TO ALL REGULAR

FREE and ACCEPTED MASONS.

I. 

     WHEREAS the Society of Free Masons is universally acknowledged to be of ancient standing and great repute in this kingdom, as by our Records, and Printed Constitutions, it appears that the first Grand Lodge in England was held at York, in the year 926, by virtue of a Royal Charter, granted by King Athelstan; And, under the patronage and government of this Grand Lodge, the Society considerably increased; and the ancient charges and regulations of the Order so far obtained the sanction of Kings and Princes, and other eminent Persons, that they always paid due allegiance to the said Grand Assembly.

 II.

     AND WHEREAS it appears, by our Records, that in the year 1567, the increase of Lodges in the South of England being so great as to require some Nominal Patron to superintend their government, it was resolved that a person under the title of Grand Master for the South should be appointed for that purpose, with the approbation of the Grand Lodge at York, to whom the whole Fraternity at large were bound to pay tribute and acknowledge subjection.  And, after the appointment of such Patron, Masonry flourished under the guardianship of him and his successors in the South, until the Civil Wars and other intestine commotions interrupted the assemblies of the Brethren.

III.

     AND WHEREAS it also appears that, in the year 1693, the meetings of the Fraternity in their regular lodges in the South became less frequent, and chiefly occasional, EXCEPT in or near Places where great works were carried on.  At which time the Lodge of Antiquity, or (as it was then called) the Old Lodge of St. Paul, with a few others of small note, continued to meet under the patronage of Sir  Christopher Wren, and assisted him in rearing that superb Structure from which this respectable Lodge derived its Title.  But on completing this Edifice in 1710, and Sir Christopher Wren's retiring into the country, the few remaining Lodges, in London and its suburbs, continued, without any nominal Patron, in a declining state for about the space of seven years.

IV.

     AND WHEREAS, in the year 1717, the Fraternity in London agreed to cement under a new Grand Master, and with that view the Old Lodge of St. Paul, jointly with three other Lodges, assembled in form, constituted themselves a Nominal Grand Lodge pro temperore, and elected a Grand Master to preside over their future general meetings, whom they afterwards invested with a power to constitute subordinate Lodges, and to convene the Fraternity at stated periods in Grand Lodge, in order to make Laws with their consent and approbation, for the good government of the Society at large - BUT SUBJECT to certain conditions and restrictions then expressly stipulated, and which are more fully set forth in the 39th article of the general regulations, in the first book of Constitutions.  This article, with 38 others, was afterwards, at a meeting of the Brethren in and about the cities of London and Westminster, in the year 1721, solemnly approved of, ratified and confirmed by them and signed in their prescence by the Master and Wardens of the Four Old Lodges on the one part; and Philip Duke of Wharton, then Grand Master, Dr. Desaguliers D.G.M., Joshua Timson, and William Hawkins Grand Wardens, and the Masters and Wardens of sixteen Lodges which had been constituted by the Fraternity, betwixt 1717 and 1721, on the other part.  And these articles the Grand Master engaged for himself and his successors, when duly installed, in all time coming to observe and keep sacred and inviolable -  By these prudent precautions the ancient Landmarkds (as they are properly styled) of the Four old Lodges were intended to be secured against any encroachments on their Masonic rights and privileges.

V.

     AND WHEREAS, of late years, notwithstanding the said solemn engagement in the year 1721, sundry innovations and encroachments have been made, and are still making on the original plan and government of Masonry, by the present nominal Grand Lodge in London, highly injurious to the institution itself, and tending to subvert and destroy the ancient rights and privileges of the Society, more particularly of those members of it under whose sanction, and by whose authority, the said Grand Lodge was first established and now exists.

VI.

