Knight Templary In Nebraska.

canes was blowing with more than its nsual emphasis , and directly at ri ' s-ht angles with th « " train . In attempting to pass from one car to another , I had no sooner ,-tepped on the platform than I was staggered by tho force of fche wind , and before I could regain my balance , I fell from the platform , and promptly measured my length

on tho free soil of Nebraska ; result , ft badly dislocated ankle , and the small bone of the leg splintered . The surgeons call the injury a ' Pott ' s fracture / which no doubt renders the entire matter quite clear to yon . As the possessor of so learned and high-sounding an injury , I of course felt sensibly reconciled to my suffering ,

anticipating great distinction in the annals of surgery thereby . 3 am , however , slowly drifting towards the conclusion that I might have been persuaded to deny myself this surgical distinction , and permit Mr . Pott to keep hia fracture for his own nse ; I wonld prefer to finish my report . Such little labour aa I could mamige with

much difficulty to perform , since my accident , has been imperatively demanded by matters of business , quite closely connected with the nnromantic question of daily bread and butter . I have , therefore , been compelled to cast a wistful look of farewell on the many leaves of my unfinished report on foreign correspondence , which now ,

alas ! will never sse the light , as I pen this lame excuse for its nonappearance . I say ' alas ! ' because no man likes to leave an undertaking uncompleted , even though when accomplished it may be no great things . I had intended thia now unfinished report to be my last , having merely occupied the post till somo abler and more

experienced reporter could be induced to occupy it , and on this account I the moro regret the break in our reports ; but with writers of such experience and ability as Sirs Warren , Marlay , Bowen , Tulleys , and abundance of others , I trust Nebraska will not again be compelled to put her journal in print without a creditable report

on correspondence . It will be a consolation to reflect that the loss of your report is more than compensated by a marked dimunition in the expense account . I expect to be throngh with Mr . Pott's fracture in about three or four weeks , when I shall at once return it to bim in good order . Heal sorry I cannot meet with yon . "

On the second clay of the Session various matters of detail were considered , and the Conclave was closed with the customary expressions of harmony and goodwill . The report is accompanied by a finely-executed portrait and autograph of Grand Commander Thomas Sewell , and a list of the names of the Grand Commandery of Nebraska .

Antiquity Of Masonry.

ANTIQUITY OF MASONRY .

AS there seems to be quite a diversity of opinion among Masonic authors on this subject , and as book-making is rather on the increase than otherwise , we have , every few clays , some new work on the " History of Freemasonry , " the Masonic searcher after history must find

himself in a quandary as to which is the real true history , and out of the many theories advanced , which is the right one . Of course it will make very little difference to the true Mason whether Freemasonry began in Egypt , with the

building of the Pyramids , or whether it sprang from , or grew out of , the building of King Solomon's Temple , or whether Masonry was an offshoot of the Building Guilds of the 14 th century . That Masonry is an old ,

timehonoured institution , no one can deny ; ancl its antiquity now seems only to be questioned by those who should be its supporters , who , in the book-making mania , are each striving with the other to extingish the light of its origin

by some newly undiscovered history that does not present positive proof , unaccompanied b y tradition , or secret ritual of its ancient existence . In other words , they deny all the old established theories and teachings , because they are

unable to find any record of them in the literature or Avritings of the Middle Ages , arguing that the absence of positive proof in such writings is conclusive evidence of their non-existence . Wc have devoted some considerable

tune ancl space to this subject in our former numbers ancl have published a good deal of correspondence on the subj ect of " Were Solomon , Hiram of Tyre and Hiram Abif , Masons ? " together vvilh different versions of numerous

historians , who each seem to vie with tho other in their zeal to show aud affirm that Masonry is a modern institution , and did not exist : n the days of Moses and Solomon , and that its speculative character was never known till

within about two hundred years ago . And we have given onr readers the correspondence on this subject that they may judge _ for themselves . For our part , we have no hesitation in repeating what we have said before , that

Masonry was the outgrowth of the religions teachings of the ancients , which was represented by allegories to the people , and , having expressed ourselves fully on this

subject before , we will now content ourselves by making our same quotations from authors , aud leave our readers to judge for themselves ; at the same time reminding them of the fact that such questions are not of vital or serious

Antiquity Of Masonry.

