MASONIC MANUAL;

OR,

LECTURES ON FREEMASONRY:

CONTAINING THE

INSTRUCTIONS, DOCUMENTS, AND DISCIPLINE, OF THE
MASONIC ECONOMY.

BY

THE LATE REV. JONATHAN ASHE, D.D., M.M.

THE REV. GEORGE OLIVER, D.D.,

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

HONORARY MEMBER OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND LODGE, LONDON; THE SHAKSPEARE
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.

PRINTED BY WILLIAM WILCOCKSON, ROLLS BUILDINGS, FETTER LANE.

ORIGINAL DEDICATION,

ΤΟ

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS AUGUSTUS FREDERIC,

DUKE OF SUSSEX AND INVERNESS,

BARON ARKLOW,

M. W. GRAND MASTER OF MASONS, &c. &c.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS,

I TAKE the liberty to dedicate a Book on Masonry to you. Your rank at the head of the Fraternity, and high station in society, distinguish you as the fittest personage to patronize such a work. It will, I expect, prove instructive and profitable to Masons in particular, and induce men in general, who read it, to appreciate the Masonic principle in its truth and virtue. My intention in writing it is to supply a desideratum, viz., a volume containing the instructions, documents, and discipline of the Masonic Economy, in all its bearings. The use of it must be obvious. It will plainly and completely tell the Craft their eternal and temporal

obligations, and afford the uninitiated a fair review and estimate of Masonry, as much as it can be universally known in the reflection and effect of its benefit and beauty.

It argues well for your Royal Highness's head and heart, that you are warmly interested in promoting Masonry. Your presiding with ability, as you do, in the Chair of the Grand Lodge, (in which the Prince Regent presided before, and a popular nobleman at present going to shed lustre on his Majesty's Eastern Empire, sat as an applauded Substitute) superadds a bright advantage to the cause, and promises a better era to Masons. Masons already look up to your Royal Highness as their MECENAS. Your presidency is hailed as the day-spring from on high to dissipate the darkness which obscures Masonry, and to develope its learning and benevolence. Masonry, we know, is calculated to ameliorate man in the world-to make him imitate the Divine Architect's attributes, and so to superinduce the Maker's image in the human mind. Its progress and encouragement, if so, is very good. From the common condition of man in the multitude, and its own peculiar constitution, Masonry must be confined and limited

at all times. However, if it be judiciously managed, it will tend to humanize and bless mankind. So the occult operation of elementary fire insinuates its powers, and feeds all nature,-its fostering heat is every where, and its fervent force is found in each material substance. May the warmth and light of Masonry be regulated and directed by means of your Royal Highness, diffusing solid comfort and satisfactory entertainment in the community, assisting the advancement of the Arts and Sciences, and inspiring your own illustrious breast with the consolations arising from a consciousness of doing good. In the faithful spirit of this sacred sentiment, I beg to subscribe myself,

May it please your Royal Highness,

Your very obedient Servant,

And truly devoted Fellow-Member of

The Fraternity of Freemasons,

JONATHAN ASHE, D.D., M.M.

Bristol, Nov. 1, 1813.