The Locke Ms.

THE LOCKE MS .

BY MASONIC STUDENT . T HAVE thought it Avell to supplement my last article on this subject by a 1 ' remarks - * - on AA'hat I conceive the so-called Locke MS . really to be . As I pointed out in my last , AA ' must give up the Henry VI . epoch , ancl the venerable nameI fearof Mr . Lockeand merely take the document at its OAVII Avorth

, , , , for AA'hat it really is . NOAV this is someAvhat difficult to say . In its present form it is so much of a make-up that it is very hard to declare AA'here truth begins and falsehood ends , to point out AA'here the unreality leaA'es it , ancl reality remains . In my humble opinion , it is an hermetic or Lodge catechism , put together at a time Avhen Masons Avere not A'ery learned , and Avhen confused traditions and shaky anachronisms had got the upper hand . I confess that I do not look upon it as A'ery old . It probably has a

" substratum " of truth , in that it represents some old " formula , " either of hermeticism or the Masonic Lodges , Avhich has been adopted and adapted by an unprincipled manipulator to foist an element of antiquity into the evidences of Freemasonry . It may preserve in it portions of the traditional teaching of the early Lodges , but OA'en this seems doubtful . It is so much more explanatory than our knoAvn earliest documents , that I , for one , am disposed to put it at the end of the last century , Avhen , perhaps , a feAV phrases and

questions Avere expanded into the pretentious production it now is . The English evidence of it ma-sonically is nil . It came to Masonry from the profane Avorld , not to the profane AA'orld from Masonry , as far as AA'e know , and though English forms of it appear—as little pamphlets or fly-sheets—they are late in the last century , and are IIOAV very rare . Its truth has been assumed mainly on the eoA'ering letter of Mr . Locke , and though generally gh'en up in Germany , it has found its supporters , and still has its believers , in England ancl America . It Avoidd be curious indeed if Essex ' s MS ., in the British Museum , Avere a copy from ,

a MS ., and not from the printed form , because then that woidd presuppose a common original ; but as Essex is late in the last century , and has a copy in MS . also of the " Grand Mystery , " I , for one , cannot so far lay much stress on that fact . It is , hoAvever , a point to be remembered and noted in the discussion , I fear that I can go no further than Avhat I have now stated , inasmuch as all the OA'idence points to its untruthfulness rather than its truthfulness , to its intentional

compdation rather than to its authenticity . Of course fresh evidence may alter such opinions ; but uiitd it turns up , I fear AVO cannot set much store by this assumed MS . in any way AA'hateA'er . It has been said that the Mr . Collins was a book collector of that epoch : if so , something may yet turn up to verify his existence ; but until some valid evidence appears , to confirm the existence of an oriinal MS . Ave mustI fearcome to the conclusion that

g , , , the so-called Locke MS . is altogether unreliable , and is simply the adaptation of some cleA'er rogue of materials Avhich had fallen into his hands , and that for the purpose ot deception . It has been asked , indeed , by some , " Cui bono ? " and perhaps the question is difficult to reply to . But if AVO are correct in our estimate of its probable date , aud ¦ its Gorman origin , or its alleged German origin , it is one of the documents AA'hich some of the Masonic Hermetic Avriters of the latter part of the last century put forth l » ¦

increase Masonic claims ol : antiquity , and to give au hermetic character to Ereemasomf AH its history , so far , is shrouded in doubt and suspicion , ancl , I may add , trickery , and I do not see myself that it is anything really , Avith the exception ' of one or two old questions and ansAvers , but an expansion of the " Legend of the Guilds " put hit " " archaisms" which , however , are not archaisms , and Avhich betray the character of a practically literary forgery .