importance to them , and tend rather to degrade than to elevate the Masonic Institution , and furnish food to the book-making appetite of the modern historians who are seeking to overthrow the long-established traditions of our institution by asking for proofs upon questions long since

conceded , and in cases where the length of time would preclude the possibility of positive evidence . We opine that discussions at thia late day upon subjects so unimportant to Masons tend rather to injure than advance the

interests of the Order . Especially on such subjects we say , "Where ignorance is bliss , 'tis folly to be wise . " Our learned and esteemed historian , Bro . Mackey , in a late work , says : —

Tears ago in writing an article on this snbject under the impressions made upon me by the fascinating theories of Dr . Oliver , though I never completely accepted his views , I waa led to place the organisation of Freemasonry , as it now exists , at the building of Solomon ' s Temple . Many years of subsequent research have led me greatly to

modify the views I had previously held . Although I do nofc rank myself among those modern iconoclasts who refuse credence to every document whose authenticity , if admitted , would give to fche Order a birth anterior to tho beginning of the lasfc century , I confess that I cannot find any incontrovertible evidence thafc would trace Masonry ,

as now organised , beyond the Building Corporations of fche Middle Ages . In this poinfc of view I speak of ifc only aa an architectural Brotherhood , distinguished by signs , by words , and by brotherly ties

which have not been essentially changed , and by symbols and legends which have only been developed and extended , while the association has undergone a transformation from an operative art fco a speculative science .

Bufc then these Building Corporations did not spring np in all their peculiar organisation—different , as ifc was from thafc of other guildslike Autochtones , from the soil . They , too , must have an origin and an archetype , from which they derived their peculiar character . And I am induced , for that purposes , to look to the Roman Colleges of

Artificers , which were spread over Europe by the invading forces of the Empire . But these have been traced to Noma , who gave to them thafc mixed practical and religions character which they are known to have possessed , and in which they were imitated by the mediaeval architects .

Wo must , therefore , look afc Freemasonry in two distinct poinfca of view : First , as it is—a society of Speculative Architects engaged iu the construction of spiritual temples , and in this respect a development from the Operative Architects of fche tenth and succeeding centuries , who were themselves r . ffshoots from the travelling

Freemasons of Como , who traced their origin to the Roman Colleges of Builders . In this direction , I think , the line of descent is plain , without any demand upon our credulity for assent fco its credibility . But Freemasonry must be looked at also from another standpoint . Not only does it present tho appearance of a speculative science ,

based ou an operative art , but it also very significantly exhibits itself as the symbolic expression of a religious idea . In other and plaiuer words we see iu it the important lesson of eternal life , taught by a legend which , whether true or false , is used in Masonry as a symbol and an allegory .

But whence came this legend ? Was it invented in 1717 afc the revival of Freemasonry in England ? Wo have evidence of fche strongest circumstantial character , derived from the Sloan Manuscript , No . 3 , 329 , recently exhumed from fche shelves of the British Museum , that this very legend was known to the Masons of the

seventeenth century at least . Then , did the Operative Masons of the Middle Ages have a legend also ? The evidence is that they did . The Compagnons de la Tour who were the offshoots of the Old Masters' Guilds , hacl a legend . We

know what the legend was , and we know thafc its character was similar to , although not in all the details precisely the same as , the Mnsonic legend . It was , however , connected with the Temple of Solomon .

Again : Did the builders of tbe Middle Ages invent their legend , or did they obtain it from some old tradition ? The question is interesting , but its solution either way would scarcely affect the antiquity of Freemasonry . It is not the form of the legend , bufc its spiritual and symbolic design , with whioh we have to do .

This legend of the third degree as we now have ifc , and as we have had ifc for a certain period of two hundred and fifty years , is intended , by a symbolic representation , to teach the resurrection from death , and the divine dogma of eternal life . All Masons know its character , aud it is neither expedient nor necessary to dilate upon ifc .

But can we find such a legend elsewhere ? Certainl y we cam Nofc indeed the same legend ; not the same personage as its hero , not the same details ; but a legend with the same spirit and design ; a legend funereal in character , celebrating death and resurrection , and solemnised in

lamentation and terminating in joy . Thus , iu fche Egyptian Mysteries of Osiris , the . image of a dead man was borne in an argha , ark or coffin , by a procession of initiates ; and this enclosure in the coffin or intoi'ment of the body was called the aphanism , or disappearance , aud the lamentation

for mm formed the fiivt part of the Mysteries , On the third chiy after the interment , the priests and initiates carried the coffin , in which was also a golden vessel , down to

the river Nile . Into the vessel they poured water from the river ; and then with the cry of Eurekamen agallometha , " We have found him , let us rejoice , " they declared that the dead Osiris , who had descended into Hades , had