The Anacalypsis Of Godfrey Higgins.

man should come in his glory—the great day of God Almighty . " A link between ancient and modern Freemasonry was the Mohammedan sect of " Ishmalians , or Society of Assassins , " whinh was " at once both a military and religions association , like the Templars and Teutonic

Knights . " Further on , Bro . Higgins affirms distinctly that " the Templars were nothing but one branch of Masons ; perhaps a branch to which the care of some peculiar part of Temples was entrusted , and I think that the name of Templars was only another name for Casideans . " Pursuing the subject still further , we

read—In the very highest orders of Freemasons , viz ., tho Templars and Eosicrncians , as I imagine them to bo , there is no emblem more sacred than tho Cross . Here I stop . Verbum Sapienti . Mr . Hammer has observed that tho identity of the symbols of tho Templars and of the Architectonic ! , by whom he means tho Freemasons ,

aro demonstrated . In this , I think he is perfectly correct . Tho Chaldeans and the Mathematicians , of whom we read in the Angnstin age , as being the fortune-tellers , or the magicians , or the judicial astrologers of tho great men of the day in Rome , wore , in fact ,

Freemasons , and of this tho emblems above , copied from his work , in plate IV ., are a sufficient proof . I need not tell anyone , whether Mason or not , how largo a space the history of tho building of tho Temple of Solomon occupies in tho ceremonies of Masonry .

We read later on , on the same subject : The Templars had no objection to the Jewish Temple , for the same reason that tho Mohammedan , the Jew , and tho Christian sit down together , as I have , with-great pleasure , experienced , at a Lodge or

Chapter of Freemasons . If there bo anything in their ceremonies to prevent this ( i . e ., the Eosicrncians and Templars ) , it is a heresy , and contrary to the spirit of their Orders . Let them remember this : Without Jew , that is Judaile , there ia no Christian ; without both Jew and Christian , there is no Mohammedan .

Bro . Higgins , it seems , did not join the Rosicrucians and Templars , in order that he might be free to publish his views . He expressed his belief they were tho " Culdees " of Iona and the Crypt of York Minster whore the Grand

Masonic Lodgo of England was held . He also considers " Free-Mason is PH—RE—P . H ., the Coptic emphatic article and KE the Sun , 'Mason of the Sun . ' " He further tells us : —

The very essence of Freemasonry is equality , All , let their rank in life be what it may when in the Lodge , aro brothers—brethren with the Father at their head . No person can rend tho Evangelists

and not see that this is correctly Gospel Christianity . It is the Christianity of the Chaldees , of the Patriarchs , of Abraham , and of Melchizedek . Every part of Christianity refers back to Abraham , and it is all Freemasonry .

It is possible , as Bro . Hughan suggests , that the writer may have had a different view than that which the words convey , but dealing necessarily with tho words as they stand , Bro . Hughan very properly describes the ideas of Bro . Higgins as " crude and visionary . "

As an example of the facility with which assertions may be made , Bro . Hughan quotes the following : —

The striking similarity between Masonry and Pythagoreauism has been well pointed out by Mr . Clinch in his essays on Masonry , who states that the best account which he has seen of Masonry is in the Encyclopaedia Londinensis in voce Masonry : though , as every Mason must see , it is not correct , and particularly respecting the York

Masons . I think it may be discerned that there were several Lodges of Freemasons in Britain , whose origin cannot be traced , but perfectly independent of each other , though now united under one head—the Duke of Sussex—tho old Lodgo at York , now extinct , being clearly the oldest , as far as can be traced . Popular prejudice has

supposed Freemasonry to have been invented in Scotland , and to have travelled thence to Franco with the Stuart refugees . That the Scotch refugee Masons might establish Lodges in Franco , I think very probable ; but they were not then new ; though perhaps not numerous or much known . I have no doubt that the Masons wore Druids ,

Culidei , or Chaldei , and Casideans . The Chaldeans are traced downward to Scotland and York , and the Masons backwards from this day to meet the Culidei at York . It has been observed that the Masons , and particularly the Templars , always held their Lodges of Chapters under the crypts of the cathedrals : of this I entertain no doubt .

FKOJI A MASONIC DOCUJIKNT NOW IN MY POSSESSION , I can prove that no very long time ago , the Chaldees at York were Freemasons , that they constituted the Grand Lodge of England , and that they held their meetings in the Crypt under the Grand Cathedral of that city . Tho Circular Chapter House did very well for ordinary business , but the secret mysteries were carried on in the Crypts .

Bro . Hughan points out that the Grand Lodge in London was not formed until A . D . 1717 , and the rival Lorlge at York not before 1725 . The Assembl y of Freemasons at York is another matter , the " Old Charges " from the 15 th

century being sufficient proof . But Bro . Hughan denies the right of any Mason to describe such assembly as a Grand Lodge , and even were it so , that there is , he points out , no evidence whatever of the use of the Crypt by the

The Anacalypsis Of Godfrey Higgins.

