THE

SPIRIT OF MASONRY,

BY

WILLIAM HUTCHINSON, F.A.S.

A New Edition,

WITH COPIOUS NOTES, CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY,

BY

THE REV. GEORGE OLIVER, D.D.,

PAST D. P. G. M. FOR LINCOLNSHIRE;

HONORARY MEMBER OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND LODGE, LONDON; THE SHAKSPEARM
LODGE, WARWICK; THE FIRST LODGE OF LIGHT, BIRMINGHAM; THE ST. PETER'S
LODGE, WOLVERHAMPTON; THE OLIVE UNION LODGE, HORNCASTLE; THE
ST. PETER'S LODGE, PETERBOROUGH, ETC., ETC., ETC.

AUTHOR OF

66 'THE HISTORY OF INITIATION," "ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY,"
"STAR IN THE EAST," ETC., ETC.

NEW YORK:

JNO. W. LEONARD & CO., AMERICAN MASONIC AGENCY

THE AUTHOR'S ADDRESS PREFIXED TO THE

SECOND EDITION.

TO THE ANCIENT AND HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF FREE AND

ACCEPTED MASONS.

BRETHREN,-The following Lectures were composed for the use of the Barnard Castle Lodge of Concord, over which I presided for several successive years. Explanatory notes are given to support my positions, or exemplify the principles of the work.

These Lectures, it is hoped, may serve to detect the wretched artifices used by wicked men to impose upon the world; and may also excite in you the due exercise of those moral works which our profession enjoins.

From the nature of our Society and its laws, it is difficult to write on the subject of Masonry. We are not allowed that explicit language any other topic would admit of. The moral intention of the work must plead for what is couched in allegory, or comprehended in that peculiarity of language which our mysteries prescribe.

To this edition many valuable Lectures, Observations, and Proofs, are added.

THE AUTHOR.