Lodge of Antiquity at London, and written in the time of James II., (about 1655,) says:

"Tenthly, That every Master Mason and Fellow shall come to the assemble, (i. e. the Lodge) if itt be within fifty miles* of him, if he have any warning."

Now, suppose a Brother to be a member of two or three Lodges at the same time (for if he may be a member of two, he may by the same rule be a member of all that will receive him); but suppose that he be a member of two only, and that he is summoned to appear before both on the same evening,--which summons is he to obey? How is he to discharge his duties and obligations to both? Another of these old black-letter regulations says; And if the offender, being duly cited to appear, prove rebel, and will not attend, then the Lodge shall determine against him, that he shall forswear (renounce) his Masonry, and shall no more use this Craft." It seems to us, that in the occurrence of the case supposed, the Brother would he placed in a dilemma, from which he would find it difficult to extricate himself.

The first book of Constitutions ever published (1722,)-under the article "Lodges," says: "A Lodge is a place where Masons assemble and work: hence that assembly, or duly organized society of Masons, is called a Lodge; and every Brother ought to belong to one." This does not say that he shall not belong to more than one, nor does it say that he may belong to two Lodges. But in order to settle the true meaning of the article, or at least to determine the sense in which it was understood at the time of its first publication, we quote the following section from the eighth article of the regulations of the Grand Lodge of England, adopted Feb. 19, 1723 :-

"No Brother shall belong to more than one Lodge within the Bills of Mortality, though he may visit them all."+

We will venture to take it for granted that this settles the question as to the intention of the article referred to. The spirit of it is still retained in the present Constitution of the Grand Lodge of England. We quote from the last edition--1841, page 84::

"When a Lodge has ceased to meet, any former member thereof shall be eligible to be proposed and admitted a member of another Lodge, on producing a certificate from the Grand Secretary, stating the fact, and specifying whether the Brother has been registered and his quarterages duly paid."

Thus far, ancient and foreign regulations. Let us now see how the matter stands at home. The Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts contain the following:

*By modern usage reduced, except in cases of peremptory summons, to three miles.

+ That is, being a member of one Lodge, he may visit all others within the Bills of Mortality. There were at that time few or no chartered Lodges under the jurisdiction of this Grand Lodge, out of London.

That the Lodge of which he was a "former member," has "ceased to meet."

"No Brother shall be a member of more than one Lodge; nor shall he hold more than one office in the same Lodge, or in Grand Lodge, at the same time.-[Part 5. Sec. 13. p. 54.

"No Brother shall be a member of more than one subordinate Lodge at the same time."―[Con. G. L. of N. H., Art. 4. Sec. 7.

"No Lodge shall admit to membership any Brother who is already a member of a Lodge under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge."-[Con. G. L. of Md., Art. 28. Sec. 20.

"Every organized Lodge that admits a member who is in arrears to any other Lodge, thereby becomes responsible to the Lodge to which he has last belonged."-[Con. G. L. Ky., Sec. 62.

"No Brother can be a member of more than one Lodge at the same time." Con. G. L. Mo. Chap. 25. Sec. 8.

"Each subordinate Lodge, under this jurisdiction, shall require every Mason applying for membership therein, to present satisfactory evidence to such Lodge, that he has taken a regular demit from the Lodge of which he had last been a member, or that such Lodge is no longer in existence."-[Con. G. L. Iowa, Sec.

36.

"No Brother shall be a member of more than one Lodge," &c.--[Con. G. L. Wis. Part 4. Sec. 12.

"No Brother shall be a member of more than one Lodge at the same time.”[Con. G. L. N. J. Gen. Reg. Sec. 6.

