Grave Error.

William J . Hughan , of Torquay , England , whose thorough exploration among the resources of the past has recently resulted in a most valuable book , entitled "Orig in of the English Rite of Freemasonry ; " which the reviewing

brother well knew , for he says : " Wo are aware of the fact that distinguished authors reject the theories of Brother Mackey , but when it can be made plain that the

word was lost , and subsequently found in an organization that did not exist in 1717 , and in a degree fabricated after the establishment of the first Grand Lodge , then wo will review the conclusions of the author quoted . "

According to the external evidence , solely relied on by this distinguished brother and his compeers , and by which he arrives at the above conclusion , the Master Mason ' s Degree , as wo now have it , was also fabricated since 1717

and after the establishment of what they call the " first " Grand Lodge ; but aside from that fact the pertinent question arises , Why was the mass of Mackey ' s statements

referred to printed as facts , in the face not only of Bro . Hughan ' s history , but of averments of other equally reliable and distinguished historians of the Craft ? The

only answer apparent to any unprejudiced mind is the same that will occur to any one at all conversant with the esoteric symbolism of the Masonic system , after perusing his comment on the following : " This degree ( Royal

Arch ) is indescribably more august , and sublime and important than all which precede it , and is the summit and perfection of Ancient Masonry . It impresses on our minds a belief of the bein . > - and existence of a supreme

Deity without the beginning of days or end of years , and reminds us of the reverence due His holy name . It also brings to mind many essentials of the Craft , which were for the space of four hundred and seventy years buried in

darkness , and without a knowledge of which the Masons character cannot bo complete . * * * This section furnishes ns with many interesting particulars relative to the state of the Fraternity during and since the reign of King Solomon . "

" This , brethren , is the class of food with which the masses of the Fraternity have been served from time out of mind , and it is not , therefore , surprising that Masons not particularly instructed in foundation stones , should

accept as orthodox , whimsical assertions , so boldly set forth , because of the absence of a bold , truthful popular literature , so necessary to dispel impositions upon credulity . "

The only answer , I say , to this and the preceding paragraph must be : Because it was intended that the inoculation therein , thus insidiously administered , should be all the more affective . If there is any other reply , it

must be additional and to the effect that somebody , who should know better , betrays a most deplorable oblivion of the art and science of Masonry ; which at the same time ,

however , affords a most rational solution to the animus of the crusade , both by him and his associates , who all seem to suffer more or less from the same malady .

In this connection it would be interesting to hear the learned brother explain the meaning of his education in "foundation stones . " Those that I have been instructed in are the fundamental and primary truths , supporting all

correct systems , and my correct system of Geometry , in which Masonry was founded , includes the holy Royal Arch , of which Bro . Hughan testifies in concluding his aforementioned history , thnsly : " In conclusion , we cannot

do better than quote the words of Dr . Hopkins in his well known ' Lectures on Freemasonry / respecting the Royal Arch : ' I would urge every one ( having made himself acquainted with our ordinary Craft ceremonies , and

having undergone the necessary probation ) to proceed to that sublime and exalted degree , by which alone his cravings for Masonic lore can be satisfied , his doubts explained , and the completeness of tbe system be fully developed . ' "

And Past Grand Master H . P . H . Bromwell , one of the most amiable and modest of men , bat of prodigious ability , who has made Masonry the study of a lifetime , and who

( I say it with due reflection and conscious of what it means ) knows more about it than any man now living , said in a recent letter to the writer : " You know the

explorations I have been engaged in during the last twenty-eight years concerning the geometry of the Lodge and its work , and particularly to discover and verify the

most ancient G . * . 0 . ' . W . * ., and on that subject I feel sure I can give some facts , but the means of their full explanation and verification can only be used in a proper

Grave Error.

place . The Royal Arch Degree , if its tradition be true , is a degree worthy of all cure aud pra se , and if the same be only a fabrication , for the purpose of forming the Masonic matter into an interesting and impressive degree , it is si ill

invested with secrets of the greatest matter known to the Craft ; but it holds it in a broken ve _ sel , nevertheless in a condition to be repaired ; and whether repaired or not , still indispensable for the verification of the true ancient

word . There are several degrees claiming tho ancient word , but they contain nothing of the sort . Those that fabricated them did not even know what is meant by the G . \ 0 . ' . W . ' . They supposed it to be a word in some

language , and that it might be any particular word having a certain prescribed meaning ; not knowing that there can be but one such word , and that it must be omnific as to all human language , as the triangle is omnific as to all

geometry . That word was once in the Royal Arch ( Royal Ark ) degree , but so mispronounced that it was no longer the same . The heling ( haling ) words are still there , but that is not the only place ; both the G . \ 0 . " . W . ' . and its

heling words are in the body of the Lodge by t . t . t ., and there is not a Master Mason who has not pronounced them or heard them as often as ho has been present at the conferring of that wonderful degree , unless he was deaf or inattentive .

"It has been always understood that the Royal Avch degree was anciently conferred , not by the Past Masters , but by the Master Masons in possession of it , under the warrant of the Master of a Lodge , and only on Master

Masons of long standing and high character . If this be true , as it seems to be , it is a most significant fact , in proof of the truth of one part of the legend , as well as of that of the Master Mason . "

Of the Mark Master Bro . Bromwell discourses thus : " It has so mnch the simplicity and ring of the Ancient Craft , and deals in such Masonic matters that many skilful

Masters believe it to be the ancient closing ceremony of the Fellow Craft Lodge . Although this cannot be verified , I think it highly probable . It is a beautiful degree . "

Lest any one should be misled into the belief that the distinguished Past Grand Master is a ' "hig h degree champion , " let them be undeceived by the following quotation from another letter recently received ; but it is

but just to say that the position therein defined , which is also mine , is not new . He has expressed the same opinion many times before , and for many years past , viz ., In the matter of so-called ' higher degrees ' I have long noticsd

the increasing evils which are being wrought among the Craft , the prevailing * habits and usages in regard to them . In the first place there are no higher degrees . The three degrees of the Lodge are all . If any alleged degree has

any Masouic value , it is because it has preserved some matter of Masonic Craft , which , by the carelessness and ignorance of Lodges , has been suffered to go to loss . Outside of this they are only beautiful or sublime

ceremonies , which draw their symbols and teachings from the great storehouse of the Lodge , but which is also the case with most of the swarm of degrees of all modern orders , like Odd Fellows , Knights of Py thias , and of this and that .

More than three thousand degrees , listed as Masonic , have been invented and worked in Europe and in this country during the last century and a half , all professing to have some wonderful Masonic secrets to impart . Wherever

they have flourished most , Ancient Craft Masonry has gone into demoralisation . In most of Europe tbe Lodges of Masonry are mixed np with every sort of Rites , and are really in no sense what ancient Masonic Lodges were .

Grand Master Robbins did a grand good thing when he refused to recognise one of those pseudo Grand Bodies , which called itself the ' Grand Orient of Spain , ' and which is a new offspring from the spawn of continental

innovations . Now , here is the mischief of tbe whole set , as things are managed ; all the so-called higher degrees are believed by the outside world , aud b y all ignorant Masons , to be actually higher , and much more , they all have

stupendous titles and flourish of feathers and finery , and make as much noise as if they were chief in Masonry ; consequently the Lodges are besieged with petitions for initiation by everybody who wants to get where be can

appear on the outside of a horse , bedizened with shoulderstraps , p lumes and swords , & c . ; and half of the work of the Lodge now is , to confer Masonic degrees on chaps who merely use the Lodge as a necessary entrance way to the ' higher' degrees . They rush through in six months ,