The Age Of Ereemasonry And Masonic Historiography.

which , he places together in an indiscriminate fashion , and group them correctly . Brother Olavel in France has done nothing towards clearing up the origin , of Masonry , nor has he a view of his own

on the subject ; his history of Freemasonry contains a compilation of what at his time was known about its recent history , and this compilation , however meritorious it was , is written without any historical criticism . Brother Olavel

can therefore not be cited as an authority on the question of the age of Freemasonry , nor can Brother Laurie be so quoted , he being an authority only on the subject of Masonry hi Scotland ; nor Brother Schauberg , his researches

having reference only to the Masonic symbolism , and even on that point he is not , in Germany at least , regarded as trustworthy . In the face of the more recent investigations ofKloss , Keller , Bachmann and others , Schauberg , in the main , adheres to the already obsolete views of Krause , Lenning , Schneider , & c ,

who trace the origin of our Craft to the Eoman building colleges . We may , for convenience sake , assume three periods of Masonic Historiography . The first is the time of historic darkness and mere conjecture .

With equal right , because based only on surmises , arbitrary fancy and vague tradition , some have assumed Masonry to date from Adam , others from the ancient mysteries of the Jews , Greeks and Egyptians , others again from the

Gnostics , Templars , and so on . ; The second period is formed by the dawn of critical inquiry , which already paid attention to facts and historical records , and inaugurated a serious scientific investigation . The head of

this school was the-well-known philosopher Krause ( see FindeVs - History of Freemasonry , p . 626 ) , around whom rallied the brethren Kierer , Schneider , Mossdorf ( Lenning ) , Morlin and others , who published their conscientious and

valuable contributions in the "Altenbury journal forFreernasony . " These disciples of Krause rest their views—see Krause

the 3 Kunsturhmden ( documents on the Eoyal art)—mainly on two historical documents , which , however , have since proved to he unauthentic and forged , and are now rejected , viz ., on the "socalled examination of Henry , " and on

the " York Charter , " alleged to date from the year 726 ( see Findel ' s History pp . 83 , 89 sq ) . Now , if Brother Woodford wants to adopt the views of those men and to trace back the history of Masonry to the

Eoman sodalities , let him first prove those two documents to be genuine . Without such proof if his assertion has no foundation whatever . If Brother Woodford will study the "Altenbufg Journal , " he will to his great surprise

perceive that the above-named writers had already in the years , from 1806 to 1823 , accumulated most ample and recondite materials and used them with great ingenuity in favour of their views ; materials , indeed , which would fill whole

volumes of the Masonic Magazine . If notwithstanding all this , the entire Masonic body of the present day in Germany refuses its assent to these views , there must be good reasons for such refusal , and we may be sure that

these reasons have been conscientiously weighed and thoroughly examined . The third period begins with Brother Dr . George Kloss , the father , of Masonic historiography . In his important work " Freemasony in its true Signification , " a work which marks an era in Masonic

historiography , Kloss has placed the ancient constitutions of the English and German Stonemasons in juxtaposition , compared them with each other and furnished the irrefragable proof that the fraternity of Freemasons is the

legitimate successor of the English operative-Masons' fraternity , which in its turn is identical with that of the German Stonemasons . The researches of this eminent brother were then examined , supplemented and carried on by the

Brethren Keller , Lachmann , Merzdorf , Schletter and many others , especially too , within the select union of the Grand Lodge of Hamburg , which united a ' 2