We might extend these authorities were it necessary; but it is not. Enough have been given to show that the regulations and the usage are both against the practice of a Brother's holding membership in more than one Lodge at the same time. And we are disposed to regard the prohi bition as wise and conservative. It is an old and generally sound maxim, that a man cannot well serve two masters at the same time. A Brother being a member of two Lodges, must necessarily be divided in his attachments and in his labors, and he will seldom be of any service to either. His prejudices and partialities will often be found enlisted in favor of the one and against the other, as their proceedings, on the many local questions which are continually arising among the Lodges, may correspond or otherwise with his own personal views of right. Besides, if a Brother may be a member of two Lodges at the same time, he may be called to fill one of the three principal offices in each Lodge at the same time. Every Lodge is empowered to instruct its representatives in Grand Lodge; but the Lodges are not all bound to think alike, or to take the same view of important questions before the Grand Lodge. Suppose the Brother receive conflicting instructions from both of the Lodges that he represents-which shall he follow?

But we have not room to argue the question. Enough we trust has been said to answer the inquiry of our correspondent. He does not inform us of his own views. If they differ from our's, and he is not satisfied with the authorities cited, if he will state his objections, we will con sider them.

THE HIGH DEGREES.

OUR readers need not to be informed, that there are in Freemasonry, a great variety of systems, or rites, each possessing features peculiar to itself, and all claiming legitimacy and antiquity. It is known, however, to every well-read Mason, that many of the rites in the high grades, are of modern invention, and that most of the degrees conferred in several of them, are either entirely spurious or greatly adulterated. This is especially true in respect to the now generally discarded Fessler rite, the rite Mizraim, and some others, of which we may hereafter take occasion to speak with more particularity. France has been proverbially prolific in the creation of spurious degrees, in the high grades. Germany, and other of the continental States, have too closely followed her example. Even ancient symbolical Masonry has not been permitted to pass unscathed; and there is scarcely a spot on the continent of Europe, where it can be said to exist in its original purity and simplicity. The ancient York, has been displaced for other and modern rites; and though the essentials of the ritual have been preserved sufficiently pure to mark their identity, the ceremonies have been corrupted and made to assume forms and inculcate precepts foreign, and not unfrequently adverse, to the original intentions of the Order. This is a matter of sincere regret to every true Mason; but it is to be feared that the evil has become too broad and extensive, and too firmly established, to be effectually removed. But if this is ever to be done, it must be through the united and co-operative influence and exertions of the Anglo-Saxon Masons. There must first be a strict and settled unity of work and purpose among all Masons, and in all Lodges where the English language is spoken, before there can be any thing like an approximation to a uniform ritual on the continent of Europe. But our present purpose is with eclectic, or what is more usually denominated sublime Freemasonry, as it exists in this country.

Without stopping to trace the origin or to discuss the legitimacy of the various degrees composing the rite practised under the auspices of the two Supreme Councils of Sovereign Grand Inspector General for the United States, it is sufficient to remark, that prior to the year 1761, most of them seem to have been cultivated throughout the continent of Europe; but do not appear to have been under the regulations of any general supervising body. In this respect, they seem to have been in nearly the same condition in which we find the symbolical degrees, previous to the organization of the Grand Lodge of England, in 1717. To put an effectual check to the irregularities and dissensions which had grown up under this state of things, Frederick the Great, then king of Prussia, and ardently attached to the Fraternity, in the year first named, assumed the

