry. So long ago as the year 1836 he addressed a letter on this subject to the then Grand Master feeling that it was a most singular thing that they should emancipate thousands of fellow-ereatures, and not afterwards allow them to participate in the benefits of Free Masonry. The Worshipful Brother then read portions of the letter, wherein it was contended that the term ” freeborn ” only referred to the customs of the eastern nations and suggested that the words “free agent,” if used instead, would counteract the evil.

Adage on this feeling he had never since that time initiated a man under the form “free-born,” ete. He could not but express his gratitude for the manner in which the Grand Master had brought the subject forward, as, if agreed to, it would afford the means of many worthy men entering our blessed Order.

Right Worshipful Brother Dobie then read the resolution, which proposed that the word “born” at the top of page 6 of the Book of Constitutions, in the 3rd Head of the Ancient Charges, be omitted, and that the Declaration to be signed by Candidates, as set forth in page 86, be altered, and made to commence as follows, viz.: “I, being a free man and of full age,” etc.

A short discussion as to the propriety of retaining the word “free” at all then ensued, at the termination of which the proposed alteration being put from the Chair, was agreed to unanimously.

Brother Dobie wished to know if the Grand Seeretary should send such answers to the letters which had been read as would allow the writers to act upon them insmediately, and without waiting for the confirmation of the next Quarterly Communication. The Most Worshipful Grand Master consented that such answers should be transmitted.

Section 186 of the Book of Constitutums of the Grand Lodge of England, now has the statement “every Candidate must be a free man, and at tile time of initiation in reputable circumstances,” and Section 187 requires the candidate to make the following declaration:

In being a free man and of the full age of twenty-one years, do declare that unbiased by the improper solicitation of friends, and uninfluenced by mercenary or other unworthy motive, I freely and voluntarily offer myself a candidate for the mvsteries of Masonry; that I am prompted by a favourable opinion conceived of the institution, and a desire of knowledge; and that I will cheerfully conform to all the antient usages and established customs of the Order. Witness my hand.

this…day of …………… Witness ……………………………..

As to the permanent characteristics of Landmarks we may note ,XXXIS of the General Regulations compiled by Brother George Payne, Grand Master in 1720, approved by Grand Lodge, 1721, published by Dr. James Anderson, 1723, and which reads: “Every Annual Grand Lodge has an inherent poa er and Authority to make new Regulations, or to alter these, for the real Benefit of this Ancient Fraternity: provided always that the Old Land-Marks be carefully preserved.” The extent to which a Grand Lodge may go in the making of laws depends upon its determination of what are or are not Landmarks, and as is seen at once by a study of the above particulars the Landmarks of the Fraternity do not find the same recognition and acceptance by all Grand Lodges. However, Doctor Mackey’s list has found general favor, the attitude of the Craft being well outlined by the following comment in the Masonic Manual abut Code, Grand Lodge of Georgia, 1917 (page 226).

No two authors agree in the enumeration of the Landmarks and no attempt to state all the Landmarks secretly has been universally accepted by the Craft. The Landmarks here stated are those published by the eminent Masonic author, Doctor Mackey, in his textbook on Masonic Jurisprudent where the student will find a valuable commentary and explanation. The twenty-five Landmarks here given, however, have been very generally recognized in the Craft of all the States as corrects

Brother Hawkins, in his Concise Cyclopedia of Freemasonry (pages 138 and 139), describes the issuing of a Warrant on October 26, 1809, authorizing certain Brethren to hold a Special Lodge for “the purpose of ascertaining and promulgating the Ancient Land Marks of the Craft.” This Lodge met frequently for some time and on October 19, 1810, it was “Resolved that it appears to this Lodge that the ceremony of Installation of Masters of Lodges is one of the two landmarks of the Craft, and ought to be observed.” Brother Hawkins held that probably the other one svas the modes of recognition of Entered Apprentices and Fellow Crafts.

December 98, 1810, at a wellattended Communication of the Lodge “the Right Worshipful Master proceeded to point out the material parts in and between the several Degrees to which the attention of the Masters of Lodges would he requisite in preserving the Aneient Land Marks of the Order—such as the form of the Lodge, the number and situation of the Officers—their different distinctions in the different Degrees the restoration of the proper words to each Degree, and the making of the pass-words between one Degree and another—instead of in the Degree.” From these extracts Brother Hawkins inferred that according to the Lodge of Promulgation the Landmarks are: The form of the Lodge, its officers and their duties, the words and passwords, and the Installation of the Master, “though,” he continues, “it is a pity that in their resolution of October 19 they did not state precisely what the two Landmarks were.”

Another conjecture would be that the word read as woo might have been intended for true. As we understand Freemasonry today some difficulty would be oceasioned for most Brethren in limiting the number of T. stndmarks to only two. But be they few or many we may well take the injunction of old to heart: “Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set” (Proverbs xecu, 28).

Dean Roscoe Pound in his Masonic Jurisprudence defines Landmarks as “certain universal, unalterable, and unrepealable fundamentals which have existed from time immemorial and are so thoroughly a part of Freemasonry that no Masonic authority may derogate from them or do aught but maintain them.” Brother Melvin M. Johnson, Past Grand Master of Massachusetts then discussing the determination of Masonic Landmarkst Builder, July,1923 (page 195), says, “Probeally all Masonic students will agree to this definition (by Brotller Pound) and then proceed immediately to disagree upon the list of those fundamentals which are to be classified as ‘universal, unalterable, and unrepealable-‘ ” Brother Johnson points out that the key to the situation is to be found in the Ancient Charges to which every Installed Master consents and by which he agrees to be bound. At every Installation the Worshipful Master solemnly asserts it is not in the power of any man or body of men to make innovations in the Body of Freemasonry.

