II.
Charges of a Freemason,
XTRACTED from the Ancient Record of Lodges beyond sea, and of those in England, Scotland, and Ireland, for the use of the Lodges in London. To be read at the making of New Brethren, or when the Master shall order it.[1]
THE GENERAL HEADS, viz:
I. Of God and Religion.
II. Of the Civil Magistrate, Supreme and Subordinate.
III. Of Lodges.
IV. Of Masters, Wardens, Fellows, and Apprentices.
V. Of the Management of the Craft in working.
VI. Of Behavior, viz:
1. In the Lodge while Constituted.
2. After the Lodge is over and the Brethren not gone.
3. When Brethren meet without Strangers, but not in a Lodge.
4. In Presence of Strangers not Masons.
5. At Home and in the Neighborhood.
6. Toward a strange Brother.
I. CONCERNING GOD AND RELIGION.
A Mason is obliged, by his tenure, to obey the moral law, and if he rightly understands the art, he will never be a stupid
- ↑ Note by the Editor.—These charges were prepared and presented to the Grand Lodge of England in 1721 by Dr. Anderson and Dr Desagiliers, and having been approved by the Grand Lodge on the 25th of March, 1722, were published in the first edition of the Book of Constitutions. They have always been held in the highest veneration by the fraternity, as embodying the most important points of the ancient written, as well as unwritten, law of Masonry.