title of Grand Master of the sublime and ineffable degrees throughout the two hemispheres; and constituting his Grand Lodge on a sound basis, he succeeded in reducing the system to order, adopted a Constitution for its future government, and appointed deputies, (corresponding with Provincial Grand Masters under the English system,) for the different kingdoms of Europe. He also authorised his Deputy, Chaillon de Joinville, then Grand Master of the Order of France, to convene a Grand Consistory of Princes of the Royal Secret, at Paris, for the purpose of granting a patent, or commission, to the illustrious Br. STEPHEN MORIN, constituting him an Inspector General, for the introduction of the system into the New World. The Consistory was convened accordingly, on the 27th of August, 1761, and Br. Morin was commissioned, with ample powers to appoint deputies, to constitute Chapters, and to perform every other duty appertaining to his high office. On the 25th Oct. 1762, the Grand Constitutions were finally ratified and confirmed at Berlin, " for the government of all Lodges of Sublime and Perfect Masons, Chapters, Councils and Consistories." An attested copy of them was furnished to Br. Morin, and he forthwith left Paris for St. Domingo; where he vigilantly and faithfully executed his authority in the propagation of the high degrees, in personally superintending their establishment, and in appointing deputies, with the requisite powers, for Jamaica and the British Leeward Islands; for the Westward Islands and the British army; and for North America. The latter appointment was made in 1763, and the Ill. Brother who received it, was MOSES MICHAEL HAYES, afterwards Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. At the time of his appointment, Br. Hayes was a resident of St. Domingo; but he immediately proceeded to Rhode Island, where he established a Consistory, and conferred the degrees on several distinguished Brethren; among whom was Br. Moses Seixes, who was subsequently elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of that State.

This was the beginning of Sublime Freemasonry in North America; and from this source has directly or indirectly originated all the legitimate and lawful authority to propagate these degrees, in this country. If there are now, or at any previous time have been, bodies claiming to exercise this authority, they do it, or have done it, as the case may be, in derogation of the express and clearest terms of the original Constitutions. They can be regarded in no other light than as irregular bodies, conferring degrees over which they have no lawful control.

But to resume the history. Br. Hayes, in pursuance of his commission, appointed Br. Isaac da Costa, Deputy Inspector General for the State of South Carolina, who, in 1783, established the Sublime Grand Lodge of

Perfection, in Charleston. After Br. Da Costa's death, Br. Hayes appointed Br. Joseph Myers his successor. He also appointed Br. Col. Bush, deputy for the State of Pennsylvania, and Br. Barend M. Spitzer to the same rank for Georgia; which appointments were confirmed by a Convention of Inspectors, convened in Philadelphia, June 15, 1781. On the 1st May, 1786, the Grand Constitutions of the 33d degree, called the Supreme Council of Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, was finally ratified by Frederick, King of Prussia, and the high powers of that body were ordered to be conferred on nine Brethren in each nation. It was at the same time established, as an unalterable rule, that there should be one Sovereign and Supreme Council only, for each kingdom in Europe, two for the United States, and one for the English and one for the French West India Islands; all of which is fully and distinctly set forth in the secret Constitutions.

Under the authority and sanction of these Constitutions, a Supreme Council of the 33d degree, was opened at Charleston, on the 31st May, 1801, by Brs. John Mitchell and Frederick Dalcho; and the required number of Grand Inspectors General was, in the course of the year, completed. On the 5th August, 1813, a similar Supreme Council was, in accordance with the requirements, and under the authority of the Grand Secret Constitutions, duly and lawfully established and constituted, in the city of New York, by Br. Emanuel De La Motta, as the representative and under the sanction of the Supreme Council at Charleston.

Thus were the provisions of the Grand Constitutions fully and legally complied with, and the government of the Order, for the country, lawfully established. The jurisdiction of each Council was fully defined, and both bodies started on their career of brotherly-love, emulous only for the general prosperity and happiness of the whole Order. And though, in common with their Brethren of other degrees, they have been called to buffet with the storms of adversity, they still survive, and are confidently looking forward to that bright sunshine of prosperity, with which a good Providence never fails to reward the faithfui, and to encourage andsu stain the hearts of the virtuous and just. They have found enemies at home and abroad; but, confident in the rectitude of their own intentions and in the righteousness of their cause, they have pursued the even tenor of their way, careless alike of the contemptuous carpings of the one, and the boisterous railings of the other. They stand upon the Constitutions of their Order; and the rights guarantied to them by these, they will maintain against all foreign innovation, or domestic usurpation.

We have been induced thus briefly to sketch the history of the origin and establishment of the sublime degrees in this country, by the prospect that