ABSTRACT
A charge was an admonition traditionally given by the presiding o cer of the lodge – i.e. the Worshipful Master – at the close of the ceremony of initiation, or reception. In the eighteenth century it was more common to speak of a ‘reception’ than of an ‘initiation’. e word ‘charge’ came from ‘the Old Charges’, this set of old records written for the use of the ‘operative’ Masons, i.e. the Masons by trade from the eenth to the early eighteenth century.2 James Anderson in his 1723 Book of Constitutions devoted a whole section to ‘ e Old Charges of the Free and Accepted Masons’, which fell into six general heads of duty: ‘1-Concerning God and religion. 2-Of civil magistrate, supreme and subordinate. 3-Of Lodges. 4-Of Masters, Wardens, Fellows and Apprentices. 5-Of the Management of the Cra in working. 6-Of behavior under di erent circumstances and in various conditions’.3