Chaldees . Continuing his criticisms , Bro . Hughan says , " the only time that the Records speak of the Crypt of the Cathedral being used by any Masonic body at York was during the latter part of the last century . All the early assemblies of the ancient Lodge , which are recorded at the

meetings subsequently of the Grand Lodge from . A . D . 1725 were generally held in the private houses of tho members . Particulars as to several of these Lodges may be found in

our ' Masonic Sketches and Reprints . '" The minute of tho one meeting held in the Crypt , of which there is a record , is referred to in the following extract from Bro . Higgins ' s work : —

" After I had been led to suspect , from various causes , that the Culdees noticed in the notitia monastica , and in tho last Chapter , and there stated to have been found in tho Cathedral at York , were Masons , I searched tho Masonic records in London , and I found a document which , upon the face of it , seemed to show that

that Lodge , which was tho Grand Lodge of All England , had been held under tho Cathedral in tho Crypt at York . In consequence of this I went to York , anil applied to the or . ly survivor of the Lodge , who s ' . iowe ;! me , from the ; documents which ho possessed , that the Druidical Lodge , or Chapter of

Eoyal Arch Masons , or Templar Encampment , all of which it calls itself , was held for the last time in the Crypt on Sunday , May 27 , 1778 . At that time the Chapter was evidently on the decline , and it is since dead . From these books it appears to have claimed to have been founded by Edwin in tho year 926 . From a curious parchment

document , formerly belonging to the Lodge , and restored to it by Francis Drake , author of tho Eboracnm , as appears by an endorsement on the back of it , signed by him , stating that it came from the Castle at Pontepact " ( ? Pontefraot ) , " it seems probable that ,

according to the tradition to that effect , the ancient records of the Lodge had been sent to that place for safety in the Civil Wars , as it is well known that many of the title deeds of Yorkshire families at that time were , and ou its destruction were like them destroyed or dispersed . "

We cannot give the whole of the passage quoted by Bro . Hughan , but the purport of the latter portion of it may be briefly described . Bro . Higgins , having referred to a contest for supremacy among the Masons of England , the Lodge of Antiquity in London claiming it and the York

Lodge refusing to recognise it—a contest terminated by the union under the Duke of Sussex—goes on ID say that though be does not pretend absolutely to prove " ihe Ui uidical Royal Arch Chapter , Lodge , or Encampment of the Temple of St . John at Jerusalem , or of the Tabernacle of tho Temple

of the Holy Wisdom , as it calls itself , of Jerusalem " was actually " the same as that of the Cnlclees of tho Monastica ;" but I think the presumption is pretty strong . Though he does not " by mathematical demonstration connect the Calidei or Chaldeans and Masons at York , " he does so "in

the mathcmatici and Chaldsei at Rome . " No matter how far back he goes in history he finds traces of the Chaldei all over the world , and he thinks them " Freemasons" in India . A note is also quoted in which Bro . Higgins speaks somewhat patronizingly of the learned Preston , author of the

wellknown Jlhtstrations , which amuses Bro . Hughan , and affords him an opportunity for bestowing well-merited praise on that ably written work , remarking that , " Making all due allowances for the times in which the work was written , we are still of the opinion that the Book , ' take it

for all in all , ' has never been surpassed . " He points out further that Preston was never a partizan , that he never claimed priority for the Masons of London over those of Scotland or York , and that his Illustrations are entirely free from any party bias . Next , he corrects Bro . Higgins ' s

version of the contest for supremacy , which he describes as " altogether inaccurate , and almost perniciously so . " There never was a contest , he points out , between the Lodges of Antiquity and at York . On the contrary , when Preston and his friends were expelled by Grand Lodge ( Moderns ) ,

"the Grand Lodge of all England located at York granted them a Deputation to act as a ' Grand Lodge south of the Trent , ' which they did for a few years , and so far from there ever having been a quarrel between them , the two Lodges were always on the best of terms . " The contest , as

Bro . Hughan says , was between Grand Lodge , London , constituted in 1717 , and a body of seceders , also located in London , who formed a rival Grand Lodge in 1753 , known as that of the " ancients , " while the older was known as the " moderns . " Long after the York Lodge had died outtheunionoftlie . se rival Grand Lodges in London

took place , under the auspices of the Dnke of Sussex , aided by his brother the Duke of Kent . A few remarks on the High Degrees mentioned by Bro . Higgins , which were the Royal Arch and Knight Templars , and which , about 1780 , came to be recognised by the York Grand Lodge , and a statement that " the York authorities never warranted any Lodge out