A Lecture.

or philosophical scions , engrafted upon the purely ancient Craft , I cannot , in what I am noAV saying , identify them Avith the parent tree . They have , ancl have had , their uses . They are , many of them , noble and chivalrous ; but , as regards my present subject , they have no other connection Avith ancient Freemasonry than the fact of their refusing to receive any candidate AA'IIO is not a Master Mason , ancl thus ensuring thatwhether any order be Masonic or not

, , yet its members must all be Masons—a compliment to our Craft which , before I have clone , I trust you will appreciate as much as I do . I haA'e lately read a so-called " History of Freemasoury , " Avritten by an able ancl erudite brother in Germany ; and he , having , I presume , been trained as a historian , founds all his conclusions upon his researches into written or printed documents—just as though it Avere possible that Avritten records could

exist of such a society as ours , the very essence of whose policy is , ancl has been , to prevent the existence of any such records as could furnish an historian with materials for research , or an antiquary or critic Avith data for critical exegesis . The brother to A \ hom I allude cannot succeed in tracing any recorded history of the craft farther back than the Middle Ages , and hardl y beyond the discovery of the art of printing , ancl his conclusion is that our

society in its present form is merely the result of an attempt to found an universal aud fraternal brotherhood , upon the customs ancl usages of various guilds or lodges of Operative Masons , AA'I IO in their internal government differed but little from the associations of any other craftsmen in an age when every trade was suppossecl to be possessed exclusively of its OAVU secrets , or , as they were commonly called , its mysteries ; indeed , it is , historically , but yesterday that the goldsmiths , fishmongers , corclonniers , fletchers , and merchant tailors , had , in common parlance , the mysteries of their several crafts .

Why , then , should the supposed founders of such a society as ours ( AA'ith ceremonies and rituals , allusions , legends , ancl symbols , far too archaic in their nature to be ascribed to any such a source ) haA'e especially chosen the practices of masons or builders as a foundation Avhereon to raise such a superstructure ? Man is prone to symbolism , ancl symbols in plenty , Avell adapted for most of our purposes , might have been adopted from any other handicraft . Stonemasons Avere not the only tradesmen AA'I IO had guilds or unions among those

eminently municipal people , the Romans , or their imitators among the European fragments of their empire ; and in those old clays symbolism AA'as as rife among craftsmen of all trades as among those AA'I IO erected the fanes of mediaeval Christianity , or among the chivalric originators of the so-called science of heraldry . Nomy brethrenI utterlrepudiate and disbelieve the assertion that

, , y Masonry has sprung from any such source , or that the originators of tho Craft were men capable of such deception as to invent legends and rituals , implying an origin in the remote past , for a society Avhich they themselves Avere founding in the days of England ' s Harrys or Echvards . Yet such must have been the case were the conclusions of the brother I have referred to correct ; ancl he himself , although he professes admiration for our Order and reverence for its

founders , must acknoAvledge that , if he be not mistaken , that societ y is a fraud and its founders impostors . I cannot and will not subscribe to the opinion that a pure and wholesome stream can have its source in pollutionthat truth ancl justice , freedom , charity , ancl brotherly love can be the salient characteristics of a society founded by impostors , or that a mere association of tradesmen for exclusiA'ely trade purposes can have originated Avhat may well be designated the exponent , of the purest form of natural reli gion .

So far , I think , I have shown that our past history is not to be sought for in impossible annals of the transactions of our ancient brethren , and that any such research must ( however laboriously or critically conducted ) lead to utterly untenable ancl ridiculous results . We must go far beyond and behind the often fabulous records of mediasval