The essentials of Freemasonry are the landmarks, and those combined are the Body of Freemasonry Brother Johnson therefore submitted the following for the consideration of the Craft: “The Landmarks are those essentials of Freemasonry without any one of which it would no longer be Freemasonry.”

Brother W- J. Chetwode Crawley in his paper on Tlte Craft and Its Orphans in the Eighteenth Century, Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge txxiii, page 1{57) says:

The ancient Landmarks of Freemasonry, like all other Landmarks material and symbolic can only preserve their stability when they reach down to sure foundations. When the philosophic student unearths the underlying rock on which our ancient Landmarks rest, he finds our sure foundations in the triple dogma of the fatherhood of God brotherhood of man, and the life to come. All laws customs and methods that obtain amongst us, and do not ultimately find footholds on this basis, are thereby earrmarked as conventions and conveniences, in no way partaking of the nature of ancient Landmarks.

Brother Albert Pike contributed a discussion upon the Landmarks to the Proceedings, Masonic Veterans A Association, District of Columbia, and this is reprinted in Research Pamphlet, No. 20- 1924 (page 147), an excellent compilation by Brother Silas H. Shepherd, published by the Wisconsin Grand Lodge Committee on Masonic Research. Brother Pike says:

The Ancient Charges show by what principles the relations of those of the Fellowship to each other were regulated ;and these may not improperly be said to have been the ‘ Landmarks ” of the Craft . . . Perhaps no more can be said with certainty in regard to them than that they were those essential principles on which the old simple freemasonry was builded, and without which it would not have been Freemasonry: the organization of the Craft into Lodges, the requisites for admission into Fellowship, and the methods of government established at the beginning . . . There is no common agreement in regard to what are and what are not “Landmarks.” That has never been definitely settled. Each writer makes out for himself the list or catalogue of them according to his own fancy, some counting more of them and others less.

Brother Shepherd has in the following sentences from the Preface to his book attempted a brief state meat of what is commonly understood by the Brethren as the Ancient Landmarks, as well as his experience in seeking official light upon the subject: The prevailing idea of the Ancient Landmarks is that they are those time-honored and universal customs of freemasonry which have been the fundamental law of the Fraternity from a period so remote that their origin cannot be traced. and so essential that they cannot be modified or amended without changing the character of the Fraternity. Although the universal reverence of the Ancient Customs and Usages of the Fraternity” mightseem to presuppose an agreement as to their number and interpretation, nevertheless jurists and scholars express widely divergent opinions about them nor has any Grand Lodge ever promulgated a lest that would be acceptable to all.

LANDMARKS, ANCIENT

Next only after the Book of Constitutions of the original Grand Lodge which was published in 1723, the Ahimin Rezon which was published by the Antient Grand Lodge in 1756, and Thomas Smith Webb’s Illustrations, the article on Ancient Landmarks which Albert G. Mackey published in the 1877 edition of this Encyclopedia (see page 559 of this edition) has had more influence on American Freemasonry than any other single writing. The list of Landmarks in it has been officially endorsed by about one-half of the Grand Lodges; about one-half of these have officially adopt^ ed it as a part of the Written Law.

Nevertheless the list has been drastically criticized ever since it was published, by Grand Lodges as much as by individual writers, and some fifteen or twenty Grand Lodges have adopted lists of their own widely different from Mackey’s. This criticism has been directed at two points: first, it has been denied that the Landmarks have been exactly twentyfive in number, and other writers have prepared lists ranging from one or two up to fifty or sixty; second, it has been contended that the Landmarks as given by Mackey are not from time immemorial. Bro. Theodore Sutton Parvin, with whom Mackey discussed his article before it was printed, made both these criticisms at the time, and proposed that the whole list be reduced to five or six. (This incidentally proves that before publication Mackey himself encountered the criticism his article would later meet).

Freemasonry is not a fluviatile, protean thing which can change itself as time goes on, and as the whim or desire of its members might elect, but has a fixed, inalterable identity of its own. That identity has in it a number of constituent elements, each of which is necessary to it, so that if any one of them is destroyed Freemasonry as a whole is destroyed with it. It would be possible to effect a number of changes in Craft usage which would leave Freemasonry itself in complete integrity, and such changes have been made often enough, as when the Two Degree system was changed to Three Degrees, or when the title of the Master was changed from Right Worshipful to Worshipful; but other changes are such that if only one of them were put into effect Freemasonry would be destroyed. This is the substance of the Doctrine of Landmarks.

Any constituent of the identity of Freemasonry, and without which that identity would cease, is a Landmark. To destroy such a constituent is an Innovation, and it is for this reason that if a Grand Lodge is guilty of an Innovation other Grand Lodges immediately withdraw recognition from it. It is plain, for example, that the requirement that a member must be an adult man is a Landmark, because the admittance of women and children would entail a complete destruction of age-old Masonry.

It is impossible to draw up a hard-and-fast list of Landmarks that will include nothing except Landmarks and exclude no Landmarks because the world in which Freemasonry works is a changing world, and what might violate a Landmark in one age would not in another. The great value of the Doctrine is in its recognition of the fact that Freemasonry has a fixed, inalterable identity of its own which cannot be changed by its own members according to taste or fashion or prejudice; and because it is a standard or criterion by which any proposed change can be tested. Would this proposed change alter Freemasonry? make of it something else? if so it is an Innovation; if not, the proposed change can be considered on its own merits.

Chetwode Crawley gave it as his opinion that there are three Landmarks: Fatherhood of God; Brotherhood of Man; the Life to Come.

William J. Hughan gave a legalistic definition: “A landmark must be a regulation or custom, which cannot be abrogated without placing offenders outside the pale of the Craft; and all Landmarks should practically ante-date the Grand Lodge era. ” He mention