     AND WHEREAS, at this present time, there only remains one of the said four original ancient Lodges - The Old Lodge of St. Paul, or, as it is now emphatically styled, The Lodge of Antiquity.  Two of the said four ancient Lodges having been extinct for many years, and the Master of the other of them having, on the part of his Lodge, in open Grand Lodge relinquished all such inherent rights and privileges which, as a private Lodge acting by an immemorial Constitution, it enjoyed. - BUT, the Lodge of Antiquity, conscious of its own dignity, which the members thereof are resolutely determined to support, and justly incensed at the violent measures and proceedings which have been lately adopted and pursued by the said nominal Grand Lodge, wherein thay have assumed an unlawful prerogative over the Lode of Antiquity, in manifest breach of the aforesaid 39th article, by which means the peaceable government of that respectable Lodge has been repeatedly interrupted, and even the original independent power thereof, in respect to its own Internal Government, disputed.

VII.

     THEREFORE, and on account of the Arbitrary Edicts and Laws which the said nominal Grand Lodge has, from time to time, presumed to issue and attempted to enforce, repugnant to the ancient Laws and principles of Free Masonry, and highly injurious to the Lodge of Antiquity.

VIII.

     WE, the Master, Wardens, and Members of the Lodge of Antiquity, considering ourselves bound in duty, as well as honour, to preserve inviolable the ancient rights and privileges of the Order, and, as far as in our power, to hand them down to posterity in their native purity and excellence, do hereby, for ourselves and our successors, solemnly disavow and discountenance such unlawful measures and proceedings of the said nominal Grand Lodge; and do hereby declare and announce to all our Masonic Brethren throughout the Globe, That the said Grand Lodge has, by such arbitrary conduct, evidently violated the conditions expressed in the aforesaid 39th article of the general regulations, in the observance of which article the permanency of their authority solely depended.

IX.

     AND in consequence thereof, WE, do by these presents retract from, and recal, all such rights and powers, as We, or our predecessors, did conditionally give to the said nominal Grand Lodge in London; and do hereby disannul and make void all future Edicts and Laws which the said Grand Lodge may presume to issue and enforce, by virtue of such sanction, as representatives of the ancient and honourable Society of Free and Accpeted Masons.

X. 

     AND WHEREAS, we have, on full enquiry and due examination, happily discovered, that the aforesaid truly ancient Grand Lodge at York  does still exist: and have authentic Records to produce of their antiquity, long before the establishment of the nominal Grand Lodge in London, in the year 1717;  We do, therefore, hereby solemnly avow, acknowledge, and admit the Authority of the said Most Worshipful Grand Lodge at York, as the truly ancient and only regular governing Grand Lodge of Masons in England, to whom the Fraternity all owe and are rightfully bound to pay allegiance.

XI.

     AND WHEREAS, the present Members of the said Grand Lodge at York have acknowledged the ancient power and authority of the Lodge of Antiquity in London as a private Lodge, and have proposed to form an alliance with the said Lodge, on the most generous and disinterested principles, - We do hereby acknowledge this generous mark of their friendship towards us, and gratefully accept their liberal, candid and ingenuous offers of alliance:- And do hereby, from a firm persuasion of the justice of our cause, announce a general union with all Regular Masons throughout the world, who shall join us in supporting the original principles of Free Masonry,- in promoting and extending the authority of the said truly ancient Grand Lodge at York, under such respectable auspices in propogating Masonry on its pure, genuine and original plan.

XII.

     AND LASTLY, we do earnestly solicit the hearty concurrence of all regular Lodges of the Fraternity in all places where Freemasonry is legally established, to enable us to carry into execution the aforesaid plan, which is so apparently beneficial to our most excellent institution, -and at the present critical juncture, so essentially necessary to curb the arbitrary power which has been already exerted, or which hereafter may be illegally assumed, by the nominal Grand Lodge in London, -and so timely prevent such un-Masonic proceedings from becoming a disgrace to the Society at large.

By order of the Right Worshipful LODGE OF ANTIQUITY,

in open Lodge assembled, this 16th day of December, A.D. 1778.  A.L. 5782

J. SEALY, Secretary.