Masonry—Ancient Or Modern.

MASONRY—ANCIENT OR MODERN .

An address , read at the Grand Visitation of the Washington Royal Arch Chapter , No . 2 , Washington , B . C ., iioth Nov . 1 S 91 , by Bro . Isaac P . Noyes .

MUCH Masonic literature has been devoted to the claims of Masonry as a very ancient institution . Opposed thereto , not a little of the Masonic literature of the world has contended that the institution is quite modern , dating back less than two hundred years .

Of course , both of these claims cannot be right , yet there may ho elements of truth in them both . Our most able writers are divided , so the weight of evidence cannot bo influenced , to either side , by them . Even tho scholarly and very wise and illustrious Brother Alhorfc Pike was on tho side of the modern interpretation .

As to which side of the argument one will take , much if nofc all would seem to lie in the interpretation we ourselves will give to the facta in the case . If we contend for

the spirit rather than for the mere external form , then it may be said to be most ancient . If we reckon only by the external forms as now visible , then it is perhaps nofc even much over a hundred and fifty years of age .

The external form of the order , have , as ifc were , been up with the age with which ifc was contemporary , and have marched quite abreast with it . Bufc too many Masons get the

impression that these mere external forms aro the ancient part , and that as they exist to-day , so thoy have have existed for thousands of years . Tho samo class of men also have the idea that these external forms are the samo all over the world .

If they would travel , or listen to Brethren who have been around the world , and visited Lodges in the various countries whero the Order is established , they would learn that such is not the case ; that the Lodges of the different jurisdictions of the world are aHko in the spirit , but quite

unlike in their manner of work , or external forms . But we believe thafc the tendency is for a greater unity and harmony even in this respect . Throngh the force of circumstances of the past , men were separated into many little circles , and isolated from

each other . Ifc was quite natural under these circumstances that differences in detail should have sprung up . But the intercommunication of the world , and rapid transit to all parts of the world , is working wonders in this lino , and bringing not only Masons , bufc all the nations of the earth

nearer and nearer together . As they are brought together , there may be a little clash afc first , bufc ifc will he a clash of modern rather than of ancient form . A clash that soon gives way to friendly rivalry and mutual improvement and advancement .

The spirit of harmony and enlightenment is abroad and working wonders for the world . And Masonry is the chief instrument whereby it is being wrought . The history of the Craffc well illustrates how the circles of enlightenment are ever growing wider and wider . As

with education itself , BO with Masonry , we well know that in ancient times that education was confined to the few . There were aa able men then as now , but their numbers were quite insignificant in comparison with the present . The modern mind is smarter and quicker to comprehend

the general facts of the -world . As to mere wisdom , many thousands of years ago the able men , then living , had mastered , and perhaps exhausted wisdom in certain lines . The old saying of Solomon , that there was nothing new under the sun , well illustrates this . He discovered thafc

even in his day certain topics were developed to their fullest extent . Yet while this thought remains , as pertinent to-day as on tbe day it was uttered , and the wisdom of that day remains and holds its place . While this is all true , nevertheless the world has made great strides since then .

Not so much in moral law , for moral law seems to have been one of the first , if not the first subject of importance to be developed . But in the details of physical development the changes have been the most marked . The great struggle has been to develop and to comprehend the great

physical laws ; their knowledge and application for the advancement of mankind . And the more they have been developed the better has it been for the advancement of the race , to higher and higher plains , whero they could the hotter profit by the moral laws that were first given to man .

Masonry—Ancient Or Modern.

The history of the world has proved that while tho moral law is not only good , but all important , ifc is substantially strengthened by the support of tho physical . So all the modern investigations into the secret forces of nature has strengthened men , and supplemented the moral

light of the world . Man ' s intercourse with man , and his utilising of these forces—subduing them and making them his servants , has developed his nature far beyond what tho mosfc wise and ancient philosophers of the world even

thought practical . Sure they dreamed of some mystical utopia , where wonderful things would come to pass ; bufc these philosophers little thought of the practical methods whereby their dreams would be accomplished .

With other things these wise men of the Orient had thoir " mysteries , " whereby certain moral truths wore taught ; and mystic ties , whereby kindred and lofty spirits should be the better able to hold their own against the sordid and selfish powers wherewith they were surrounded . For selfish

and sordid powers were as potent then as now , if nofc moro so . And not the least interesting study to man iu tho study of the ways and means thafc man has been forced to invent and develop in order to further the reigu of " light " upon earth . A comparatively modern poet , and by the

way a Mason , wrote that pertinent saying that " man ' s inhumanity to man has made countless thousands mourn . " A saying that has been verified in every generation from fche earliest days of the world even up to tho present hour . From mosfc ancient times to tho very present there has

been that conflict of light and darkness , so well put forth in the philosophy of Zoroaster . Tho enlightened spirits of the world were nofc sufficiently strong in numbers to hold their own before the physical darkness of these ancient times .

The moral and intellectual force was there , hut the brute force was also there and in greater numbers . Progress was slow in thoso days . Slavery was dominant ; not only the slavery of the lower classes , but commnnities of the most intellectual people of the world wore forced into

slavery by the ruffians of their day . Even Israel with all her culture was not exempt . In those ancient days somo of the wisest men the world has kuown were slaves . And yet there aro men , and even wise men of to-day , who will expatiate on the glories of these times ; refer to them as

the golden age of the world , and belittle the present age . Their proof , such as they have , all lies in the facfc of the early development of the moral law . It is queer , perhaps , that the moral law should have been thus early developed , yet ifc is a fact . But it is also a facfc

that this one-sided development did nofc develop the higher qualities in man . India is a fine example . Probably no nation in the world ever had so fine a start iu this direction as she . Bufc where is she to-day , and where has she been for tho past three thousand years ? A dead ,

lifeless limb of a great tree . No , the history of the world proves that man cannot exist alone on fine sentiment , nor even on lofty conceptions of fche Deity and his works . Man musfc go oufc and learn practical humanity to man ; to learn to subdue the forces in nature as well as his own

passions . In all of which the modern world is superior to the ancient world , as the man is superior to the youth . Because of the bondage of the Hebrews in Egypt , they are often referred to as mere slaves , and as such , as a low class of beings .

Surely they were slaves , but in those " good old times " fche man of culture had no more protection than the merest rude clod , fit only to be a hewer of wood and drawer of water . And herein the modern world is infinitely superior to this ancient world . Though there are some human

beings still held in bondage , slavery , for the past thousand years or more , has been confined to the lower strata of society . Quite a difference between now and then , when the whole nation of Israel was taken to Babylon , and at another time enslaved in fche lands of enlightened Egypt .

So the circles of humanity have been enlarged . At first the circles were very small , tho humane spirits of the world could not work by open day . The powers of darkness were against them . A mere generation was as nothing ; a century even made little show upon tbe hard sands of time .

The ship of humanity was sailing along over the rough seas , with the heavy winds " dead ahead . " The tacks were laborious and the gain of each individual tack infinitesimally small . But the good angel presided at the helm . A mysterious tie bound the enlightened spirits together as one man . That such brotherhoods should have been a potent force in Israel was not surprising . Israel ' s hope'